I really cannot stand when a romance starts off with a million lies. I can’t handle it it’s so unnecessary and worse than miscommunication trope

Josie Silver's done it again. I devoured this book as it had every element of a 5-star read, in my opinion. Excellent imagery, deep character development, a unique storyline and OH THE TEARS. Don't say I didn't warn you. This is an excellent seasonal read but isn't something I would "only" consider in the winter or during the holiday season. It stretches a vast span of time overall and the "holiday" part is actually quite minimal. Enjoy! :)

I love love loved this book. I did not prepare myself enough for how emotional I would get reading it, though. It’s such a sweet story and I love the family aspect. It also touches on grief and loss, and healing after trauma, and so many other life situations that make life complicated. Overall, it was a really really great book and I would love to see it become a movie. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I would definitely read more!

Tears were falling down my face as I finished this book! I didn't expect to be affected so greatly by this story, but Josie Silver does such an incredible job building the characters and the stories that I couldn't help but sob as the story ended. I loved every character, I loved the setting of New York City, I loved the flashbacks...highly recommend this to anyone who wants a great story about family and finding your place in the world.

Review will be posted on 11/17/23

It's 1985 in New York City and Vivien has spent two whirlwind days with Santo Belotti. Before she leaves him, he gives her his family's secret gelato recipe with the hope that she will return one day. Fast forward to present day and Vivien's daughter, Iris, is now on her way to New York City to start over after her mother's death and a bad relationship. She has her mother's favorite bowls and the gelato recipe they have enjoyed for years. Iris, a chef, takes a job at a noodle restaurant, and slowly tries to rebuild her life. Her friend takes her to Little Italy one day and it is there she recognizes Belotti's Gelateria from her mom's photos. This must be the place where her mom had a love affair with Santo. While visiting, she learns that Santo has suffered a stroke and can't remember the family's beloved gelato recipe, which brings in so many customers year after year. Iris knows it, but how can she share this information with the family? As she gets to know Santo's nephew, Gio, things get even more complicated. Josie Silver's A Winter in New York is a heartwarming, yet heavy holiday tale filled with family secrets, romance, gelato, and poor choices.

I felt badly for Iris in A Winter in New York. She is a bit lost when she comes to New York to start over and on top of that, she is escaping an abusive relationship. I really enjoyed her journey as a character; however, I did not always agree with her choices, which were a bit strange at times. On the other hand, I did enjoy her budding romance with Gio and her connection to her mother. This leads me to the flashbacks of 1980 New York, which were also well done and a glimpse into Vivien and Santo's love affair. My other favorite aspect of this novel was the gelatoria and the cast of family characters. The descriptions of gelato made me want to stop what I was doing and get some immediately.

My only issue with A Winter in New York was the lack of holiday feels. I thought this was going to be a bit more heartwarming and filled with some more holiday cheer, but instead there were some heavy issues that I think really weighed down the plot. Not only is Iris dealing with death and family secrets, she is also dealing with trauma from an abusive relationship. It all comes to a head at the end, which definitely didn't add to the holiday atmosphere of the novel.

So, if you like a holiday read with a bit more substance and serious drama rather than a Hallmark movie kind of feel, A Winter in New York would be a good fit. I must admit, I did enjoy Silver's One Day in December a lot more. Let me know in the comments if you are a fan of Josie Silver and if you've read or plan to read A Winter in New York.

Things I loved:

Gio. The Belottis. Bobby and Robin. The romance.

Things I didn’t love:

Iris’ conflict and the secret about her Gelato recipe.

Overall I enjoyed this book and it gave me all the romantic feels perfect for the holiday season. I just would have liked a stronger backstory for Iris. The reason for her new life made sense but the continued plot line that followed felt forced and overall unnecessary to the story . And maybe it’s just me, but I felt like the whole secret regarding her having the recipe was not the strongest focal point.

Where those points felt lackluster, the blossoming relationship between not only Gio and Iris but her and the Belotti clan made up for it. Gio was such a lovable MMC from the moment you are introduced to him and his family was that of near perfection.

If you’re looking for a quick holiday ready, I would definitely recommend this book.

A Winter in New York is a beautiful love story full of perfectly flawed characters all wrapped up with winter-wonderland vibes! PSA...be prepared to crave some vanilla gelato.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is such a good, heartwarming winter read. I wouldn’t classify it as a holiday book but more of a book that takes place around the holidays. This love story between Iris and Gio is beautiful and their chemistry is 🔥 The dilemma that Iris faces of having the super secret Belotti family vanilla gelato is only made worse when she finds out Gio doesn’t know the recipe. Iris decides to offer her “help” in figuring out the recipe but she can’t lead him directly to it too quickly. This ends up being a majority of the book, and then the romance begins to emerge. While I enjoyed them trying to figure out the gelato recipe, I felt it could have focused more on their romance. However, I did love the found family aspect of the book with Iris befriending Gio’s sister and developing a relationship with his daughter. Iris is basically alone, with no family (except her friends Bobby and Robin) and the family environment the Belotti’s provided was super sweet. This is my third Josie Silver book and I’ll definitely read whatever she writes next ☺️ If you’re looking for a book to get into wintery season and want a bit more depth than just romance, this is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the Advance Reader Copy of A Winter in New York.

Iris has fled to New York to escape an abusive boyfriend and luckily lands on the steps of a noodle shop where she gets a job, a best friend, and an apartment. Her best friend, Bobby, takes her under his wing and they go to a food fest in the Italian Village about 10 minutes from their apartment building. While there, Iris finds a door to a gelato shop that she vaguely recognizes and once she is home she realizes it is from her mother's scrapbook. Iris has been lost since the death of her mother 3 years before. Next to the photo of a handsome young man in front of the gelato shop is the gelato recipe that her mother had sworn her to secrecy about. Iris goes back to the store the next day to try the gelato to see if it is the same as her mother's recipe only to find that the store isn't selling gelato because the only person who knew the recipe had a stroke and cannot remember it. The man running the store, Gio, is so upset that Iris offers to use her chef's background to try to recreate the secret recipe, even though she knows it by heart.

I didn't enjoy this story. Iris's lies and constantly being in her head annoyed me. She was putting an entire family's livelihood at risk because she didn't want them to know that she had their secret recipe? I also didn't like the way the story handled Iris's past. The first half of the book just vaguely refers to her evil ex without actually telling what happened but Iris is so traumatized by it and has made it her entire personality. The chapters from her mother's point of view were jarring since there are only three of them. It's not a dual POV novel since they are only used to provide an explanation for an event that happened in the past. It felt like clunky writing.

I read my first book by Josie Silver last year and I loved it. So when I saw this book I instantly knew I wanted to read it and it did NOT disappoint! 😍

I love how Iris and Gio's story is woven between past and present. The writing was well done and once I got started reading it I was sucked in and didn't want to put the book down.

Having recently lost my mother I really related to Iris's feelings about losing her mom and it helped me to see some of myself in her.

This book is a definite must read for the holiday season! Hopefully you'll love it as much as I did!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Iris escapes from an abusive relationship in London and heads to NYC with only her suitcase and gelato maker. NYC was her late mother's favorite place and Iris grew up watching romcoms set in the city. Before too long, Iris is feeling more herself with a job, a place to live, fun neighbors and a quirky area cat. While visiting a local Italian food festival, she spots a gelato shop that she's seen in her mother's pictures. She enters and meets widower Gio who tells her that they've lost the family secret recipe-one that Iris has. As Iris falls in love with Gio, she doesn't know whether to share that she knows the recipe or not. One secret compounds over another and the story is a freight train heading for the usual misunderstandings. Besides having one too many secrets between the H and h, this was probably my favorite Josie Silver book yet. The lead characters are wonderful, the secondary characters are lots of fun, there's oodles of holiday spirit and it made me hungry for vanilla gelato! I may have priced out a gelato maker lol. There are definitely some dark moments in this with some adult themes but the holiday magic prevailed.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest, yet late review.

Josie Silver is the queen of holiday romance. I swear I look forward to her releases every single year and this one was no exception. What a delightfully wholesome story with the best best best characters! Such a win for holiday books. Making food to keep the store open? Obsessed. The secret recipe dynamic? Gold. Wins all around!

Thank you for the ARC. I found the the book too slow moving for me...thie plot line of a gelato recipe didn't seem plausible or interesting. I know Josie Silver has many fans, so I'm sure they will still enjoy this one, even if I found it lacking.

❄️🗽🍨Review of A Winter in New York by Josie Silver❄️🗽🍨

Even though about half of this book takes place outside the winter months, it gives all the cozy winter romance feels. Pair that with iconic New York locations and activities, and you get another page-turning swoony romance from Josie Silver.

Looking for a fresh start, Iris moves to New York to recreate key memories from her recently deceased mother’s youth. That fresh start brings Iris right to Gio, the man currently running the family-owned gelateria that sells vanilla gelato that tastes precisely like Iris’ secret family recipe. When Gio tells Iris that their business is in trouble because the only person who knows the recipe cannot remember it, Iris volunteers her skills as a chef to help recreate the famous Belotti family gelato. Iris and Gio catch feelings and realize that not only is the gelateria on the line, but their hearts are as well.

Thank you, @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the digital ARC of this book! My review is my own opinion

#AWinterinNewYork #JosieSilver #IrisRaven #GioBelotti #contemporaryromance #romancereadersofinstagram #bookstagram #booktok #friendswithbenefits #friendstolovers #vanillaforever #newyorkromance #nycromance

A Winter in New York is a story of hope and love. It will definitely satisfy your hunger for romance. It’ll also make you a little want a little froyo, gelato, ice cream, or whatever your frozen treat of choice is as well 😉.

Josie Silver has absolutely outdone herself with this book. I really don’t know if she could do any better. This definitely made me want to read more of her books.

I loved absolutely everything about this book. There is literally nothing I could possibly criticize about it because it hits every single emotional good spot I look for in a good romance with just the right amount of feels and happiness. The fact that it also shows growth and the possibility of moving on after a loss is the perfect cherry on top.
Iris moved to New York with nothing but the desire to escape a bad relationship and the constant reminders of losing her mom. She's made a small life for herself that consists of cooking in her new best friend's restaurant and socializing with no one but him and his husband. She's content and satisfied with what she's accomplished. Until she finds a door that seems familiar and she discovers that the gelato recipe she and her mom have shared in good and bad moments is actually the missing secret recipe from a family-run gelateria that's on the verge of closing if she doesn't help them. But how can she tell them she knows the recipe if it's supposed to be such a closely guarded secret? And what will she do about her growing feelings for the kind Gio and his family when everything is based on secrets and lies?
The story has great pacing and it really does build up in a way that feels natural so that you grow to love the characters and want them to find their true happiness. I cried a couple of times in sympathy with what Iris was going through, and just generally felt connected to the character and what she was experiencing. A phenomenal piece of writing on Silver's part.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the wonderful read!

This was a sweet romance to start my holiday/winter reading season. While a bit predictable, I enjoyed the characters and NYC setting in this one, as well as the looks back into her mom's days in the band. My biggest frustration was how long Iris kept her secrets from Gio, but overall this was a fun, light holiday read.

Another romcom set in NYC, who would have thought. This one centers around Iris who moved from London, and believes the movies version of the city is what it is. This is a common misconception, so I can't fault her fully.

This book is not a holiday read, like the cover/title would lead you to believe, which made me sad as I love those. The writing was good but the book just didn't do it for me.

I really enjoyed this book! Josie Silver did not disappoint! I would definitely recommend this book. It was a quick, fun, great Christmas book!

A perfect story for the holiday! Iris is creating a new life for herself in New York after escaping the grief of her mother's death and a bad relationship. New York was the source of one of her happiest memories, a gelato recipe that was gifted to her mom by the love of her life. Iris stumbles into a life she never expects, with a job, a place to live, and a best friend in Bobby, her boss and landlord. Bobby even forces her to leave the house and takes her to a street fair in Little Italy where Iris discovers a memory, a door that leads to a gelateria that was in her mother's photo album. Could this be the source of the secret gelato recipe? When Iris returns she meet Gio who is running the place and discovers the family recipe is lost because his uncle, the only one who knows the recipe, is in the hospital and is losing his memories. Iris is torn, she has promised her mother to never share the recipe but she wants to help Gio. keep the family business going. She decides to work with him to recreate the recipe. What she finds is a family. Can she be part of the family without destroying them with the secret she is keeping for her mother?

This is a story of family and loyalty and finding a way to be true to yourself and not let family secrets destroy the future.