Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Josie Silver
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 3rd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel.

When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice. 

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.

IN MY FEELS.

I didn’t expect this book to take over my entire day, but this audiobook and I hung out until I was finished because it was SO GOOD. I loved this book!! If you’re looking for something a little bit heavier for a holiday romance, this could be it.

Iris and Gio really just hit me over the head with the feels. For a fast paced romance, the chemistry was there. I genuinely enjoyed them as a couple and seeing how both were working through some dark moments of their past and allowing this light to shine between them. The little bit of flashback chapters squeezed my heart and helped bring a better understanding to the present day plot.

My one little gripe was that I felt Iris could have been open about a few things sooner and would have saved some of the unnecessary drama. I didn’t totally mind how it has handled after the fact which led me to feel positive about the whole situation. Especially some of those ending scenes as Iris was finally able to lock the door on who was haunting her past.

Overall audience notes:

• Contemporary Holiday Romance
• Language: a little
• Romance: fade to black/vague open door
• Violence: moderate
• Trigger/Content Warnings: abusive ex (recounted), loss of a spouse (recounted)

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