Love & Olives by Jenna-Evans Welch Book Review

“What was there to worry about? It’s not like I was an active aqua phobic carrying nine years of emotional baggage onto a boat held together by duck tape.

Oh, wait.

You’ve got this, Olive.

LIV! I meant Liv.

This place was already getting to me.”

(pg. 203)

About

Author: Jena-Evans Welch

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance

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Love and Gelato

Synopsis

Liv Varanakis doesn’t like to think about her father much, which makes sense—he fled to Greece when she was only eight, leaving her with just a few painful memories of their shared love for the lost city of Atlantis. So when teenage Liv suddenly receives a postcard from her father, who explains that National Geographic is supporting a documentary about his theories on Atlantis—and asks if she will fly out to Greece and help—Liv is less than thrilled.

When she arrives in gorgeous Santorini, things are just as awkward as she’d imagined. There are so many questions, so many emotions that flood to the surface after seeing her father for the first time in years. Liv doesn’t want to get sucked back into her father’s world. She also definitely doesn’t want Theo, her father’s charismatic so-called protégé, to witness her struggle.

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. 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. 

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To those lost,

I love a good romantic story set in Europe, and I haven’t read many stories set in Greece no less, but what I loved about Love and Olives was the relationship building/ journey we go through; I’m a sucker for a family story. Love and Olives had so much heart, beautiful underlying storylines, adventure, and tear-jerking moments. I truly felt transported in Olive’s shoes and in Santorini. Gosh, I have never been to Santorini or Greece, but I would love to go someday. With the pandemic still going on, that dream seems farther and farther away and sometimes I lose hope that I will get to visit Europe and do a grand tour, but it’s books like Love and Olives that give me hope and a bit of life that I will go.

Suffice to say, Love and Olives was the at home vacation I needed 💙. I legit feel like Love and Olives would also make a powerful and beautiful movie 😊. If it does become a movie one day, let’s just say on August 10, 2021, I manifest that the Love and Gelato series will become movies because they would be excellent rom-coms.

I digress.

You know how DUMB I felt when I finished Love and Olives and realized that olives weren’t just because olives were a symbol to Greece, but Olive as in the main character 😂. I literally slapped my forehead afterwards. Because it’s a theme with Jenna-Evans Welch (J-EW) books that her stories are set in a country (so far, European countries) and a related symbol or something related to that country—-Love and Gelato for Italy and Love and Luck (a clover) for Ireland. So there I was, thinking the whole time that olives were solely related to Greece—it was the main character’s name! *Shakes head at myself*

I double digress 🤪.

Anyway, Olive is notably hurt.

She has this pain she’s been carrying around for eleven years since the day her dad left her when she was eight years-old. He never came back. She never knew why he left, but she had a strong intuition that her dad left her to find Atlantis. I didn’t read the synopsis when I picked up Love and Olives because I tend to not read synopses with authors I love, so I didn’t know that the story revolved around Atlantis. So you could imagine my shock when I saw the word Atlantis. I was like, “What?” 🧐. I know what Atlantis is and have grown up hearing stories about the famous golden city that sank in the middle of the ocean—-a great topia. But I didn’t have the extensive knowledge or education of Atlantis like Olive had. Her dad taught her about Atlantis from the moment Olive could read, write, and draw. He told her stories of the golden city and predictions he had about where Atlantis was. Atlantis was this shared secret between them—something they had a zealous and undeniable bond. I loved that the dad and her had a powerful connection because it created a foundation to understand how close they were. I loved getting glimpses into Olive’s past with moments she shared with her dad reading Plato’s Timaeus & Critias, and learning about Plato in general. I thought it was cool that she read Greek mythology when she was younger. I would have liked to read more Greek Mythology when I was younger because there’s just something about Greek Mythology that’s so fascinating. I found it funny though how Olive said people would read Charlotte’s Web when she would read Plato 😅. This girl was wise beyond her years and I loved that for her! I also felt bad with how Olive felt out of place with her peers because she had different tastes early on.

My eyes smiled when she recalled a memory when she was doing a show and tell or a report in elementary school and she talked about Plato or did this Greek monologue while all her peers did the generic show and tell things like sing Itsy-Bitsy Spider or something like that. I could only imagine being Olive’s teacher and seeing her do a Greek monologue and kind of questioning what the heck this girl was reading 🤪. At the same time, I would be delighted to see the maturity and heights of Olive’s knowledge. Her dad and her shared this map they made of Santorini of where they thought Atlantis to be; it was their map.

It was the map he left her—gifted her—before he too left.

“Because I carried the original map around too, tucked into my backpack or coat pocket. It was one half of a friendship bracelet that I’d thought meant something.”

(pg. 357)

When her dad walked out of her life, he left behind twenty-six things. I loved the way J-EW wrote each chapter to reflect the twenty-six things because it added more to Olive and the dad’s relationship. It also added mystery and intrigue for the reader to want to know what the items were. I also enjoyed how each item held significance to Olive in how she viewed her dad. One of the things I found the most trippy was how I gained insight about the dad with each item, but after reading the end, my perspective of these items and their attached backstory made me want to go back and reread the backstories because of the difference in what they now meant. Jenna-Evans Welch truly did a fantastic job with story-telling on that front—building up the history of the characters while also secretly tying in significant moments.

Olive kept all these items in a box she left under her bed, and her mom saw that she had the list. There was the tantalizing question of what the twenty-sixth item was because the mom questioned Olive about it constantly. Gosh, was I tempted to skip to the end to find out. I didn’t! I’m glad I didn’t. But Olive was left with the memories and traces of a father she loved with her whole heart. Her dad was her world and to think—to know—he walked away to go look for this “imaginary” utopia shattered her heart. When reading all the backstories it felt like Olive and the dad were an inseparable team—a unit—that understood each other. They supported and encouraged each other’s dreams. They just felt like best friends . . . until he was gone. I just wanted to hug eight year old Olive because I could understand how agonizing and terrible that must have felt like. I was around the same age when my parents divorced and that was a different type of pain, but I felt what it was like to watch a parent walk away. I also knew what it was like to live without a parent—there’s this adjustment period after a parent leaves, where everyone tries to figure out how to go on. Olive and the mom formed a stronger connection when the dad left because they were all each other had. It hurt my heart to read how much Olive and the mom struggled after the dad left 🙁. They moved around constantly, stayed with friends in dilapidated apartments. I loved their resilience as a unit. The mom was a freaking trooper for raising Olive, getting them back on their feet in a nicer home, finding love again with her husband James, having Julius and now having another baby on the way, and getting a law degree 👏🏼!! Let me just applaud her, let me give her a standing ovation for her persistence and tenacity. My gosh.

I give a standing ovation to all the single parents out there. You are doing amazing and deserve to give yourself more credit for all the effort and time you put into those around you. You are a prime example of a hard-working person 💙.

“I don’t have any way to see the world other than the one he left me.”

(pg. 92)

While life went on and things changed, Olive also changed. She was hurt, angry, sorrowful, confused, and lost that her dad left her when she was his whole world, her best friend, her confidante, her believer, her dad.

“Dad is a Narnia person. He’d always seen the magic in the mundane. Had my mom and I been the mundane? Is that why he’d left and why he was avoiding me now?

I wanted to be angry, let the tidal wave carry off the more complex emotions, but the sadness was too overhauling. Being here with my dad only to experience him not being here for me again . . . It was so heavy. He’d left for Narnia while my mom and I were stuck in a tangle of off-season umbrellas and fishermen nets.

(pg. 368)

I love a good Narnia metaphor 🤪.

Olive held the belief that her dad left her for Atlantis because she wasn’t worth sticking around for—that she wasn’t as interesting or magical as the lost city. That had to suck because she felt like she wasn’t good enough for the dad to stay in compared to this city he always dreamed of finding. It made her question her relationship with her father. I just wanted to tell her she was good enough and that there was probably more to the story than she knew.

But Olive only knew that her dad left and she had to live with everything that came afterwards. Because her dad left with all these unresolved questions and emotions, Olive wanted to change who she was to fit in. She changed because she no longer wanted to feel like Olive—the girl who believed in a mythical city that her dad abandoned her for. Or the girl who was interested in mythology. She became Liv. The fact that she kept insisting that people call her Liv was a telltale sign that she was forcing herself into a mold she knew she didn’t fit, but wanted to. It’s kind of like when Anastasia from Cinderella tried to jam her foot into the glass slipper because she wanted so badly for her to be Cinderella when she gosh darn knew she didn’t wear a glass slipper to that dang ball. Liv didn’t feel like Liv because deep down she was Olive. But I could understand how she didn’t want to be the same person because the person who believed in her the most—-believed in her the most as Olive—walked away from her without so much as a backward glance or a simple phone call to explain. I also understood why she felt embarrassed and sort of ashamed to talk about her dad because no one would believe her dad was sane if she said her dad left to find Atlantis. I would have thought her dad was cool if I knew Olive. I just didn’t really buy the whole Liv thing.

Part of Olive’s new life was her disrespectful, petty boyfriend, Dax.

Dax can go marry Stanford for all I care 😂.

The mom and I knew what was up.

First of all, he didn’t ask Olive what her dreams were and told her to apply to Stanford. If he really cared about her, he would have asked her what she wanted to do for college without thinking about his self-serving goal to live up to some high school superlatives of high school sweethearts. That’s what the relationship felt like—-a goal to prove to everyone they could last. So to Dax that meant going to the same college because that would give them a better chance of staying together. Long distance works if people make it work. Also, there’s the saying if you love someone, set them free and if they love you, they’ll find their way back to you. I truly believe that. I don’t believe in giving up your hopes and dreams to follow a partner to college. Not that I judge anyone who does that, I just feel like if someone has their own hopes and dreams and that doesn’t align with their partner’s in terms of where they want to go to college, then I say that person should go to college where they want to to achieve their hopes and dreams rather than go to a school they don’t care for to get a degree they don’t really like or feel is the best, just so they can keep a relationship going. I don’t judge 🙈. My piece of advice though, is do what’s best for you. So, yea. I wasn’t Dax’s fan. Also, that girl who flirted with him? Yea, she was like Francesca to Giannina 😂. If you know, you know. Oh, and third, he was super petty about Olive going to Greece. Bro, he needed to stop kissing the mirror and be happy that his girlfriend was reconciling with her dad after ELEVEN years. But noooo, he was all boo-hoo my girlfriend isn’t going with me to a boring high school camp trip.

I would take Greece over a log cabin in the woods any day 👏🏼!

I really wanted her to drop him like a hot potato 😂. He wasn’t worth it. And you know she could have been having a super cute Grecian romance sooner if she stopped trying to convince herself that she loved Dax when she didn’t 🙃. I respect and appreciate her faithfulness though. I loved that for her. I would have liked to hear the conversation where she actually dropped him like a sack of potatoes, but we didn’t. I just wanted to hear his reaction. Did he cry? Was he salty? 🤪 Either way, he was probably halfway to kissing Stanford. Also, I kind of thought he would call or text her to break up with her because he cheated on her with that other girl. I had low faith in Dax, I’m so sorry 😅. But gosh, at least he too was faithful. I give him that.

But one day, Olive received a postcard from Greece—a postcard written in the same scrawl as a man who left her eleven years ago for a lost city. She never replied to the postcards because what would she say? What could she say? But the latest one asked her to go to Santorini to help him on a project. I’m surprised how much the mom wanted Olive to go. But I also respected that the mom wanted Olive to reconcile with her dad because Olive needed to heal or at least learn the truth. Olive didn’t want to go because she didn’t know who her dad was anymore, and I didn’t blame her. But she went because her mom told her she had to, and her mom’s word was law.

But one of the major questions I had since the beginning of the book was why did he leave her for Atlantis and why did he reach out only now?

My first guess was he left for Atlantis because he wanted to find it, but then as the story went on and we felt the love that’s still living in the dad and Olive, I felt like he was looking for Atlantis for Olive. Theo even mentioned this supposition to Olive once; we were on the same wavelength. Because it just didn’t make sense that he would leave randomly one day when he loved Olive with his whole heart. He even had a compass tattoo on his right forearm with the coordinates to represent where they were in the world—-a connection to the person he loved and would always find his way back to If he loved her that much, I felt like he was finding Atlantis for her because it was something they shared and he wanted more for her—to give her more. I also thought he reached out only now because maybe he found proof or something that he did find Atlantis and it would show her that he didn’t leave her without reason; that he wanted to find Atlantis before reaching out. I wasn’t sure if that was true, but again, there just felt like more to the story.

Another question that came up a lot was if Olive believed in Atlantis?

She did when she was younger and the dad was there to cultivate and grow her belief. With her dad gone, the less and less Olive believed in her dad, similar to how less and less she believed that her dad would return. I understood why she didn’t want to believe in Atlantis anymore. For one, it was something she and her dad greatly shared. Now that he was no longer in her life, she didn’t want to hold onto something she believed strongly about. But the one thing that became clear to me the more Olive voiced her disbelief in Atlantis, was the idea that Atlantis was a metaphor. My first idea about this was that Atlantis was a metaphor for her and her dad sharing this world they believed in or curated so strongly. When he left, it felt like Atlantis sank and the dad disappeared never to be seen again. The dad became a cautionary tale that Olive told her friends too, similar to like Atlantis—-a story that could be or might not be real depending on what one believed. The longer her dad was gone or lost to her, the less hope she had, again, that he would return, thus the less hope she had that Atlantis existed. The less hope that she would “find” her dad. Atlantis could also be the love or strong relationship they shared.

But the thing was, Olive wanted to believe her dad, she wanted to believe in Atlantis, but . . .

“The harm was that believing could rip you away from your family, sending you halfway across the world on a delusional treasure hunt. The harm was that you could become so obsessed that you missed your family’s birthdays, homecoming dances, and thousands of bedtime stories—“

(pg. 218)

Olive also didn’t want to believe Atlantis was real because it would have meant her dad really did leave her for some imaginary city that turned out to be real—-that turned out to be more important than staying with her. She didn’t want to believe in the lost city because her dad believed it and if he found it, it would have felt like he loved Atlantis more than he did love her. If Atlantis turned out to be real it would have meant that Atlantis meant more to the dad than it ever did to her. She questioned a lot if he would ever come back to her if he did find Atlantis, and it’s not a good feeling to feel second to someone who she thought she came first with.

“Regardless of what the postcard and Theo had said, my dad didn’t need me. He had his own magic. He always had. No one was going to care if Atlantics was real or not, not when it was told that way. . .

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. To my dad, it was both: the truth and a good story. And the rest of us? We had no choice but to be swept up by the current. Resistance was futile.”

(pg. 232)

She was also still feeling the abandonment of her father for a city that was nearly a tale told by word of mouth from many people in history, people who they couldn’t directly ask if Atlantis existed.

So, there went Olive’s trust, which was another big question.

Did Olive believe in her father? Could she trust him?

Like Atlantis, I could feel Olive wanting to trust her father again. She also wanted to believe again. But her heart was at war with what her past felt to be true—abandonment. I could understand. Atlantis and her dad were heavily pulling for her belief. It also felt like when her dad left, she lost two great loves: her dad and Atlantis. So it was difficult for her to trust and believe in both of them when one walked away and the other wasn’t proven to be real. There were many moments I felt she was secretly excited about talking about Greek mythology with her dad, or just talking about something she used to speak about so often as a kid. However, deep down there was lingering hurt in knowing how easily the dad could leave her or hurt her again.

“Losing someone once is terrible. Losing them twice is cruel.”

(pg. 436)

So her reluctance to believe in Atlantis or her father was her way of guarding her heart, which I felt like she had every right to do based on how hurt she was. When I was younger and I felt an adult or someone let me down, it was difficult to trust them again because once they hurt me, it was difficult to look at them and not see the pain or the hurt they caused. But I also knew deep down, I still loved them in some way even if I didn’t want to.

I think hurt hurts more when it comes from people we think won’t hurt us because we have undying trust for them from the minute we step into the world.

It’s even harder for someone to regain that trust in our eyes because they betrayed it so easily in the first place. I do believe in the saying that it is easy to break someone’s trust and ten thousand times harder to regain it. It truly is.

But trusting in Atlantis and her dad also felt like another metaphor. There was a whole string of metaphors I was trying to connect up until the very end of the book 😅. Gosh, I wasn’t too far off, but still. Trust was huge.

Going back to the word of mouth idea, the history and story of Atlantis had been passed down by word of mouth. The story of Atlantis was passed down by word of mouth from various philosophers in history. One of those philosophers was Plato. I briefly learned about Plato in my social studies psychology class, gosh knows I don’t remember much. It was interesting to also learn more about Plato. The history in this book truly made me feel like I was learning in a way I wanted to learn—through rom-com stories.

Honestly, if I can learn history through rom-coms, that’s all the education I need 😅.

It was said that Plato learned about Atlantis from Solon who was a famous Greek Politician and poet. Solon apparently heard about Atlantis from an Egyptian priest (pg. 167). In Plato’s writing, Timaeus and Critias, he wrote about twenty-two things related to Atlantis or seeing Atlantis. Or I think that’s what I remembered reading, which was interesting. If someone mentioned a city twenty-two times, I don’t think he had to be making it entirely up, you know.

“If I’d learned anything from the legend of Atlantis, it was this: stories evolved. They got passed down and twisted, and sometimes they came out okay and other times they quadrupled the size of continents or transported timelines to entirely different centuries.”

(pg. 404)

There’s a lot a truth in this quote because I do believe stories change as they are passed down and sometimes it’s difficult to discern what the original story was. This quote reminds me of a game I used to play growing up called Telephone where someone would whisper a sentence in someone’s ears and then that person would have to pass the sentence down by whispering it in the ear of the person next to them. By the time the last person heard the sentence, more often than not, the sentence was entirely different. Also, with the dad leaving, there could have—and there was—more to the story of why he left. It’s interesting what people can believe enough when hearing a story for the first time. It’s also interesting how powerful the mind can be when we tell ourselves the same narrative/story and believe it.

The dad believed the lost city of Atlantis was in Santorini, and I could dig it 👌🏼. You know, I’m such a go with the flow reader that sometimes I just don’t question things. But I could see the legit logic in why Atlantis would be in Greece, least of all in Santorini. Gosh, I didn’t know Santorini was made up of volcanic islands. Why didn’t I learn this in history class? 😅 I feel like I was cheated out of my education. Also, I had no clue who the Minoans were. I need to do research because Greek history fascinates me and I would love to know more. But wow, the Santorini history got me because I didn’t know that Santorini had all this history, yet alone all these islands. I feel dumb. I thought Santorini was just one big city or something, but it has all these other islands near the caldera/it’s crescent shape—a crescent shape that Plato described as the shape of the area where Atlantis probably sank. Also, it was said Atlantis sank near places with red, white, and black sand. Santorini had a red, white, and black island. The location was also perfect because based on the dad’s extensive knowledge and studies with a professor, Dr. Bilder, they thought the center of Atlantis was Aspronisi, which was the white sand beach. I didn’t know what Aspronisi looked like so I Googled it because I wanted to know where they thought Atlantis was. I was surprised by how small Aspronisi was, but hey, I could believe that Atlantis was near that small island because maybe that was a piece of Atlantis that didn’t sink? I don’t know. 

The whole Atlantis plot truly ignited this magical, mystical believer in me that I hadn’t been in touch with since I was a kid. It was so refreshing to dream and think about lost cities, great lands, and utopias. I questioned this a lot as I read, but when did we grow up so much that we stopped believing or thinking about things that were magical or mysterious? It makes me sad to think how lost I have gotten in school, work, and life that I haven’t even been thinking of the magic and wonder of places like Atlantis—-places a younger me loved to dream about, explore, or create. There’s truly magic in the dad because he kept believing in what he felt was real. I think we should all reconnect with our inner childlike wonder again. It’s such a beautiful thing 💙.

Growing up, I heard about Atlantis as one does. I swear it was also in a Phineas and Ferb episode 😂. You’re a real one if you know what I’m talking about 👌🏼🤪. But I’ve heard the story about a famous Greek city sinking and it was this golden, great, prestigious, beautiful, and grand city. I never knew the real story or an in-depth version of what Atlantis really was, so all the Atlantis history was super interesting. I loved learning how Atlantis was sort of a cautionary tale where the people had everything and life was grandiose. The Atlantean’s wanted to conquer the world, but the gods said the Atlantean’s were ungrateful and had the city swallowed whole into the ocean—-Atlantis sunk (pg. 49). I never knew the part about why Atlantis sank and I was fascinated to learn why Atlantis might have sank. The question I had was could Atlantean’s breathe underwater and survive? I’m probably thinking of Aquaman 😂, but gosh, there’s a part of me that believes that the people would survive and live as mer-people.

Gosh, that’s a WHOLE different conversation that I guess I can get into 🤪.

Do I believe Atlantis ever existed?

I do.

I do believe that there could be a sunken city where Atlantean’s lived or are living. I think if so many people talked about Atlantis or knew what it was, then there has to be some truth in its existence. We probably might not know if Atlantis does exist—-but gosh wouldn’t it be cool if someone did find Atlantis 🧐—but I feel like there has to be something there for so many people to believe in it. I think that’s one of the reasons Atlantis kind of does exists—-it exists in our belief in it and in our minds. It’s like a Tinkerbell moment—-clap if you believe 👏🏼. I’m not joking, but I do think there is an Atlantis and that people who are searching for the lost city are pretty dang cool.

But yea, I believe in Atlantis and mer-people. I don’t know where I heard this but someone said that different groups of people WAY in the past told stories of mermaids, people who never talked to each other. I think it was said that vikings and pirates both had tales about mermaids, so that made me think that if two groups of people witnessed mermaids—-two people who didn’t talk to each other—then there is reason to believe. Or I believe. I believe in pirates too.

But can I also just throw this in there. . . But If Nico (the dad) wanted to find Atlantis, he should have gone to the Bahamas 😂😂. I CRACK MYSELF UP.

FOuND IT 🤪!!

I’m JOKING. That’s Atlantis the resort, not the sunken city! But gosh, we sure did turn an enigmatic story in history into an economic tourist profit 🙃. And they saw Atlantis isn’t real.

I’m still laughing.

This was why Olive was in Santorini—she was helping her dad find Atlantis again while filming a documentary for National Geographic. The fact that the dad sent in a letter to NG to make a documentary because he wanted to share his discoveries with the world, but most importantly his daughter, was so beautiful and touching. Also, skeptical, but touching. I would legit watch a documentary about Atlantis 👌🏼.

When Olive first got to Santorini she was on GUARD.. She said, DON’T ToUCH Me!

I kept laughing with how skeptical she was of Theo when she first met. I don’t blame her. Sis, needed to protect herself 👏🏼! I remember watching Taken when I was eight years old (I’m not joking) and I was thoroughly creeped out. Now that I think about it, why the freak did my parents take me to the movies with them to watch that? 🤪 MY GOSh. But you know, the movie made me self-aware.

My first impression of Theo was that he seemed like an Energizer bunny. To me, he was kind of too jumpy and enthusiastic for my taste. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being enthusiastic, but he didn’t give me super-cute, let-me-fall-for-you kind of vibe. I don’t know. He was described as someone good looking with abs because I have come to realize every seventeen year old fictional male somehow, someway has abs 😂. I was okay with that, but I don’t know. I just wanted to know more about Theo—to know his heart or his interests so I could really understand him because I think more could have been said to build his character. I do know we learned about his family situation where his rich dad to leave elsewhere. There was anger to Theo’s words whenever he discussed the dad. I was curious to the story there. But there was also the fact that he didn’t do long-distance relationships. Theo used to be in a relationship with a girl named Demy who was now in University in London. He didn’t want to hold her back from the University experience, so they broke up. However, it seemed like he loved her, but didn’t want to go through the pain or the heartache of trying to make things worse. I understand that because long-distance can be challenging. There has to be communication and trust. The two people also have to make time for each other to make things work. It can be a complex road. Theo was a live in the moment kind of guy. What got me was how he legit said Olive would be “dead to her” once she left Santorini. EX-squeeze me?! 🤨 Who says that to a person? There was nothing romantic about telling Olive that she would reduce to nothing once she left the island. I mean, he really could have said something nice like, maybe we could send postcards to each other and try to be friends. Dead to him? GEEZ 😅.

The thing I was most excited for when Olive got to Santorini was when she would see her dad.

“Once you’ve truly loved someone, you never stop.”

(pg. 464)

They really made her wait for the perfect moment to see her dad after all these years. I felt like J-EW was teasing us! But I loved how they all wanted to show Olive the Santorini sunset. I have heard nothing but beautiful things and hope I can see a Santorini sunset in person one day. It was such a beautiful moment, but GOSH when she saw her dad . . . 🥺. The scene was built up well, as well as the way it was described. I think it had to hurt Olive more to know that she recognized her dad’s voice after all this time. She still loved him—knew him like the back of her hand. My heart swelled because he got her flowers . . .he really was trying to make it up to her. I could feel the awkward tension in the room and it was WONDERFUL. I would have liked to know what was running through the dad’s mind when he saw Olive after all this time or to know how he felt about seeing his daughter in general. I could read a novella about that. I don’t know, they just had such a special relationship and the nerves I felt from the dad were immaculate and tangible. I swear, whenever she said the word dad, I bet his heart broke 🥺.

My freaking heart TORE when he gave her the oil pastels that Pablo Picasso used—Sennelier pastels. I’ve never heard of Sennelier pastels before but gosh knows now I want to draw with them. What really had me tearing up was how he named a pastel color after her EYES! Her EYES! 💙 HOW SWEET. He really was out here trying to do the most for her because gosh knows he had a lot to make up for. The moment was so bittersweet though because he knew the exact shade of Olive’s eyes after all this time and that gave Olive visceral emotions because she wanted to love her dad and forgive him. But she was also still hurt. When she started to cry, I felt for her. She was so confused and a mess of emotions. I would cry too.

“Book air is the best air.”

(pg. 107)

I loved loved loved the Lost Bookstore of Atlantis. I love bookstores in general 💙.

But the dad really said, I couldn’t find Atlantis, so let me make one for her, which I loved. I just loved the timeless magic the dad created with the Lost Bookstore of Atlantis—how he always managed to keep the magical spark of life alive. I loved the secret passages in the bookstore and the bunk he created for Olive and Theo, but gosh was that kind of strange that she had to sleep in a room with a boy she met like five hours ago. That seemed odd to me. I loved how J-EW had Olive sleep in a bookstore because that’s probably on every reader’s dream wish list. I would like to sleep in a library or a bookstore as long as they are cool looking, have AC, and food. It broke my heart a bit to feel the distance between Olive and the dad. It felt like there was a measuring tape between them set on the farthest distance. It had to hurt knowing they couldn’t even share a room or talk comfortably anymore because it was too awkward or tense. When a relationship becomes unfamiliar like that, I think it’s more painful than breaking up with a friend or someone because drifting can sometimes mean coming back and it’s the navigating what happens then, that’s hard.

“I’d never understood the term ‘heartache,’ because I’d always felt my pain in my throat, a tightening that made me wonder if I’d be able to breathe. Had he really said that no discovery would be right without me? If so, what had changed between nine years ago and now?

(pg. 192)

Olive’s role in the National Geographic documentary was to be the director of photography because the dad trusted her aesthetic and artistic eye. I loved that he wanted to finish or continue this journey with her because he probably knew how much it meant to her as much as it did him. I loved that we toured Santorini on their filming journey. The dad was a natural story-teller and I felt that was why he was so compelling. I loved going to New Kamei and Palea Kameni and all these different sites where we met different people along the way.

The cast of characters in this book was heart-warming. It felt like everyone knew everyone and loved everyone. I loved Grigio the cab driver and Geoffrey the Canadian. I loved how everyone thought he had a fake ballerina girlfriend because they never saw her before. I knew that Mathilde existed because I don’t think a person could make up all those details or fake a heartbreak that easily. Or I don’t think someone would want to put themselves through fake heartbreak just to seem like they were in a relationship 😅. I give Geoffrey the Canadian credit though. He was punny 👌🏼. I also loved how when he was going through relationship troubles and people would ask about rom-com books, he would recommend The Grapes of Wrath or 1984. Because nothing says romantic then Big Brother and the system 🤪. These people wanted a beach read. I would work wonders at the Lost Bookstore of Atlantis—let me recommend you something. Also, I loved Ana. I loved how much she cared about Nico and how much of a reader she was. It was probably all those rom-coms that made her set Olive and Theo up. Any time there was a break in filming, it felt like Ana shoved the two of them out the door to date.

Don’t even get me started on Bapou 😂. I swear all he said this entire book was “Beautiful! Welcome to Santorini.” What got me was at the end when things were melancholy and hard, the Bapou’s usually cheerful phrase took on a solemn, heart-felt tone that said more than his phrase did. I loved that moment because the Bapou didn’t say much, but it was all in his actions and voice (pg. 471).

Henry was also one of my favorites 💙. Olive met Henry on the plane and she felt comfortable talking to him about this adventure she was embarking on. I thought Henry was going to be the love interest until he said I had a boyfriend. Darn. But I loved how we saw Henry again with Hye—said boyfriend—and they got Theo, the dad, and Olive a tour to film Akotiri and the ancient civilization of Minoa. I loved how easily Hye and the dad bonded—the seekers. I also loved how no matter where they went, everyone knew Nico because he helped out everyone. It was also interesting how everyone also knew Olive based on how much the dad talked about her. He obviously loves his daughter and shared stories of her. That must have been partially strange for Olive to already have this reputation or image to others.

One of my favorite filming locations they went to was New Kalmei and the dad said the infamous line of:

“What was lost is now found. Welcome to Atlantis.”

(pg. 227)

Because Nee Kalmei was where the story would begin in how there was a series of volcanic eruptions that sank Atlantis. So they went to the place where the story first started. I also liked going to the Akrotiri red beach. I lived on an island before with black beaches, but I never heard of a red beach. I would love to visit or see one day, but it was interesting to hear Theo’s perspective as a local versus a tourist. Growing up on an island that many saw as a tourist vacation, I know more as a local than a tourist. Theo talked about this door in a cave that tourists thought was a door to Narnia or something while Theo knew it held umbrellas and supplies during the winter when the beach was empty. I thought this tidbit was interesting because I could relate to Theo in knowing about the secrets of where we are from. I also liked when he told Olive about why most buildings in Santorini were white. The houses were white so that from far away pirates wouldn’t notice them and steal. But then after pirates weren’t a huge issue, the locals painted their houses in rebellion because they couldn’t fly their flags at one point in history. I also loved learning how Santorini was built to be a maze so that when pirates chased people around, they would get lost. Honestly, it’s so intestine to learn about history and how places came to be. It goes back to the idea of continuing to be curious.

If I’m being honest, the filming sometimes dragged on in the story. I felt like there were some scenes in the middle of the book that felt elongated, but they were interesting to read.

White filming, Theo kept interrogating Olive. This was another thing that rubbed me the wrong way about Theo. I know love interests should get to know each other, but he really said let me skip over the menial and get to the heart. This boy kept hounding Olive with questions she was still processing.

“I think sometimes things look a certain way, but we don’t always know for sure they are that way.”

(pg. 215)

Not that I didn’t appreciate or like Theo because he asked challenging questions. He was honest and I respected that. Also, he made Olive question her beliefs about the dad as well. Theo and I actually ran on the same wavelength of questions because whatever he asked, I was curious about—-why the dad left or why she never asked the dad these questions. We also could see how much Olive meant to the dad and didn’t think he would leave her for Atlantis. But Olive was skeptical.

I kept waiting for the moment the dad and Olive would spend time alone. I loved loved loved their little father daughter date. I loved loved loved how endearing it was that he was nervous to be with his daughter. Ahh, and how he bought her flowers? 🥺💙. The dad was notably not rich but I loved how he did what he could to make it up to Olive. I loved Kostas and his terrible saxophone skills. I also loved loved loved how he told Olive about her namesake. In the beginning, I felt the dad’s awkwardness and sort of despondence when Olive told him she wanted to be called Liv. To him, it probably felt like she moved on or became this different person, a person he realized he didn’t know—-a fact he probably knew already but was amplified by the name change. Olive was named after an old olive tree near the dad’s home. He named her after the tree.

“‘And then, when I held you for the first time, I saw your eyes. They were so big and bright, I thought you must know things too, and I thought of that tree immediately. I could feel your strength already. I knew you would withstand anything. And here you are. You have withstood.'”

(pg. 286)

I have not withstood, I have with-tears-in-my-eyes 😥.

How sweet!

The dad and her also talked about how she wanted to go to RISD. I loved how she learned that he went to RISD because it was something else she shared with her dad. I found it odd—in a good way—how excited and proud the dad was to hear how Olive didn’t believe in Atlantis anymore. I thought he would be disappointed or at least upset, but I liked how he took her disbelief as her having her own mind. I think he also liked knowing that Olive thought about Atlantis and that they could have conversations about the points she brought up. What I didn’t like was when the dad wanted to talk to her about the deep things and she shut that door real fast! I was like, “Sis, let him SPEAK!” But I guess it was okay because she wasn’t ready to hear the deeper things. But it just felt like she didn’t want to hear it no matter what. The dad was sweet because he respected her choices. I just loved the dad and how nervous he was because he didn’t know what lines to cross or not cross. I also felt for him too because as much as he was the one who hurt her when he left, I felt like it was never his intention to hurt her this much. I felt for him too because I bet he felt sucky to discover all these things about Olive he wasn’t a part of.

I adored the boat scene because it was one of the only scenes that was normal-sh between them and I genuinely loved the father-daughter storyline 💙.

Then there was the lighthouse scene. Gosh, Olive felt like she was at an all-time low there. Her dad didn’t show up.

“‘He wouldn’t have kept leaving you like that unless something was wrong.’

There was a rushing in my ears, a heaviness that not even my mom could make disppear. ‘He did last time,’ I blurted out.'”

(pg. 447)

Darn.

When I read that, I flew black—struck in the chest. Darn 💔.

That was something I noticed—-how Olive would always tense up or worry when her dad wasn’t there. When her dad wasn’t there at the airport to pick her up, it felt like the dad didn’t bother or care to get her. She thought she was alone. When her dad kept going on these mysterious trips to Athens, it felt like he didn’t care about her and left her all over again. She was scared that her dad was going to walk away again; he did it once and could do it again. I could understand that. I too, began to wonder why the dad was always going to Athens because it seemed freaking strange how he always went to Athens for this license. I mean, did he really need to go get his license all the time? Also, something went off on my radar with how sick Olive described him to be. I mean, why was he looking sick???? Being tired and having a cold or a fever are two completely different things. I wasn’t seeing how the dad was getting this ill . . . I mean, unless we’re talking about the pandemic, then I didn’t know. Something was up.

I didn’t think anything more than having suspicions because I was so focused on how broken and alone Olive felt when the dad didn’t show up to the lighthouse like he said he would—another broken promise.

Her emotions were so raw.

“‘Missing my dad hurt. . . .

I clutched my pencil tightly in my hand. I’d drawn a lighthouse. Steady, capable, but all alone.”

(pg. 373-4)

😥 Someone just hand me the Costco pack tissues at this point. This book is going to ruin me. 😥

The upside of the lighthouse trip was seeing that random guy at the lighthouse who knew some other random guy with a piece of Atlantis. We love word of mouth stories.

I liked when they met Vasilios. I loved how the daughter or something lied about Vasilios being well. The next second he comes running into the room 😂. Vasilios had a rock thing that was a piece of orichalcum— a mixture of copper, zinc, nickel, lead, and iron. All elements Atlantis was believed to be made of (pg. 385). The rocks were tested and proven to have all the elements to be a piece of orichalcum. Vasilios said he found the orichalcum near Aspronisi, where the dad said he believed Atlantis to be. So the dad was right. . . and now they had proof. When Olive held the orichalcum in her palm, I felt her childlike wonder come back because she finally had the proof she needed to believe that this city was real—something real she could share with her dad. Again, with the metaphors of maybe things with her dad would be okay.

While we’re on Theo, one of my favorite moments between Olive and Theo was when he took her to see the domes. I would have liked to see more art with Olive because she didn’t really use the pastels. But I loved how she and Theo had these special moments together. I loved how they also snuck into some random person’s home that usually is never used and they got chased out of there. I kept thinking of the scene in Tangled where Rapunzel and Finn were in Corona and hid from the guards in an alley and they shared a laugh. That was how I imagined Theo and Olive when they were laughing after being chased. I liked that moment though—-to see them be young, giddy, and on an adventure. There were moments where Olive would think that she should be having a relaxing Santorini vacation like all those beach goers, but I thought the documentary and reuniting with her dad was better. Also, I loved how Olive kept reminding Theo that they couldn’t happen because she was dating Dax.

Dax was irrelevant 🤪.

Kind of like Chaol in Empire of Storms 😂. If you know, you know. I like Chaol (after a while), so I get to tease him like a brother.

But back to the orichalcum.

I loved the wonder reflected in the dad’s eyes when he saw Olive holding the orichalcum—-like he to had proof I loved the wonder reflected in the dad’s eyes when he saw Olive holding the orichalcum—-like he to had proof their relationship would be okay. They found Atlantis—-what was lost was found. I loved when they filmed how the dad got interested in Atlantis and some of his upbringing. Nico’s dad was found for investment fraud and it put Nico and his mom in a tight position because the dad fled, the mom’s family disowned her, and the mom couldn’t get a job because no one liked the dad. So they stayed in a lighthouse where Nico met Giogros who kept up  the lighthouse, where Girogros would tell Nico stories about the lost city and its downfall. Nico’s upbringing also felt like a metaphor for Atlantis—his childhood in all he lost and Olive’s childhood and all she lost. The dad’s present and him walking away. I was curious if the dad’s pride to find Atlantis was his downfall like the pride of the Atlantean’s? I was also curious about how if the dad grew up with his father fleeing, why would he put her through the same pain of leaving. I loved it when Olive asked that to herself too. We be on the same wavelength.

“But for every aha, there was a WTF as well.”

(pg. 411)

I laughed harder than I should have 😂. Gosh is there ever.

But the dad wanted to find Atlantis because it was this paradise when he knew no peace. I thought that was interesting and sweet because his world sucked and he wanted to find a better world for his family. Hearing the dad’s story, Olive realized how alike they really were. The dad grew up just as lonely and lost and it made her realize she didn’t want the dad to do the dive in Aspronisi alone because he had been alone most of his life. I loved loved loved that she said she wanted to dive with him.

Can I just say, the two of them diving was the STUPIDEST idea 😂.

First of all, Nico looked ready to pass the FREAK out. Second, they already stayed up all night and they wanted him to dive. Third, he had asthma and his doctor even highly recommended that he not dive in deep water. Fourth, just the two of them? I don’t think so. That reeked of a terrible idea. They couldn’t just have one person who wasn’t in good shape and another person who was terrified of diving because she had literal nightmares of drowning. That’s a premonition sis! BAD IDEA. If they were going to dive, they should have told someone, I don’t know, professional about it, and have a team at the ready!

Because DUH shiz went down!

LIKE DEEP DOWN as in diving in the middle of the ocean down. I still don’t know how deep these two went. My gosh, it just wasn’t safe. Bad vibes all around! The only good vibe I got was when he made that lava signal to her as in I lava you 🥺💙. Cute. I was thinking of the Lava song from Moana.

Yea, this one 😂.

I digress. But then the dad dove down deeper and then the boat light went out. When the light went out, gasps. All I I digress. But then the dad dove down deeper and then the boat light went out. When the light went out, gasps. All I did was gasp. No! Olive had a panic attack in the water, which I could have sensed a mile away and the dark water wasn’t helping. The savior Theo rescued her and I must say, the shirtless part was a nice touch 😂. I’m still curious though, how did he know to go look for her underwater? Also, how did he swim or dive to get her when there wasn’t—I’m assuming—another tank for him to dive to get her. Like bro, how? I guess it really doesn’t matter because at least he saved her. But I was still curious. I can’t believe he chose that moment to reveal what we all had a hunch about: the dad was sick.

I FREAKING KNEW it. I knew it. There just was something off about how he would always go to Athens and come back looking like shiz. Also, I didn’t see why Ana had to go with him to Athens too. I had a hunch he was sick, but I didn’t want to manifest that for him because if he was sick and he was passing away, GOSH. I didn’t want to believe that was going to be the ending. It couldn’t. It can’t. Absolutely no. I’ve been down a book road where that happened, and it was UGLY—as in I was an ugly, uncontrollable sobbing mess. The writing and the story was beautiful, but it tore something in me. I could not. Nico could not pass away.

I did not believe in that.

I just don’t know why they all let Nico dive in the freaking ocean KNOWING he had kidney failure. EXCUSE ME?!!!! If I was Ana or Theo, I would have told Olive what was up sooner because Olive had every right to know her father’s health when they were doing one of the things that could put his life at high risk. Also, if I was Ana or Theo, I would have done a better job to talk Nico out of diving that day because he was run-down as is. I know they weren’t going to get him to entirely give up on diving because Atlantis was his dream—-his purpose—and he was going to dive no matter what. I just wish they told her or that they had a bigger diving crew or that they waited until he felt better. But yea, they were on deadline for the documentary, I get it. But still, his health was more important.

I could understand why Olive was angry with Theo. It felt like he betrayed her and lied to her this whole time because he knew the dad was ill and didn’t tell her. She deserved to know. But I also understood it from Theo and the dad’s side. Theo was just respecting the dad’s wishes, which I respect too. But still. The dad also didn’t want Olive to come to Santorini and find out he was sick only for her to feel pressured to form a relationship with him after all this time just because he was ill. Because the dad was ill and had a complex situation, it begged the question of did he only reach out to her now because he wanted to reconcile with her before it was too late? That’s a freaking sucky question to think about—-that you feel like a last resort or a last amends.

“‘Theo, it was already too late.’ My voice was high-pitched and raggedy, but I couldn’t stop it. . . Why did no one seem to understand that my dad, the sun I had orbited around, had left me in a darkness that no human should have to endure? Did they really expect me to welcome him back into my life just because this could be my last chance?”

(pg. 440)

The situation made the re-connection seem not as authentic or natural anymore. Not that I didn’t believe the dad wanted to reconnect with her under these circumstances, but I felt like yea, he should have reached out sooner to explain things to Olive. Sure she would have been angry, but she needed healing and she couldn’t do that when she was still hurt.

When Olive told Theo to go, I was like, darn. He just needed to give her space to heal and process because she nearly drowned, her dad nearly drowned, and then she found out he was sick and everyone was lying to her. I would feel overwhelmed too—a motherboard short-circuiting. But what really packed a punch for me was when he called her Liv. Gosh 😢. Throughout the book they had a running joke where he would tell her all these Olive factoids because he didn’t want to call her Liv—-she was always Olive to him. I loved how he also made a joke when Olive worked at the bookstore, he gave her a name tag that said Not Olive. Cute. I also loved how he called her Kalamata because it was his favorite type of Olive. I felt like he didn’t ever directly call her Olive because she knew she didn’t like that, but he also knew that was who she was. I loved how steadfast he was in knowing who Olive was before Olive accepted who she was. So when he called her Liv, it felt like he gave up. Or a part of him broke because he finally gave in to calling her who she wanted to be, but when he said it, I felt like Olive thought Liv didn’t even feel like her anymore.

When the mom wasn’t answering her phone, I was like LA DUH, she’s probably on a flight out to Santorini 🤪. Honestly, all the mom’s “rules” meant nothing. They were as irrelevant as Dax. As far as I know, Olive didn’t call her mom every day and night as the mom asked her too. I mean, she tried, but that wasn’t what happened. But I loved loved loved when her mom showed up and they sat in the bed and had a long overdue conversation.

The mom told her that the dad didn’t leave her for Atlantis.

That wasn’t shocking to me, but still surprising. We learned that the dad lived with bipolar disorder and he had very high highs and very low lows. He would paint cabinets on a whim or strip down wallpapers at one of their apartments because he wanted to redecorate the walls and paint anything and everything. And then sometimes he would leave for many nights to do who knows what. He would lose his job and spend time with Olive doing other things. He would sometimes get arrested for his very low lows. I think back to all the memories and the items Olive talked about and how her dad would be gone for lengths at a time or what she said—“That’s the first time I realized that not all dad’s leave” (pg. 421). Hearing all the stories from the mom’s perspective was eye-opening. It was a revelation because what Olive viewed as whimsical, spontaneous, or odd moments as a child, it was actually her dad going through something that she didn’t understand at the time. She was so young and I think mental health isn’t taught at that age for her to know what her dad was going through. This whole story of the dad made me think about that quote of how stories get lost in translation—how we believe what we want to believe or what we know to believe. It goes back to how powerful our minds are. Our minds are so powerful because Olive created a narrative that her dad left her for Atlantis.

It was after her dad and her nearly ran over and he was overwhelmed and got arrested. He went to the hospital for a long time and I guess he never came back, and to Olive she curated a story that her dad left for Atlantis. Her mind protected her from the truth she knew all along because she didn’t understand what was going on, so she believed what her mind could understand—her dad went to look for a lost city they always talked about. That was why he left. When Olive talked about her past, I thought it was beautiful how J-EW made her memories feel familiar—-like she was finally recognizing what she stored away for years (pg. 452). I took a few psychology classes in college and I remember someone saying how sometimes our minds, especially young minds, can block out trauma or something to protect us and we can create different narratives. That was what Olive did, she protected herself from the trauma, and now she was old enough to understand—to recognize the truth. So that was why I said previously, I was interested to go back and read about the twenty-six times and the memories with them because I felt like I would see them differently—not just for a magical dad, but a person who was navigating being a father and a person living with bipolar disorder.

“‘That is the problem with mental illness. It can be like looking into a foggy mirror. You no longer see clearly.'”

(pg. 460)

I also loved the way J-EW curated a story that talked about mental health in a metaphorical way. I told you there was a metaphor somewhere in this book. It was at this point and onward that I realized the story was never about Atlantis, it was about Olive and the dad’s relationship because Atlantis was a mystical, magical place that could be or could not be real. But Olive and the dad’s relationship was a mystical, magical, tragic, and beautiful story that was real and could be real. They lost each other and could find each other again. I also liked how Atlantis also served as a metaphor for mental health because sometimes with mental health we can believe something so strongly that it consumes us or it becomes our truth. I struggled with an eating disorder, and some days I still battle invasive thoughts. I also live with OCD tendencies and minor depression. I know sometimes I can tell myself one thing and I start to believe it enough even if no one has directly told me that thing. Especially with my ED, I remember feeling so insecure and down about myself, telling myself that I wasn’t good enough or I was ugly in comparison or too this or that. No one actually said those things to me, but I felt like that was what people thought or said of me whenever they looked at me. I was sooo sure of it. Looking back, no one said that to me. I said those things to myself. Our minds are powerful in what we believe, and that’s why mental health is so valuable. We need to talk about, educate our children about it, and normalize it. Mental health is real even if we can’t see it. Atlantis—in the terms of this book—is real even if we can’t see it. Our thoughts are real if we believe and give them power. Atlantis is real in us if we believe and give it power.

The thing is I believe everyone goes through mental health challenges in varying degrees. I believe everyone could use therapy in some form or during some part of their life—I think Olive needed therapy after her dad left and surely after this trip 😅. But there is nothing wrong, embarrassing, or shameful about talking about what we are feeling, thinking, or what we experienced. It is powerful if we ask for help. It is powerful when we know we need help.

The dad left—-from my understanding—-was because he didn’t trust himself with Olive, so he went to get help. That’s powerful. That was touching 💙. He wanted to get help to navigate his bipolar disorder so he could return to Olive and be a better father, and maybe a better husband. But he couldn’t do that if he stuck around, putting her in danger because of what happened with Olive almost getting run over.

“Here’s the thing I really couldn’t get over: how hard my dad had worked. He’d fought for his life. He’d done the work to get healthy. He’d built me a bookstore on the most magical island I’d ever seen, and he figured out a way to make good on all the adventures we’d planned. But most of all, he’d tried. Even when the chances of rejection were unbelievably high.

Could we possibly find what we’d lost?”

(pg. 467)

No one could say the dad didn’t try. All he did was try.

Sometimes—many times—that’s what mental health can feel like—trying to grasp our emotions or experiences, trying to understand what we feel or are going through, trying to breathe, trying to shift our thoughts, trying to take things day by day. Try, try, try. It’s hard.

“Difficult isn’t the opposite of good.”

(pg. 462)

Easy is the opposite of difficult. Mental health is not easy, and many times it is not easy to handle, understand, or live with. I know. But we try and we do.

The dad left because he loved her.

The dad stayed gone because he wanted to control his mental health for her.

Everything he did was because he loved her soooo much and because he kept trying.

I LOVED that.

And I’m not saying that if a person lives with a mental health battle that they need to “fix” or control themselves to be worthy or enough for someone because absolutely not. I don’t think anyone is their mental health. A person is a person who lives with mental health battles, but mental health is not them. The dad was already deserving, worthy, and enough for Olive as he was because of how much he loved and cared for her. He was a good dad and a good person. What I loved was how he wanted to seek help because he didn’t want to hurt her and to be stronger for himself and his daughter.

I think the mom should have also told Olive at some point that her dad didn’t leave her for Atlantis because gosh knows that would have saved her years worth of hurt. But I respected that she owned up to not telling Olive sooner and how she expressed how she even had a stigma about mental health. I understand it, not the biggest fan of her not being open to Olive sooner, but I get it. Mental health takes time for people to understand and believe—sort of like Atlantis—but the mom eventually got there.

The heart-to-heart in the hospital was sweet.

I loved hearing the rest of the dad’s story because it finally felt like she was hearing the narrative that was real rather than the one she curated. I loved hearing how easily the dad fell in love with the mom. I loved how the dad and mom never regretted falling in love with each other and how they maintained an amiable relationship even if he left. She didn’t have hard feelings and I loved that. I also loved loved loved the moment when the mom and dad see each other after all these years and they embrace with teary eyes. How SWEET 🥺. I could feel the love between them. Even if the mom did remarry, she carried the love for Nico in her heart. Also, I forgot she was pregnant for a second 😅. She was a trooper.

What got me was how the dad would tell himself that the mom and Olive were better off without him 😕. His thoughts go back to how powerful the mind can be in what we convince ourselves to believe. So the dad left because he wanted to make things right, again, that power of wanting to be better for himself and his family. In his story, he said he wanted to go back to Olive, but then he felt guilty like he shouldn’t go back because those thoughts of Olive being better off without him invaded his mind. He also probably felt like he wouldn’t make it up to her because he left. That’s one thing I noticed about the dad—he never wanted to disappoint Olive. When he had to go to Athens that day they were at the lighthouse, he didn’t want to tell her he couldn’t film that day because it would be too painful for him to tell her that he was letting her down in some ways. So he texted Ana to tell Olive. I understood it, but I think if the dad told her that he couldn’t be there, it would have hurt less than feeling like he was dancing around her because he didn’t love her enough. It’s crazy what gets lost in translation.

The dad told her that he didn’t find Atlantis when he dove deeper, which was unsurprising. I didn’t think he was going to find Atlantis.

Atlantis was never the point.

My absolute favorite part of the story was the ending. Honestly, the ending was STELLAR. The end is always the best part of a story to me—after all the trials and tribulations, the triumph.

I WAS A SOBBING MESS. LITERALLY. I am a sucker for a father-daughter story 😩💙!!!!

If someone saw me while I was reading the end, I could have looked like a proud mother at a graduation. I was soooo sad, but happy and heart-warmed and all the good, warm, fuzzy feelings. The end was incredibly sweet.

I loved how even though the documentary didn’t work out, Olive created a new documentary with Theo’s help. The documentary revolved around her and the dad’s relationship. I loved how we saw their story from the very beginning to when the dad opened the bookstore to when the dad had the idea to invite Olive to Santorini. I loved how we saw the dad hard at work to bring Olive to Santorini and how onerous he was. I loved how we also saw Olive from when she stepped out the plane to talking about the items that her dad left her. I was already a teary mess, but when Olive was watching the film, more tears loosened when she reflected on how much she grew from the person who was on guard, hurt, and skeptical at everything to the person who was healing and who was proud to be Olive. I loved loved loved loved how powerful and amazing the power of editing can be because everything Theo filmed didn’t focus on Atlantis, but Olive and the dad’s emotions—-to highlight their reconnection.

I let out a Volcra scree when Olive got to the final object on the list.

“‘THe last item on my list was always the hardest for me to reconcile, because it was personal, and it was something I knew he cared about, more than anything . . .’ I held up the list, and Theo zoomed in so you could see the writing. #26. ME.

‘Number twenty-six was me. I didn’t understand why he’d left her behind with all the other things. He thought he had to. And I understand that now. I thought we’d lost each other. But sometimes lost things can be found.”

(pg. 487)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 😭!

I had a hunch that it might have been her 😩💙.

Gosh, did your heart feel bruised after that? I felt punched, beaten, destroyed. Thank you J-EW 🙃. I’d like to send you my hospital bill for the pain I felt with this book. I’m joking, of course!

But my gosh.

And then when the film switched back to the dad and Theo asked him off camera what was his Atlantis and the dad was like, “Olive, She’s my Atlantis” (pg. 488).

Can a human be a puddle?

I make a good puddle. OF TEARS.

My heart 💙.

Olive was his love, everything he believed in, his paradise, his home, the one thing he would keep coming back to.

Olive was his greatest story.

The end of the film was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

“We found it, Dad. We finally found Atlantis.”

(pg. 488)

Because they found each other. They reconnected, reconciled, believed, and were working towards trusting each other again. They had each other now and that’s all that mattered. I loved loved loved their relationship. It wasn’t perfect, but it was built on indescribable and infinite love.

To be really honest, the crowd’s reaction was underwhelming. They just witnessed a cinematic masterpiece and there was barley an applause 😅. It’s okay, I reacted enough for the whole crowd! But I loved how everyone we met on the journey was there. It felt right. They should publish this video to Youtube if they wanted to because I bet it would get many views.

Also, I lived for the moment when the dad and Olive shared a teary-eyed look and meaningful hand-squeeze. I also loved when they hugged. I don’t know if the dad will continue to find Atlantis, but I think he found something even greater 🥰. I would have loved the scene even more if the dad and her had a tad bit longer conversation on how touched he was by the film or something because they just looked at each other and hugged before she told him to go enjoy the party. I guess, actions speak louder than words, but this was a moment I wouldn’t have minded if it was dragged out.

The reconciliation with Theo was sweet. I loved how she reintroduced herself as who she was—Olive. I also loved how she wore a black dress that night because I distinctly remember Theo saying something about how much he loves a little black dress *cue One Direction song*. Their banter was also cute, but the thing that I was skeptical of was how nonchalant Theo was about letting go of his rule of not doing long-distance. For someone who was so adamant that she would be “dead to her” once she left Santorini, he sure was quick to say, let’s give this a go because I can try to use the internet. I mean, what made Olive different from Demy that he wanted to do long distance now? Not that I didn’t like him trying, but I wasn’t sure about his motive. I’m not sure if they’ll last long because of his hesitation with long distance. Also, they really went from your “dead to me” to be my girlfriend in 0.00001 seconds 🙃. We’ll see.

I loved how there was still an air of possibility at the end because many things were left open, which all books do. Some questions I had was what happened to Vasilios’s rock/piece of Atlantis? Does Olive and the dad have it? Will that be their new keepsake? Will Olive visit the dad more often or will the dad come visit her in the States? Oh, what about Olive and RISD? Maybe the dad could help her settle into school and they could bond over that as well. Also, I couldn’t have been the only one who kind of liked Ana and Nico as something more. I think they are both strong, independent individuals who don’t need to be in a relationship, but they would have been cute together. I also wonder if Nico would ever create a relationship with Julius and James—-the other people in Olive’s life now.

No matter what, I believe Olive and the dad will continue to mend their relationship and tell great stories together. I do believe that what we lose, we find again in all sense of the matter—-people, experiences, ourselves. What is lost can be found 💙. Also , I think that everyone is going through something that we never know about but we should try to be understanding and open to. If there’s one thought I want to end this post on, it’s to be kind to yourself, especially your mind because mental health is real and we all go through periods of doubt, burn-out, confusion, or feeling lost. Remember that you are worthy, deserving, loved, and cared about and reach out if you need to.

What a beautiful story. I love love loved it and more 💙.

Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part?

Where is something mythical or magical you believe in?

Anything I mentioned that you want to discuss more about?  Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Review

4.87 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: Olive is someone you root for from page one to page five-hundred. She is someone you also want to give a big hug to 💙

Plot: A magical, heartfelt story about two people who were lost and found each other through the powerful belief of a lost city.

Writing: I loved the way Jenna-Evans Welch captures such a beautiful relationship and story though a charming journey of love and reconnection. I also absolutely loved the twenty-six items list and the backstories that added to the father-daughter relationship.

Romance: Theo’s a nice guy, I don’t know if he’s Olive’s long-term guy, but he’s nice.