I am not always a huge fan of contemporary novels. I feel like that's an important thing to point out before you get on into this review. I enjoy them as a bit of a palette cleanser amidst my mostly fantasy and science fiction reading schedule. I mean, who doesn't love a cheesy love story every once in a while? I certainly do. This one sounded promising to me, though with this kind of book I usually expect stereotypical fluffy stuff. (Insta love, good girl x bad boy, etc.) So that was where my head was at when I started this book.

I picked up Love & Gelato mostly because I love the idea of Italy, it's just so beautiful to see in pictures and the art is just wonderful. I can't really comment on the use of the language and culture in the book, as well I am not Italian, but it was a nice change of scenery from the usual contemporary setting. This book is a lot of things, part love story and part mystery as Lina deals with finding out about her mother's past with some new ~ friends ~.

I can say that the blurb about the book is a bit misleading and the going to live with her dad part of the story is not very credible. It isn't much of a spoiler (its revealed in chapter 1 I believe) to say/wonder what grandmother in their right mind would send their 16/17 year old granddaughter to live in ITALY with a man she didn't know was her father until you told her! A man who didn't even know she existed until he was told! I still have a hard time with that pretense, I mean even if it was Lina's mother's dying wish, is anyone thinking straight? Lina did not want to go, why force her to relocate while she is still grieving to a place she doesn't even know she's wanted.

OKAy sorry that became a rant, but anyways, the story started off on a rocky foot. After that she goes to Italy and then discovers the journal and goes on a hunt to figure out all that her mother was trying to say.

The development between Lina and Ren was super cute, and I really loved their friendship dynamic throughout the book. It's nice to have a boy & girl friendship that doesn't feel like it's going to end up as a relationship...

At times the story was very predictable, I guessed as i read along and it turned out to be right, that being said, I didn't find that deterred too much from me enjoying reading it. I did want to see how it would all play out.

Overall, this is definitely the book for you, if you enjoy cute, fluffy contemporaries. If you aren't their biggest fan I wouldn't recommend that you pick it up. It was a sweet read filled with nice characters who weren't all completely static. If you can look past the issues I couldn't I'm sure you will enjoy it all the more.