Love & Gelato / Jenna Evans Welch

Our Summer Books special opens with Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch, a breezy romantic comedy that offers far more substance than its pastel cover and sun-drenched Tuscan setting might suggest. At first glance, it appears to be another escapist holiday romance, complete with Renaissance streets, irresistible gelato, and the promise of youthful love. Yet Welch quietly subverts those expectations.

The novel follows Lina, who reluctantly spends the summer in Tuscany—not in pursuit of postcard-perfect vistas or a whirlwind romance, but to fulfil her late mother's final wish: that she finally meet the father she has never known. It is hardly the most inviting reunion. After sixteen years of absence, the man in question has little claim on the title of "father," and Lina arrives carrying more resentment than anticipation. Her journey is therefore driven less by romance than by grief, obligation, and an understandable desire for answers.

The story gathers momentum when Lina is entrusted with her mother's private journal, written during her own youthful summer in Italy. As she retraces those footsteps, she discovers hidden corners of Florence and Tuscany, from tucked-away bakeries to remarkable works of art, while meeting the charming Ren, whose presence adds warmth without overwhelming the novel's emotional core. Welch wisely ensures that romance complements the story rather than defines it.

At its heart, Love & Gelato is less interested in love at first sight than in the quieter, more complicated business of understanding where we come from. Family, identity, forgiveness, and self-discovery weave naturally through Lina's search for the truth. The journal gradually exposes long-buried secrets that force her—and the reader—to reconsider everything believed about her parents and, ultimately, herself.

One question lingers long after the final page: what truly motivates Lina? Is she honouring her mother's dying wish, satisfying her own curiosity, or searching for a missing piece of herself? Welch never offers an easy answer, and the novel is richer for it. Readers may well find themselves wondering what they would do in Lina's place—and whether some family mysteries are worth unearthing at all.

Love & Gelato succeeds because it resists becoming merely another holiday romance. Instead, it serves up a thoughtful coming-of-age story with enough humour, heart, and unexpected emotional depth to remind us that, while gelato may melt quickly under the Tuscan sun, the questions we inherit from our families have a habit of lingering.