Love and Gelato is a book written by Jenna Evans Welch. It was published on May 3, 2016. After 2018, the second book Love & Luck got published and in 2020, Love & Olives got published. These three books have different main characters but the story connects as the main characters are all friends. In 2022, Netflix made a movie that is based on Love & Gelato. 

Love & Gelato also won tons of awards such as 2018 Teen’s Top Ten Award, Rhode Island teen book award, Top Ten Teen Book in 2017 and more.

The setting of this book is Florence, Italy. The main character, Lina, had moved to Florence after her mom passed away from cancer. She started living with Howard, who is supposed to be her long last father. She gets her hand on her mom’s diary that she wrote when she was in Florence herself. As Lina reads more and more of her mom’s diary, she is rethinking if Howard is actually her biological father.

Lina finds a boy named Lorenzo Ferrazza, aka Ren who also moved from the U.S.A to Florida. Ren and Lina read the diary together and try to find the real biological father and try to find out what was Lina’s mom and Howard’s relationship. As they continue this journey together, they also develop feelings for each other.

I recommend this book because as the story told us about places in Italy, it felt like I was in Florence. It is a very heart-warming book as Lina overcomes grief, an awkward and strained relationship with her non – biological, or biological father, and a secret from her mom’s past. This book has a mixture of adventure and romance. 

Love & Gelato is available in the clague library and the ann arbor district library. It is available in Barnes and Nobles, Target, Amazon, and Walmart if you want your own copy of it.