Josie Silver is a Queen at tugging at my heartstrings. A Winter in New York started in my favorite place- a bookshop! Well, make that two favorite places- a bookshop in New York!

Iris was a wonderful female MC, although her lies of omission made me want to throttle her (although that's all part of the drama!). All she wants to do is belong somewhere. That somewhere was with Gio and the Belottis. I adored Iris and Gio's connections and how they fell in love (plus how Iris fell in love with his whole family). The secret gelato recipe, the familial connections, the last book on the shelf- everything made me smile and tear up at the same time.

With the New York backdrop, I loved how Iris followed in her mother's footsteps so she could feel closer to the woman she loved most in life. The trip to Katz's was so fun, as was busking in the park and belting out The Pretenders! The final scene with the busker broke my heart (can't give away too much!).

Also- Oh. My. Goodness. Gio and his Moonstruck reenactment. SWOON! Plus, his sexy Italian swearing. Double swoon. THEN! The Christmas trip to Dyker Heights? Extra swoon! That's the Christmas date of my dreams. I adored the main characters, but I also LOVED the secondary characters, especially Bobby and Sophia. This book was fast, fun, beautiful and full of gelato!

A Winter in New York
By Josie Silver
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Oh, I love a Josie Silver book!!!

Iris finds herself in New York City after fleeing from a troubled relationship in London. Iris only has herself and her beloved gelato machine ever since her mom died three years earlier and she up and left her disgusting ex-boyfriend. She’s grieving the loss of her mom and trying to figure out her next steps. Her mom loved New York City and Iris is inspired to get her fresh start in a place that meant so much to her mom. Iris finds herself in a bookstore on Valentine’s Day hoping to find a copy of a book she’s been dying to read for a long time. When someone else grabs it before she has the chance, life as Iris will come to know it is changed forever. But Iris is keeping some pretty big secrets. What will happen when those secrets come to life?

This was a great winter read. And as someone who has lost their mom and cherishes things her mom once loved… well let’s just say this book gave me all the feels 🤍

This was such a sweet romance. Gave ya some spice, but not too much for this bashful gal 🫢

Highly recommend if you’re looking for one last wintery read!

3 Stars An adorable holiday romance by the same author as One Day in December, Josie Silver’s books make you want to cozy up with a mug of hot chocolate while the snow falls outside. A Winter in New York is mainly a romance, but it is also about loss, grief, family, and healing. It’s a journey of moving on from loss and finding new hope.

Josie silver never misses!! This was the cutest little love story set in New York, during the winter and it filled my heart with so much joy. I just love any book set in the city, and this one will be a new favorite. Everything about this book is why I love reading and I found myself unable to put it down. And don’t even get me started on the adorable cover!! Josie silver didn’t disappoint and will be an autobuy author for me for a long time.

Iris relocates to New York City where she meets Gio, the owner of Belotti’s gelato. When I received the ARC, I didn’t know what to expect - a story built around a top secret gelato recipe is definitely unique! But Josie Silver does it so well! It was a super charming read, and although it was a little “insta-love” at times and I could’ve done with out so much lying, I still enjoyed so much about the book.

** thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC and chance to read and review **

I thought this was such a great book. Once I got started it was hard to put down. I loved all the characters and plot of the story. I think that Iris was such a great main character. I like Gio as love interest and how Iris and his family intertwin with each other. I love the chapters with Iris' mom and learning about how she met Gio's Uncle. I also love the rom com references through out the book. Joise Silver is such a talented author and love how she can tell a story.

After her mom’s death, Iris feels a bit lost and decides to move to New York, a city her mom fell in love with. As much as she wants to wallow, Iris’s best friend Bobby isn’t having it and drags her to a famous street fair. As they are walking around, a door catches her eye - it’s the same door she’s seen many times in her mom’s scrapbook. She goes back to the shop the next day to go inside and check it out, only Gio, the owner says due to a family emergency the one person who knows their secret gelato recipe doesn’t remember it. Iris sets off to help him, but doesn’t mention she thinks she might also have the recipe. It’s the recipe her mom made her as a kid but made her promise to never share with anyone. Now that she knows her mom also had a connection to this gelato shop she knows it has to be the source of the recipe and is determined to help them.

I love Josie Silver’s books, and this one might be up there with One Day in December for me. The romance between Iris and Gio was much more prominent than romance has been in Josie’s previous works and I loved it. Seeing Iris and Gio find themselves while simultaneously finding love with each other was so beautiful and magical. I also adored the importance of family in this story and the lengths the characters were willing to go through to support and protect their loved ones. And uncovering the secret connection between the two families made for a bit of a fun mystery. Overall, I adored this book!

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

My final holiday read of the year...

Summary
A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel from the New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December.

I was absolutely loving this one -- Little Italy, the gelateria, the mother/daughter aspect...but in the end, the secrets went on too long and the miscommunication that arose because of said secrets just made the last quarter of the book a bit of a disappointment.

I still recommend it though because for 75% it was giving me all the festive feels 🎄

Have you read anything by Josie Silver? I read One Day in December last and I remember enjoying it but I haven't read anything else by her yet.

3.75 stars rounded up

Full of depth and longing this was a lovely holiday read! There were moments bursting with joy. Others when I wanted to scream for her to tell the truth! And still others when my heart was cracked open.

I have been a fan of Josie Sliver's since One Day in December. That book was sublime. I was so excited to receive a copy of this book. I was lucky enough to spend some time in New York over the holidays, and this book was the perfect way to end the trip. I loved Iris and Gio!

Iris has moved to New York from London to start fresh. After losing her Mom and a terrible relationship, she needed a fresh start. She met some new friends and got a job and started the process of getting her life back and back on track. After a series of events leads her to a gelateria, her past runs into the present. She meets Gio, a single father trying to hold his family business together. Iris offers her help, and by doing so, puts herself in a position in which she needs to guard her secrets. However, relationships and feelings become complications for Iris.

I absolutely adored this story. I loved Iris's descriptions of places around the city and memories of her Mom. Gettting to know Iris's neighbors Bobby and Robin and the whole Belotti family was wonderful. This book made me long to get back on a train to New York and explore the places in the story. I enjoyed learning the Belotti family history and Vivian's - Iris's Mom - history as well. But what I loved most was watching Iris take control of her life and make her own choices and decisions.

There are so many little moments and things that stand out to me, but I do not want to give any spoilers away. This is the perfect story for you to curl up with a fuzzy blanket, a fire, and a hot cup of coffee or tea and read. I enjoyed every page. The audiobook also has a wonderful narrator - Emma Appleton - if you prefer to listen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read this book! Josie Silver is an auto buy author for me. Her books are fantastic! I highly recommend this one - it is out now!

Thank you to Random House for this arc! All thoughts are my own.

There was a lot going for this book that really worked - the setting, the premise, the way the two met, and I really loved Gio’s family. This big Italian family with all of their siblings and their inability to stay out of each other’s business was such a fun aspect of the book.

But what I really hated about this book was all the lying. So much of this book hinged on lying and miscommunication and it was so frustrating.

At the end of the day, this vanilla gelato recipe threatened this family’s livelihood. There was money and legacy and reputation that were at stake here and Iris could have easily helped them but just kept hiding the truth because she was afraid of them hating her in the end. For MONTHS, Iris dangled this recipe in front of them but never helped them until Santo recognized who she was and the jig was up. It was incredibly hard to root for her in the end because Iris just read off as so selfish.

Also, what gelato shop only sells vanilla? And only two people know the recipe at a time? That’s just asking for trouble.

DNF @ 35%

Turns out I cannot care enough about a book based on LYING about a secret gelato recipe when it's not even an interesting gelato flavor. It's freaking vanilla gelato.

New York is one of the most festive cities in the world during Christmas and is the perfect choice for the backdrop to Josie Silver's A Winter in New York. When Iris makes her way to NYC from the UK, escaping both a bad relationship and the untimely death of her mother she forges relationships with the owners of her apartment and the restaurant where she serves popular noodle dishes. A talented chef, she is slowly emerging from the safe space she has created for herself and exploring the city. A chance encounter with a gelateria during a popular Italian festival sets off a chain of events forever changing many lives. Iris recognizes the gelateria from pictures her mother saved and discovers that her mother holds the secret to the famous family recipe. Working with widowed father Gio she tries to help him discover it for himself-hesitant to betray her mother and Gio's family. With the holidays approaching Iris has to make a decision that could break her heart-or everyone else’s. This heartwarming novel is not to be missed.

This book was such a disappointment for me and I am sad to say I DNF at around 20%. I just couldn't get into the premise of the secret gelato recipe.

Iris moved to New York to escape and has built a quiet life as a noodle chef in a restaurant owned by newfound friend, Bobby. Everything begins to change when Bobby takes her to an annual festival in Little Italy where she sees a door that she recognizes from a photo her mother left her. Walking inside, she meets Gio, the man who runs the gelateria where the special gelato Iris grew up eating originated. The catch? Only two people in the world are supposed to have the recipe- one, Santo, is in a coma, and the other is Felipe, Gio's father. So how did Iris end up with it in her late mother's scrapbook?

This novel is beautifully written. Josie Silver has a way of creating characters that feel so real. This book is an homage to the rom coms I love, but isn't gimmicky or shallow. Instead, I get lost in her descriptions of the little neighborhood Iris lives in and how she views life. I absolulely fell in love with this story about a woman who feels all alone in the world the connections she creates with the Belloti family, from gorgeous Gio to spunky Sophia to matriarch Maria. This book is utterly magical!

Good palate cleanser after a long involved literary fiction book. Held my interest and I always love stories in NYC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This was such a great book! It was heartwarming and funny at the same time. The perfect blend of love and loss, and family relationships. The New York City setting is always a favorite of mine. Josie Silver is a favorite of mine and her latest book doesn’t disappoint. Highly recommend to others. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Iris is in New York to follow in her mother’s footsteps and find her way out of a toxic relationship but along the way discovers the family she has unknowingly had a connection to her entire lifetime. A delightful romcom that pulls in the spirit of family and the magic of the holidays in New York City.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley- thank you!

I went back and forth on this read a bit. I loved the family aspect, but it was very slow at times. The ending fell a little flat for me, and I wish it went in a bit of a different direction. Overall, it was still a good read, though.

Another great read from Josie Silver! Chef Iris moves to New York to escape an abusive relationship in London. She grew up with only her mother for family and was quite lost after she died. Her mother left her a secret gelato recipe and when Iris arrives in New York she finds the source (a family gelateria, owned by the man, Silvio, her mother fell briefly but deeply in love with) and discovers they have lost the recipe. She cannot betray her mother’s secret, but she starts to work with Gio, Silvio’s handsome, widowed nephew who is running the shop while Silvio recovers from a stroke. Iris and Gio start to fall in love but Iris has not revealed about her past relationship, that she has the recipe, or her connection to the family. Their romance is charming and the reader will be as wooed by Gio as Iris is!
Iris and Gio are easy to love, but the secrets that eat at Iris are will eat at the reader too! An enjoyable read that has you rooting for Iris and Gio despite their obstacles (and a desire to shake Iris and tell her to ‘just tell him everything!’