Love & Olives

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What was nice, however, was that the books (Love and Gelato, Love and Olives, and Love and Luck) are connected, but not a series, not unlike Stephanie Perkins’s trilogy. I want to give it Goldilocks 3 stars as a kind of average of its two extremes, but I do think the daddy-daughter dynamic helped put it over the edge just a bit, so 3. Liv soon learns that her father has a chance to film a documentary about Atlantis for National Geographic, and he’s brought her to Greece to be his art director.

I also had a problem with everyone in the book treating one employee like he was slow and not taking him seriously. This story isn’t just a love story between two teenagers, but it’s a love story between a father and his daughter, navigating their broken relationship through the tale of Atlantis. I loved the culture and all the mentions of Greek food; my husband is Greek so I loved reading about things that I’ve come to learn over the years. There’s a lot of pain, regret, and more serious issues that weave themselves through the story, so Theo provided some comedic relief and a lighter side to contrast with the darker one.

However, unlike Perkins’s books, they happen simultaneously, over the course of the same summer in three separate European countries. My main problem lays with Liv, how her father from the very first time she stepped to Greece used her for her talent and free labor, and she didn't even realized it, and went with it. 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?

Summary (From the publisher):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. Do you think going back and forth in time -- a frequently used plot device in modern novels -- adds tension or interest to the story?

And this story made me cry over the pain, loss, and misunderstanding of what once was and what could have been for Olive and her father. I loved that they struggled in the beginning and had a fallout because yea, she did have a boyfriend at the time and still didn’t want to leave him.

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. I want to say Liv is cool in a way I wish I had been as a teenager, but tbh, Liv is cool in a way I wish I was right now. She's pretty self absorbed and too sure she's right about everything, and at times it feels like it's just taking too long for her to start learning and changing. Not only was Dax going to Stanford, but half his family had gone there too, and his older cousin Amelia worked in the admissions office.I was delighted to discover a third book was coming out in this series of companion novels, this one taking place in Santorini!