Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Love & Gelato

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

33 reviews

c45p1n's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

There's a lot to address with this book. For one, it was incredibly cheesy and i kept getting embarrassed on behalf of the characters. Mostly Lina. This story essentially follows two timelines, Lina's Present-day timeline in Florence, Italy. And her mom, Hadley's past timeline 17 years in the past in Florence, Italy.
I wish I could give this book more of a better rating but it just didn't hit the 4/5 mark, it barely hit the 3.5/5 mark, in all honesty.

Currently unable to make a cohesive sentence, I'm going to put this into a pro/con list. From this point on their will be minor spoilers, but nothing to give away the plot too much. Read with caution.

PRO: Very funny and heartwarming story. 2)Filled with characters that are easy to follow and get to know, both present and past.

CON: Many situations were overlooked and bypassed, and frankly just brought up to make a segway between other characters. 1) For example: in the first few chapters, Lina is out jogging and gets chased and harassed by some dudes in a car. Now this felt like it could've had potential to bring around and connect back into the story, like if it were Thomas's car. It was really only used to give Lorenzo some fear of Howard. 1b) Another example: When Lena got groped in Space. while these are both very realistic things that happened i feel like it could've been used to add to the plot other than making Lina not want to go back to Space again (which is reasonable.) 2) I loved the characters, except for Matteo. I'd love to type so many profanities at him but that's beside the point. Mimi had no substance. She lacked personality other than to pose the purpose and play the part of the mean model chick. 3) I get that this book was meant to keep a lighthearted/happy tone but there could've been more to tap into with Matteo and Hadley's relationship and how toxic it was. 4) Matteo is a con. Lina using Thomas to get to the party is a con. Mimi's lack of personality is a con. How little we see outside of Howard/Lina/Ren/and Hadley('s previous life) is a con.

All in all, I did enjoy reading this book and annotating it. It was cute and romantic and cheesy and just easy to follow along with. It brought me through my emotions and left me satisfied with the ending. Frankly, I don't think I'd recommend this to anyone but if you read it then you've read it, if you don't I do not think you're missing out on anything that special.

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maddiesbookshelf's review

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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.✨🤍

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lauf22's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Eek! This book was every level of cute! Once I started listening to the audiobook, I didn't want to stop. I had to know what happened next.

I'm a huge fan of Mamma Mia and this definitely gave me those vibes between the "finding the father" bit, the "learning more about her mom" bit, and the "set in a coastal European city" bit.

I'm also a huge fan of stories within stories and this book did a great job with that. Lina's mom's journal was just as exciting (if not more exciting) than Lina's adventures! Plus, it gave us not one, but two coming-of-age plots.

There was found family, romance, self-discovery, comedy, heartbreak, and GELATO in this book, so what more could you ask for? I can't wait to read the sequel!

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cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

This is a vanilla cupcake kind of read. I mean that as a compliment. Perfect little YA RomCom. I needed this after reading done heavy books. It does have it's sadness, but that is overpowered by it's hopeful tone. I'll definitely be reading the second one.

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mybookishlife2's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

I love this so much! I love the characters and all the relationships they form between each other. Ugh this journey was so good. Highly recommend.

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georgialynns's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

3.75

The whole book is based in Italy.

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durrareadsstuff's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

Sonia met my eyes in the mirror. "You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it's for the same two things."
"What?"
"Love and gelato."

Woww, I have no complaints about this book. It's been a long time since I picked up a ya contemporary and I don't regret it at all. I'm telling you, you should read this. It's got Italy, gelato, pastries, pizza, a main character who loves food. The writing is easy and humorous I was laughing constantly. The love interest was cute and so was the romance.

So many themes were covered in the book : grief, breakups, toxic relationships, finding your passion, to name a few. As someone who's struggled with grief before, I find the way it's described to be quite accurate. I loved every character, even Mimi. And Howard was just-- I'll just leave it at that.

Point is, if you haven't read this, please do. I promise you won't regret it.

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cressth's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.5

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madsmcw_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

4.5

I really fell in love with Lina and her story. I started this two days before Father's Day and I went in a little blind not knowing about the loss of a parent storyline, but Lina and her story captivated me and I didn't know how much I needed her. I felt seen in her feelings or grief and thought it was handled so well. I loved Lina and Ren, that part of the story just warmed my heart. This also seriously made me feel like I was in Italy with it's descriptions. So good, highly recommend!

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