Love & Olives
Reviews
AMAZING
3 of 5 stars ----- This book was light, cute, sweet and a feel-good story. But if I'm being honest, it was not in any way great. I have a few issues with it, especially with the journal part. I was actually frustrated with Lina. I know a big part of this book was about the journal but I really didn't think it needs to be stretched out like that. I mean, it would not actually have to take too long to figure her mother's past if she just read the journal in one sitting. The answers to all of her questions were just right in her hand and she would definitely see it if she just keep flipping the pages. Why did she have to read it bit by bit and make it hard for herself? Maybe it was 'hard' for her to read it because she thought it was like seeing a completely different side of her mother, but I really think that if she just read all of it the first time, it would save a lot of time and wrong theories. Wrong theories just complicates things that shouldn't have. Having a huge part of the story focused on the 'mystery' of the journal, I think it robbed a potential good story between Lina and Ren themselves. As in the story that really focuses on them. But nevertheless, it was still good and I enjoyed it enough.
movie was horrible, book was amazing
I have loved Jenna Evans Welch’s book since I first read Love and gelato when it came out. This book is no different. I was hooked on it from the first chapter. The characters are written in such a way that you fall in love with them. You get to learn and grow and discover new things with them. The way the love story is written in this. It isn’t all at once, but rather a gentle rise to the end. She had me shocked and happy and so frustrated throughout the book. This is definitely a story that I would reread forever.
I really really loved this book it brought me back to my time in Italy and made me wish I was back in Florence. This book definitely is super similar to Rachel Hawthornes “A Year in Europe”, which I loved, so if you are looking for something like this book definitely check out Rachel Hawthornes version and just fall in love with Italy, Scotland, and London all over again!
8.29 on CAWPILE
it started off kinda slow but it got better I liked all the characters but the plot twist was kinda a let down
A really heartwarming, cute, quick read. I really ended up loving the characters 😊. I'm glad I read it although I initially thought the characters would be older. The writing wasn't cringe but exciting and captivating.
3.5/5
OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! ok, so i started this book and there were some moments where i was "eh, i don't know about this" but i pushed through and by the time i got to page 50, i literally couldn't stop. if it wasn't for work and the daily hustle-and-bustle of life, i probably would have finished it the day i started it. i haven't cried at the ending of a book in a LONG time. also there is an INSANE, but really good and much needed, plot twist at the end that makes reading this worthwhile.
I wish I could go back and read this book for the first time OVER AND OVER! It was literally SO good! It is 100% my new favorite book! It’s so cute and has so many cute and unexpected things happening! I couldn’t put it down! I wish I could give this 50,000 stars! (Side Note… DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE AFTER READING THE BOOK! 0 out of 5 stars! They completely botched the movie!! NOTHING is the same!) But seriously.. BUY THE BOOK!!!!! I can’t wait to read Love And Olives!! :)
** spoiler alert ** From my favorite books for this summer , devoured it in one sitting would recommend it to everyone
I wasn’t planning on reading/listening to this one, but the Netflix trailer had me intrigued and the audiobook was available through my library. It was adorable. I have some ish with some of the relationship building, but other than that I adored it and hope to devour the Netflix movie asap!!
This Book has awakened a dream in me that I have suppressed for so long. This dream is to travel especially to Italy but me being the poor human being I am (with all my money spent on books), I had to resort to the next best thing which is to fictionally travel to Italy through this amazing book. I honestly don't know if these places the author JENNA EVANS WELCH described in the book are real or imaginary. The obvious way to find out is to google the places mentioned in the book but I am being a scaredy cat. now you might go like BUT I AM TELLING YOU BELIEVE ME Yes I am afraid to look them up because I am currently smitten with these places so if I find out they are true real existing places I don't think I can hold myself back from booking a one way ticket to Italy and giving my current life plans the finger (LOL). But there is a second possibility and it's the fact that they are unreal places the don’t exist in our world outside that amazing book :( I suppose my first reaction would be complete utter devastation due to the fact that when I become very rich in the future I won't be able to ride in my private billion dollar plane and go to those places once a month :( but then I believe that as soon as I am able to get rid of these depressing thoughts, I would forever be in awe of JENNA EVANS WELCH's mind that had the power to imagine and construct such lovable antique places with utmost details from nothing. Let's not forget the characters in this book who were portrayed brilliantly and had visible character developments. I very much enjoyed how JENNA EVANS WELCH made this book into an amazing adventure and self discovery with a generous touch of love seen in different relationships ( couples, friends, family ..etc.) I also admired how the romance aspect didn't overshadow the other topics discussed in the book but still remained sweet and spicy addition to the plot. My heart and my realistic mind appreciated that the love triangle was so simple and uncomplicated. It was like the " absent - present " aspect in the plot. The writing style is simple and effortless but still remains intriguing. It kept me reading for long hours without getting bored or extra excited. Thus it is the perfect candidate for a relaxed one night stand book aka it's your excellent summer read as well :) This book is PG, totally innocent and sweet, I recommend it to everyone at any age. While writing this review I came to know that this book is the first in a duology and the second book is called " LOVE & LUCK " and it's the story of Addie, Lina's bestfriend. So YAY one more great book to look forward to reading :) hopefully I could find it soon , Pray for me :) Until next time, stay kind to one another and always read :) XX Menna Khaled XX
Cute story! Just want I needed to get out of this terrible reading slump.
this was such a quick, easy, heartwarming read. i just LOVED the love story in this book. it’s so adorable. my eyes filled with tears at how adorable it was. i usually don’t give books 5 stars unless i have a deeply personal connection with them. i mean, i am italian, but not as italian as lina. my ancestors are from italy, though. maybe one day i’ll get to experience all of the places lina and hadley visited myself. maybe i’ll have my own love & gelato. really, i relate to this book because my mom grew up in a different place. she has memories she tells me about, places she loved. i’ve never been there. i hope one day i can experience the places my mom loved, like lina.
Aunque es el libro más largo de los tres (unas 200 páginas más largo), se me ha pasado volando. Me han encantado todos los personajes y ya tengo plan para cuando vaya a Santorini.
When I first heard about this book, I was so interested in it! I’m not even kidding when I say this book has been on my TBR since last to last summer and I finally got to read it! I absolutely love all the characters, Lina has my heart and Ren is such a cutie and I love him so much! I love how the writer Jenna explained Italy and how beautiful it was, and the places the character went to! It felt like you were with them in Italy! This book was definitely beautiful written and I love it so much! I think everyone should read this book, and it’s definitely a 5 star book for me!
hermosa y muy adictiva, me enamoré de esta historia!!! ❤️
Love & Gelato is one of the cutest books I have read this year! I completely fell for Ren and loved the character of Lina. My heart broke for her mother. I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a cute love story.
beginning boring. middle sick. end alright i love howard and lina’s relationship and i love ren but i don’t relaly like ren and lina. i think it’s the whole love thing. it’s been like a week u guys r not in love with eachother. idk i feel like we could’ve gotten more out of their relationship. and the whole mystery thing was relaly fun
This was the cutest thing ever!! Gosh i love love stories like that they're so cute. Also, Ren is most probably -no, most definitely the cutest person ever.
** spoiler alert ** This was my most anticipated book of 2020! I am so excited to have finally gotten my hands on it and READ it!! It did not disappoint! My immediate reaction when I finished this was to give it 5 stars because it's Jenna Evans Welch and I love her books with all my soul. But I've let myself sit for a minute and I've decided on 4-4.5 stars. (Probably 4.5 stars if I'm being really honest). This book felt like it really stayed true to the feeling of her other two books which I adore. I've always wanted to go to Greece so I was especially excited to read this and now it's made me want to go even more! The adventure in this was so fun and the family dynamics and friendships made along the way is so typical of her books (in the absolute best way possible). The tone is light-hearted while still hitting some heavier topics. **SPOILER SECTION** One of the things I was disappointed about was that she was so close to using my least favorite trope of all time which obviously is on me since I'm the one who doesn't like it (Lol). But Liv had a boyfriend the entire time she was in Greece (well most of it) so it was really hard for me to be on board this the new 'love interest.' I highly appreciated that Liv and Theo never **really did anything and that Liv was constantly making it a point that she was still dating. And though Theo was pretty forward in how he felt towards Liv he didn't push her to do anything more than being friends. (**they got close to kissing in one scene that would've been SOOO cute had I not been thinking of her boyfriend back home the ENTIRE time). With that being said I did always have that thought in the back of my head and therefore it was hard for me to appreciate the 'cute' scenes between Liv and Theo because they couldn't really be 'cute' because she was still dating someone. I really wish she could've ditched the bf before she made it to Greece and then I could've appreciated Theo and his adorable-ness the entire book. (of course I can still appreciate him--ha--but I felt like I couldn't root for them to be together until her and her bf broke up, ya know??--obviously you know they MUST get together in the end but it is still wrong to root for them and always want cute scenes from them when she was still dating). Anyway...all THAT being said. I do think that they had a lot of fun friendship scenes that weren't romantic and that was great! The visuals of Greece alone were incredible and make me want to fly there ASAP. This whole book felt bright and fun and the Atlantis aspects were great too!!
Highlights
You may be slow to warm up, but once you do, you light up the whole room.
When someone walks out of a relationship, there’s nothing you can do to keep them there.
Florence is the perfect place to fall in love, which means it’s also the worst place to be heartbroken. Some days I just want to go home. Should I even stay through summer?
How is it that they were living, breathing people and all of a sudden they were just gone?
I guess it makes sense, but living in a cemetery has me thinking often about death. There’s an order here that doesn’t exist in real life, and I find it strangely comforting. Maybe that’s the beauty of death. Nothing is messy anymore. Everything is sealed up and final.
TIME DOESN’T EXIST, CLOCKS EXIST.
Carolina, but science has proven that the parts of the brain responsible for creativity and madness are the same.
“If you could photograph anything in the world, what would it be?” Before I could even think about it I blurted out “hope.” I know, cheesy, right? But I mean hope as in stillness, those moments when you just know that things are going to work out.
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
And remember, it isn’t over until it’s over.
‘A life without love is like a year without summer.’
Turns out there’s a reason they call it falling in love, because when it happens—really happens—that’s exactly how it feels. There no doing or trying, you just let go and hope that someone’s going to be there to catch you. Otherwise, you’re going to end up with some pretty hefty bruises. Trust me, I would know.
lan bumped his shoulder into mine - intentional or not, I didn’t know - and for a second the three of us stood there, the wind pushing as hard as it could and us pushing back. Together. For one second, I imagined what it would be like if this were real life. Me and lan against the pressure of everything back home. I wanted this to be real life, not a detour.
Outside was wet and freezing, and the view was even more intense. The water shimmered a deep turquoise, and a thick afghan of clouds rested on gently sloping hills. All the colors looked oversaturated, especially the green. Before Ireland, I thought I knew what green was. But I hadn't. Not really.
"They're never right," lan said, a hint of venom in his voice. "Labels aren't big enough for people. And once you try to categorize someone, you stop looking for who they actually are.”
VISITORS CHECK IN HERE. Easy to confuse with VISITORS, FIND THE NEAREST HOUSE AND THEN YELL THROUGH THE WINDOWS.
This one made me laugh out loud 🤣
“ “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.”
"Or how about I make a Thomas calendar? ‘Twelve Months of British Hotness.’
"Thomas...Heath...Florence…” She inhaled sharply. "HOLY MOTHER OF HOTNESS. That is the best hair I have ever seen. He looks like a model…”
quite the description
He had a British accent. A British. Accent.
“But do you know what I remember most about that night?” I shook my head, not trusting my voice. “You. Less than ten minutes after I called you, you came running down the hallway to her room. All the nurses were yelling at you to stop, but you didn’t care—you just came running straight up to me. And you’d left your house so fast, you hadn’t even put on your shoes.” She paused, her eyes glittering. “That’s what I’ll always remember. You running barefoot down the hall, the nurses yelling as they chased after you. That’s who you really are, and I’ll never forget that when I needed you the most, you literally didn’t wait a single second. You just showed up.” She stepped forward, placing the rock at the base of the stump. “All hail Queen Maeve. My best and fastest friend.”
I aspire to be this brave
"Jump and a net will grow."
" Kalamata, no one knows what they're doing. It's called life."
"The day was going to be hot, but for now we were tiptoeing around the edge of the sun, the breeze from the ocean keeping the air comfortable."
I read this line in the beach of Thessaloniki, Greece <3
"... BOOKMARKS ARE FOR QUITTERS ..."
" ... plans are for buildings, not people..."
"Do you know what I love about this place? You are never quite alone when you are in a bookstore. So many voices are jammed into one place, it is impossible to feel alone."