Three Holidays and a Wedding by
Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley
Romance, Holiday
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was my last holiday book of the season, and it was the perfect ending. I am a huge holiday person and always love a hallmark type book. Give me snow, romance and some happy endings and I’m content.

This story is about two people on the same flight to Toronto. Maryam is headed to her sisters wedding and Anna who is heading to her boyfriends parents for Christmas. They continue to bump into each other and end up seat mates. Not sure of each other, they hit some bad turbulence and start spilling their secrets. When the plane has to have an emergency landing in Snow Falls, they end up having to stay in the same small inn together.
The small town of Snow Falls ends up being magical to both the girls and some love thrown in there.

I really enjoyed learning more about the different holidays and how everyone came together to help each other. I loved the setting of Snow Falls and wish it was real! There was a lot of self discovery with the girls and opening up to change and just relaxing a bit more in life.
If you’re looking for a cute holiday book this is the perfect one!

3.75 rating.

Our two main characters meet on a flight and it had to land in a small town due to weather. This event causes panic for both as their plans get derailed right before the holidays.

The characters throughout the story are wonderful. Both female MC's stories felt well represented of their culture and faith. Anna's character asks and makes assumptions about Maryam's faith. Maryam does show patience and kindness toward her and explains the truth and meaning. The side characters are great as well, especially the grandfather.

To me there was a lot going on in the book and it could have been cut shorter. I did learn more about faith and traditions throughout this book.

Overall it is a cute read. If you want something cozy and hallmark vibes this would be a good choice.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

3.5 Rounded Up.

I received an advanced copy of Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley from the publisher Penguin Group Putnum via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Anna Gibson and Maryam Aziz are complete strangers who find their paths crossed when they are flying to Toronto for the holidays. Anna to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy family and Maryam to attend her sister’s impromptu wedding. When the flight experiences severe turbulence, Anna and Maryam share their deepest hopes and fears to one another and form a deep connection. The plane gets stuck in a small town during an emergency landing leading to their important plans being stuck. Snow Falls is a special town and is right out of a Hallmark film and to make matters better, there is a film being produced in town. This layover allows Maryam and Anna to find themselves and overcome their fears.

What I Loved: This book is honestly very delightful. This book reads like a great holiday movie, this book takes place in 2000 when Christmas, Hannukah, and Ramadan all overlap and we get to see all of the holidays. I really loved the small town and the connection that the Aziz family and Anna made, it was truly just a fantastic friendship and I love stories where relationships are forged in difficult circumstances. This would make a really wonderful holiday film.

What I Didn’t Like: There is a lot of cheesiness here. And a lot of very exaggerated characters, for instance Anna’s boyfriend is just absurd and I can’t really buy into him or their relationship. It annoys me having a character who is so self-centered it just doesn’t seem real. He is Hallmark villain to the extent that it took me out of the reading. I also wish I knew more about what the characters were going through partway through instead of the last

Who Should Read It: People who love a holiday book that isn’t Christian centered. People who love books about relationships forged during difficult circumstances.

Summary: Two women from different tracks of life forge a friendship amidst a flight emergency.

When Maryam and Anna end up next to each other on a very turbulent flight, they are scared into confessing their deepest darkest secrets (and Maryam made a few about her crush Said who was sitting in the row behind them). An emergency landing means that Maryam might not make it to her sister’s impromptu wedding and Anna may not meet her wealthy boyfriend’s parents. However, it does mean they are stranded in the winter wonderland of Snow Falls (where Anna’s actor-crush is filming a holiday romance), and the two learn that there’s no place they’d rather be for the holidays - all three of them.

I really enjoyed learning about the different holidays - Christmas, Eid, and Hanukkah. I loved the parallel stories of Maryam and Anna, and I liked them both equally! This was a fun twist on the traditional Christmas book - even though it was set like a Hallmark movie.

The writing is solid, creating a vivid atmosphere, but the plot is a mix of captivating moments and predictability. Characters are well-developed, though some lack depth. Pacing fluctuates, making it a decent but not outstanding read.

Such a fun holiday read! I loved reading about the multi-faith holiday and the friendships that formed in the small Hallmark Christmas town.

I had a really hard time getting into this book. I liked the plot idea, but something I just couldn't put my finger on as to what made me DNF!

Such a heartwarming and good holiday read! The fact that there's three religions represented in this book makes me extremely happy, and I think this one might even be one I reread every year.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley

Very good holiday read great for December. Found family is a great theme.

This was a fun read and written by two authors but yet it melded together really well. It's also a moment in time before smart phones and constant communications. I enjoyed it.

Cute and light - perfect for holiday reading between all the chaos. Loved the diversity as it’s pretty hard to find in holiday romances these days!

This was one of my favorite reads of 2023 and is going on my Holiday re-read list. This book made me feel warm and gave me all the holiday romance and family feels. I highly recommend it to anyone in need of a sweet holiday feel-good read.

This was a cute story and had hallmark-y holiday feels, but also felt too slow at times with characters that were written a bit too gullible/bland. And there was a ton of repetition with descriptions.
I liked all the shahrukh khan and Bollywood references though!

While the romances in this story didn't get me too invested in the story, other aspects did. I enjoyed Maryam's family drama. Overall though, this story fell flate for me.

Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley brought a cute Hallmark Christmas movie into a book form. I loved how it was based on the time about 20years ago when Ramadan, Christmas, and Hanukkah were all the same week. Learned a lot about Ramadan in particular reading the book. Cute read!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the novel so I won't be leaving a full review.

This was a sweet book that felt like a nice warm hug. We follow. a group of passengers on a plane that ends up stranded in a small Hallmark Christmas like town.

The book takes place in the year 2000. where Ramadan, Christmas and Hanukkah all fall within days of each other. Over the course of a few snowed in days our two FMCs, Maryam and Anna, become friends and find love. The friendships are lovely, and the character development was well done. I do wish there was a little more to the romances and amount of characters were difficult to keep track of at times, but overall the vibes of this book were cozy, warm, and full of holiday fun and it was a quick holiday read!

Though the pacing felt slow some of the time, I enjoyed the snowbound happenings and the integration of the holidays and wedding plans. I'm a fan of Uzma's writing and will definitely read future offerings!

I was so excited to read this book that I forgot I had a NetGalley Advanced Reader Copy, so I went out and bought it myself! Regardless, thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the ARC! Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley essentially created a diverse Hallmark Holiday Movie in book form. However, there is a reason why we love to hate and hate to love Hallmark Holiday Movies; there are cute, cheesy moments and a bit of holiday magic at play. But you feel overwhelmed because there is *a lot* going on while simultaneously being underwhelmed due to the lack of brevity in the copious topics - think breadth, not depth. I felt similarly about this book. Something about this novel didn't quite land for me. Maybe it was the amount of characters? At times, it felt difficult to keep track of key players. The ending also felt a bit rushed to me; I would've loved to have an epilogue with the wedding. On a positive note - Jalaluddin and Stapley seamlessly blended their voices in this novel; it truly felt as though there was "one voice" or "narrator" throughout the book. Overall, it was a nice, quick holiday read.

Three Holidays and a Wedding celebrates a holiday season when Christmas, Hannukah, and Ramadan all fall at the same time and then you throw a wedding in the mix and you have chaos but also three times the magic and all the feels. This multi-faith holiday rom-com didn’t disappoint and it combined a few of my favorite things: holiday celebrations/ traditions with family, a wedding, a snowstorm of the century and not one but two love stories.

Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson are complete opposites.

Maryam is a young Muslim woman who is the glue that holds her family together. She is the planner, the one everyone counts on to handle things. Maryam loves her family and has taken her role seriously but a little snowstorm and the detour to Snow Falls, Canada makes her rethink the things she thought she knew and gives her the confidence to do the things she’s always wanted to do.

Anna is an interior designer, who is struggling to find her place in life after her father passed away. She’s outgoing, creative, and funny. She thinks she knows what she wants in life and is excited when she finds the engagement ring in her boyfriend’s suitcase before flying to Toronto to meet his family. All that comes to a halt when Anna is stuck from the storm of the century in Snow Falls. Being able to unplug and think about what she really wants she wonders if she has been watering herself down to be someone she’s not?

This book has Hallmark feels and Snow Falls, you will find, is a hidden gem. It’s magic and splendor have all the characteristics and charm you would want. The different pastries consumed in this book has me wanting to try new recipes inspired by Ramadan and Hannukah. I loved all three different holiday traditions being honored and tastefully written in this book. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Snow Falls, Canada and I can’t wait to see more written by both Uzma Jalauddin and Marissa Stapley.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the ARC and in trade for an honest review.