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kingrosereads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book is something I would have loved as a 16/17 year old. It’s written exactly with a teenager’s thought process in mind. Honestly, when I’m reading YA books, I want reckless behavior and not-well-thought-out actions when the protagonist is under the age of 23. But even more so when they’re still in high school. It’s why I read YA books. To fault the book because the teen protagonist is a brat, judgmental, and makes reckless decisions is like getting mad at a waiter for giving you exactly what you ordered.
Carolina “Lina” Emerson is 16 and just lost her mom (Hadley Emerson) to pancreatic cancer after a very short battle. Lina’s from Seattle and stayed with her best friend’s (Addie) family for the last semester of her sophomore year. Unfortunately, Lina doesn’t have a dad (her mom never revealed his identity) and her grandparents aren’t able to care for her. This is all fine, because Hadley already set up for Lina to spend the summer with her old beau, Howard, in Florence, Italy.
Howard confirms with Lina’s grandparents that he’s Lina’s father which means they push her to stay with him to try to build a relationship. Of course, as a typical 16 year old, she digs in her heels and only goes because she promised her mom she would. Hadley apparently spent a year in Italy back in the late 90s where she met Howard, a fellow American student at their Italian art school (and conceived Lina).
With the aid of her mom’s journal from her time in Italy, Lina tries to walk in her mother’s footsteps over Florence and tries to understand how Lina was conceived, how Howard and Hadley fell in love, and why her mother ran away from Italy when she found out she was pregnant and never told Howard why she left.
Along the way, she meets Lorenzo “Ren” Ferrara. A cute charming Italian teen that joins her on her crazy adventure. And (of course) they begin to fall for one another.
It’s super cheesy, some of it doesn’t make sense, and it made me cry actual real tears. It had a charm to it that I can’t explain. Lina and Ren both irritated me, but made me laugh and my heart ached for them. I wish Howard were my dad. I don’t get why Lina hated the idea of living in a cemetery because I definitely would’ve loved that at 16 (hell I’d love it now). But Lina’s mom just died and I guess to some, cemeteries are creepy. Being forced to bond with a stranger because you made a death bed promise also sucks. Sometimes you have to just sit back and shit talk about strangers with your bestie to feel better. It’s all the angst of being a teenager without the one person who was supposed to guide you through it. But forreal, if I had the CHANCE to go live in Italy, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
This book made me laugh, cry, and cringe. It was cheesy and awkward and I loved it. Was it clunky, rushed, and not as developed as it could’ve been? Yes. But I still enjoyed it. I liked that Lina was always on the go from one scene to the other. I always wanted to know what it was like to be a reckless teenager who just fell so madly in love in a way only 16 year old could, and that’s why I read these kinds of books.
Carolina “Lina” Emerson is 16 and just lost her mom (Hadley Emerson) to pancreatic cancer after a very short battle. Lina’s from Seattle and stayed with her best friend’s (Addie) family for the last semester of her sophomore year. Unfortunately, Lina doesn’t have a dad (her mom never revealed his identity) and her grandparents aren’t able to care for her. This is all fine, because Hadley already set up for Lina to spend the summer with her old beau, Howard, in Florence, Italy.
Howard confirms with Lina’s grandparents that he’s Lina’s father which means they push her to stay with him to try to build a relationship. Of course, as a typical 16 year old, she digs in her heels and only goes because she promised her mom she would. Hadley apparently spent a year in Italy back in the late 90s where she met Howard, a fellow American student at their Italian art school (and conceived Lina).
With the aid of her mom’s journal from her time in Italy, Lina tries to walk in her mother’s footsteps over Florence and tries to understand how Lina was conceived, how Howard and Hadley fell in love, and why her mother ran away from Italy when she found out she was pregnant and never told Howard why she left.
Along the way, she meets Lorenzo “Ren” Ferrara. A cute charming Italian teen that joins her on her crazy adventure. And (of course) they begin to fall for one another.
It’s super cheesy, some of it doesn’t make sense, and it made me cry actual real tears. It had a charm to it that I can’t explain. Lina and Ren both irritated me, but made me laugh and my heart ached for them. I wish Howard were my dad. I don’t get why Lina hated the idea of living in a cemetery because I definitely would’ve loved that at 16 (hell I’d love it now). But Lina’s mom just died and I guess to some, cemeteries are creepy. Being forced to bond with a stranger because you made a death bed promise also sucks. Sometimes you have to just sit back and shit talk about strangers with your bestie to feel better. It’s all the angst of being a teenager without the one person who was supposed to guide you through it. But forreal, if I had the CHANCE to go live in Italy, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
This book made me laugh, cry, and cringe. It was cheesy and awkward and I loved it. Was it clunky, rushed, and not as developed as it could’ve been? Yes. But I still enjoyed it. I liked that Lina was always on the go from one scene to the other. I always wanted to know what it was like to be a reckless teenager who just fell so madly in love in a way only 16 year old could, and that’s why I read these kinds of books.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
const_elle_ations's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
sarajuni's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Toxic relationship
johannalippe's review
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual assault
izzyslittlelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual assault
maddiesbookshelf's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really enjoyed this book but I wished we got more of her and her mom’s dynamic but I definitely liked this book.✨🤍
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
Minor: Toxic relationship
Italy, friends to lovers trope, summer vibesnebraskanwriter's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
This book was just not for me. There were so many things that happened that I just could not stand. Lina getting assaulted by that guy in the nightclub but no one bats an eye. Her traumatic meeting with X and yet she moves on like everything is fine. There were just so many traumatic things that happen to her that the other characters don’t care to see if she is actually okay and that she herself processes for like 2 seconds and then moves on with immediately like a very scarring/damaging thing just did not happen to her.
Also, the ending? You’re kidding me. I know its a young adult romance and so I wasn’t expecting too much but so many things happened (in the span of a week, this book takes place over a week) that I just couldn’t believe. Lorenzo breaks up with a girl he’s been in love with for 2 years because he met Lina (literally yesterday) and now she’s the love of his life even though he barely knows her.
Also if you’ve just met someone, why would you let them read your mom’s journal? Lina literally meets Lorenzo and just dumps all this personal life stuff on him and he asks to read her mom’s journal which details all the painful, personal things her mom went through. Lorenzo is a complete stranger and yet you’re trusting him with such personal information regarding your deceased mother that you yourself just discovered?
I don’t know, I can suspend my belief for a little bit but all of this happening in the span of a week? Ridiculous. I’m sorry, I’m not usually so negative about books but there were so many things in this book, traumatic things, that were just handled so awfully. And on top of it all she falls in love with a boy in literally a week and he drops his girlfriend so he can be with a girl he’s literally known for a couple of days.
And then at the very end she decides to move to Italy to stay with Howard and be with Lorenzo (let me reiterate *grabs megaphone* ALL WHILE ONLY KNOWING ALL THE PEOPLE IN THIS STORY FOR LITERALLY A WEEK) The whole thing was just too unbelievable for me.
Also, the ending? You’re kidding me. I know its a young adult romance and so I wasn’t expecting too much but so many things happened (in the span of a week, this book takes place over a week) that I just couldn’t believe. Lorenzo breaks up with a girl he’s been in love with for 2 years because he met Lina (literally yesterday) and now she’s the love of his life even though he barely knows her.
Also if you’ve just met someone, why would you let them read your mom’s journal? Lina literally meets Lorenzo and just dumps all this personal life stuff on him and he asks to read her mom’s journal which details all the painful, personal things her mom went through. Lorenzo is a complete stranger and yet you’re trusting him with such personal information regarding your deceased mother that you yourself just discovered?
I don’t know, I can suspend my belief for a little bit but all of this happening in the span of a week? Ridiculous. I’m sorry, I’m not usually so negative about books but there were so many things in this book, traumatic things, that were just handled so awfully. And on top of it all she falls in love with a boy in literally a week and he drops his girlfriend so he can be with a girl he’s literally known for a couple of days.
And then at the very end she decides to move to Italy to stay with Howard and be with Lorenzo (let me reiterate *grabs megaphone* ALL WHILE ONLY KNOWING ALL THE PEOPLE IN THIS STORY FOR LITERALLY A WEEK) The whole thing was just too unbelievable for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault
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