Thank you Random House and Netgalley for an arc of Winter in New York by Josie Silver. In this book, a young chef, Iris, moves from London to NY a few years after her mom dies to separate herself from her abusive, controlling boyfriend. Iris has a gelato from her mom’s possessions and of course finds the restaurant that it is for and of course they are in need of it. It’s predictable but it is a lovely holiday story about love, lost, food, nyc, and friends who turn family. In this book, Iris is in search of herself in a city where her mom used to love and told her stories about.

“Part of painting my own background set involves being assertive enough to do things alone, otherwise my background will always be someone else’s take on life, and thjs needs to be mine”

Loved this delightful new story by Josie Silver. A story of finding one's self and embracing fate. Romantic, thoughtful and cozy. Thank you netgalley for this arc ine exchange for my honest opinion.

If you’re a fan of the movie 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗚 w/ Sandra Bullock - you must read this!!! Silvers character development is nooooo joke. I’m a huge fan of her other work for this reason. You cannot help just loving her main characters.
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𝘚𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 (𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥). 𝘐𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘐𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳. 𝘎𝘪𝘰 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘐𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘐𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵?
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This book is sooooo much more than gelato. It’s about love, loss, and grief. Both main characters processing such heavy losses coming together with hope for easier days. I loved the past POV the mother’s past life with the Belotti family. I loved how in the present timeline the Belotti family welcomes Iris with no questions asked (just like the movie with Sandra). This is definitely a feel good story with some depth and tugs all the heart strings!! Must read!!
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𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚: you will crave gelato while reading this!

I got about halfway through this and had to put it down. It sadly just wasn't for me. the writing was beautiful but the plot was slow moving. I would recommend this to someone who truly love a new york setting .

As a New York girlie, this book had me immediately googling “gelato store on mulberry”

Overall this book was super cute, absolutely loved it. The flashback scene where baby MMC gives baby FMC her toy back? I just about died.

Josie Silver books have always been hit or miss for me. And unfortunately, this one was a miss. The concept is strong but the execution was weak. I hated the lie and the secret throughout. And I had enough of the gelato talk. This just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Unfortunately, beyond the atmospheric setting and cuteness of the story, I just couldn’t get over the lying. I don’t like when characters lie to one another especially if they’re interested in one another. A relationship can rarely survive when it begins with distrust.

Josie Silver is an auto buy for me, so I was thrilled to receive this eARC! This one did not disappoint. In fact, I think it might be her best yet. It

The plot of this one was one big frustration. I really did not appreciate the entirety of the plot being centered on a lie by omission that could've easily been set right initially and still had a solid premise of figuring things out together regarding the female main characters past. She was absolutely immature, made a series of terrible decisions, and did not make me like her by any stretch. The redeeming thing about this book was the large, darling Italian family and her landlord/neighbors who I absolutely wanted more of. Less Iris, more of literally every other character. Gio deserved much better than that, and I found myself frustrated the entire way. Normally I adore Josie Silver books, but this one was a clear miss for me. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a delightful holiday romance read but went a little deeper with the plot which I always appreciate. This book is about love, loss, grief, family, loyalty, hope, redemption and healing. I loved all the witty banter, secret dates and amazing chemistry between Iris and Gio... he certainly was SWOONworthy. The setting of New York was just what I was looking forward in what was one of my favorite 2023 holiday books of the year!!

First half of the book with really slow but I wanted to keep reading for the conflict resolutions. So many tears for the final chapters.

I absolutely loved this book. It had so many things to love!

❄️Gio… where can I find one of them?
❄️A tender hearted Brit? (Do they make those? You know, stiff upper lip and all.)
❄️THE EIGHTIES.
❄️Rom-Com movies references.
❄️New York City. In Winter.
❄️A big Italian family.
❄️And, oh yeah, allllll the gelato.

Yes, there is miscommunication. But some of the best romcoms have the same trope and are adored. Notting Hill, While You Were Sleeping, You’ve Got Mail, and The Holiday- all have miscommunication plot lines but I rarely hear complaints about any of them. Yet, almost every review I’ve seen about WiNY has been negative regarding this trope.
Instead, I think more focus should be put on the fact that Josie Silver put so much focus on grief, self care, and healing. I also lost my mother just about two years ago so I related so much to Iris and her journey to healing. The scene with the Joni Mitchell song “River” (one of me and my mom’s favorites) left me sobbing. So thank you for that Josie, I needed that connection with my mom again, especially at this time of year.


Thank you to Josie Silver, Random House Ballantine, and NetGalley for the early review copy.

I really like Josie Silver's books, and this one was good but wasn't my favorite of hers. My favorite parts were reading about Gio and his family, and the descriptions of NYC and it's neighborhoods. I found myself getting slightly annoyed at the main character and it dragged on a bit in the middle. Still a good read - Gio and his family are lovely.

I was very much looking forward to this one! I love a holiday read and Josie Silver.

But unfortunately fell quite flat for me. I could never get on board with so much lying and it didn’t feel like it mattered much in the end.

This was a cute and nice Christmas story. We follow Iris as she navigates living in New York after moving from England. She is trying to escape her past but also connect with her mother. She comes to find a place her mother frequented and a mystery unravels and love unfolds.

I really enjoyed the characters especially the family both by blood and found. I think that was the core of the story was family can come in all different packages.

Gio and Iris were a sweet romance and I appreciated the spicier moments of this but I would say this book is one chili pepper at most.

I definitely recommend and look forward to more Josie Silver in the future.

This sweet romance was the coziest, happy-sad romance. I desperately wanted (needed) gelato after reading this book. Gelato Mamma Mia meets invisible string theory.
I loved Iris, she was complex and funny and sweet. This book had great side characters.

This was a beautiful book that represented Italian-American culture of New York so perfectly. It wasn't overly cheesy and over the top, but really stuck to the roots of an Italian family run restaurant, and the way our families think about the holidays, traditions, and loyalty. It added a level of interest to the plot.

Iris was so cool, and very strong. I loved being inside her head, though there were a few times that I was getting annoyed with her secret keeping. It was distracting to the plot, even though it was the entire plot.

I loved Gio and his family; they were so warm, kind, and truly deserved the world. They had good hearts and were good people; I think it added an extra layer to the story because at it's core were good people.

The writing was beautiful, as always. Josie Silver has a way of making pain comforting. Both Iris and Gio were suffering so much but they made the best of it, they opened themselves up and kept on living. There was such a deep connection between them from the start, and even though there were a lot of secrets, their foundation was strong.

Silver makes the message of loss the center of all her stories, and it's always a punch to the gut but the way she wraps everything up in a neat bow warms my heart.

A Winter in New York was a really wonderful story with so many lovely messages, a strong plot, and a very unexpected ending. I was terrified of the way the story would end...or at least, how we would get there, and it was such a nice surprise.

If you're looking for something heartfelt, thoughtful, and a little cheesy & cheeky, to read this holiday season, A Winter in New York will check those boxes.

The l ove story and the story of Vivian were my absolute fav. Other than that, the story was SLOW. It took forever and a day for Iris to get to the recipe and Gio to discover her past. I loved the NYC scenes and the big Italian family, but the story could have a bit more of a faster pace.

Josie Silver's books usually hit me right in the soul in the best way, and I couldn't wait to dive in to her latest, A Winter in New York. A million thanks to NetGalley and Random House: Ballantine for the digital ARC!

One of the ways I judge a book's impact is whether or not it made me cry, and in that regard, this book did deliver. However, it was a complicated reading experience for me in many ways, and didn't quite hit the same spot that some of this author's previous work has.

What I Liked

I loved the side characters, especially Smirnoff the cat. There were a lot of fun people in Iris' life that really show how she's adapted to life in New York.

Overall, I felt the topic of recovering from an abusive relationship was portrayed realistically. Iris has rebuilt her life and we see her resilience, but we also see the scars this relationship left behind, the fear of winding up back in that place again. Though the ex was perhaps a bit over-the-top in his portrayal at times, Iris' emotional response and how she navigated that trauma felt real to me.

The balance of spice worked well for me, for once. There were some spicy scenes, but they weren't awkwardly written or too graphic like so many books can be for me as a reader. We got the on-page chemistry without any throbbing members or awkward metaphors, which I appreciated.

What I Didn't Like

The book's pacing felt off with how long we spend watching Iris keep secrets and lie to herself and everyone around her. The placement of the flashback sections felt awkward at times, though one scene late in the book did feel well done so I suppose we had to earn that through other flashbacks earlier on.

The romantic hero felt unrealistic in how nearly perfect he was, how he never doubted Iris even when she dropped some true shockers on him. He didn't feel real to me after a certain point, and that made it hard for me to invest in their relationship. Also I was kinda worried they'd wind up learning they were cousins? But maybe that's just me.

In all, I did very much enjoy A Winter in New York, but it felt like it lacked a little bit of the spark that I've come to expect from Josie Silver's books. I do think this is a solid fit for readers who like a good romance with some family intrigue and mystery in the background, as well as fans of found family stories.

I kind of have a hard time explaining my thoughts on this book. I didn't really like it that much, but by the end I was absolutely sobbing. So this did manage to tug on my emotional heartstrings. That must mean I can't dislike it as much as I thought, right? I don't know.
There were several things in this book that gave me the ick. I can't really explain it without any spoilers, but despite this being a really interesting concept, Josie Silver just made A LOT of little choices that weren't really necceccary to the book, that just gave me an ick. The main character also made quite a lot of frustrating decisions in the book. On top of that I also had a hard time getting into the romance, as the love interest was just so open and vulnerable, while the main character was just lying the entire time. It just always made me feel weird.
That all being said, there were times the romance made me forget that iffy background, and they did have a lot of cute moments together. I also really loved Gio's family. They were a wild bunch, but the amount of love they have is fantastic. Especially seeing them include Iris in everything very quickly without question was lovely. I also really liked Iris' best friend Bobby. Their friendship was so much fun, and their scenes together also caused for some comic relief, while also having more emotionally vulnerable moments together.
And like I said at the start, this book definitely made me cry. A lot of this book is about Iris' grief around her mother, and finding new ways to connect with her in New York. But it's also about her moving on from a past abusive relationship. I think those parts were dealt with really well, and the "resolution" for both absolutely made me sob. So yeah, my thoughts on this book are a bit all over the place.