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. 👏🏻

This was such a sweet read. I am not often one for seasonal romance novels, but I think this one does a really good job of character development, both ways the main characters and with the supporting characters. I really loved learning about the main character's mother in the past and seeing how those threads came together in present time to weave. These really brilliant relationships. Also, friends to family is one of my favorite life tropes and realities.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the flashbacks, and I loved that they were not all throughout the book, but just at pivotal times. I loved Iris and Gio and Bella and Gio's whole family. Highly recommend!

Many many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and the author for an ARC of this title.

I have loved every Josie Silver book I’ve read, and this is no exception. A Winter in New York is such a heartwarming story about love and loss, grief and healing, family and gelato.

Everyone needs people in their lives like the Belotti family and Bobby & Robin. I highly highly recommend this book.

Publication date: October 3, 2023

My review will be posted on Goodreads on July 16, 2023 as well as on my instagram story and added to my book highlight.

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "One Day in December" comes "A Winter in New York," the story of a young chef who stumbles upon a secret family recipe that just might lead to the love and life she's been looking for.

After the death of her beloved mother, Vivien, and the end of an abusive relationship, Iris leaves her life in London behind for a fresh start in New York City, the setting of all the nostalgic movies she used to watch with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato. When her new best friend Bobby takes her to a street fair in Little Italy, she notices a small family-run gelateria that happens to be the same shop in one of her mom's old photos. Iris returns to the shop the next day and meets Gio, who tells her that the gelateria is in danger of closing because his uncle, the only person who knows the secret family recipe, had a stroke and no longer remembers it. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she discovers that their gelato tastes exactly the same as her mother's. Iris can't tell him that she knows their secret recipe when she isn't sure why Gio's uncle gave it to her mother, so instead she offers her services as a chef to help Gio's family recreate the flavor. As they work together on the recipe, Iris finds herself falling for Gio. But when Gio's uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets that Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life she has been building in New York all winter.

This was a cute romantic comedy that reminded me a lot of a Lifetime Christmas movie. The story is told mainly from Iris's perspective with flashbacks to the 1980s told from Vivien's point of view, which I really enjoyed. The first half of the novel was a bit slow with so much of the plot focusing on the gelato recipe, but I enjoyed the second half a lot more. Overall, a heartwarming story about found family, love, and loss.

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

I loved this book!

Even if it's July and it's very hot, the book made me come back in the Christmas period with hot chocolate, snow and small enchanted villages!

The characters are really great, well characterised, real and funny!

I also really liked the narrator of the audio book and got me involved in the story!

Highly recommended book for the winter season!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

I didn't love this book as much as I hoped. The ending was not as realistic as I feel that it could have been but I enjoyed the writer's style and the plot was cute.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy to honestly review.

So here's the thing: I hated the premise of this book (or at least how Iris handles said premise) with the seething fire of a thousand dying suns. If you have a piece of information that would literally save the livelihood of an entire family, you just offer that information to them. There is no moral high ground to leaking a secret slowly especially after having made a decision about complete strangers on their behalf. That said, something had to propel the plot and Iris being a damaged manic pixie dream girl with "quirks" was vital to the narrative, so I swallowed it down and carried on.

Once you get past all that, this book is a stunning story about grief, second chance love and found families. Iris behaves the way she does because she is grieving her mom and will do anything to expand the time spent with part of her mom's past, even if she knows it is going to blow up in her face. Gio and his whole family are working through their own grief and struggles while trying to blend the future of a family with honoring the past. The romance serves as the perfect foil for Iris' healing and Gio maturing out of his set role in the family. The supporting cast, while tropey, help push the plot along even when the chemistry between Iris and GIO feels lacking. I think the story could have lived without SPOILER AHEAD! the big showdown with the abusive ex. The fact that she had escaped domestic violence could have been a central tenet of her story without him coming back to wreak havoc. Plus one man enacting violence in order to "save" her from violence gives me the big ick, but YMMV. Granted this would have required the characters talk and mature instead of playing the Grand Gesture Olympics, but we were already up to eyeballs in a Romance of Miscommunication, so why not?

Somehow despite the awful premise and unneeded subplot, I devoured this book in one sitting while shedding a tear for the HEA that results...if that isn't a good book, then I don't know what is!

Thank you to Netgalley, Josie Silver and Random House Publishing Group/Ballentine for the Arc. Opinions are my own.

Premise: after losing her mother and fleeing an abusive relationship, Iris finds herself leaving London and landing in New York City to feel closer to her mother. She befriends the Bobby, who gives her a job at his noodle house, an apartment to crash at and a built in best friend. One day the two pass what appears to be a closed gelati shoppe during what should be a busy day for them and it sticks with Iris. She goes back to her apartment and finds her mothers scrap book and realizes the beloved gelati recipe that her mother has sworn her to secrecy over is the famous gelati of this shoppe. However, upon further investigation, its discovered the recipe is lost after a family member - Santo- has a stroke and can’t remember. Iris decides to try to help the family without giving away the fact that she knows this family recipe.



I thought the idea of the book read great. But there were parts that I got really bored with and had to force myself to keep reading. I liked Gio and his sisters. Iris got better at the end. The ending warned my soul and made me tear up, for that alone I’ll give it 3/5

Amazingly cute, loved the found family cute vibes. Kind of wish Josie Silver stuck to closed door because the sex scene was sped up way too fast almost as if she was uncomfortable to be writing it and wanted it to be over with quickly. Overall an excellent heart warming read.

I love all of Josie Silver’s books, and this is no exception. Iris, Gio and the entire cast of characters were written to perfection. While some may have issues with ‘miscommunication’ in novels, I think every choice Iris made was purposeful. If you love found family, New York, and yummy gelato, you won’t be able to put this down! I can’t wait to reread this winter to experience all the feels again!

Thank you NetGalley for advance copy the opportunity to read this book early.