Read a full summary of Love and Gelato, book #1 in Jenna Evans Welch’s Love and Gelato trilogy. This page is full of spoilers, so beware. If you are wondering what happened in Love and Gelato, then you are in the right place!
Author
Jenna Evans Welch
Ratings
4.7 stars on Amazon
4.12 stars on Goodreads
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Love and Gelato
#1 Love & Gelato
#2 Love & Luck
#3 Love & Olives
***** Everything below is a SPOILER *****
What happened in Love and Gelato?
Lina’s mom, Hadley, has always told her stories about her time in Florence and her special friend Howard who lives there.
When Hadley dies of pancreatic cancer, Lina’s grandma sends her to live with Howard in Italy. She says it was Hadley’s wish because Howard is Lina’s father.
When Lina arrives after finishing her school year, she is bewildered to discover that Howard lives in and is the caretaker of an American cemetery.
Howard’s friend Sonia gives Lina a journal that once belonged to Hadley. It covers the time Hadley lived in Florence as a young woman. Apparently, she mailed it to the cemetery to wait for Lina’s arrival. Lina reads it slowly over the next several weeks and refuses to talk to Howard about their relationship until she has finished.
Lina meets Ren Ferrara, who goes to the local American school. They have been anxiously awaiting her arrival since Howard came by to say she would enroll in the fall.
But Lina plans to leave before the summer is up. She will go back home to the US.
Ren and Lina become quick friends, and their bond deepens as they read Hadley’s journal together. Too bad Ren has a beautiful girlfriend named Mimi.
Lina also meets an attractive British boy named Thomas, and they spend some time together.
Through Hadley’s journal, Ren and Lina learn that Hadley fell in love with someone who worked at her art school. Hadley referred to him as X in the journal, and Lina assumed she meant Howard. Later, though, Hadley calls Howard by name, and Lina begins to suspect that X is another man. Ren and Lina track down X, who turns out to be Matteo Rossi, one of Hadley’s old professors. In the journal, Lina finds that Rossi broke Hadley’s heart. Rossi treats Lina horribly when they meet, even though, through appearance, she knows that he is her father. He denies that she is his child and insults Hadley.
After this terrible meet-up, Lina is not herself. In her emotional upheaval, she kisses Ren and realizes she loves him. But he pulls away, and to save face, she says she’s never seen him as anything but a friend.
Lina believes that he’s devoted to Mimi when he starts avoiding her after the incident.
How did Love and Gelato end?
Lina learns from the journal that Hadley did start to fall in love with Howard, but by then, she was already pregnant with Rossi’s baby. She went back to the states breaking Howard’s heart.
Lina learns from a friend that Ren had already broken up with Mimi because he hoped to date Lina. Lina is afraid she ruined everything. She confronts him at a party, and he says he was hurt when she stressed that she had never ever ever considered him as anything but a friend. They part ways.
Later that night, Lina wakes to Ren throwing coins at her window. Ren apologizes and tells her that he loves her. Lina decides to say in Florence.
Howard reads her mother’s journal, and Lina learns that he already knew he wasn’t her father. He told her that he considers himself a father figure, and he wants to help raise her and be a part of her life. Hadley had sent to the journal for Howard as well. She wanted him to know that she loved him and made a mistake for leaving.
Lina looks forward to the future for the first time since her mother died.
There you go! That’s what happened in Love and Gelato. We hope you enjoyed this Love and Gelato summary with spoilers.
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Netflix's unusual but sweet film, Love & Gelato, lives up to its name regarding romantic relationships and gelato.
Based on the New York Times bestseller by Jenna Evans Welch, the film is directed and written by Brandon Camp. It revolves around a young girl who visits Rome as a way to fulfill her mother's dream, only to find herself falling head over heels for the city and its gelato.
Let's find out who Lina ends up with, and dissect and understand the ending of Love & Gelato.
Note: This article contains spoilers.
Does Lina end up with Lorenzo or Alessandro?
At the end of Love & Gelato, Lina was seen choosing herself instead of picking either one of the men she was with throughout the film. However, the ending also hinted that she might end up with Lorenzo, as even a year apart would not stop them from meeting again.
Lorenzo finished up his studies at the Culinary Academy in Paris and decided to take over Greta's place after she retired. He had then asked Lina to come over for dinner and gelato at his grandmother's house. Love & Gelato ended with Lina's riding off on her bike.
Analyzing the end of Love & Gelato: Who is Lina's father?
As Love & Gelato progressed towards the end, viewers saw that Matteo Fussi refused to meet Lina after he learned she was his daughter. This made Lina mad, and she took a photo of what her mother Matteo had on his studio wall. A grieving Lina found herself with Lorenzo again, and the two shared a kiss. Later, Lorenzo expressed his wish to make their relationship work, but Lina did not feel the same way.
Lina planned her trip back to the United States even after Howard's convincing. However, when Addie was brought to Italy, she decided to stay back. They went to a party at Ale's place and learned that Lorenzo was going to Paris to study at the Culinary Academy. She rushed to the airport and explained to Lorenzo how their kiss was not a mistake but was just not at the right time in her life.
Lina shared how her perception of doing the right thing was always to choose between the two men she met when the diary had been asking her to choose herself all along. Lorenzo being the understanding one, accepted and understood Lina's decision.
Later, Howard asked Lina to accept him as her adopted father, which made Lina happy as she now had a family, deciding to defer college for a year. She chose to stay in Italy to find herself and spend time with her adoptive father.
Lina's mother never wanted her to meet Matteo Fossi, and it was always Howard who she believed would take care of her daughter as a father. She loved him, but they met at the wrong time. At the end of Love & Gelato, viewers see Lina strolling around the streets of Italy and clicking pictures with her mother's camera.
She also met Lorenzo, who had become a chef and had bought a secret patisserie piece that he planned to name 'The contrary.' Lina made him believe that being different made him better, which further helped him in his culinary journey. Lorenzo invited Lina to taste his Nonna’s famous gelato, and Lina happily agreed.
Lina had become more confident, learned to face her fears, and learned about the importance of love, which makes life and gelato better.
Stream Love & Gelato now available on Netflix.
There are two things that I love more than anything else when it comes to reading: romance and adventure. I love them so much, I literally put them in my bio. Why? Because romance is guaranteed to make me feel everything all at once: anticipation, wonder, anger (at the inevitable misunderstandings), and, of course, the heart bursting overload of happiness! Meanwhile, adventure keeps me on my toes. What place will I get to explore vicariously through these characters? What weird things will I see? What strange but useful factoids will I learn? The list of benefits to literary adventures goes on and on!
Given how strongly I feel about romance and adventure, it should come as no surprise that I’m obsessed with Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch. Obviously it has my two favorite things, but it’s also jam-packed with other reasons that bring this to the top of my “must shove into the hands of every fellow reader I meet” list.
Bonus, it’s currently available as a free read, which is great because I’m about to go to town explaining to you why you should read it RIGHT NOW!
1. Italy
Love & Gelato is told from the perspective of Lina, an American who’s visiting Italy for the summer. This is important, especially if you’ve never been to Italy (like me). Because Lina’s never been to Italy before, you get to explore and learn about the country (specifically Tuscany and its surrounding areas) through her novice eyes. You’ll feel everything from excitement and wonder at seeing everything for the first time, to slight embarrassment as Lina makes common tourist/foreigner mistakes. You’ll get to visit and explore both the tourist attractions and the not-so-touristy attractions. It’s a whirlwind of beautiful experiences and you get to do all this without having to spring for an expensive plane ticket!
2. The Writing
Jenna Evans Welch has a gift for writing. Exploring Italy through a book wouldn’t be nearly as fun if she weren’t so incredibly gifted. The pacing is quick and easy to digest, but her choice of words really brings the views and experiences to life. Everything in and about this story unfolds like a beautifully wrapped gift. You’re going to end up devouring the story and then going back for seconds, I guarantee it!
3. The Journal
Lina goes to Italy because her mom has passed away and her mom’s last request is for her to get to know her father. As you can imagine, Lina is struggling with feelings of grief over her mother, and feelings of apprehension, since she’s in a foreign country with a complete stranger who happens to be her father. But then Lina gets her mom’s journal, and it’s like she’s getting to know her mom all over again. She learns what her mom was like when she was younger, and makes some incredible revelations about who her mom really was. Reading through the journal posts and seeing their impact on Lina is a beautiful experience. In a way, it’s like her mom was able to give her something to hold on to and to help her get through her grief.
4. The Mystery
Lina learns a lot from her mom’s journal, and she reads it slowly so she can savor these last few “moments” she’ll have with her mom. But as she reads, she begins to realize that some things aren’t quite adding up. Something in the journal is such a secret that it would seem her mom was too afraid to actually write it straight-out. Unfortunately, this all starts to happen as she nears the end of the journal. Did her mom gain enough courage to reveal the secret before she finished writing, or will Lina be left with a lifelong mystery?
5. Howard
Howard is Lina’s dad and he’s pretty great. He suddenly has a teenage daughter in his care that he didn’t know was his, but he rolls with it. Sure, sometimes he says the wrong thing, but he does his absolute best and always offers gelato at just the right moments. Even though Lina is only supposed to be visiting for the summer, he makes it pretty clear that he would be over the moon if she chose to stay with him indefinitely (but only if she wants to). I don’t want to give anything away, but throughout the book you learn things about Howard that will only endear him to you even more.
6. Lorenzo
Ok, so he usually goes by Ren, but Lorenzo is so much more fun to say. I mean, if that isn’t the name of a swoonworthy leading man, I don’t know what is. Ren is pretty much everything you could hope for in a romantic interest. He befriends Lina right away, and proves that he’s a friend anyone would want. He integrates her with his Italian friends so she doesn’t feel so alone in a foreign country and goes out of his way to take Lina on adventures around Italy, making sure to hit all the important places. He’s also integral to helping Lina figure out her mom’s great mystery. He’s not perfect, but he’s cute, friendly, quirky, and a little nerdy, and if you don’t think that’s better than perfect, you’re wrong. Watching him and Lina fumble through their friendship/relationship is charming and endearing, and of course, full of awkward encounters and misunderstandings!
7. Gelato
Pretty much every time you open this book, you’re going to want gelato. Also, it feels really good to eat gelato WHILE reading this book. Just try and tell me that’s not a selling point!
Have I convinced you to read Love & Gelato? Or have I missed your favorite thing about the book? Let me know in the comments!