Bursting with heart, sass, and self-discovery, When Love Gives You Lemons is a vibrant celebration of queer joy and resilience. Steven Salvatore delivers a story that’s as bold and zesty as its title—full of laugh-out-loud moments, tender truths, and a love that feels refreshingly real.

This was a beautiful story. Steven Salvatore was able to create such vivid imagery with his words. Not only that the chemistry was palpable and the banter was top notch

I feel like this is going to be a tough review for me. I have loved every book by Steven Salvatore more than their last, so I went into this one with sky-high expectations.

Which proved tricky because I really struggled to like Fielder’s character in those early chapters. He’s really focused on his social media. Clearly he’s missing signals from his boyfriend. He doesn’t seem like a great listener. I wanted to be totally on board with his quest to get his ex back, but I found myself having real questions about whether restarting the relationship would be what was best for Ricky, his ex.

I stuck with the book because it had so many other things that I was enjoying. References to My Best Friend’s Wedding? I’m SO here for it! Big Italian family does wedding in Italy?? YES PLEASE! So I definitely had things I was enjoying. I just really wanted to like Fielder more than I did at the beginning.

However!

Whew. Okay. Does Salvatore know what they’re doing? Yes. Yes, they do! Because wow, the story hit that half-way mark, and Fielder all of a sudden starts to see himself and his life in a different light. His passion to help someone else ignites. It’s like, all these pieces click into place. And in that moment, when Fielder is in the lemon grove, finally understanding how he wants to use his social media account and what he willdo to learn and grow himself, I became the biggest Fielder fan.

From there onward, I just couldn’t get enough of this story. It makes room for complexity and nuance, but it delivers those big romantic moments, too. It was great celebrating the whole adventure with those families.

This book was really fun and gave all the classic rom-com feels. The struggles that Fielder and Ricky went through felt really realistic of what it means to be so young but have had such strong feelings for one person your entire life. The setting of the story was stunning and made me wish I was reading it while on the Italian Coast. There are ALOT of characters in the story, which isn't a bad thing but listening on audio I had to refer back to my physical copy of the book a couple times since I was having a hard time remembering who everyone is.

Thank you Bloomsbury for an ARC of When Love Gives You Lemons and Libro.fm for an ALC!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: May 13, 2025

A M/M second chance romance set on the gorgeous Amalfi coast. Fielder and The Coven are a bit over the top and exhausting to read at times but they’re thankfully balanced out by the rest of the cast. I wasn’t crazy about the 4th wall breaks…I see what it was trying to do but it took me right out of the story. I was concerned about Fielder entering a contest about sustainability while posting about flying on a private jet and was happy when he addressed it. There are some perfect moments throughout this and I really love how this confident group of queer friends sticks together and stands up for each other.

The way I often gauge how well I like a book is if I think about the characters even when I'm not reading it. And Fielder & Ricky lived on my brain!
Next door neighbors and best friends since they were 6 years old, they grew up being part of each other's large Italian families. They fl in love as teens, and were inseparable. Until right after Ricky's high school graduation, when he unexpectedly breaks up with Fielder and then leaves without saying goodbye.
When two of their close family members make a surprise engagement announcement, Fielder and Ricky are forced to be best men together.
What insues is a "My Best Friend's Wedding" level scheme from Fielder to get Ricky back. But Fielder is far too nice to actually pull off any real sabotage. About 1/2 way through the book, it shifts to Ricky's POV. After getting his side of the story, the writing shifts to dual POV chapters... and I love multi POV.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Reading Age: 16+

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Steven Salvatore for providing me with an arc of this book!!

When Love gives you Lemons is a drama filled, romantic read, with angst and teenage love; set in gorgeous Italy. This book follows Fielder and Ricky, a couple who broke up a year ago. Now when reunited for a wedding between their families, they realize the spark between them might not have been lost after all.

Steven Salvatore writes a witty and fun romance about two guys falling back in love with each other. I absolutely loved the setting of this book and seeing how both characters connected to their Italian roots. This book felt like a refreshing lemonade on a hot summer day, full of icy secrets and sweet moments.

I really loved this book and will definitely be purchasing a physical copy!! My favorite character was Mattie because I really related to how he felt and the decisions he made. I loved the cousin relationships between one another. I would love a little novella on Mattie and Nic Jr!!

I think this story is very sweet and cute. I love a best friends to lovers second chance trope. It has a lot of what I hope a YA romance would have, but I feel like it got a bit didactic and some of the important messaging got buried in an overload of issues that prevented any of them from being fully addressed in the nuanced way I think was the goal. Additionally, I think teens might "cringe" at the overuse of some slang and portrayal of TikTok. I do think this lived lens book can serve as a valuable window and/or mirror for teens and for that reason alone I would recommend its purchase and support.

First, I guess I didn't pay attention to the edits and posts for this book because I had no idea it is a homage to the film, My Best Friend's Wedding!!! I literally saw that movie in theaters when it was released (in 1997 😱) and i've loved it ever since! The book is filled with lines, plot points and just so many references from the film and I giggled every time I came across one! Delightful!
A bit chaotic but so sweet and so much fun! I really enjoyed this book!
I was quickly brought into Fielder's world and wanted the best for him, what a great character!
Childhood love, second chance romance, so much queer joy, body & sex positivity! Also lots of silly 4th wall breaks throughout to make you laugh!
Two large & loving Italian families and a week on the Amalfi Coast in Italy!! It's so good!! It will make you want to book a trip to Italy asap!
A lovely tribute to rom coms, love, family & friends, this book was a joy to read!🍋✨️

I have so many pages written down with notes of my thoughts while reading this. Most of them are incoherrant thoughts as I was screaming at the book because of how important conversations happening were or yelling at the characters to just speak with one another. While there was so much miscommunication in this book, it was realistic for the age of the characters, so many of their decisions and actions were relatable, and I laughed as they made errors that I would've made at that age. There are several times in which the fourth wall is broken, and I love the moments in which we are being spoken to. Something else that I enjoyed about this book was the conversation that happens because of Jenny Lee's remarks regarding queer people and sex. I appreciate the way that her opinion was handled and the inner thoughts that we get to hear from Fielder because of those remarks.

When Love Gives You Lemons is a sweet Ya romance with many twists and turns that centers on finding yourself in the midst of others. The familial relationships in this book shine through as both Fielder's and Ricky's families support them with various aspects of their lives and encourage them to be true to themselves. If you have read any other book by Steven Salvatore, then you are sure to enjoy this one, or if you are looking for a cute summer romance, try this book.

Next Level Romance & Delicious Angst!

Steven Salvatore is an exceptional writer who knows how to build delicious angst, palpable tension, and steamy romance. When Love Gives You Lemons is an excellent novel. It has all the staples: humor, second-chance romance, and yummy food! This story features Fielder Lemon, our hero, who is making confident strides for his life. He also just happens to be pining over the one who got away, the infamous Ricky DeLuca. As luck would have it, they are bound to reunite when their families start to unite.

Steven Salvatore puts readers THROUGH IT in this story. This story is full of the most accepting humans, and that unconditional family love was beautiful to read. The Lemon family is truly goals when it comes to the amount of love that they give one another. And this was a great component that made me never want to stop reading this story. It was like a My Big Fat Greek Wedding level of family love. Another component to highlight here is the angst. This story starts with Fielder and his prospective former love interest at odds; however, bit by bit, you get to see whether that will stay the same. It drove me crazy because I had to know what was going to happen next. Finally, the romance in this story is sure to be everyone's favorite part. Combining with the angst, the romance is grand and just amazing with an Italy backdrop that readers are going to love.

I cannot do justice to how great this story is and how much of a talented writer Steven Salvatore is. Go read this book and thank me later!!

Ricky and Fielders journey was something else with the way they found their way back to each other and also proved to themselves and each other that they had changed and knew who they were as individuals. It was quite the whirwind. There was a lot of messiness and complexity, especially when Ricky was trying to choose between Fielder and Cam and especially in terms of figuring out as a reader whether or not to like Cam. However, relationships are messy in real life and it's important to have that kind of representation. I also loved seeing Benny from And They Lived make an appearance (I think?) It would be cool if Salvatore wrote another book in this world and Fielder and Chase got too meet.

To be entirely honest, this book took a little bit to pull me in. I was NOT a fan of the fourth wall break at all. It made the book feel awkward and I came very close to DNFing before the first chapter was even done. Thankfully I stuck it out and ended up more or less enjoying the book. Every time the fourth wall broke, I was pulled out of the story, but otherwise the plot flowed fairly well. I found it hard to root for Ricky and Fielder given that Ricky was in a relationship throughout most of the story. Even once Cam was shown to be cheating, I still couldn't give Ricky a free pass when he was still dragging Cam along. I also got super annoying by all the mentions of "Clock" when referencing TikTok. Normally social media references don't bug me, but this did largely because of the annoying nickname and partially because it was so excessive.

That all said, I did like the story. It also made some really good points about queer relationships and some important conversions were had. I liked that there was a focus on learning to love yourself and seek out what you need outside of a relationship. There were also lots of sweet moments between the two MCs. I also liked the side characters and felt they rounded out the story well. This definitely wasn't a perfect fit for me, but Steven Salvatore will remain one of my go-to authors.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was such a cute read! I loved the setting and the relationship between Fielder and Ricky. I didn't personally love when the author broke the first wall, but I could see how it is appealing to others. This was one of my first ARC's and I'm excited to check out more of Steven's work.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for access to this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was honestly not what I was expecting it to be, but that only made me love it more. It's cringe but in the most millennial way possible (and I mean if you're gonna get cringe, might as well do it millennial style). Fielder and Ricky were honestly the messy gays I needed to read about right now. Their love was so raw and had me emotional at times. As someone who is also from a big Italian family, there was A LOT I could relate to in this book, so much so that it had me going, "So that's not just my family!" There's also a low-key kind of found family to this book that I wasn't expecting, but absolutely adored in the end. All in all this book was amazing and I truly recommend it.

This was a sweet romance. I really enjoyed the writing style and how the characters grew throughout the novel. I did not agree with a lot of choices the characters made, but they always made a point to apologize and do better. When Love Gives You Lemons isn't just about romantic love, but familial love as well. The way the Lemon's loved each other was so sweet to read. Overall, this was an enjoyable book to read and I look forward to reading more from Salvatore.

*ARC Review*

Thank you @netgalley for an arc copy of this book for review!

This book was so amazingly sweet. I loved Fielder and Ricky's characters so much and would love for a second book continuing their story. There was so much tension between the two the entire time I felt like I was going to explode. I loved the fact that most of this book took place in Italy, and I really enjoyed all of the beautiful Italian language heavily sprinkled in. There was also a lot of good humor in this book, and I definitely loved the scenes with the family. This book also made me hungry, and I need an authentic Italian Lemon now. This is an amazing romance story that will stay with me. I'm giving it four stars and would definitely recommend it.

*Will add Amazon review once published.

🍋💛🍝 BOOK REVIEW – WHEN LOVE GIVES YOU LEMONS by Steven Salvatore 💛🍝🍋

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thanks to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for the ARC! Available 13 May 2025.

What do you get when you mix My Best Friend’s Wedding chaos, queer Italian-American family drama, a lemon orchard in Amalfi, and a main character with enough unhinged charisma to power a Vespa up a cliff? When Love Gives You Lemons, a summer romp that’s zesty, funny, heartfelt, and just a little bittersweet.

I was fully charmed by Fielder Lemon. His narrative voice was so compelling that I honestly wished we’d stayed with him the whole time. (Sorry Ricky, you’re cute and all, but Fielder was the moment.) The fourth wall breaks, the relentless scheming, the chaotic self-awareness—iconic. A little much at times? Sure. But aren’t we all a little much at 18, especially when stuck at a family wedding with your ex? That said, we definitely needed more Benny!

🍋 Perfect for fans of second-chance romance, found family, and anyone who’s ever been a little too obsessed with their ex.🍋

Thanks NetGalley for giving me access to this ARC. I love Amalfi and MM romcoms, so I have been very eager to read this book. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to my (admittedly high) expectations. While the descriptions of Italy were vivid and the family dynamics somewhat relatable, the pacing was all over the place. The main couple seemingly got back together several times but still weren’t together? A forced love triangle that was obviously one sided? Very late cliched epiphanies about “choosing myself” (hello Kelly Taylor), queer representation, and climate change? The book was trying to do too much and not being successful at anything. Plus Fielder’s initial crusade to win Ricky back felt more pathetic than compelling. I had a very hard time rooting for any of the characters besides Matty, the cuz-bro looking for love with golden retriever energy.

This book made me love lemons more. It follows an Italian American protagonist who schemes to get back together with his childhood boyfriend and first love during a family wedding. I thought that the pacing and descriptions of the Amalfi coast and the food were vibrant and fun. I also really liked the humor and the way that Salvatore brings in the Italian family aspect with all the side characters. I hope to read more of Salvatore's stories because while this was my first one I enjoyed how he handled themes like gay/queer dating in the modern day and being an influencer and promoting social issues.

One of the things I liked was the voice of the first main character, the guy scheming to get his childhood boyfriend back. I did feel that all the fourth wall breaks at the beginning made his voice a bit insufferable/harder to get through. It got better as you stick with the book because the main character does grow and develop, and I also felt the story was meant to be more comedic/satirical since it does base itself off of "My Best Friend's Wedding." I liked that we got the POV of the childhood boyfriend and his perspective on their initial breakup, so I think that decision to write in his POV really balances out the story. Getting both sides of a situation is very real lifesque, so I appreciated that.

The story is messy and chaotic like queer Italian American families, so I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in a cute YA M/M romcom set on the beautiful Amalfi coast. I really want to try their lemons after reading this too.

Thank you Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. It comes out May 13.