Jenna Evans Welch

Willow has felt untethered since her parents' divorce, even more so since her dad in NYC remarried and must deal with toddler triplets, effectively taking all his spare time. Her mother, now running a very successful event planning business on the west coast, has become distant, more like a robot than a mom. Willow's dream is to travel the world, but deep down, she really wants to find a spot that feels like 'home.'
When her mother receives a mysterious letter from relatives in Salem, MA show more people Willow has never heard of, it is the beginning of a mysterious, sometimes painful, but marvelous journey. It involves a star-loving foster teen named Mason who is searching for something equally important. Fate brings them together and they play detective to unravel the mystery surrounding why Willow's mom refuses to tell her anything about her past in Salem. It also leads them to unravel Mason's own painful quest, while making them realize they're a big part of what each is searching for. Secondary characters are intriguing, and the sparks between Willow and Mason are exquisitely portrayed. A stunner of a book in the best possible way. show less

In the wake of her mother's death, Lina has been shipped to Italy for the summer to meet the father she didn't know existed. Lina is less than wild about the idea, but even with her consuming grief, Italy has its charms. And when an old acquaintance of her mom's gives Lina the journal her mom wrote while she was living in Italy, Lina becomes consumed by the mystery of how her mom and dad ended up where they did.

A charming YA romance that includes some heavy issues. The depictions of Lina's show more grief are well done and Welch also describes Italy beautifully, which is sure to ignite some wanderlust in its readers. While the mystery around her mom's time in Italy wasn't super mysterious for me, watching Lina come to the conclusions I had already reached was still great fun. Definitely an appealing read-alike for fans of [Anna and the French Kiss]. show less

Source: Barnes and Noble

I don’t often have the experience of completely losing myself in contemporary stories. That privilege is usually reserved for fantasy and sci-fi. Something about world building and magic and escape, I’m sure.

With that said, Jenna Evans Welch’ s Love & Gelato has changed that game. The bulk of the story takes place in one summer spent in Florence, through the eyes of high school studnet, Lina. She is making good on a promise she made to her mom (who recently show more passed due to pancreatic cancer) to visit her mom’s old friend and Lina’s biological dad who she has never met until stepping foot on Italian soil.

Though that set up seems significantly charged for emotion and drama as it is, Lina finds herself thrust a little deeper into the past when an old friend of her mom gives her a journal that her mom kept during her own time in the city.

Suddenly, everything Lina thought she knew turns inside out, bringing mystery, magic, and tears right along with her mother’s journal entries.

The story is so well done that I definitly found myself drifting off to the gorgeous Tuscan countryside, wrapped up in artists, green hills, vineyards, and galleries. The setting itself is magical but the humans involved in both the present and past timelines are so three dimensional and substantial that I kept having to remind myself it was fiction.

The cover doesn’t do the actual story justice as it looks like a fluffy little romance. It is truly deep in a soul-bearing way and filled with questions of identity, loyalty, and life purpose.

It’s the perfect summer read in that it is adorable but it also has an incredible amount of real emotion worked in.

I am off to find Welch’s second book, a spin-off about Ireland, which I’ve heard is also excellent. I highly recommend Love & Gelato if you haven’t already found yourself lost in its pages. show less

As a person who prefers staying at home to traveling, I felt like I could understand some of the stress Lina felt being sent to the "idyllic vacation spot" of Italy. This story was well-paced, balancing a new connection with Howard, a blossoming attraction to Ren, and a complicated history with her mom. I felt like the mystery portion of this book wrapped up well and left no loose ends. I loved the food experiences and I appreciated the validation given to legitimate grieving and the need show more for strong, dependable support systems. The reason this book gets three stars instead of four or five is because I felt like Lina didn't catch on to the particular nuances of the journal fast enough. It seriously took her forever. Plus, a little bit more communication on her part would have given her a lot more peace with a lot less angst. show less