Love & Gelato

Lina arrives in Tuscany grieving her mother and meeting a father she never knew — not the most cheerful summer setup. What saves the book is the dual-narrative structure: Lina reads her late mother's journal alongside her own present-day adventure, and that layering gives the story real emotional weight. The Florentine setting is rendered warmly, and the prose moves easily enough to carry reluctant readers through. The honest caveat: the romance with Ren moves from strangers to soulmates in what feels like forty-eight hours, and the back half of the plot follows a well-worn track. Grief is handled sincerely but lightly. Clean content for teens. If your reader wants an emotionally accessible Italy-set story and doesn't need the romance to earn its landing, it delivers on atmosphere. But there are stronger YA choices in this lane.