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Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is go back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires her, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

This book was everything I want from a sweet romance: lots of humor, plenty of tears, and (of course) romance.

Was it predictable? Of course.
Did I know how it would end? 100%
But THAT’S one of the reasons I love sweet romance. I expect a lot of the same things from the plots, but it’s the writing and the author’s voice that makes or breaks a story. In this case, Jenna Evans Welch’s writing and voice did the unimaginable–they made stay up too late reading (and enjoying) a split timeline YA novel.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike split timeline? And I’m not a huge fan of YA. But I just wanted to keep reading this one.

I don’t have many YA books to compare this too, but if you like Emma St. Clair and Jennifer Peel, I recommend this book.

Rated PG (some “underage” drinking, but it’s set it Italy, so it’s not underage there).

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For more sweet romance, check out:

Eloise and the Grump Next Door by Emma St. Clair and Jenny Proctor
When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison