Love & Olives

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I was going for brisk power walk—think mall walker on a mission—but it turned into a sprint about six steps in. I loved the complexity of each of the characters, and the theories of Atlantis throughout the story are explored in impressive detail. I think it is important for teenagers to be developing this understanding of themselves as complete and whole on their own. When Cirrus Soh and her family move into town, Sunny is immediately blown away by how cool and pretty she is. This is the reason why I skimmed read this book, I was annoyed to read Olive’s thoughts every time she is looking at Theo.

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 thought it was a way of protecting herself, but sometimes I felt she was protecting herself against something that wasn’t as obvious as she thought. Even so, she can't help but be charmed by everything Santorini has to offer—the beautiful sunsets, the turquoise water, the sun-drenched villages, and the delicious cuisine. This growing awareness] is something that I really like to bring to books for teen readers because I think they’re already in that mindset: excited about what their lives could look like. Fortunately there's also Theo, her dad's incredibly handsome and charming assistant who makes a great buffer between father and daughter, so a lot of awkwardness is avoided while Liv continues to ignore her feelings.On the plus side, the side characters helped bring some life to the otherwise lackluster cast; I definitely could've used more of Bapou and his magical cakes, Geoffrey the Giant Canadian and his imaginary girlfriend, and even Liv's little brother who appeared for like two seconds. She’s got a hot senior boyfriend, she’s figured out her personal style and pulls it off with aplomb, she’s got a great stepdad and half brother, with another one on the way.

Both have been comfort, easy reads for me, and I was so happy to see there’s an additional one, this time set in Santorini, Greece. But is a buffer enough as the two of them spend more time together and begin to wonder if reconciliation is possible. The other characters were also all very lovable (except Dex) and I loved seeing Liv grow so much in just 10 days. However, as the summer progresses and Liv takes a more active role in the documentary, she slowly starts to get to know her father and comes to love Santorini and its welcoming community. My boyfriend, Dax, slowed his jaunty pace and sighed loudly, not because he needed the extra oxygen, but because this was our third break in less than fifteen minutes.Watching her relationship with her father change, as she learns more about him, and about herself, was really lovely. She exhibited a couple of red flags to watch out in a relationship, and to be honest, I wished she just went ahead and broke up with Dax on the very first chapter. My real complaint with this book is that it just kinda felt like a lot of YA contemporary from 2014 through 2016 in that it was cute and I liked it, but it lacked a little something to me.