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Love & Gelato

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Love & Gelato
Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch is a sweet take on summer love, family’s true meaning, and being out of one’s comfort zone. 
Summary:
Since her mother died of cancer, Carolina (that’s pronounced Caroleena) finds herself wishing for everything ordinary; however, her mother’s dying wish is that she gets to know her father...in Tuscany. All Lina wants to be is back home in Seattle with her best friend Addie. 
When Lina arrives at the cemetery where her father, Howard, lives, she receives her mother’s journal she kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly, Lina is discovering her mother’s past one difficult day at a time. With the help of charming, half Italian Ren, Lina uncovers her mother’s past step by step. Carolina discovers an identity altering secret kept from her for far too long. 
Tourists come to Italy for gorgeous landscapes, stracciatella, and infamous sunshine, but lucky people find delicious gelato and love.
Author Praise/Critique:
While I am a fan of summer travel books, A LOT of novels about seasons abroad are fantasies of great food and even better guys; however, Love and Gelato has a more realistic spin. Teenage love, gorgeous Florence city scapes, and mystery melded make the sweetest read of the summer. The characters and setting, it’s in Italy for heaven’s sake, are well developed throughout the course of the novel. An abundance of the main character’s thoughts are written aloud making Lina relatable to the reader. The miniature love story is not overly fantasized, bringing through Welch’s point: relationships are not perfect. While Lina and Ren fight and have some complications coming together, the ending is sweet and feels right to the reader. Unique and interesting, Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch is a summer reread for many years to come. 
Rating and Reasoning:
I give Love and Gelato 4.5 stars. While a little cheesy, the characters are relatable and well developed. The plot is interesting and just mysterious enough to make the novel a page-turner. 

Audience: 6th, 7th, and 8th graders
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Date Published: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 9781481432559
Format: Paperback
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Romance



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