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Love & Gelato is a teen fiction novel by Jenna Evans Welch first published on May 3, 2016 by Simon Pulse. The novel spent two weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2016. The novel is part of an anthology and it is followed by Love & Luck and Love & Olives.

Plot summary
Lina is a 16 year old girl who has recently lost her mother to cancer, and now as her dying wish, she is forced to spend the summer in Italy getting to know her father, a man she has never met before. Lina agrees to go but she harbours resentment towards Howard for not being present in her life up until that point. Things soon begin to go downhill for Lina as she discovers that she will be staying on the grounds of a memorial and cemetery for American soldiers killed during the war in Italy and when she is given her mother's old journal detailing her time in Italy, prior to her birth.

She meets Ren along the way, an Italian American boy living near Lina and Howard. They meet while Lina is on a morning run and soon after, she finds herself being invited to go to a party with him. At the party, she discovers that there's a whole community of international students staying in Florence and attending The American International School of Florence. Lina quickly befriends most of the students at the party as bubbly and welcoming Elena takes her under her wing. She also meets Mimi, Ren's girlfriend, who does not seem to take a liking to her the way everyone else does. Whatever she was feeling for Ren until that point is quickly discarded as she meets another student: Thomas. Lina and Thomas instantly hit it off, chatting all night.

Lina struggles to connect and open up to Howard after reading some of her mother's journal and she begins to wonder what went wrong in their relationship. She becomes torn due to the version of Howard her mother wrote about in the book- a man who was loving but at times cold and confusing- and the version she saw every day, a warm man trying his best to make it up to her. On top of that, she is conflicted with the decision ahead of her; would she stay in Florence long enough to attend AISF as Howard is hoping, or will she head back home to Seattle?

She enlists Ren to help her solve the mystery behind her parents' relationship, and they find themselves retracing her mother's steps in Italy, all the while they start developing romantic feelings for each other, despite the fact that Ren is interested in another girl, Mimi. Discouraged, Lina takes an interest in another boy attending the AISF, Thomas.

Lina and Ren's research eventually leads them to Rome to meet Matteo Rossi, a photographer, who Lina suspects to be her real father and the secret lover from her mother's journal. The meeting quickly takes a turn for the worse, as Matteo insists that Lina's mother- Hadley- had fabricated the whole story and that nothing happened between them and he concludes that he is not Lina's father. Heartbroken and distressed by his words, Lina rushes out with Ren close behind her, and while she's caught up in all of her emotions, she impulsively kisses Ren but he pushes her away. This puts a significant strain on their friendships and Ren starts to distance himself from Lina.

After the trip to Rome, Lina decides to tell Howard the truth, to tell him that he is not her biological father. She had suspected that for a while, but she was too afraid to tell Howard, knowing that it would break his heart, and out of fear of being kicked out. When she finally does tell him, she is taken aback by his calm demeanour. Lina soon finds out that Howard has known all along, but he did not say anything because he wanted Lina in her life and he feared that if she knew the truth she would push him away.

The book concludes with Lina and Ren making up and officially becoming a couple and Lina decides to stay in Italy.

Characters

 *  Carolina "Lina" Emerson – The narrator and protagonist of the novel, is spending the summer in Italy to get to know her father after her mother dies of pancreatic cancer. She struggles to connect with her father the more she learns about him from her mother's journal.
 *  Lorenzo "Ren" Ferrara - The boy Lina meets who she finds getting herself more and more attached to as he helps her figure out the mystery behind her mother and Howard's relationship.
 * Hadley Emerson - Lina's mother, who dies after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She spent the summer before Lina's birth studying photography in Florence and had a romantic relationship that turned sour, which caused her to leave Italy and not return. Before her eventual death, she asks Lina to spend her summer in Italy to reconnect with her father.
 * Howard Mercer - Lina's mother's old friend with who she's staying during the summer. Like Hadley, Howard is also American, but unlike her, he decided to stay in Italy. Lina initially believes he is her biological father, but upon reading her mother's journal she discovers that that's not the case. It is revealed that Howard knew about Lina's parentage.
 * Sonia - Howard's friend and groundkeeper of the war memorial.
 * Elena - She is a part of the group of students attending AISF, and eventually becomes one of Lina's closest friends in Florence. It is also mentioned that she is a descendant of the Medici family.
 * Thomas Heath - A British student at AISF who catches Lina's eye during her stay in Florence.
 * Mimi - A Swedish student at AISF and Ren's girlfriend. She shows a clear dislike towards Lina throughout the book.
 * Odette Ferrara - Ren and Gabriella's mother.
 * Gabriella Ferrara - Ren's younger sister.
 * Matteo Rossi - The man who is revealed to be Lina's biological father. He was Hadley's instructor at AISF while she studied there and the pair started a secret relationship, which ended with Matteo leaving Hadley.