Book Review: Love and Olives by Jenna Evans Welch

Age rating: 15+

Warnings: Kissing, terminal illness, mental illness, smoking, romance

• Love and Olives explores leaving behind your family, severe mental illnesses and the grief which accompanies the diagnosis of a terminal illness. I would not recommend such sensitive topics for any child under the age of 15 years as it could not only act as a trigger warning but can also form a negative impression towards such topics if young children read this book.

• The romance, while not inappropriate, does explore slowly falling in love with someone and needs a mature audience to be receptive towards the emotions throughout the book and the angst that develops between the two characters.

• The mental illness in question is a severe one, and is one of the main themes of the novel. Having this as the main theme of the novel makes it a slightly mature novel only intended for older teens and adults, and not the typical light-hearted romance novel one would expect.

Thus, while keeping in mind the mature themes and romance, I have recommended this book for teenagers 15 years and older. However, the choice of letting your child read the novel or reading it yourself is at your own discretion, as long as you have fun!

Summary: Olive 'Liv' Varanakis has no fond memories of her father, and it makes sense, because he fled for Santorini, Greece, when she was just 8 years old. What she does remember, however - and cherishes - is their shared love for Greek myths and Atlantis. So when Liv receives a postcard from her father out of the blue informing her that National Geographic is funding a documentary on his theories with a request to fly in to Greece to help, she jumps at the opportunity.

But what was supposed to be a wholesome and beautiful reunion turns into something much more awkward and difficult to handle: Liv has so many questions, and a thousand emotions surface on seeing her absent father. Yet Liv can't bring herself to accept her past, because she doesn't want it to be an obstacle for a possible reconciliation; and she certainly doesn't want her father's 'protégé', Theo, to witness her struggle.

However, as Liv dives into the gorgeous sunsets, scenic views and the little happiness Santorini has to offer her, she discovers that not everything on the Greek island is as simple or happy as it seems: Liv's father has called her for something much, much different than Atlantis...and something much more important.

Recommendations for the romance genre: Love and Luck by Jenna Evans Welch, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter

Cover image courtesy of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers