August 1, 2023
Trying to leave behind in London the grief over her mother's death and the hurt of an abusive relationship, thirtysomething chef Iris heads to New York City for a fresh start. Growing up, she'd spent hours watching movies set in New York with her mother while eating her secret-recipe gelato. At a festival in New York's Little Italy, Iris encounters Belotti's Gelateria and realizes that it's the origin of her mother's special gelato. Returning to the gelateria, she finds handsome Gio running the shop but despairing because his uncle is in the hospital after having a stroke, and he doesn't know the closely guarded recipe for the gelato. Iris offers to help recreate the gelato to keep the business going, and soon Iris's relationship with Gio and his family deepens. But she lies about her ex and her connections to his family compound, and she'll have to tell them the truth as the holidays approach. VERDICT Iris and Gio's relationship is full of sexy, heart-meltingly romantic moments in this emotional and charming rom-com from Silver (One Day in December), which deserves its own movie.--Melissa DeWild
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August 1, 2023
A woman uncovers family secrets--and finds love--at a gelato shop in Little Italy. In 1985 New York City, up-and-coming musician Vivien falls in love with Santo Belotti over two whirlwind days, but she has to leave him behind to embark on a tour with her band. In parting, Santo gives Vivien his family's secret gelato recipe, which has kept their shop thriving for decades, and she vows to one day return with it. In the present day, Vivien's 34-year-old daughter, Iris, has just moved to New York with little more than her late mother's pink melamine bowls and the secret recipe for the gelato they ate from them. Iris, a former chef, takes up a job at a dingy noodle restaurant on Chrystie Street, making fast friends with its owner, Bobby Han. She's content to keep her life small, sticking close to her tiny apartment over the restaurant. But when Bobby takes her to Little Italy, Iris stumbles upon a door she's only seen in one of her mother's photographs--of Santo, the only man she ever loved. The door belongs to Belotti's gelateria, famous for its vanilla gelato--the same gelato Vivien's mother made for her. When Iris enters the shop, she meets Santo's 39-year-old nephew, Gio, and learns that Santo had a stroke and can't remember the recipe. Now Iris is the only one who can help the Belotti family. Can she do it without revealing Santo's secret? Or will her past--and her growing feelings for Gio--get in the way? The Belotti family is full of vibrant characters who are easy to love and fun to read. But the novel drags due to several superfluous plots that do little to advance the main narrative. Like a scoop of gelato on a hot day, this one is sweet but messy.
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September 18, 2023
Silver (One Night on the Island) offers a middling contemporary rom-com full of manufactured drama and pointless miscommunication. London chef Iris Raven flees her abusive relationship, leaving Britain for New York City. There, she discovers that her mother’s signature gelato recipe is the same as the top-secret recipe of a local gelateria, Belotti’s. With the chef and Belotti family patriarch in the hospital, the recipe is lost and Gio Belotti, a handsome widower, struggles to keep the business afloat. Gio also believes Iris is a widow due to their snappish first meeting at a bookstore during which she lied to win an argument. Instead of explaining the situation and offering her mother’s recipe, Iris embarks on a convoluted scheme to secretly steer Gio toward the correct recipe over the course of months. Their slow-burning romance is interspersed with flashbacks to her mother Vivien’s time in 1980s New York—and her own love affair with a Belotti man. Iris is the maudlin author of her own misery, propelling the paper-thin plot forward through a series of bizarre choices. All but Silver’s most devoted fans can skip this one. Agent: Nelle Andrew, Rachel Mills Literary.