Reviews

Review: Love and Olives by Jenna Evans Welch

I'm All Booked Up YA
Amazon.com: Love & Olives eBook: Welch, Jenna Evans: Kindle Store

*We received this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Liv Varanakis pretends to be something she’s not. She wants people to like her without knowing much about her life. After all, she pretends that her life in Seattle is perfect. She has her boyfriend Dax, his friends and a loving family.

Except, she hasn’t seen her dad since she was eight. He left to go back to his home country of Greece and find the lost city of Atlantis. When Liv was little, her dad loved to teach her about Greek mythology and how together they would use Plato’s clues to find Atlantis. 

The summer before her senior year, Liv gets a postcard from her father inviting her to Santorini for a few weeks to help with his projects. Begrudgingly, a few days later she’s on a plane to help her dad shoot a documentary on Atlantis for National Geographic. 

Talk about awkward. 1) It’s hard to be around her dad, 2) Liv has become an Atlantic skeptic, and 3) She’s sharing a bedroom with Theo, her dad’s protégé, who happens to be ridiculously cute. Will Liv and her father be able to work things out?

We we’re so excited about Welch’s next book. We loved Love and Gelato and couldn’t wait for a book set in Greece. Christy has been to Santorini and it’s just as beautiful as described in the book. Welch did her research because when visiting Santorini, many people discussed the theory that this was the site of Atlantis.

We loved the mystery aspect of the book. As history lovers, it would be so cool being able to do a project for National Geographic and explore Greece to understand one of the world’s most discussed myths. 

The characters also had us hooked. Liv is rightfully angry when she arrives, but has great character development. Things aren’t so black and white. While she has problems with her father, we loved seeing them become closer and work out their unresolved issues.

Then, there’s the romance! Dax was super dull and controlling. Theo won us over right away with his sense of humor and adventure. He gets Liv to open up and shows her the hidden gems of Santorini. Plus, he’s a budding filmmaker so he had great ideas for the documentary.

While it’s a cute contemporary, Welch mentioned some serious topics, mainly mental health. She did a good job of explaining depression and anxiety realistically. 

Overall, we loved this book about travel, adventure, family and romance. If you’re looking to go on a vacation through books, pick Love and Olives up when it releases November 10, 2020. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Published by I'm All Booked Up YA

We write recommendations and reviews for YA books.

22 thoughts on “Review: Love and Olives by Jenna Evans Welch”

  4. I’ve had Love & Gelato on my TBR for such a long time, and now that I’m hearing about this adorable-sounding sequel, I’ll definitely need to read the first ASAP so I can snatch this up when it’s released!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
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