
Member Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and of course the author for gifting me this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Omg this book! My heart dropped in my boots when I read that Saif had heard the whole conversation, I wanted the ground to swallow them up!
A really nice story that really gets you in the holiday / festive mood and not too steamy which is nice sometimes.

The perfect holiday read, escapist and nicely predictable in many ways, it is also diverse in a way many Christmas rom-coms aren’t. The co-authors wrote a main character each in alternating chapters and you really can’t see the joins. Our heroines Maryam and Anna are trapped in a small town in Canada on the way to Maryam’s sister’s wedding and Anna’s newish boyfriend’s high-end festivities, Maryam has her three-generation family and Anna doesn’t even have a proper coat, but they find lodgings at a local inn run by a lesbian couple and start to enjoy their “snow days”, finding the small town has a whole range of inhabitants and the ability to cover Christmas, Hanukkah and Eid celebrations at the same time (the book is set in 2000 when the three coincided, with some poetic licence).
There’s romance and rethinking of priorities, there are laughs and good food, truths and community – a lovely warm book that it would be great to curl up with on an actual snow day.

Three Holidays and a Wedding was incredibly cosy and I had a great time reading it. The festive vibes were there and the fact that three separate holidays were celebrated made it really special.
I don’t think I’ve ever said this about a festive romance before, but I feel like I actually learnt something from this book. I didn’t have a huge knowledge of Ramadam before reading this and I now feel like I know so much about it. These were my favourite parts of this book.
Both Maryam and Anna were great main characters. They were so different yet worked together so well, opposites really do attract. When they first meet you really think “these two will never be friends” and then before you know it Anna is part of the Aziz family. It was incredibly heartwarming to see their friendship grow, especially because Anna doesn’t have any family to celebrate with.
Three Holidays and a Wedding was the first festive romance to make me feel Christmassy, which is funny considering Christmas wasn’t really the main focus. There’s something about small towns covered in snow that makes me feel so cosy. This is funny considering I live in the South of the UK and I never really get snow, I actually hate snow.
The romance was very sweet and I’m always a fan of childhood friends to lovers stories. The progression of both relationships, despite one of them happening in the space of days, feels very natural. It’s a romance book, it’s meant to be a little outrageous.
Honestly, this was such a sweet and heartwarming read and I definitely recommend it. It’s a little slow to start, but once the story really gets going you won’t want to put it down.

Sweet holiday romance with Christmas, Hannukah and Ramadan falling at the time.
Another reviewer described it as Hallmark but diverse and I fully agree. While I liked the diversity and the equal focus on the three different celebrations and their traditions, it was too much Hallmark for me.
It was very much based around kindness and support and care and family/community. And I liked that but I also felt the story lacked tension and real conflict.
The characters are likeable enough but didn't stand out for me. I have come to realise I much prefer romances that focus on inner conflict and show much more of the inner world of the characters.
Overall, this is a sweet holiday story with its biggest strength being how diverse and welcoming to all it is but I wanted just a bit more bite and less sweetness.

I really loved getting to hear all the traditions that the different characters had for whichever of the three holidays they celebrated. It was so interesting to learn a bit about each one.
The characters were great, for having a quite a bit cast in quite a short book the authors did a great job in building realistic characters who you could get behind.
This was a cute book following the stories of several characters, with found family vibes and the most perfect little town ever to exist.
Definitely one to read in December!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book

Maryam is travelling to Toronto with her family for her sisters wedding. They are Muslim and the book shows their struggles when they fly. We also meet Anna whomis Jewish and is travelling to spend Christmas with her boyfrjends family. The plots of the story were good. I liked how they wove together.

Maryam and Anna meet on a flight that gets diverted due to a storm, and stuck in a snowy small town. The time they spend there will change their lives, but for the better? A great read, and I loved learning about a different culture.

Three Holidays and a wedding follows Maryam who’s travelling to Toronto with her family for her sister’s wedding and Anna, also travelling to Toronto to spend Christmas with her boyfriend’s fancy family. Anna grew up with a Jewish stepmother and loved spending Hanukkah with family but now she’s spending Christmas with her boyfriend’s family, missing out on Hanukkah.
Maryam and her family are Muslim, and she describes her difficult experience when they fly due to assumptions and racism from others. It wasn’t something I had especially thought about before but reading how difficult it is to go about such a mundane experience as going on an airplane.
I loved the combination of stories and how the two authors intertwined these characters and plot points. It reminded me of all the classic airport scenes in Christmas movies and the way the two authors introduced Anna and Maryam at first where they clashed immediately and appeared as two completely opposite personalities. When they finally get on the plane and bond over their awful experience with turbulence, an unlikely friendship blossoms and makes for a refreshingly fun and festive romantic comedy. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a different holidaytime romance!
Thank you for the eARC!

This book was like a hallmark holiday movie - sweet and good to get you in the festive mood, but the acting is terrible and leaves you thinking hmm I could’ve watched something better with that time.
This book was a sweet fun time, but after a while it felt very repetitive. The characters weren’t really doing anything and I feel like every day was the same, and it wasn’t interesting enough really.
I also found that the characters were too similar. Anna and Maryam both let everyone walk all over them for the majority of the book and it was so frustrating to read. I think it would’ve been better if they had had different attitudes to each other and one could’ve helped the other become stronger, but instead they were both doormats. I also thought it was annoying that they discovered that literally all of them wanted a career change (two of them realising that they’d rather be writers). There are other kinds of conflict/starting points for character growth. Also, they both think their love interest is in a relationship, but they don’t mind - which was a bit weird, but also then those storylines felt pretty similar.
This was just ok to me. I would recommend if you want a little holiday read with the snowy Christmas village vibes.

Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley is the ultimate in feel good festive reading , perfect for the holiday season. I defy anyone to read this book and not feel the holiday spirit as they turn the last page. The premise of this book is rooted in the idea that Christmas, Eid and Hanukkah all happen around the same time, something that did actually happen in the year 2000.
Maryam Aziz is flying to Toronto with her family ahead of her younger sister's wedding, as big sister /eldest daughter she is responsible for corralling the family and getting them through the airport , not to mention planning most of the wedding activities. Anna Gibson is headed there to meet her boyfriend's family, the boyfriend who was hiding a ring box in his drawer and has mentioned numerous times how perfect she is for him , how perfect their relationship is and how she is going to be the hit of the holidays with his family at the numerous events they have planned. These very different women find themselves seated next to each other on the flight. Though their relationship does not get off on the best foot, when turbulence strikes they find themselves confessing their fears, hopes and deepest secrets to each other , including Maryam's long standing crush on an old neighbour, Saif. To her horror, when the plane is forced to land in the small town of Snow Falls instead of Toronto as planned, Maryam discovers that Saif was sitting just a couple of rows behind her and heard everything.
Snow Falls may be picture perfect, so much so in fact that it is the location for a currently filming holiday romance, but it is not Toronto, and with storms brewing and snow falling it seems increasingly unlikely that either Anna or Maryam and her family will get there. Instead they find themselves staying at the local inn along with Saif and the cast of the movie that is currently filming, including the actor that Anna has a huge crush on .
This is the perfect setting for holiday romance, in fact for two of them , and of course that is what we get here , although we also get so much more. We get a great friendship between the characters, we gain insight into other cultures and their customs and beliefs and we get to laugh along the way - what more could we possibly ask for.
I am so impressed by how seamlessly this book comes together given that there are two different authors, and while I had read other books by Uzma Jalaluddin and loved them, I was not familiar with Marissa Stapley. Having read this book and enjoyed it immensely, I will definitely be checking more of her books out. I loved how each author was able to bring their traditions into the book and show how people of different faiths can have more in common than they ever realised, and can learn so much from one another.
I really loved this book and I already plan to cosy up with it, a big glass of wine and some Christmas chocolate treats as the festive season approaches.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own .

Festive, sweet, enjoyable and heartwarming. A story of chances, luck and love in a festive atmosphere and featuring a cast of lovely characters.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I really enjoyed this story. It contained references to multiple belief systems, and was told in such a way that it enabled to reader to learn more about others without it coming across condescending as though the reader knows nothing at all. My only complaint is that there were lots more references to Islam than Judaism, so I came away feeling I had a lot more understanding of Islam but not of Judaism. The story was sweet and clean, so good for all the family, and had a good ending

This would be a perfect christmas time read.
A quick but cute romance. Where there is also a side of friendship.
I loved the friendship that blossomed with the group. What could be seen as an unlikely group of friends. Thrown together due to the weather. But in the end they learn from eachother and come out of it in a better place.
When it came to the romances I liked both. I preferred Anna and Josh but I also felt we just got more time to see their chemistry. Which maybe an issue with having multiple side stories on top of two romances.
I do think Nick wasn't needed. Anna could have gotten to where she is without him being a character.

I loved this dual pov holiday romance. Both Anna and Maryam were a delight to read from and I enjoyed being on their journeys to friendship, finding what they want from life and love. I also really liked both of the love interests in this story and even though this book only takes place over the course of a few days nothing felt rushed in their romances.
This was a perfect curl up on the sofa with a hot drink holiday romance!

Loved loved loved this book!
A great example of how writing between co authors works so well. The intricacies of both authors writings and backgrounds helped make this such a rich book filled with all the Christmas/Hanukkah/Eid cheer!
Of course we had some great romances too - and friendships! I most enjoyed Anna and Mr Dadu’s developing friendship- exactly what they both needed.
There’s love, loss, light and plenty of snow for everyone to enjoy!

Three Holidays and a Wedding follows strangers Maryam and Anna who on their flight to Toronto get snowbound after an emergency landing in a small town called Snow Falls and while they're there and celebrating their respective holidays they discover and learn things about themselves and what they want from life they never would have if they hadn't met eachother and become snowbound.
One thing I love about this book is how Eid, Hanukkah and Christmas all fall at the same time and how that brings the characters together all travelling and experiencing the holiday season together even if they celebrate different holidays.
I enjoyed the romance in this book to and it didn't disappoint with it being a holiday book with a good cosy romance to curl up with on a chilly day (not that that's what I did with thithis current UK heatwave). But something I liked even more than the romance was the friendship that developed between Maryam and Anna. At the start of the book they don't get off on the best footing and you don't really expect them to become great friends but by the end of the book you really see that you can find great friends in anyone no matter your differences and that is something I love. The two really do form an unlikely but strong friendship in this book.
The dynamics between the rest of the characters were also great and I think I did truly grow to love pretty much all these characters - there were a few that I wasn't a massive fan of and a few concepts/plot points I wasn't taken by but ultimately in a town like Snow Falls you can't help but love it all. I'd love to visit Snow Falls one day - it sounds fantastic, like a bit of a winter wonderland and all the people are so nice and welcoming which we love!
Overall this is a fantastic cosy Christmas book that I highly recommend you pick up either when it comes out if you read Christmas books all year like me or during the festive period this year, with fantastic inclusiveness and characters. I really enjoyed it and it was a great one to kick off this years festive book season.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for a free e-arc in exchange of an honest review. This book is released on 28th September 2023.

Absolutely loved this wintery wonderland of a book, so up my street with an uplifting message of community, family and hope.
I'd had a pretty stressful week so this book was my salve, an escape in to a comforting world of weddings, celebration, love and wisdom. What a wonderful gift.

I would be very happy to watch this on Christmas channel, it had such a sprinkle of festiveness, charm, Bollywood and Chanukah all thrown in. The town they become stranded in sounds magical, this book read like a film. It was wonderful and very charming. I loved the family dynamics and found it very sweet. Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book because I’ve enjoyed Uzma Jalaluddin’s previous books so much. Plus, I love a well done snowed in story!
I really loved this book. I loved all the characters (though it took me a little while to warm up to Saif, he came across as arrogant to start with). I loved seeing Anna and Maryam get to know each other, and themselves. I loved seeing their friendship grow. I loved the sense of love that Maryam’s family had for each other, even if they didn’t always get things right.
The setting was wonderful. I absolutely loved Snow Falls, and its inclusiveness. I so enjoyed the way the three holidays and the general winter atmosphere blended together to produce such a festive ambience.
I also had a delightful time watching the romances unfold.
If you’re looking for a fun winter read, full of romance, friendship, and festive feeling, look no further!
I was given a copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

Such a wonderful book, I loved the plot, and oh my god the characters were so amazing!! I definitely will be recommending it!!