Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

11 reviews

carolinars's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Sexual harassment

mariethem1lf's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

At first I found Lina almost annoyingly American (yes she's an American in Italy, annoyingly so) but I grew to love her very quickly.

it was frustrating to see her jump to conclusions so fast sometimes, JUST READ AHEAD A BIT. it might be difficult emotionally but don't go charging around saying 'hey! you're my dad!' without knowing the full story. loved the parallels between Lina and Hadley, but also how different they were at times

 loved the book :) will be reading the rest soon

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Terminal illness

kendra_taylors_version's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

So just finished my fourth read of this book and I realized i haven't written a review on my favorite book of all time like HOW DARE I?!

Anyways all you need to know is that i love the feel good vibes of a summer spent in Italy, the warmth of the found family trope happening, the originality of the journal entries and the whole adventure, the heaetbreak of loss the main character, Lina, experiences and her slow journey through healing, the movie worthy vibes of the teenage party and angst and of course the "makes me kick my feet in the air and giggle" romance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol

itsmemiana's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-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? No

4.5

"So this is the Italy people were always talking about. No wonder people were always losing their minds over it."

" 'You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay is for the same two things' 'What?' 'Love and gelato' "

I read this book in Italy and I'm so glad I did, even tho I wasn't in Florence, I visited lots of cities in the north of Italy and some descriptions matched those cities perfectly. also one fun fact, I went by an RV and I can tell you that the joke about the way Italians drive is absolutely accurate 💀 but I also found some things in here that are not true about Italy, for example this books says they don't have a drinking age but they do, it's 18 years old like most if not all European countries and they mentioned like 2 or 3 times that it doesn't have "cutting edge technology", honestly what Italy are you at? that made it sound like Italy is a third world country 😭 and there were a few other small things, but besides that this book is absolutely adorable.

I loved all the main characters, they are all so cute and I loved Lina's relationship with and Ren and Howard, Howard was so adorable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

gracemullender's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, and Cancer

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Terminal illness

shannasbooksnhooks's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

"You've had bad days before, right? You know, the ones where your alarm doesn't go off, your toast practically catches on fire, and you remember way too late that every article of clothing you own is soaking wet in the bottom of the washer?"
Finishing up the book and writing this review has sort of been a confusing time for me. I really didn't know what star rating to give it. I knew it was at least 4 stars but wasn't quite 5 stars. And then I couldn't decide if I should do 4.25, 4.5, or 4.75 stars, so I ended up just settling on 4 stars.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is why I think I'm in this confused state now. I never pick up books where the main genre is "romance." I have read plenty where romance has been a factor in the story, major or not. However, it's usually a sub-plot and/or sub-genre - not the main point of the book. Yet with Love & Gelato, it is. Although I think it being a "romance" book is a bit deceiving. The romantic plot of this book

especially between Ren, Lina, and Thomas

is more of a major sub-plot rather than the main plot of the story, which I really appreciated from this book and Jenna Evans Welch. I definitely recommend this as a read, especially if you like romance but aren't necessarily a big fan of soley-romance-based plots. As I mentioned, the fact that this book is a "romance book" is a bit deceiving if you consider the plots of romance books to be extremely romance-heavy (and only focusing on the romance, if you're like me). The characters are really amazing, the setting is beautiful, and it's a really good coming-of-age story. I've started to open up to books with more romance-heavy plots (like Natasha Lester's books or Lovely War). Love & Gelato really brought it home that I am ok with romance in books - it just can't be the sole plot, conflict, etc. of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

When Ren and Lina go to meet Matteo Rossi, Lina's biological father, it wasn't surprising that he was a total jerk given how Hadley (Lina's mom) wrote about him and how Francesca spoke of him.

And I was actually happy that Howard knew (second memorable scene for me). I was actually thinking of including the quote where he basically says that he's not her dad by blood/DNA, but he is her dad because he wants to be in her life and help her out. And Howard 1000% is her father in this sense. I was neutral about Howard until this scene.

As I hinted at earlier, there was, sort of, a bit of "romantic drama" between Ren, Lina, and Thomas. Thankfully, it wasn't a cliched love triangle. It started out seeming that way, but you really see that, as time goes on, Thomas is there more as a distraction for Lina from Ren. And I enjoyed when Thomas called Lina out on that at Valentina's 18th birthday party - because it was a low blow. But I also liked how he just let it blow over because he understood and it didn't turn into this whole drama.

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. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

sarahsbookss's review

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Grief

booksbyantheia's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-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? Yes

5.0

Este es el tipo de romance que me hubiera gustado encontrar más seguido en la secundaria. ¿Levemente cliché? ¿Empalagoso? Quizás. Pero sano, lleno de vida, de esperanza.

Y NI SIQUIERA ES EL ELEMENTO PRINCIPAL DEL LIBRO.

La historia de Lina y la de Hadley son muy emocionales. Ambas enfrentaron al amor, ambas recorrieron sus caminos con valentía. Lina es una de las protagonistas más preciosas que he leído, y a pesar de la situación tan difícil que pasó, sigue siendo una adolescente, cometiendo errores, teniendo respuestas divertidas, a veces cringes, pero hermosas.

Este libro es como un mimo. Es como el gelato. Dulce, inevitable de querer repetir.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Food, false identity.