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A review by saltyglasses
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Pretty lighthearted book where girl travels to Italy to be with her father and learns more about her family there. Even though it is a romance book I felt as though the focus was more on familal love than the romance itself, which is not a bad thing. While it definitely was quite a fun read, the more I think about the plot points in the book, the more questiomable I find the entire story.
Firstly, the whole thing about finding her real dad was so incredibly frustrating because WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU NOT READ THE WHOLE DIARY BEFORE FINDING SOME RANDOM STRANGER WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE YOUR DAD??? I really don't understand the way the main character just goes and does things spontaneously without getting the full picture. In fact the beyond obvious foreshadowing made this really hard to get through at times, not the mention the cheesy writing style (no one talks like this)
Secondly, I feel like there was a lot of problematic ideas that were included in the story. The story ends with Ren breaking up with Mimi to be with Lina, but throughout the entire book they kept on describing scenes where Ren was definitely acting romantically interested and overly friendly with Lina (obviously given that he has feelings for her) Everything about this entire plot point gives off cheating vibes and I don't get why this was necessary? The author could have continued making Mimi a crush instead of semi condoning cheating. Also the fact that Lina led Thomas on thinking she was interested in him when she was looking for Ren the entire time is really scummy. And I cannot end this without mentioning the scene where Lina gets groped by a man and Mimi defends her but thenn blames her for not "pushing him away harder"??? Why is there victim blaming in this book? Why was this scene necessary in any way when the author goes on to portray Mimi as a vilain?
Secondly, I feel like there was a lot of problematic ideas that were included in the story. The story ends with Ren breaking up with Mimi to be with Lina, but throughout the entire book they kept on describing scenes where Ren was definitely acting romantically interested and overly friendly with Lina (obviously given that he has feelings for her) Everything about this entire plot point gives off cheating vibes and I don't get why this was necessary? The author could have continued making Mimi a crush instead of semi condoning cheating. Also the fact that Lina led Thomas on thinking she was interested in him when she was looking for Ren the entire time is really scummy. And I cannot end this without mentioning the scene where Lina gets groped by a man and Mimi defends her but thenn blames her for not "pushing him away harder"??? Why is there victim blaming in this book? Why was this scene necessary in any way when the author goes on to portray Mimi as a vilain?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault