A review by meredith_williams_
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Main character, Iris, moves to New York after her mother’s death and after leaving an emotionally abusive relationship. She has a job as a chef and stumbles across a gelato shop in the city that she recognizes from her mother’s photographs. She meets the owner, Gio, who discloses that the secret family gelato recipe has been lost. Iris happens to have the exact recipe among her mother’s photographs, but can’t tell anyone because…she promised her mom not to?? So instead she offers to help Gio recreate the recipe under the guise of being a professional chef. 

The winter city setting and family dynamics in this book were enjoyable. I also liked Gio as a love interest and thought the dual timeline between Iris’s present and her mothers past were interesting. However, the secret that serves as the main conflict in the book was simply not that serious.  It caused a lot of unnecessary miscommunication between the love interests and it made Iris’s character hard to root for at times.

Ultimately, this book was as vanilla as the gelato that Gio’s family is known for. It’s good if you want a little something sweet, but you’ll be wishing it had more flavor by the time you’re done. 
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