Reviews tagging 'Death'

Love & Gelato. Vacanță la Florența by Jenna Evans Welch

15 reviews

samdreckman's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.0

Very cute, easy read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting

2kyr6's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

[NO SPOILERS]
a light and easy read. this is perfect for 14 year olds and above, especially for those that are new to reading. Lina, the protagonist, is very relatable and there isn't a particular character in the book that i despise(as in they shouldn't even be added as a character). they were all necessary to make a good storyline. this is one of those books that is good for when you're just bored, want to relax, and don't want to read something that is too overwhelming.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Grief

matchabookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Minor: Emotional abuse

layla_reads2411's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

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

4.25

This book was honestly really good. I liked the mystery subplot, I felt like it was a nice touch and it kept things interesting. I really liked the characters and just overall the book was really cute. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

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 against another edition

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.

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.

kiarelia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Pregnancy

dazzlingreader_'s review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

3.75

I was looking for a light read that I didn't have to pay too much attention to, that didn't have a slow narrative and that was still enjoyable to read, this book fulfilled everything I was looking for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer

c45p1n's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual harassment and Pregnancy