Some stories don’t ask to be shouted. They ask to be whispered.
Love Me Love Me, the new Amazon Prime Video film arriving on the platform just in time for Valentine’s Day weekend, is based on the hit young adult novel by Stefania S., which amassed over 23 million reads on Wattpad before becoming a published book with Sperling & Kupfer. It’s a story that hums softly, like a song playing through headphones while the world drifts past the car window.

Born from a book that spoke directly to the hearts of teenagers, confronting them with uncertainty, broken promises, and messages written but never sent, the film brings to the screen a love that is both fragile and overwhelming. The kind of love that feels absolute precisely because it appears at the most delicate moment in life. Love Me Love Me tells the story of that age when everything happens for the first time: the first flutter in your chest, the first real wound, the first choice that feels final.

The film adaptation preserves the spirit of Stefania S.’s novel, made of raw emotion and meaningful silences. The characters move through a universe of stolen glances, unspoken words, and feelings that are frightening precisely because they are real.

June White, played by British actress Mia Jenkins (The Lodge, Domina), is a teenage girl who leaves her home after a painful loss in search of a fresh start in Italy. In Milan, at the prestigious Saint Mary’s International School, June becomes caught in an emotional triangle with two magnetic young men: James Hunter (played by Spanish actor Pepe Barroso Silva, High Seas), restless and rebellious, involved in underground MMA fights, and Will (Italian actor Luca Melucci, Mascarpone: The Rainbow Cake), a model student and James’s best friend. Their relationships intertwine tenderness, tension, and secrets, forcing June to question what it truly means to love and, above all, to be loved.

The screenplay by Veronica Galli and Serena Tateo (Supernova), together with the direction of Roger Kumble (After We Collide), brings to the screen the same emotional complexity that defined the novel’s pages. Shot in English, the film nonetheless retains the essence of an unmistakably Italian soul.

Those very emotions that lived within Stefania S.’s writing turned the Roman premiere at the Auditorium Parco della Musica into a dreamlike night suspended between reality and imagination. Beyond the familiar faces of the cast, there was a palpable sense of community; fans born from a story that began online, grew through social media, and has now reached full maturity in a visible, cinematic form. For one night, the Auditorium transformed into a small emotional universe, much like what had already happened, again thanks to Amazon Prime Video, at Berlin’s Tendorum a few months earlier, during the premiere of the second season of Maxton Hall.

On the Roman blue carpet, the cast spoke candidly about their characters. According to Mia Jenkins, “June isn’t just a romantic lead, she’s a young woman trying to understand the world and herself.” For Pepe Barroso Silva, “James is much more than a ‘bad boy’: inside him there’s fragility, desire, and a deep need to be understood.” His words highlight how the film may appear to be a love triangle only on the surface; a closer look reveals a deeper exploration of growth and identity. Luca Melucci added, “I focused on the emotional nuances of someone searching for safety and belonging, because I believe that’s where the heart of this story truly lies.”

Love Me Love Me doesn’t promise easy answers. “This film captures the essence of adolescence, confusion, passion, strength, and the fear of loving,” the director explained. “Tormented love stories stay with us for a lifetime, and I wanted to honor the heart of these characters.” Because Love Me Love Me prefers to ask the right questions: how willing are we to be vulnerable? How frightening is it to truly love? And how revolutionary can it be, at any age, to simply ask to be loved?

Stefania S.’s story is one that lingers.
Just like certain loves do.