His life goal/dream has been to find the lost city of Atlantis and believes they key is in Santorini. She then arrived in the beautiful country, reunited with her father, met new people, including his father's assistant, Theo, and most importantly, she discovered… a lot.

Today I was so happy to have a distraction that I was more than willing to pretend that Maya didn’t have a raging crush on my boyfriend that had spanned a decade. I want them to taste like a delicious cupcake, complete with frosting and sprinkles, while mixing in some bran and banana that will stick with and nourish my readers, informing how they make decisions and see themselves.His parents are workaholics and barely talk to him, which gives him as much freedom as he needs to do whatever he wants, usually. I don’t like stories where the guy overrides a girl’s no because he “knows better” than she does or knows her better than she knows herself, etc.

She’d been really respectful of my decision to go by Liv, and she almost never slipped up on that anymore. While he was my main issue, his reasons were the only thing that kept me turning those pages, because I still wanted to know. I felt another jolt in my chest, and suddenly my head was swirling, my thoughts racing by so quickly I couldn’t snag a single one. There was a tiny little shelf and I remember noticing that half of the books were about cheerleaders. Dax had always been one of Julius’s main targets, and so far all attempts at a cease-fire had been met with resistance.I live in the snowy Rocky Mountains, have an unhealthy obsession with soft blankets, and am happiest with a crochet hook in my hand while listening to an audibook. Liv was a great, relatable and funny protagonist, and her romance with Theo was really well developed and cute. It's not really a tear-jerker kind of novel but I was affected by it to a degree that took me by surprise. Theo is eager and high-spirited and provides Liv with dozens of facts about olives (her actual name).

The sun dropped slowly, elegantly, like a lady sinking into a curtsy, getting redder and denser as it sank, inch by inch, into the ocean. Not only does Dax hate running alone, but last night he also accompanied me to an art exhibit in downtown Seattle that was all about the history of the Polaroid. Sometimes you try to change yourself as a survival or defense mechanism, but that won't stop painful feelings and will keep you from being your best, truest self. I kept saying it was too painful to revisit, but, without my knowing, he showed my book to his publisher, who saw potential in it and made an offer. Ultimately, the book centers around her relationship with her dad than any hints at romance and I’m not mad about it because it’s executed so well.The close quarters meant that I wasn't anticipating when Theo would be around again or how their relationship would progress because they had jumped like 10 whole relationship steps in the span of 5 pages. Theo takes her to the meetup place where her father has thoughtfully put out a belated birthday spread with all of Olive's favorite things. She’s got a great sense of style, she’s a talented artist, and she is surprisingly chill about solo international travel at such a young age. How do you find the balance between romance and the serious issues that you explore in your books, like difficult familial relationships and mental health, and ensure that the romance never diminishes the more serious topics?

The first thing I thought was a little off or weird is that the synopsis says she “jumps at the opportunity” to come there and that he explains exactly what’s happening in the postcard, I was a little confused. And I think it's those same experiences that made me feel very, profoundly sad about some things in this book. Love and Gelato is one of my favorite reads, but I was hesitant to read Jenna Evans Welch’s other books. Due to a misunderstanding and an open door, Cirrus thinks that Sunny’s brother’s room (the same brother who hasn’t been in contact for quite a while) is in fact Sunny’s, he feels compelled to keep up a lie so Cirrus likes him.

I don’t know the science of why that whoosh of cold air happens, but having that experience with a group of strangers is really incredible. I think, when you’re starting out, your pace and your skill level can be really mismatched, which is frustrating. In addition, this is definitely a ‘it’s not the book, it’s me thing,’ but I also wasn’t super invested in the Atlantis sub-plot. The blue-domed white buildings, the curve of the Santorini caldera, the stunning sunsets that the island is known for. Sure there is a lot of mystery built up around the Atlantis myth and discovering that, but I still felt like the story was a good 100 pages, at least, too long.