YMMV / Three Steps Over Heaven

• Adaptation Displacement: "Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo", the 2010 Spanish remake of the film, is much more internationally popular than the original 2004 Italian one, especially since the Spanish remake was dubbed and translated in many languages (not in Italian or English, though). Many people don't even know it's based on an Italian book, and most people outside of Italy don't know that an Italian version of the film also exists.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Step and Babi. They are loved by the fans of the saga, Babi for being relatable and good at school, and Step for being a bad boy with a heart of gold. However, both used to be heavily critiziced by the haters. Babi, in particular, was the character that the hatedom loved to bash the most, and was frequently considered a selfish Spoiled Brat who only got worse in later books.
  • Gin has her own fans for her Plucky Girl personality, and there are several Step/Gin shippers who find Babi too unlikable. But there are also many fans who call Gin a psychopath for being a Stalker with a Crush.
• Cliché Storm: She is a rich, smart, pretty, well-behaved girl, and despite being a Dude Magnet, still a virgin. He's a tough, handsome bad boy and The Casanova. After some initial hostility, they fall in love, and she loses her virginity to him. He tries to reform because Love Redeems. But they are Star-Crossed Lovers and their relationship is tragic. The criminal life of the characters leads to a Character Death towards the end (in this case, the main character's best friend).
• Die for Our Ship: A literal example. Step's new girlfriend Gin (introduced in the second book) gets a lot of this from Step/Babi shippers. And the shippers got their wish in the 2017 final book Tre Volte Te, which ends with Gin dying, and Step getting back with Babi.
• Escapist Character: Babi. An extremely smart, rich, and popular girl with perfect grades, who has the toughest and hottest Troubled, but Cute guy in town falling for her.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Even if Step ends up with Gin in the sequel, Step/Babi is still the most popular couple with fans. It's probably the reason why Moccia wrote the third book of the saga "Tre volte te" in 2017 (11 years later), where Gin dies and Step moves in with Babi.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In early 2000s, the book has become popular in other European countries. Five years later, the movie even got a Spanish remake, which was also much better received than the original Italian one (compare their IMDB rating). Also, Federico Moccia's books are really loved in Spain, while in Italy they are much more divisive.
• Hype Backlash: In the early 2000s, the book was a huge pop culture phenomenon in Italy, and the Target Audience (teenage girls) couldn't stop talking about it, giving the author Federico Moccia enough popularity to write a sequel and several other books about teen romances, and the movie's lead actor Riccardo Scamarcio was also a teen idol for a while... Of course, it also had a very vocal hatedom and everything about it was frequently mocked, particularly for the Cliché Storm, the absurd names of the characters (who needs a normal name when you can have a silly nickname?), and Moccia's writing style. To the point that when The Twilight Saga became popular one or two years later, many Italian haters claimed that Twilight was actually a teen romance written well, unlike Tre Metri Sopra il Cielo, probably unaware that Twilight has an even bigger international hatedom.
• Narm:
  • Many examples, but the names (well, nicknames) of the characters are one of the most frequently mocked aspects of the book. "Step" and "Babi" are already strange nicknames, but not even the worst ones. Step's best friend is known as Pollo, which means Chicken. The character is supposed to be a tough guy who is part of a gang, and he seemingly has no problem with this nickname, which is... unflattering to say the least. His girlfriend, who is also Babi's best friend, is known as Pallina (literally "Little Ball") which would be an acceptable name only for your pet.
  • In the movie, many scenes are accompanied by "Radio Chaos", with a DJ's voice-over spouting random stuff. The DJ is supposed to make the movie cool and edgy, since it's a romantic drama for teenagers, but outside of the Target Audience, it can come off as cheesy. During a dramatic moment, the DJ randomly starts talking about mayonnaise and how making homemade mayonnaise is harder than falling in love with the wrong person... For better or for worse, in the sequel movie ''Ho Voglia di Te", there's no DJ at all.
• Replacement Scrappy: Gin, the female lead in the sequel, is seen as this by Babi fans.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • In the first book/movie, Babi is meant to be the classic good girl "heroine" with a tragic romance. To the haters, she comes off as prissy, snobbish, and outright bitchy. She looks down on her younger sister Daniela and even fat-shames her in one of the early chapters, secretly thinking that Daniela could never understand Babi's "problem" of being seen as a Lust Object by guys, because she's too ugly and fat (although, in the movie, Daniela is neither). Being an Escapist Character, she's also a bit too perfect (great grades, Dude Magnet, the prettiest girl in her school) and this makes her less relatable.
  • Step is meant to be a delinquent with a soft side who has a Heel–Face Turn thanks to his love for Babi. However, many readers have a hard time finding their relationship "romantic" since their first meeting has him forcing her to take a hot shower (at a party) against her will for some weird reason. Even if this is downright abusive, Babi pretty much forgives him the same night and falls in love with him a few days later. Downplayed in that Step keeps doing bad things even during his relationship with Babi, but this is not meant to be sympathetic, since he ends up losing both his best friend and Babi's love by the end of the book, and he realizes how much he screwed up.
  • In the sequel, Gin is a Stalker with a Crush, but probably due to Values Dissonance (it's a 2007 book), her stalking behavior is portrayed as positive and romantic. Step, her object of affection, is even more attracted to Gin after learning that she has stalked him for many years.