Blog Tour Review with Giveaway: Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
Published by Simon Pulse on November 10, 2020
Genres: YA Contemporary
Pages: 500
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
Goodreads

Synopsis:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Love & Gelatocomes 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.

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Get your copy of Love & Other Detours: Love & Gelato; Love & Luck now!

My Review:

So this is the first book I’ve read in this series, and I was blown away! Of course leave it to me to read the longest one too! It was a very big book, I mean over 400 pages! Greece is definitely on the list of places I’ve always wanted to visit. And the sound of the bookstore that Liv gets to stay in and spend a lot of time in is just perfect! I love the idea of all the homes in the cliffs and if I was ever going to meet someone and fall in love and get married, and had the money, I always thought a wedding on the cliffs there would be cool.

But besides the setting, which was a huge character in the story all by itself, there were the actual characters and they were perfect as well. Liv was a normal teenager in the way she felt about so many things as they related to her, not always seeing that there was another side, that her father had been her age once, that maybe there was more to the reasons he left and maybe she wasn’t remembering everything from her childhood correctly or accurately, but from a child’s experience and limited world knowledge. Her father was perfect, and I just knew his trips away were for a reason other than he was giving her, but even when we found out what they were for, there were still other things that popped up and surprised me and added so many layers to this story.

Of course I do love a good legendary myth or story like Atlantis, although it’s never been the one I’ve really thought about that much. But the way they explored it and all the different theories in this book were so interesting it definitely grabbed my interest.

And then there is Theo. I adored Theo. His sense of humor, his arrogance, he was just the perfect summer guy to be there not only as an antagonizer, but also as a comfort for Liv.

Luckily I’ve now got copies of the first two books as well, thanks to the publisher, and I can’t wait to dive into them! Although they are noticeably shorter books, so I should be able to get through them in no time, and I can’t wait to see what worlds they take me to, Italy, my ancestors’ home, and Ireland, which I’ve learned I have Irish ancestry as well, so that should be fun too.

About the Author:

Jenna Evans Welch was the kind of insatiable child reader who had no choice but to grow up to become a writer. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Love & Gelato, Love & Luck, and Love & Olives. When she isn’t writing girl abroad stories, Jenna can be found chasing her children or making elaborate messes in the kitchen. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and two young children. Visit her online at JennaEvansWelch.com.

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Giveaway:

3 winners will receive a physical copy of LOVE & OLIVES, US Only. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

11/9/2020	YA Books Central	Excerpt
11/10/2020	Lisa Loves Literature	Review
11/11/2020	Do You Dog-ear?	Review
11/12/2020	Not In Jersey	Review
11/13/2020	booksaremagictoo	Review

 Week Two:

11/16/2020	Book Briefs	Review
11/17/2020	Here’s to Happy Endings	Review
11/18/2020	Moonlight Rendezvous	Review
11/19/2020	Rajiv’s Reviews	Review
11/20/2020	PopTheButterfly Reads	Review