I went into this book expecting a cute and festive romance read and it isn’t really that. The book’s cover and synopsis give a different impression in my opinion than what the book actually is. Unfortunately, this fell somewhat flat for me with too much focus on gelato and Iris’ one lie she could have easily remedied to the point of it being repetitive. The focus was so heavily on Iris’ grief and trying to find herself paired with gelato making that the parts that became a love story with Gio felt strange and out of place. I found it difficult to care about their relationship. With that said though, there are some bright spots in the story. I loved Iris finding herself in small ways, Gio’s family is great, Bobby is good comic relief, I like Gio and Iris together despite it feeling slightly off. My rating is for all these small parts that are great as individual stories but never really seem to come together making it difficult to fully invest in any part. I think some of it, like the gelato, was meant to be cute but really became a channel of grief and the book started as though it was going to be full romantic comedy and then detoured into memories, grief, and healing. I just feel like this was two different books pushed together and it never really worked for me.

I love Josie Silver books and this is my favorite so far! Iris is a young chef who decides to relocate to New York City from London after her mom dies. She found a secret gelato recipe scribbled on a napkin in her mom's things. That leads her to a family run gelateria. Curious to see if it is the same gelateria in an old picture of her mom's, Iris returns for a visit the next morning. She falls in love with Gio and his family but her secret threatens to ruin her new life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. Thanks to Net Galley for this ARC.

4.25 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and DeLaCorte for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published October 3, 3023.

This was the third book I’ve read by this author and it is my favorite thus far. It’s a well- thought out story that combines two different families, two generations and one secret recipe for vanilla gelato.

The story is mostly told in the present tense with a few chapters in the past that tell Vivian’s side of the story.

Themes include gelato, cooking, family, traditions, secrets, honesty and love. Trigger warning for abusive relationships although it’s a small plot line.

I literally gasped near the end of the book. I didn’t know how Iris was going to get out of the hole she got herself in but it was wrapped up perfectly at the end.

Now I just want to enjoy my book hangover and eat some gelato! 🍦

I absolutely ADORED this latest from a fav author!! Set in New York City, this gave me the best Nora Ephron/While you were sleeping vibes and features Iris, a lonely young British woman who is mourning the death of her mother and on the run from an abusive ex.

In New York she finds new friends and a new home. She also stumbles upon an family in crisis as their secrety Italian gelatto recipe has been lost and she just happens to know what it is. A heartwarming mother-daughter story with family secrets and a swoony single Dad romance.

This was great on audio and a beautiful love letter to NYC! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: fade to black

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
.
After recently losing her mother, Iris has moved to New York to start over. Her mother had such love for the city that Iris is hopeful it will capture her heart as well. One day she finds a building from one of her mom’s pictures and meets a handsome man, with a unique connection to her mom’s past.
.
I really enjoyed this story, although it was not what I was expecting when I went into it!

This story was a love story between a mother and daughter really. Iris had a special relationship with her mother and is still grieving the loss of her.

I loved the parts where Iris gets glimpses of her mom from past time periods.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you love New York, big Italian families, and vanilla gelato- then you will for sure need to read this book.

A Winter in New York was a fun and fast read! I read Josie Silver’s One Day in December and I was so excited to see this book pop up. While I did enjoy One Day in December but I definitely enjoyed this book more.

The book follows Iris and Gio and their seemingly fated relationship. This book had me craving gelato and anxiously waiting for Iris’ lies to be exposed. This book does deal with heavier topics like grief and abuse

The characters were likable and witty and I desperately want to be apart of the Belotti family. I really enjoyed The flashbacks into Viv snd Santos story! All the side characters definitely made me love this book! It didn’t necessarily have as much of Christmas vibe as much as the cover does though but it is a cozy read.

I really enjoyed this book! I’m giving it 4.5 stars. Only knocking it because Iris’ stubbornness about holding on to her secrets drove me insane.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing group- Ballantine for an ARC copy for my honest review.

Iris escapes to New York after leaving her manipulative and emotionally abusive boyfriend. New York is where her mom shared stories of her life as a rolling stone before hitting the road with the band. She feels a connection to her mom and during one street festival, she notices a familiar storefront from a photo. That photo will change the course of her life and lead her to meeting Gio and his family, the owners of the best kept vanilla gelato recipe there is.

A true rom com, girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy back. Light hearted read with some twists and turns.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Silver's One Day in December is the book that first made me a little obsessed with holiday books so I squealed when A Winter in New York landed on my Kindle--and I loved it just as much! Easily one of my favorite books of the year! It's cozy, heartwarming, romantic, incredibly sweet. I never wanted it to end. It's also not overly holiday-ish, so while it's festive if read during the season it can be savored any time of the year.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the lovely ARC.

Josie Silver's latest, A Winter in New York, takes on the classic romance setting of a woman in New York looking for a fresh start and finding new love and a place. Silver captures the wide-eyed feeling of moving here, and the winter setting in places like Little Italy add to the charm. That said, Silver's work tends to have a certain level of hard-to-believe premise, and I think the unbelievability of it is harder to read with the disjointed elements of the story, from Iris' mother's story to her ex to the gelato to a love interest. It might be that the level of quirkiness didn't match with the more serious parts, which also didn't connect tonally. The book just never fully pulled me in and I wasn't invested in Iris' journey.

*Read only incase you have gelato nearby*

Iris is used to traveling light and moving around but when she decides to leave her ex, her job, and her life in London to move to her late mother's favorite city NYC she never expected to find her best friend/boss, uncover bits of her mothers past and a cat named Smirnoff. Once she stumbles upon a gelateria that looks vaguely familiar her whole life is changed for the better.

You'll laugh, cry, and get frustrated but the best books are the ones that give you all the emotions, and if you need another reason to visit NYC in the winter this book might just be it.

I'll gladly put this book on my must-read book this winter season I'm so thankful to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC - coming to your local bookstore this October!

Thank you so much to Random House Publishing- Ballantine and Netgalley for this early copy.
This was an enjoyable women’s fiction about one woman’s grief of losing her mother, but reconnecting with her memory all through a lost gelato recipe.
I anticipated this being a festive holiday read and unfortunately it was not that, but I did enjoy it.

It started in a bookstore. I mean, don’t the best books always? Ok fine thats a small part of the story, but it will come into play later I promise! When Iris moves to New York and stumbles upon the gelaretia in her moms photo, she is amazed to have found the home of the secret recipe her mom was in procession of. When she finds out that the only person that knows the recipe is in the hospital and can’t remember it, she decides to work with handsome young Gio to slowly feed him the recipe she isn’t supposed to know. When sparks begin to fly, will her lies ruin everything?

Ahhhhhhh, Josie Silver can do no wrong. As soon as this book came on my radar, I knew I needed to read it asap, and I was in no way surprised that I loved it. I mean talk about found family. Iris had faced such trauma in her life, and when you threw in the d-bag Adam, my heart just broke for her. As she became enmeshed in The Belotti family, my heart just overflowed with joy. I knew everything had to explode at some point, but I just loved the way the story played out in the end. Where can I find me a Belotti family? In all seriousness though, have some gelato on hand when you start this book, preferably vanilla, unless you want to be a Sophie in which case go all out!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book! It has a good winter vibe and is fun to read.

Oh how I wanted to love this book! I am a big Josie Silver fan, One Day in December is one of my all time favorites, so I was so excited to read A Winter In New York. Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. I did not find the relationship between Iris and Gio to be one that I could connect with, and the entire premise of this novel was too unbelievable for me to get emotionally involved with. The thing that I love about Josie Silvers's writing, is that you almost immediately fall in love with the characters and are rooting for them to be together at all costs. However, in this particular novel, I did not feel that connection at all and I really didn't mind if the characters ended up together or not. Also, I kept forgetting that Iris was a chef, which was kind of pertinent to the storyline in general, which I found to be odd. The need to keep up with all of the lies in order to protect herself and to protect Gio and his family grew tiresome, and I found after a while that I was not excited to continue reading their story. If you are a romance fan, don't let me deter you! The story has all the makings of a Hallmark movie and is a great read for the holiday season if you like a winter themed book without it being too over the top holiday.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Winter in New York is a warm, lighthearted romance that begins with a lie and only gets more complicated by other lies. The lies only serve to endanger Iris and Gio’s HEA. The conflict is further complicated by Iris’s former abusive boyfriend whose threats are never far from her mind. And then there’s Santos and the Belotti family’s secret recipe for gelato. Iris cannot help but dwell on how these multiple adverse complications are ruining her relationship with Gio. Despite several tense moments, the resolution is both heartwarming and romantic. A Winter in New York is a very enjoyable read.

A Winter in New York, by Josie Silver, had all the promisings of a fabulous winter/holiday romance with a gorgeous setting and a warm message of love and inspiration. Unfortunately, for me though, this latest story by the beloved author of One Day in December and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, didn’t quite measure up. Although the characters were likable and witty, their journey just wasn’t very interesting. The romance was a bit flat and the warm feelings evoked by a winter in New York were pretty vague. I know some of Ms. Silver’s fans will be enthralled, but sadly not this one.

I will read anything Josie Silver writes and this book, much like her others, was a delight. It is a perfect holiday read! However, book isn’t all light and fluffy. It tackled some heavier topics such as grief and domestic violence so be aware if those topics are hard for you to read.

I love Silver’s writing, she really made you feel as if you are in NY during the holidays with her descriptions. It definitely made me want some gelato as well! I think the side characters in this novel added a lot to the story- I adored the character of Bobby and also really enjoyed Sophia.

While overall I really enjoyed this book, it did rely heavily on my least favorite romance trope- miscommunication. It was hard to watch the main character Iris dig herself deeper into a lie throughout the book. In addition, I felt that the lie wasn’t even that big of a deal and was blown really out of proportion. I sometimes had a hard time with some of Iris’s decisions and wanted to jump in the book and shake her.

Pick this one up if you enjoyed Silver’s other books or love a good holiday romance!

Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for my review.

My least favorite "romance" tropes: overdramatic main character, lying, miscommunication. The main character is not self-aware and tells such unnecessary lies for... what reason? None. Also, the title could be reworked. "A Winter in New York"? It's still October as of chapter 13. Loved a different book by this author, but this one missed the mark.

A Winter In New York is set in the fall and winter in New York City but does have some flashbacks to New York in the 1980's. Iris is a transplant to New York from England. She's left England to escape a toxic, emotionally abusive relationship. She decided on New York because her mom told her stories of how much she loved New York City. Iris's and her mother shared a special bond and Iris is still grieving her mother's loss. Iris has her mother's secret recipe for gelato and makes it often to bring herself some comfort. In her reluctant exploration of the city encouraged by her new friend and landlord, Bobby, she finds the family run gelato shop where the recipe originated from. The recipe is a closely guarded family secret and the man who currently knows the recipe had a stroke and can't remember the recipes. Iris offers to help his adopted son, Gio, try to recreate the recipe. As Iris and Gio work together they begin to trust each other and open up their hearts.

I found the beginning of the book a bit slow but once Iris and Gio started working together and she met his extended family the story started to move along quickly. The characters were great, I liked the cast of supporting characters a lot. They seemed like three dimensional people and not just flat characters added in just because. The setting of the book was well written and made it easy to visualize specific neighborhoods in NYC. This was an enjoyable, uplifting romance read.

Thank you to Dell and Random House for the chance to read and review this ARC.

It’s giving Serendipity (2001). It’s giving keeping secrets but also emotional intelligence. It’s giving cozy New York City & a found family that I wish I could be a part of.

Did I ugly cry while reading this book? Maybe. Was it partially because life is exhausting & I was binge-reading at two in the morning? Also maybe. But I can still say that I absolutely loved this book. We’ve got Iris, a Brit who is succumbing to the intrusive thoughts we all feel - “What if I just packed up & moved to a country that I’ve never been to & started over?” Iris has absolutely valid reasons, though - escaping an emotionally abusive ex & seeking a way to connect with her late mother. And Iris is also stuck carrying secrets that belong to others & having to navigate the consequences of the actions of these others. (Truly, the gift that keeps on giving.) And we’ve got Gio: sweet, gentle, emotionally intelligent, single dad. Steady as a rock, will never let you down, Gio. Ugh, we love a Gio.

Up top, I just need to address that I HATE miscommunication as a trope/plot device, & while this was more ‘keeping secrets,’ it’s a very close cousin to miscommunication. But it’s not that I won’t read books with this trope or even enjoy them, because I’m more focused on how it is handled by the characters. And I can understand how & why things play out the way that they do because the emotional intelligence exhibited in this book is just *chef’s kiss*. Which is all I will say at the risk of revealing any spoilers on accident!

Aside from the secrets, this book is full of love stories, full of all the different & beautiful ways that love can manifest. Love in the moment & love for a lifetime. Love of friends & a family found. Love for the life that didn’t get to be lived & the love for a life you’re building for yourself. The love of a connection made with a stranger in a park & the love for yourself that you’re rediscovering. This book is just brimming with love. And I just love love.

This is a perfect book to pick up during the holiday season & to add to your “gonna wrap myself up in a blanket, drink some tea, & read by the fire” book list.

Many thanks to NetGalley & Random House/Ballantine Books for providing me with an ebook advanced copy to read & review! All opinions & thoughts expressed are my own.