Iris' new start in New York looks set to echo the movies she used to watch with her beloved late mother Vivian. Iris knows that her mother was a singer in a band that toured the US and she knows that Vivian was entrusted with a secret gelato recipe because they used to make it all the time, when Iris was growing up. To her surprise, she comes across a familiar looking gelateria while exploring Little Italy with her best friend Bobby. Its facade is in the background of an old photo of her mum. Is this where the gelato recipe comes from? The next day, Iris investigates and meets Gio, who says his family's beloved gelateria is in danger of closing. His uncle Santo is the only one who knows the secret gelato recipe and as he's currently in a coma, they cannot make any more. But Iris can't reveal that she knows the recipe without knowing Santo's connection to her mother and the reasons he gave it to her.

I love a cute Christmas romance and I think this is the first one I've read that features gelato so heavily, so points for originality! Although I loved the family dynamics aspect, I found Iris to be very cookie-cutter and she kept being described as a Zooey Deschanel lookalike. Add to that the fact she sings and she just felt rather generic. Gio was also a pretty generic, handsome Italian guy, devoted to his family and business. I guess their genericness makes them a good match but I definitely wanted a bit more excitement!

There are also a few chapters that flash back to Vivian's time in New York and her involvement with Santo. This all seemed very tragic and I'm not sure I fully understood Vivian's decision to put her career ahead of true love but then, I will never understand people who do this!

Iris is also running from her abusive ex, Adam and I would have really appreciated the threat of him being more prominent. It does amp up towards the end and this thread has a very satisfactory ending but Adam could have added more suspense to keep the pages turning faster. I guess that's not really what readers want from their cosy festive reads though!

I don't think I enjoyed it as much as One Day in December but it was still a fuzzy, cute romance. There is also a cat called Smirnoff, who needed a much bigger role!

Iris Raven arrives in New York City from her home in London. She’s made up her mind to get away from her abusive, manipulative boyfriend. She doesn’t know anyone in New York, but remembers sitting with her mom, eating her mom’s delicious homemade gelato, and listening to her mother’s stories about the time she spent there when she was young. Iris hopes to start a new life and thinks this might be the perfect place to begin again.

With its endearing, likeable characters and real sense of place, this enjoyable novel will hold your attention until the last page!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!!

After reading One Day in December and One Night on the Island - Josie Silver creates great characters and perfect settings. The New York and Christmas backdrop of her newest book is no different. I loved Iris' friends and the Belotti family that we are introduced to. Iris and Gios relationship is the cherry on top.
I felt the secrets bogged the story down a bit and I was just waiting on the inevitable happening. Won't stop me reading Josie Silver - but just lacked a bit of something something, that the previous 2 novels had in Spades.

I love Josie Silver books, especially one night on the island but this was very slow and dull. It had all the makings to be a perfect book for me but basically nothing happened and I had to keep forcing myself to get to the end. She did touch on some good topics throughout but it just lacked a decent storyline for me.

Josie Silver has such a wonderfully warm way of writing characters that really lends itself to a wintery, Christmassy tale.

Josie Silver always makes me fall in love with her characters. I'm so glad Iris had such lovely friends to support and love her.

Parts of me feel like this could be have been wrapped up quicker. I felt the impending doom of Iris having to tell the truth about her mother, Adam and everything was definitely there and there wasn't that many pages left of the book.

Gio and Iris and their love story make up for it.
Iris finally letting go of her mum's and scattering her ashes was so sad yet beautiful.

Overall I had a great time and I am very thankful to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity ✨✨

I found it was hugely disjointed.. Iris needed a shake to come clean with her past secret. The secrets concerning her mother and Santo were not her secrets because she only realised some of the history of the connection when she arrived in New York and visited the Gelateria.. it did not flow easily.

The precise moment this book lost me was at 8%, when Iris decided to say "gosh maybe I could try to recreate the recipe" instead of (like a normal person) "look I'm really sorry, I don't know how it happened but my mum appears to have acquired the missing recipe somehow, let me return it". WHO DOES THAT? And suddenly the entire course of the book is revealed (hello final act breakup reason), and Iris becomes extremely unlikeable. There's was just no getting over that moment for me. I know romances run on coincidence and miscommunication but the skill lies in not making them so obvious and annoying that they overwhelm everything else.

This is a lovely read .
Iris escapes to New York a place where her mother had happy memories of. She is also escaping her abusive boyfriend. She arrives not knowing anyone but with a photo album of her mother's. At a food festival she discovers a cafe that she has a photo of....in the photo is her mother and the owner. What is the story behind it? There are some fun characters in this warm hug of a book that I read over a couple of days .

Gorgeous and romantic! I longed for vanilla gelato throughout this story! Great characters, not perfect by any stretch but very likeable. Iris has been hurt in many ways, loss, pain, a loss of control and having to run away to find some peace. She hides away in New York, works, survives but doesn’t really ‘live” until she meets Gio. Gio has a past full of pain himself but can he be part of what helps Iris move on from the life she left. Family secrets, heartfelt moments, passion, pain and drama - this book has it all. Amazing story and excellently written.

This is the second book I have read by this author and I can’t wait to enjoy many more.

The setting, the characters, the individual stories all make this a lovely heart warming read.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for this wonderful arc!

Iris moves to New York and her life begins again. What better way to have a fresh start than to fly from London to New York. Leaving her recent heartache behind she stumbles upon a familiar Gelateria, inside she meets Gio who also has his own baggage. Believe it or not, Iris also has the answer to his problem. Can Iris finally let go of her past and let herself fall in love?

I loved this book so so much!! My first Christmas read of the year and what perfect start to my winter reads. Josie has a way of making her characters come alive. I completely fell in love with Iris and felt like I needed to be her friend, even when I wanted to shake some sense into her. The way Josie developed Iris as a character was amazing and it was so amazing to see her thrive towards the end.

If you love novels about how a woman can overcome her grief and become stronger after her abusive relationship, whilst also falling in love and finding an amazing family that will hopefully become her own, then this is the book for you!

A lovely, heart warming Christmassy book! I loved the way this story was set all around following in her mums footsteps around New York. The flashbacks to the mums POV were also really good.

Such a great book, with interesting side characters that added to the story and the best ending I could have hoped for.

So. This book. Gave me a headache, really.
It took me a long time to start liking this book. I had a problem with a story starting with a huge lie because you know how it's going to end. And there were moments that I thought, can you please just move forward, story? And moments that were so emotionally overdone. And moments that looked so important and then were no more (this huge thing with Iris's mother being explained to the family somehow behind the scenes). And I hate the name Iris. And there are so many subplots. And lies and secrets.
And it really took me over half of the book to start to really enjoying it. But then there was no stop. Because it felt warm and I suddenly completely fell for Iris. And it's so much more than a winter love story, it touches upon grief, betrayal, hope, mental abuse, love, loss, family... When Gio eventually warmed and opened, his banter with Iris was brilliantly funny. Sure, there is tons of "right place, right moment", surface - level and predictable, but well, this makes the book this little bit more charming and sweet. It was heart - warming, if you're not looking for something deep, light and easy and sometimes that's all you want.

3.5 stars rounded to 4.

When Iris escapes an abusive relationship she flees to New York for a fresh start, and in the ways of all love stories meets a man that she should definitely not fall for.

A fabulous read, full of romantic tension. Loved it.

Josie Silver has done it again! I was completely immersed from start to finish! If you enjoy Emily Henry and Katherine Center then this is a must read for you!!

PSA - This is not really a holiday read, though can certainly be read during the holidays.

I’m definitely a sucker for a good romance with a great setting and this book ticks all the boxes culminating in a magical Christmas denouement.
Iris decides to go and live in New York after the death of her beloved mother and the end of an abusive relationship.
She decides on New York as her late mother had many happy memories of living there and had acquired a special gelato recipe which they have used over the years and which has been a great comfort food for Iris.
When she sees the Italian ice cream cafe from where the recipe has originated, Iris gets to meet the same family her mother once knew and discovers they have actually lost the recipe due to the owner’s incapacity after a stroke. How can she help them without revealing who she really is?
However as Iris is gradually enfolded into the family she realises that there are many things they do not know about her and when she starts to fall in love with Gio, things become very complicated.
This is a lovely story about two wonderful characters, both of whom deserve some happiness. It is a gentle read which quickly draws you in and keeps you entertained until the very last page. This would be a perfect Christmas read or gift as it is set in the Winter period leading up to the festive season and the New York setting makes it even more special.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

Finished reading A Winter in New York by Josie Silver and what a swoon-fest!!!!

It was full of love, friendship, a haunting past, finding yourself, cute NYC meet cutes, and a HUGE italian family with a secret gelato recipe!

I have been an avid watcher of 80s and 90s romcoms and reading this felt as wholesome as watching some of my absolute favorite movies such as When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, While You Were Sleeping, etc.

I absolutely loved how the story converged and unveiled old family secrets.

A must read this Fall and Winter. I might just buy a hardcopy for this one!

Loved it! I have devoured all of Josie's previous books and this one was the same - easy to engage with characters, good paced story, ups and downs, a swoon worthy leading man, interesting backstory, great location and ice cream! What more could you want?! Highly recommended!

i really liked the concept of this book, but found the secret keeping very frustration and for me it was a way to make the book longer than it needed to be, the blurb was better than the story.