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girldetectives's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death
itschelseaw's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A cute, easy read for winter! I love that Silver writes romances that aren’t typical in the genre. Not too trope-y, with a lot of emotion and some heavier topics that make her stories feel more real. The characters are a little messy but still loveable, and you end up rooting for them overall. This was definitely the case for Iris and Gio, I was rooting for them throughout the book! They felt real and not too perfect, which a lot of romances can fall into.
Overall cute, a lot of heart and a feel good romance with some real hard spots in their relationship.
Overall cute, a lot of heart and a feel good romance with some real hard spots in their relationship.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I heard about this book through Book of the Month.
"A Winter in New York" follows Iris, a woman who is trying to get a second chance in New York City. Following the death of her mother, Iris decides to try to go to places that can help her to feel connected to her mom, and one of the first places she decides to go is a gelato place. This gelato place is famous in the city because they only serve one flavor, and only two members of the family know the recipe at any given time. Except, Iris has a copy of the recipe, and she was under strict instructions from her mother not to tell anyone about it. When Iris finally ventures to the gelato shop, she cannot believe that she finds a family that loves her, a man to fall in love with, and pieces of her mom that she did not know about.
When I started this book, I thought it was going to be a cozy, winter romance, but I do not think it truly is. I think this book is more about Iris's journey to discover things about herself and her mom, and there happens to be a romantic interest. If we took the romantic interactions out of the story, I believe we would still have the same book. That is a big reason I felt it was middle of the road, because I did not have the right expectation going into the novel.
I did not love Iris as a character. Her reasoning for why she is keeping the secrets she does, seems kind of loose to me. I think she could have told Gio about the recipe pretty soon after meeting him, and I think she could have told him about her abusive ex right away as well. She just seemed ridiculous in her logic.
Gio is an AMAZING guy, and I loved seeing him and his daughter together. He is such an admirable single father, and he is doing an amazing job at raising his daughter. I would love to see a novella with just the two of them.
This book was fine, but not what I expected.
"A Winter in New York" follows Iris, a woman who is trying to get a second chance in New York City. Following the death of her mother, Iris decides to try to go to places that can help her to feel connected to her mom, and one of the first places she decides to go is a gelato place. This gelato place is famous in the city because they only serve one flavor, and only two members of the family know the recipe at any given time. Except, Iris has a copy of the recipe, and she was under strict instructions from her mother not to tell anyone about it. When Iris finally ventures to the gelato shop, she cannot believe that she finds a family that loves her, a man to fall in love with, and pieces of her mom that she did not know about.
When I started this book, I thought it was going to be a cozy, winter romance, but I do not think it truly is. I think this book is more about Iris's journey to discover things about herself and her mom, and there happens to be a romantic interest. If we took the romantic interactions out of the story, I believe we would still have the same book. That is a big reason I felt it was middle of the road, because I did not have the right expectation going into the novel.
I did not love Iris as a character. Her reasoning for why she is keeping the secrets she does, seems kind of loose to me. I think she could have told Gio about the recipe pretty soon after meeting him, and I think she could have told him about her abusive ex right away as well. She just seemed ridiculous in her logic.
Gio is an AMAZING guy, and I loved seeing him and his daughter together. He is such an admirable single father, and he is doing an amazing job at raising his daughter. I would love to see a novella with just the two of them.
This book was fine, but not what I expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexual content
blewballoon's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was just a series of let downs for me. I wanted a Christmas romance and this was barely Christmas, it's just sort of there in the background a little. I wanted to get invested in the romance but it was impossible when the main character is blatantly lying and keeping heavy secrets from the love interest. I would literally cringe during the sex scenes because I felt like it was wrong for her to sleep with someone who couldn't make an informed decision about wanting to be with her while he didn't have all of the facts. I wanted to appreciate the found family aspect, but that was complicated by lies as well. If you really liked the movie While You Were Sleeping, this might work for you? If you like watching a girl slide her way into someone else's family under false pretenses, here you go! Apart from not liking the premise and most of the plot, I do think the prose was pretty and I'd give the author another shot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Violence, Domestic abuse, Death, Alcohol, and Cancer
guardianofthebookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Stalking
Moderate: Death
lololovesthings's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
4 stars!
"A Winter in New York" is the first Josie Silver novel I've read. I definitely need to go back and check out her other books because this one is terrific. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me reminisce, it made me happy, it made me want vanilla gelato really, really badly! "A Winter in New York" will have you wanting to drop everything in your life to see the snow falling on the streets of Big Apple. Silver paints such an evocative picture of NYC in winter! This book will leave found-family fans eating good for nearly 400 pages. I loved this aspect of the story; it's really heartwarming and perfect for the Christmas season. I really enjoyed the main characters, Iris and Gio. Iris and Gio are both fully-fleshed-out, realistic-feeling characters. Iris is on her own, living in New York with a roommate because her mom came to New York on a wing and a prayer years before, and she wanted to follow in her footsteps. I love that Gio is a pure-hearted, soft-spoken guy. He has a big family, each one more boisterous and wonderful than the last. Still, both Gio and Iris have difficult, complicated relationships with their biological families, which adds to the tension and intrigue. There is also a terrific cast of supporting characters here as well. As the story moved along, I found myself holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Iris's secret to be revealed. Some readers won't like this slow-burning aspect of the story, but it sustained me and made me read quicker, propelling me quicker towards the inevitable ending. I literally could not put this book down. It reads very fast and is addicting to boot. I highly recommend it!
Thank you to NetGalley, Josie Silver, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Dell for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
"A Winter in New York" is the first Josie Silver novel I've read. I definitely need to go back and check out her other books because this one is terrific. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me reminisce, it made me happy, it made me want vanilla gelato really, really badly! "A Winter in New York" will have you wanting to drop everything in your life to see the snow falling on the streets of Big Apple. Silver paints such an evocative picture of NYC in winter! This book will leave found-family fans eating good for nearly 400 pages. I loved this aspect of the story; it's really heartwarming and perfect for the Christmas season. I really enjoyed the main characters, Iris and Gio. Iris and Gio are both fully-fleshed-out, realistic-feeling characters. Iris is on her own, living in New York with a roommate because her mom came to New York on a wing and a prayer years before, and she wanted to follow in her footsteps. I love that Gio is a pure-hearted, soft-spoken guy. He has a big family, each one more boisterous and wonderful than the last. Still, both Gio and Iris have difficult, complicated relationships with their biological families, which adds to the tension and intrigue. There is also a terrific cast of supporting characters here as well. As the story moved along, I found myself holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Iris's secret to be revealed. Some readers won't like this slow-burning aspect of the story, but it sustained me and made me read quicker, propelling me quicker towards the inevitable ending. I literally could not put this book down. It reads very fast and is addicting to boot. I highly recommend it!
Thank you to NetGalley, Josie Silver, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Dell for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Stalking
bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin UK for the eARC!
I was pulled in right away and enjoyed the switching POVs as we occasionally get glimpses of Iris’ mom, Vivien, in the 80’s. At first I really liked them but they became a bit like filler because we don’t get much new information (most of what we know can be found in the present timeline).
I love Gio’s family, absolutely obsessed with their relationship and dynamic! I enjoyed the character development for Iris and the found family aspects too.
Love the rom-com movie references 💗 The novel is both a romance with Iris and Gio but it’s also a romance/love story for New York. I loved the descriptions and felt like I was in NYC during the holidays!
Love the rom-com movie references 💗 The novel is both a romance with Iris and Gio but it’s also a romance/love story for New York. I loved the descriptions and felt like I was in NYC during the holidays!
Didn’t love the friendship between Bobby and Iris-he doesn’t feel like his own character and is more like a flat, background character purely there to further Iris’ development (and at times feels like the cliche “gay BFF”).
The spicy scenes were fairly well done except for one line about how Gio’s actions were “insanely sexual that I feel as if he's actually drawing circles on my cervix.” that was weird…🫠
Miscommunication is a HUGE plot point which was unfortunate because it’s my least fave trope 😭 The story was also predictable, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I would’ve enjoyed more plot twists that I didn’t see coming.
The romance was okay, it wasn’t great or horrible, just average. It didn’t feel like a main focus and was more the journey of Iris discovering herself, fleeing a toxic relationship, and grieving the loss of her mom. I much preferred Silver’s “One Night on the Island” and I don’t think the miscommunication helped with how I felt either.
I recommend for a light, fluffy holiday read! But be aware of the triggers as it tackles heavy topics like grief and domestic abuse. I’ll probably check out Silver’s other books to see if she’s an author for me or not.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ (1.5-2/3)
Tropes: single dad (widower), found family
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Moderate: Stalking and Cancer
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