3.5, rounded up because I think it stands out as being much better written than many of the cookie-cutter romantic comedies I've read this year. While it follows the rom com formula and it's a concept we've seen before, Josie Silver delivers likable characters who possess depth. I really appreciate that they don't act nonsensically-- for the most part, Iris's tangled webs feel plausible, especially in regards to hiding information about her ex. Overall, it's a heartfelt story that I would definitely recommend to anyone who loves the genre.

This is one of the best RomCom books I have ever read. I am so in love with this entire story and all the characters. I laughed, I cried, I wish I could read it again for the first time.

This needs to be a movie. A Hallmark Christmas movie. It’s the absolute perfect book for that type of film. You hear me Random House Publishing? You find a producer and sell the rights. Get this movie made!

I’m not giving a book synopsis in this review because you can read it in the description, it’s all that and more. I loved all the little descriptors of New York. And as someone who dearly loves all things NYC, I welcomed reading all the little things you only know about if you’ve been there. Like an entire page with spot on descriptions of Katz’s Deli. I needed a pastrami sandwich after that (Although, let’s be honest- Iris ordered pastrami on the club bread and not the rye bread and when I tried that at Katz’s Deli the first time I went they tried to talk me out of it. It needs to be on Katz’s rye. With mustard. Feel free to edit that line. Damn I want a hot pastrami sandwich now. But I digress).

Anyway, I loved this book. The author has done an incredible job describing everything in so much detail you feel like you’re there. I also really want some gelato now.

Read this book. I’m telling everyone about it. If you’re friends with me and read this genre, I might buy you a copy for Christmas.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing for the advance reader copy. I’m absolutely thrilled to give this book 5⭐️. Publication date Oct 3, 2023.

Josie Silver is always a must-read for me and A Winter in New York is definitely a must-read for anyone who loves gelato, dynamic Italian families, vibrant characters, New York City, family secrets, slow-burn romance, and so much more!

I only knocked it down to four stars instead of five because I felt it was a little long. It annoyed me that it took so long for Iris to trust Gio.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second Josie Silver novel I've read and it packed an emotional punch. The story really is of Iris, a woman with no family to speak of, absolutely alone in the world, finding a family and love and security. She leaves a horrible situation in London and begins to find her footing in New York, only to be thrown for a loop when she discovers an important piece of her family history. A place that was meaningful to her mother, the person she's currently grieving. When she visits this place, a gelateria, she discovers a family and history that are enmeshed with her own, the only catch is that the one person who knows how she's connected is hospitalized and her desire to help the family will require that she keep secrets. Keeping secrets in and of itself isn't problematic, until you learn more about the Belotti family (owners of the gelateria) and how they view secrets and lies and honor and trust. So, Iris keeps the secrets, does her best to help and not harm, and ends up falling madly in love with Gio, the person running the shop. As the story progresses, her guilt and shame become more and more of a burden, and you can't help but just want her to spill all of the secrets and just come clean. As the ending nears, the angst and helplessness just kept increasing until you just knew something had to happen. It did. It was super sad, and then it wasn't, and then some unexpected things happened, and yes-the happily ever after happened too.



Something about Iris being an adult orphan just punched me in the gut. All she wanted was her mom back and in lieu of that, a family to belong with and to. She wanted love and warmth and connection and she found it and the idea that it could go away just got to me. The way Josie Silver described the Belotti family interactions and dinners were so vivid and reminded me so much of my family--I really connected to it all. I also really appreciated how she described various NYC scenes; they felt iconic and picturesque and I wanted to live in those scenes.



So here I am in the blazing hot heat of Louisiana in July, wishing for a Winter in New York.

PS-I know it's an impossible dream, but I really would love more of the Belotti family. I feel like there are many more stories to be had.

As a fan of Josie Silver, I was delighted for a chance to review “A Winter in New York.”

It is 100 degrees outside, so difficult to think about cold weather and snow, but this novel does a great job of making you feel like you’re curled up by the fire, steaming hot cocoa with plenty of whipped cream in hand. .

London-native Iris is escaping a tumultuous relationship. She moves to New York to understand more of the city her recently departed mother held dear. While exploring Little Italy, she discovers a gelateria she recognizes from one of her mom’s pictures. It is in that the gelateria that she meets swoon worthy Gio. Naturally, the friendship they form turns into romance.

The predictability of the story doesn’t take away from its sugary sweetness. It’s an enjoyable read, appropriate for those cold winter months, and certainly a story that will fill you with plenty of warm-fuzzies.

Four stars out of five.

Many thanks to Josie Silver, NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review

Following in the steps of many others before her, including her mother, Iris makes the move from London to New York City. She finds herself working at, and living above, a noodle shop. A chance encounter leads her to a gelato shop, closed, because the family recipe is unavailable due to the illness of the family patriarch. Iris realizes this is the same gelato recipe that her mom swore her to secrecy. As the days and weeks pass by, Iris comes to know and partner with the family and "helps" them to attempt them to re-create their family recipe.

I received an ARC via NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me A Winter in New York by Josie Silver in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this story. Iris has left London and her world to move to New York. She left an abusive relationship that mentally follows her and ultimately keeps her to herself. She meets Gio who is trying to keep the family gelato business afloat.

I recommend this story. It felt like a true study in relationships. I did get a little frustrated with the characters’ stubbornness. But overall, it is a lovely romance with plenty of family dynamics to keep you interested in reading.

Really enjoyed the beginning and end of this book but felt like the middle dragged on and was really repetitive. I did really like this one compared to One Day in December and thought the characters were fabulous!

4.25 out of 5. Josie Silver is another queen on the Holiday books and her reads will be must reads for me. One day in December is a classic and it should have gotten a higher grade on my review. This book I liked because although it does finish in the holiday crescendo that is Christmas and New years, it is a slow burn and we go from Fall to winter in a beautiful buildup of both seasons and relationship. Misunderstanding tropes give me a bit of anxiety and at the beginning this was going to drive me insane but it actually was a really interesting development. I love all the characters in this book and want to be invited to their holiday celebrations.

Also i will want to reiterate what this book says; 80s rom coms are not dated and you can reference meg ryan anytime you want. Actually those that do not get them might need a rom com education and sit with the trifecta of them all: Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally.

As I am in my 40s now, I appreciated this description of a leading character - i guess im becoming more mature: "he's coming on 40 and exudes this air of being a man who knows stuff. He looks as if he could build me a bookshelf and mend his own car with those hands of his, and is the sort of person you need around in a crisis".

4.25 stars - Iris leaves London for New York to escape her bad relationship and also experience all the best places her mom visited. While she is out exploring the streets of Little Italy, she stumbles upon a shop that looks similar to a picture from her mom's picture. Iris meets Gio and from this point, they go from strangers to colleagues to friends to lovers.

The first half of the book was a bit slow and focused too much on the gelato recipe. The second half of the book was great. I enjoyed the character development of the main character and the different personalities of the family members and friends; everyone was likable. It was a quick read and perfect for a Christmas read. Will recommend this book!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a story of found family for a young woman who has felt lost in her life, set during the holiday season in New York City.

Iris is living in New York after leaving an emotionally abusive ex behind in London. She stumbles on a gelato shop she only knows from her late mother’s memories and realizes she has the owner’s secret family recipe in her possession. A series of health issues, losses, and chance meetings lead Iris into becoming entangled with the family, particularly the current shop runner Gio, while trying to keep secrets from the past to herself.

I felt sympathy for Iris in the loss and hardships that she faced, and I admired the resiliency she was finding to pick herself back up. Her friendship with Bobby was lovely, and he was a key part of her support system. When it came to the point of her interactions with Gio and the rest of the Belotti family, I enjoyed them for the most part, but the secret keeping and lies of omission continuing for as long as they did was a struggle for her. I didn’t really feeling any build up of attraction between Iris and Gio, but I did love their moments together once their relationship was established. I also loved Iris’s interactions with the rest of the family, especially with Bella. I just didn’t like that she was continuing to keep so many secrets as she got more deeply involved. The culmination of everything led to a beautiful scene though, and I was ultimately pleased with the outcome.

The story is about Iris, a chef who is new to New York who is chasing her mother’s past while running from her own. Iris is doing her best to recover from the trauma of her past relationship and, in doing so, tells a lie to a handsome stranger that has a bigger impact on her than expected. In addition to being untruthful about her painful past, Iris finds herself the keeper of a much-cherished secret family recipe - one she shouldn’t have. These things come to a head when she finds herself eyeball-deep in the chaos and affection of the Belotti family. Iris has to choose between keeping her secrets and her place in the bustling large family she never had or coming clean and risking it all.

I liked the book but had a hard time with the first half or more. Here were my hurdles…. First of all, it took a long time for me to get past my dislike of the main male character. Though Gio does nothing irredeemable, he just comes across as a jerk. His response to Iris’s first interaction with his daughter, Bella, was especially off-putting. While we know he mourns his wife, he never really validated his behavior for the way he treated Iris. His eventual apology fell flat for me, especially paired with the inconsistency of him being moved to tears watching Iris and Bella perform at the talent show. Gio just felt very underdeveloped as a character for a long while into the story. I think more insight into his emotional experience as he develops feelings for Iris would have been game changing. The second big hurdle was the “scandal” of the recipe. It was a very big deal in the context of the story but, frankly, just didn’t seem like a big deal to me. It seemed like an overblown plot point, especially at first. Admittedly, I felt less so toward the end of the story.

Though I can’t say exactly when, but this book had a turning point for me - in a good way. I found myself going from long breaks in reading to devouring the last 20% or so. The ending, though a bit cheesy (in the most heartwarming way), was fulfilling and redeeming. My feelings about Gio changed and I felt more invested in the main points of the story (yes, even the secret recipe). The last quarter or so of the book took it from a three-star read to four and reminded me why I love Josie’s story-telling. I’m glad I read it!

A contemporary romance that is mushy in all the right ways, “A Winter in New York” is a warm hug wrapped up in a book. There’s a bit more of a meaningful edge than you’d find in a romantic comedy, as this story touches on grief, loss, and a second chance at love for two people with a little baggage of their own. I found Iris to be a believably flawed character, even frustrating at times which added to the relatability. Gio, who has some past ghosts of his own, Is imperfect and swoon worthy, and has a piece of my heart.

I wish I could have seen a little more of the side characters, since they seemed to hold importance to the main characters but kind of felt in and out of the story and not as Involved as they could have been. However, the parallel stories of past and present lovers was a delight to read and watch it as it came to a satisfying and misty-eye inducing conclusion.

For romance lovers: this story has the right balance of love, laughs, tears, and spice. Perfect for a cozy winter read!

I adored this! It's kinda like while you were sleeping. I had a really great time reading this. Josie Silver books never disappoint. She is to winter what Elin Hildebrand is to summer, or she is going to be in my opinion. Loved it!!
I just reviewed A Winter in New York by Josie Silver. #AWinterinNewYork #NetGalley
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Thank you to @netgalley and @RandomHouse for this ARC.
Iris runs from an abusive relationship in London to New York. Even though her mother had passed away, she knew her best moments were spent in NYC. When Iris happens to pass a gelateria that was in a picture among her mother's things, she has to investigate. Before she knows it, the lies she has told and not told about her past are so deep, she doesn't know how to turn back after the Belotti family takes her in. Another sweet, sweet story from Jose Silver. #AWinterinNewYork #JosieSilver #Oct2023 #RandomHouseBallatine

I was so excited to see Josie Silver has a new book- I adored her One day In December. This book was cute, not my favorite of hers but I did enjoy the characters and storyline. Iris moved to NY (her mother's favorite place), after her mother passed away. Exploring the city, she finds a gelateria that has the most gorgeous door- one she has definitely seen before in her mother's scrapbook. Fast forward to Iris finding out this family run business (run by a handsome widow named Gio) has lost their famous gelato recipe and how she can help them find it. I love winter in NYC and the descriptions of the city were so fun, as well as Iris's best friends + Gio's crazy Italian family. I enjoyed this one!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars, rounded up because....Josie Silver!

A secret gelato recipe....a secret relationship from long ago...this book oozed charm and will be the perfect holiday read!
While it took me a little while to get into this one, I love Josie Silver's writing and once I was 25% in, I was hooked. Iris is an incredibly flawed character and her decision making throughout the book made me cringe, yet when you learn about her backstory she is easily forgiven. There is a great found family theme throughout and the cast of side characters are delightful and memorable. I loved the dual timeline, with glimpses of Iris as a child and her mother's life before Iris was born.
The bottom line is, I will read any book written by Josie Silver.

Trigger warning: emotional abuse in a relationship and death of a loved one

Am I biased because Josie Silver is my favorite romance author? MAYBE but this book deserves every bit of 5 stars. I love love loved Iris and Gio’s story. Spanning 2 generations their love felt inevitable, it was fate. I’m going to be living in this bubble of joy over how perfect this was for as long as possible.

Alternately, watching Iris discover who she is after losing her mom and escaping an abusive relationship was hard and should be read with care. This was beautiful and sad but also uplifting and cheerful and it’s all the more believable for it. A found family story that leaves you both rooting for the main characters and wanting to eat some gelato.

A huge thank you to netgalley for the chance to read and review this book!

This was a really cute Christmas story.

While it was light hearted for the most part, there were some heavy sided parts to the book. It really touches on grief in a beautiful way. It also touches on mental and emotional abuse.

I loved Iris and Gio. The unraveling of their love story was a sweet one.

I really enjoyed this one especially the second half of the book. And that ending…. Woah so awesome. 👏🏻