New York Times' bestseller, "Love and Gelato", is everything you want in a fun summer read and more. I say "more" because I wasn't expecting much from a book called, "Love and Gelato". I thought it was going to be a simple, cute love story that takes place in Italy. Thank God I was wrong; the story is filled with not only love but humor, mystery, grief and adventure. Because I'm a broke college student, I won't be going anywhere "exciting" this summer. However, reading "Love and Gelato" I was able to live vicariously Lina's life in Florence, Italy. So, if you're not going on vacation this summer but you still crave for a summer getaway, pick up a copy of this book. You won't regret it.
Plot Summary (no spoilers)
During her Sophmore year in high school, Lina's mom died of pancreas cancer within six months after she was diagnosed. Lina grew up never knowing of her father until the last few months with her mom. Her mom told her stories of this guy named Howard and their time together in Italy. Eventually, she made Lina promise her to go live with Howard and get to know her father whom she'd never met.
With her mom's death and horrible jet lag under her belt, all Lina wanted to do when she arrived in Italy was go straight back home. However, a mysterious journal that her mother had kept when she lived in Italy made Lina stay to uncover what her mother failed to tell her. Linda then gets thrown into a world filled with scandalous romance, art and wonderful Italian cuisine with her charming, half-Italian best friend, Ren.
The discoveries they encountered will reveal the truth about Lina's mother, father and Lina herself.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
What I loved most
The biggest quality I noticed the story has is how it talks about a topic all teenagers hate—grief. Not only does it go into what it's really like to lose a parent you've known your whole life, but it also goes into losing a partner in a relationship. I think explaining those heavy situations are extremely important to expose to teen audiences incase their best friend or themselves get into these situations.
There was one part of the book that accurately showed how awkward and depressing it is to share the news of your dead relative to someone new. It gives reassurance for readers that feel the same way that they're not alone and can give others a chance to know how to respond to their friend's grief.
It's the same way with the broken heart scenario; the book talks about the pain of a breakup and offers ideas to heal one's own.
What could have been better
Despite me loving this book for what it is, it's not a perfect book. Like all books or movies, there are always its flaws. Of course, this is all my opinion, some of you might agree with me and others won't. Some of you might even think this book has a lot of more flaws than I'm willing to recognize. To that, I think that's the beauty of being your own person. If you would like to express your thoughts on the book, feel free to do so in the comments of this article.
Anyway, the character development between some of the other characters is one of the minor flaws of this book. This book is over 300 pages long and a lot of events happen within those pages, however, everything happens too quick to the point it's almost too convenient. I guess you can say it's the "magic" Florence has, but on the realistic standpoint, it makes the characters' motivation less believable.
For instance, the whole book only talks about events that happened within two weeks at the most. The fact that Lina is accepted so quickly along her high school peers, discovers her mom's past, falls in love and make amends with her father gives this book a lot of themes but sacrifices time for the main characters to develop realistically.
I also wish there was more time given to the other characters like Lina's childhood friend Abbie or Elena, Lina's newest friend in Italy besides Ren. I can see why the author wanted to focus more just on the three main characters (Ren, Lina's parents and Lina), but I wanted Lina to develop a deeper friendship with Elena, or at least, see more scenes of Lina and Abbie's friendship to understand how much Lina wants to go back home.
Other than that, the book doesn't have any major flaws. If you can accept the book for what it is, then you will love it. It's a perfect summer read you won't regret.
