My favorite Josie Silver yet! This was such a cozy read with some depth and heavy topics! I loved Iris’ growth and story. The throwback timeline with her mom and the connections revealed was also a great addition. Highly recommend anyone add this to their winter TBR!

I always like Josie Silver books, sweet romances with a little bit of sass and a lot of chemistry. A Winter in New York fits right in with her previous titles. Iris, an English woman running away from an abusive relationship and the grief of losing her beloved mother, meets our hero Gio in the prologue, but they don't realize it until later in the novel. . She's a chef, he manages a family gelato store. It's serendipity how they fine each other, but there's plenty of history here. His large Italian family and her BFF and landlord are great supporting characters. .It made me a little nostalgic for a NYC when it actually snowed in December. This is a fun holiday read.

This book was cute, but do not expect it to be Christmassy. To be fair, nothing said it was, but a title like a Winter in New York makes you think it will be. Other than a couple of scenes set at Christmas, this book could have been a Summer (or any other season) in New York. In fact, with all the gelato talk, it made me think it was warm weather, and made me hungry! This was a fun read, but did have some unnecessary drama. 4 stars overall, and is a fun, light book.

4 ⭐️

this book was so sugary sweet! i loved iris and gio, and the rest of the characters so much ❤️ in this book, we are following iris as she navigates life after losing her mom and leaving a toxic relationship. she moves from london to new york, where she is taken on a gelato-filled journey. when she meets gio, who helps run his family’s gelato shop, she realizes they might not be able to stay open much longer and they have lost their family’s long-standing gelato recipe. iris might just be the one person who can help them 🤔

not only was this book super cute, it had the perfect holiday/wintery backdrop! i especially loved the found family aspect, they had me crying by the end.

i do recommend checking TW because there are some heavy topics, though nothing is shown on page.

add this one to your december reading list 🤍 thank you to netgalley and penguin random house- ballantine for the copy to review!

A easy fun read about fun and love in New York City especially in the little Italy area. This book will leave you feeling good about love and life in NewYork. A very easy and fast read that will definitely hold your attention.

A very unique storyline which kept me wondering the whole time how it could possibly end. This author has a wonderful knack for capturing your heart with her characters. Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

Josie Silver is a holiday season staple in my life, and A Winter in New York is no exception. I really enjoyed this book, although I still have NO idea how a gelato shop could possibly be successful with just vanilla. It breaks my brain. But I digress. Ivy and Gio are adorable, and the whole Belotti family is a riot - so much fun to read. There were times that this moved a little slow for my tastes, but they were brief and passing, so it all worked out. Another excellent holiday read!

I think this book was mis-advertised and not as depicted which resulted in a disappointing read. I've been a big fan of Josie Silver in the past but this book was a miss for me.

Definitely missing the *thing* that makes Josie Silver books so special. I liked it, didn't love it, but the writing was so good. I just felt like the plot didn't quite get there.

3.5/5

A cute holiday read that will make you want gelato. This book is interesting because at times it’s extremely corny and eye roll inducing but it also had some heavier themes throughout. I loved Gios Italian family, the NYC setting and the flashbacks to Vivs POV. I ultimately knocked a star off because I wanted to shake the FMC so many times. A lot of her troubles were brought on by her own lies/decisions she made. 90% of her troubles could have been solved if she had just told the truth! I also didnt love the 3rd act conflict w/ her ex. It felt like it came out of nowhere and wasnt needed.

I've decided that I'm always in the middle of the road with Josie Silver books. There is always one aspect that I'm not sold on. In the case of A Winter in New York, I loved the characters, but the plot was slightly tedious. Spoilers ahead: I felt like the conflict, Iris having Gio's secret family gelato recipe but not telling him, was just there because there needed to be a problem later down the road. It was frustrating for me, the reader, for her to just not tell him like the second day she met him...or pretend to find the recipe in the kitchen somewhere. It was strange to have her drag it out for months. There seemed to be bigger issues that the characters were facing that would have felt more interesting to focus on.

Overall it was cute, if you are looking for a cute fall/holiday book to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House- Dell, and Josie Silver for an ARC for this book. This book is now live.

I really did enjoy this Christmas Rom-Com about Iris, FMC, who moved from London to NYC and Gio, MMC, who has been a NYC native his whole life. I loved the idea of the book, the setting, and all of the characters. There was a lot of secret keeping and miscommunication throughout this book as Iris had kept several from Gio throughout their friendship turned romantic relationship together. They also had such a slow-burn relationship, and their dates together were *swoon* worthy. I would recommend if you need an upbeat, fun, holiday book to add to your TBR.

Vanilla forever!

I really like Josie Silver. The Two Lives of Lydia Byrd is a favorite of mine. One Day in December, too.

I liked this story and the writing is very good. It drew me in. What kept bugging me was the title. It barely took place in winter! I felt like the title could’ve been something incorporating gelato or recipes.

Aside from that, it was cute. I liked the main character and the side characters.

Josie is a must read author for me, no matter what.

Oh my goodness, this book was so WONDERFUL. I’m still in tears after finishing the incredible audiobook, and I can safely say that A WINTER IN NEW YORK is one of my favorite books of the year! What a beautiful story about belonging and family and finding love after loss. Not to mention the iconic backdrop of NYC giving this story all of its magic! I absolutely loved it!

A Winter in New York (eARC) — 4 ⭐️

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 —
💗 Contemporary Romance
🥰 Feel-Good Story
🗽 Based in New York
🫶 Found Family
🔥 Slow Burn Romance
🍽 Foodie Inspired

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐟 —
🍨 Your favorite dessert is vanilla gelato
🧳 You’d move to a new place by yourself
🍜 You’re an expert in the kitchen
🎄 You prefer traditionally decorated Christmas trees
🎤 You enjoy singing, but only when you’re by yourself

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Josie Silver knows how to warm my heart with her feel-good stories, and this one is no different. Her words are captivating, and I’m always learning new definitions with her use of vocabulary.

I grew attached to Iris and her wounded soul, and I couldn’t help but want to pull her into a big bear hug throughout this cozy, winter tale. While one of Iris’ main struggles included miscommunication which can be frustrating as a reader, I still found the story very enjoyable.

𝐓𝐖: cancer/sickness, verbal/emotional abuse, grief, sexual content

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, for providing me an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved One Day in December years ago, and was so excited to try her newest release!

I really liked the main characters Iris and especially our MMC Gio! Their connection felt really real and mature which was so nice to read in a romance. There was such great found family in this novel and handlings of grief and loss. It was so fun having the main plot surrounding gelato and a small family business.

While there was a lot I did enjoy about this book, there were a few things that left me feeling confused and wanting more from the story overall! There was soooo many secrets being kept from one another that did not feel necessary or really realistic. This is not a very holiday book IMO, but has a few scenes towards the end!

Overall I did like it, but it won’t be at the top of my books to recommend this holiday season! It was done well on audio though, and totally worth listening to in that format!

Iris Raven is a chef and NYC transplant from London, settling into the city that her free-spirited songstress mother Vivien fell in love with when she was younger. Her mom is gone now, she’s escaped an emotionally abusive relationship in London, and she’s working for her new best friend, Bobby (I adore him!), whose building she lives in and whose noodle shop she cooks for.

The entire story rests on this premise: Iris’s mother Vivien was in a band when she met Santo Belotti, the brother of one of her bandmates, Felipe. They fell hard and fast for each other over two days, inspiring Santo to give Vivien the one secret he treasured most: his family’s closely-guarded vanilla gelato recipe. He wanted to show her he trusted her and that she should choose a life with him. She chose potential musical stardom instead and their story ended with Viv chasing the stars and later getting pregnant by the band’s drummer. Was that the end?

Cut to the present, Iris discovers the Belotti gelateria one day where she meets Gio, who was raised by Santo. He tells her Santo has had a stroke and can’t remember the secret recipe and no one else seems to have it either. Iris realizes she’s the only one with the recipe that her mother handed down to her - only she decides she can’t tell Gio that, since she knows it would cause trouble for Santo if the family finds out he shared the recipe outside his family.

To make matters worse, Iris realizes she’d previously met Gio a year prior when they fought over the same book in a bookstore, leading her to desperately fabricate a sympathy story that her non-existent husband (i.e. abusive ex-boyfriend Adam) had died, only to find out Gio actually IS a widower, having lost his wife seven years ago. Eek. Will he recognize her?

He does, of course, and Iris’ mess of lies snowballs into a menacing threat to her and Gio’s passionate, but secret, new relationship as she becomes more enveloped into the Belotti family, including growing friendships with Gio’s sister Sophia and daughter Bella. Everyone loves her, including Santo’s wife Maria, who doesn’t know that Santo almost chose Iris’ mother over her all those years ago!

This is my first Josie Silver book, which I read on my Kindle while listening to the audiobook, beautifully narrated by Emma Appleton. She nailed the personalities and accents and made the book come alive! I loved Iris, the Belottis, Bobby and his husband Robin and Smirnoff the cat. The supportive family vibes made me want to move in with all of them! (Adopt me please.)

The story is fairly standard rom-com stuff: intense attraction, healing together from painful pasts, secrets and lies that threaten the relationship, the last minute “fix” of all the problems. My one big gripe is that the gelato recipe drama is a little hard to swallow - no pun intended! The explanation for all the secret-keeping just never felt justified and created a bit of an artificial crisis that I just had to go along with. I appreciated the messaging around Iris’ past abusive relationship and thought it was handled well, but I also didn’t think the dramatic reappearance of that character was necessary.

Putting aside issues of believability, which is fair because it’s a romance and that goes with the genre territory most of the time, it was a charming story with great character chemistry, a festive wintery NYC setting and a cast of characters that will steal your heart! The spice level isn’t too bad - just enough to melt your gelato a little bit. 😏 Speaking of gelato, I have to say that the mention of that and other amazing mouth-watering food was frequent enough that I might’ve put on weight just reading this!

I’m glad my first Josie Silver book was a good one, and I’ll definitely watch for more from her!

★★★★

This book is a gift. Josie Silver delivered a heartwarming, beautiful love story and a heart-rending story of alienation, abuse, & grief. To blend both seamlessly is more delicious than a bowl of just vanilla gelato. I fell in love with everyone in this story bar Adam Bronson. It is one of my favorite books of 2023 and cements Josie Silver as an auto buy author for me.

Josie Silvers is one of my all time favorite authors and the two lives of Lydia bird is one of my all-time favorite books. This was felt a little long and winding to me. I loved the family and friend relationships and the gelateria as the grounding of the story. The flashbacks and the recipe reveal I think would have been more powerful if I wasn’t clued in to what was happening as the reader off the bat. The stalker/abusive character showing up at the end felt like a bit too much to add to the third act.
I loved the connection of the main character with her mother and the way the secondary characters came to life was wonderfully done.

What a cute story. I was craving gelato! I really enjoyed the back story. I loved how it was intertwined. Sweet Christmas read.