29 Books To Read If You Liked Love And Gelato

Anna has it all. A great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more and she is so looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta. And that’s why she’s so not thrilled about being shipped off to a boarding school in Paris.

At least until she meets Etienne St. Clair, a smart, charming, and beautiful boy who has it all. . .including a serious girlfriend. But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true.

I finally read this one and I loved it. I don’t care if it’s terrible, I loved it. This is exactly what I’m a sucker for.

Aubree is ready for a perfectly relaxing summer in boring Ohio, but when her older sister Elizabeth gets into some real trouble, Aubree is convinced to take over her job, pretending to be Elizabeth, leading a group of senior citizens on a bus tour through Europe.

Before the first stop in Amsterdam, the plan is already falling apart. She has no phone and no binder full of carefully prepared facts. But she does have an unexpected guest: the tour company owner’s son Sam. Since she’s pretending to be her sister, she shouldn’t fall for him, but that’s tough when some of the most romantic cities in the world are their love story backdrop.

Her relationship with Sam is threatening to ruin her relationship with her sister and she feels like she’s letting them both down, but this trip will show her who she really is, she just hopes she likes where she ends up.

Cassie’s parents are getting divorced and all she wants is to get on some solid ground, so when her mom surprises her with the news of a four month sailing trip from Oregon to Mexico with her and her brother Drew, Cassie is furious. And nervous.

She’s been trying to keep Drew sheltered from what Cassie knows about her mother’s role in their parents split, but in such close quarters her anger may push past its tipping point.

Jonah is the flirtatious and gorgeous deckhand who she tries to keep at a distance, but the more time they spend together, the harder it is to fight the attraction.

Of course, if you liked Love and Gelato you’ll have to read the newest book in the series, too!

Liv Varanakis doesn’t have many fond memories of her father, but that’s because he fled to Greece when she was only eight. She does remember a shared love of Greek Myths and the lost city of Atlantis, though so when she receives a postcard from him to come out and help with a documentary on his theories on Atlantis, she jumps at the chance.

Once she gets there though, things are a little awkward. It is the first time she’s seen her father in years, after all. She doesn’t want their past to ruin their future, and she certainly doesn’t want his production assistant Theo to see her struggle so that means diving headfirst into all Santorini has to offer.

I finally just got this one in February 2022 and cannot wait to read it!

The only way Taylor feels like she stands out from her two exceptional siblings is in her history of running away when things get too tough. Her father receives terrible news and they and the family makes a last-minute decision to spend the summer together at their old cramped lake house.

Taylor never thought she would return to the lake house and is now forced to confront people she thought she’d left behind like her former best friend and her first crush who is all grown up now. And really cute. Now she is surrounded by memories better left in the past but she can’t run away.

As the days pass, Taylor realizes she has a second chance with friends, family, and maybe even love, but when summer ends, she knows there is no way to recapture what she stands to lose.

Molly Barlow isn’t that girl anymore. She has reinvented herself after everything that happened a year ago and life is getting back to normal. She just said “I love you” to her boyfriend Ian and they’re off on a romantic vacation to Europe, starting in London, where she runs into her ex, Gabe, with his new girlfriend Sadie.

Ian invites them to join them in Ireland, and not knowing their history, Sadie jumps at the opportunity.

Molly and Gabe can’t bring themselves to tell the truth about who they are to each other and now she has to spend nine days with the boy she once loved, whose heart she shredded, without Ian knowing.

I read this one over the summer and really enjoyed it. It’s a fun read!

Carter Moon loves that nothing ever happens in Little, California, but when Adam Jakes arrives to film a movie, everything changes.

Her town becomes a giant set and everyone seems to be starry-eyed for Adam, except for her at least which leads to the secret offer of a lifetime: to be his pretend girlfriend while he’s in town to help improve his public image in exchange for a hefty paycheck.

Her family needs the money, so she agrees, but he isn’t quite who she thought he was and soon there’s a blurry line between whats real and whats not.

Annie is looking for a fresh start with the California dream after her fathers unusual betrayal. Things aren’t going as planned and her mom lands a last minute job as a makeup artist for a teen movie idol and manages to finagle a spot for Annie on his European promo tour.

Annie would rather fangirl over architecture than an A-lster, but when Graham Cabot turns out to be more sweet and vulnerable behind-the-scenes, that changes.

Too bad falling for a star isn’t all red carpets and star treatment, especially when you have to think about obnoxious fans, an over protective assistant, a momager, and a beefy bodyguard. Things don’t get too sticky until the paparazzi make their appearance.

Abby is seventeen and only has one goal for the summer: to make sure she is fluent in French. And to get away from her baseball obsessed family.

Turns out her French partner is the exact kind of boy she was trying to avoid, but now she faces 8 weeks, 120 hours of classes, and 80 hours of conversation with someone who seems to exclusively wear baseball hats and jerseys.

But French Zeke is different than English Zeke and she can’t help but fall for him. Soon she suspects he’s hiding something and she has to decide if bridging the gap between the distance of who they are is worth it.

June is ready for life to begin and high school to end while Oliver is soaking up the glory days of senior year.

They’ve coasted through high school without really knowing each other. But now their moms have arranged for Oliver to drive her to school everyday.

Now the two fight about everything, but love finds a way and when hearts and promises get broken, they have to figure out what really matters and fight for it.

Addie’s aunt is having an over-the-top wedding in Ireland and all she wants to do while she’s there is forget her terrible heartbreak. Too bad her brother Ian won’t let her forget. This leads to a fistfight at the wedding and now their trip and futures are in jeopardy.

Then Addie finds the Ireland for the Heartbroken guidebook and her anxieties begin to ease.

Suddenly their travel plans change and Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle with Ian and his cute Irish friend. She hopes the guidebook will help heal her heart and her relationship with her brother.

I read this one in 2020 and, like Love and Gelato, loved it a lot!

Rainie doesn’t have a passion like her friends do. She’s more of a dabbler, but as graduation is approaching, she wishes she had more of a direction. But when Tuck gives a monologue that puts into words what she was feeling, she realizes Tuck is her passion.

Then Rainie convinces her ex-BFF to let her work at the same summer job as Tuck with a foolproof plan to date him. At least until she arrives and meets Milo who has a complicated past.

James Fuller has floppy hair and a lopsided grin. He’s the most popular guy in school and I’m just the girl who sneezed and spit out her retainer on someone at a middle school dance.

I’m being forced to tutor you in English and keep it a secret so I don’t put the school basketball team’s chances of winning State in jeopardy and while I love basketball, I hate you.

The more time we spend together, the more it feels like you’re hiding something from me and that there’s more than meets the eye.

And that I really don’t hate you at all.

Amy is having a terrible year. Her mother moved across the country and now Amy has to get the car from California to Connecticut. There is, however, one small problem. Since her dad died in the spring, she hasn’t been able to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger, an old family friend who happens to be really cute with some baggage of his own.

Amy hadn’t planned on meeting new people or coming to terms with her fathers death on this trip. She also didn’t plan on driving the loneliest road in America, seeing the Rocky Mountains, or visiting Graceland, but as they drive, Amy finds that the people you least expected are the ones you need the most. And that sometimes you need to get lost to find your way home.

Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer so the more outrageous and sparkly the outfit, the better. Everything in her life is pretty perfect right now until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, come back to the neighborhood.

Cricket is a gifted inventor who finally steps out of his twin sister’s shadow and into Lola’s life and now she must reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Sloane is the reason Emily’s life became 100% more interesting, but right before what is supposed to be the best summer ever, Sloane just disappears only leaving behind a to-do list.

On it are thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks Emily would never do, but what if they could bring her best friend back?

Now she has an unexpected summer with the help of Frank Porter to check things off her list and who knows what she’ll find.

I read this one in 2021 and it was such a fun read! I’m glad I finally read it.

Hannah and Zoe haven’t had much in their lives, but they have had each other so when Zoe tells Hannah she needs to get out of their New Jersey town, the hop into Hannah’s old Le Mans and head out west putting everything behind them.

As they chase storms and make new friends, Zoe tells Hannah she wants more for her. She wants her to live a bigger, more grand life and begins to teach her all about life’s intangible things like audacity, insouciance, karma, and even happiness.

I read this one years ago and really liked it. I might have to re-read it though.

Bailey “Mink” Rydell is a classic movie buff and has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online who goes by “Alex.” They live on opposite sides of the country until Bailey moves in with her dad who happens to live in the same California surfing town as Alex.

Bailey is faced with doubts about who Alex really is so she doesn’t tell him that she moved to his hometown. Or that she now works at the tourist-trap museum. Or that Porter Roth, the irritatingly hot security guard is heckling her daily. She discovers the fine line between love, hate, and whatever she’s feeling for porter. She has to decide if she sticks with the dreamy fantasy of Alex online or an imperfect reality with Porter who has his own secret.

This is actually two books in one and I bought this copy and individual ones of each on accident hah. I don’t really remember either but I know I enjoyed them.

In Two Way Street Jordan and Courtney are totally in love. Until he dumps her out of the blue before they’re supposed to drive to college together. It’s too late to change the plans, so they must continue as planned.

In Right of Way Peyton and Jace meet on vacation where they fall head over heels in love. But things don’t go as planned after a tumultuous breakup and they’re thrown together on a road trip. One is lying about the destination, the other is pretending not to be leaving something behind, and neither is prepared for what’s ahead.

Gia’s boyfriend Bradley dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom and now she has to think fast. She’s been talking about him for months and tonight was the night she was going to prove he existed.

When she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she asks for his help. All he has to do is pretend to be her boyfriend for two hours and after that she can win back Bradley.

But after prom, she’s not thinking about Bradley, but the stand-in. But tracking him down doesn’t mean the end of a fake relationship. She owes him and his sister intends to collect by sending her to his ex-girlfriends graduation party.

And now she’s wondering if she can turn him into a real boyfriend when Bradley waltzes back in and threatens to ruin everything.

Caymen is seventeen and she studies the rich like her own personal science experiment. One day Xander stops into her mom’s shop to buy his grandma a porcelain doll and it only takes once glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich.

Despite being one of the only people to get her, she knows it won’t last. Her mother always warned that the rich have short attention spans, but Xander keeps coming around and she’s beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom won’t approve but when his attention and loyalty are about to prove her wrong, she finds out money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she thought and that Xander isn’t the only one she should have been worried about.

Isla is a hopeless romantic. Josh is an introspective cartoonist. And she’s had a crush on him since their first year at the School of America in Paris.

After a chance encounter over the summer in Manhattan, romance may be closer than she thought. As they begin the next year as a couple in France, they have to face the challenges all young couples do, including the very real possibility of being apart.

I also read this one over the summer and really liked it.

(from GoodReads desc.) Content Warning:
1. Deceased parent (died long before the start of the book)
2. Verbally pushy person who’s romantically interested in the heroine (NOT the hero)

Jolene is committed to doing better and it’s why she offered to help her sister and brother-in-law move across the country but when her father ditches her for an all-expenses paid-vacation, she is forced to make the journey with the human version of a pebble in your shoe.

Jason operates on lists and bitter coffee but neither will help when he’s forced on a sixteen-hour road trip with the most infuriating woman.

Maybe they can get over a heated confrontation five years ago, but vehicle problems, an unplanned pit stop, and inconvenient chemistry tagging along won’t make it easy. Once the dust settles, a tentative friendship emerges.

I look forward to reading this one, a lot!

Sydney is 19 and has the perfect summer in Europe all planned out: four and a half weeks traveling with her childhood best friend Leela.

Their plans include the Eiffel Tower, too much gelato, and making out with strangers.

What they don’t include is Leela’s cheating ex-boyfriend showing up on their flight, falling for his hot friend, monitoring her mother’s spiraling mental health via text or feeling like the rope in a friendship tug-of-war.

All April, a sixteen-year-old, had to do to live a friend, parent free, was tell one little untruth (see #1.). But her and Vi are totally responsible and can take care of themselves.

How they ended up skipping school (#3), buying a hot tub (#4) and harboring a fugitive (#7) is anyone’s guess.

To get through the year, April has to juggle a love triangle, learning to do her own laundry, and accept that her world may be falling apart.

Sam’s summer is not going well. Her boyfriend dumped her for a European backpacking trip and now she’s a counselor at Camp Blue Springs, the camp here eleven year-old self swore to never return to and she expects the seven weeks to be a disaster.

At least until she meets Gavin, the sailing instructor. But she still loves Eli and one absurd, off-the-wall summer may just be what she needs to find out what she really wants.

Day 1: Julia Donnelly eggs my house on my first night back in Star Lake and that’s how I know everyone remembers how I destroyed my relationship with Patrick that night with Gabe and how I wrecked their whole family. Only 99 days until I leave for college.

Day 4: It’s clear Julia isn’t finished after a nasty note on my windshield. I expect a fight with the tap on my shoulder, but instead, it’s Gabe and he’s actually happy to see me.

Day 12: Gabe got me to this party, I’m actually having fun, and I think he’s about to kiss me, but then I see Patrick. My Patrick who is supposed to be across the country, who is never going to forgive me.

I read this one over the summer and liked it enough to read the next one! But I mostly read this one because I wanted to read the second one haha.

Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers together, but it’s the same every year: they’re busy finding the best ways to prank each other.

Their plans are thrown out the window when their feud gets their families kicked out of their beloved lake houses.

Sidney expects the prank war to continue as usual in their new accommodations, but she gets a note: meet me at midnight. Asher propositions her to join forces for one last epic summer of pranks, but this time against the woman who kicked them out.

The truce should make things simpler, but it’s hard to ignore the growing attraction between the two.

Gabby is introverted and anxious. Ryan is a star hockey player who can get any girl he wants. They’re the unlikliest of friends and against all odds, they become each other’s favorite person.

As they face graduation, they can’t help but reminisce and, in their signature tradition, make a top ten list of the best moments of their friendship.