STORY | Olive ‘Liv’ Varanakis is growing up. Now a teenager, years ago her father left her and her mother without a second glance. Some ten years later, Liv receives a postcard from her dad asking her to come to Greece to help with his latest dream chasing, which is to find Atlantis. Reluctant to go, Liv follows her mother’s advice to see what her father wants, and angers her boyfriend in the process. With a ticket in hand, she heads off to Greece, hoping to find some answers to her long buried feelings of neglect… and find the pieces of herself she’s been missing.
Love and Olives by Jenna Evans Welch | Book Review
REVIEW | This is one of those novels that I was excited about from the first time I read the synopsis. Likely in large part because all of Jenna’s novels sound cute and fun; novels that reside on my shelf, but as of yet I have not read. Fortunately for me, they aren’t must-read-in-a-row kind of books, and so, without having read her prior armchair novels, I settled in to read Love and Olives, hoping her writing would be something I’d like as well as I suspected.
Inside these pages rests a story that rife with adventure, and character exploration. The fact that the bulk of the 400+ pages (this seems long for a YA contemporary) takes place in Greece only enhances the plot and makes it more fun because the setting in and of itself is adventurous. Plus, there’s a really fun bookstore angle that will, naturally, charm any reader.
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The characters are fun to get to know too. I like Liv, though there are some awkward and even a bit heartbreaking, moments between her and her father. It opens a path to a more emotional doorway for these characters to walk through. Of course, there’s always some romance in the presence of Theo. In the end, Love and Olives is quite possibly one of the most charming secular young adult romances I’ve read in a while. It’s full of possibilities, and plenty of adventuring!
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Author: Jenna Evans Welch
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Publisher provided – thank you Simon & Schuster!
Publication Date: 2020
Find the Review Elsewhere: Goodreads
Find the Book Elsewhere: Goodreads
Genre: Fiction; Contemporary, Secular Adult
Rating:
Content: there is some commonplace profanity, along with references to sexuality and sexual content.
Sincere thanks to the publisher for kindly providing an ARC of this novel in consideration of review; all opinions are my own.
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