The Weekend Aesthetic is a feature where I post book aesthetics on the weekend. They might be of a book I’m currently reading, recently read, or read a long time ago.
I am so glad I finally read Jenna Evans Welch’s books in 2020. They are all so good, but Love & Olives might just be my favorite of the Love & Gelato series. Like Jenna’s previous novels, Love & Olives has a gorgeous setting, a complicated family relationship in need of mending, and a swoonworthy love interest.
When Liv was eight, her father abandoned their family to search for Atlantis—leaving Liv shattered in the process. It’s now the summer before her senior year of high school when she receives a postcard from her father inviting her to Greece, the last thing she wants to do. When she arrives in Santorini, she discovers her father and a cute filmmaker named Theo are working on a documentary about Atlantis for National Geographic and that they need her help.
As Liv interacts with her father for the first time in years, she’s even more hurt and confused by why he left. But slowly they begin to reconcile as she finds out the answers to the questions she’s been desperately asking for years. I absolutely loved Liv and her character development as she learns to embrace her past. Her complicated relationship with her father is so well-written—I even teared up at the end. Interlacing their relationship with the legend of Atlantis was interesting and intriguing. And I can’t forget to mention sweet and adventurous Theo, who was Liv’s perfect guide in Santorini. Love & Olives is a must-read for fans of Morgan Matson and Stephanie Perkins!
Release Date: November 10, 2020
Find it: Goodreads, Bookshop, IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon
From the New York Times bestselling author of Love & Gelato comes a Mamma Mia!–inspired tale about a teen girl finding romance while trying to connect with her absent father in beautiful Santorini, Greece.
Liv Varanakis doesn’t have a lot of fond memories of her father, which makes sense—he fled to Greece when she was only eight. What Liv does remember, though, is their shared love for Greek myths and the lost city of Atlantis. So when Liv suddenly receives a postcard from her father explaining that National Geographic is funding a documentary about his theories on Atlantis—and will she fly out to Greece and help?—Liv jumps at the opportunity.
But when she arrives to gorgeous Santorini, things are a little…awkward. There are so many questions, so many emotions that flood to the surface after seeing her father for the first time in years. And yet Liv doesn’t want their past to get in the way of a possible reconciliation. She also definitely doesn’t want Theo—her father’s charismatic so-called “protégé”—to witness her struggle.
And that means diving into all that Santorini has to offer—the beautiful sunsets, the turquoise water, the hidden caves, and the delicious cuisine. But not everything on the Greek island is as perfect as it seems. Because as Liv slowly begins to discover, her father may not have invited her to Greece for Atlantis, but for something much more important.