Three Holidays and a Wedding is a book co-written by Uzma Jalaluddin (Hana Khan Carries On, Ayesha at Last, Much Ado About Nada) and Marissa Stapley, also known as Maggie Knox (The Holiday Swap, All I Want for Christmas).

Summary: 

Set in the year 2000, three religious holidays are happening within days of each other – Christmas, Eid and Hanukkah. Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson are complete strangers sitting next to each other on a flight to Toronto. Maryam is flying to her sister’s impromptu wedding and Anna is on her way to spend her first Christmas with her new boyfriend’s family.

They’ve been nothing but irritated by each other until severe turbulence scares them into confessing their deepest hopes and fears to one another. They think they’ll never see each other again, until their plane is rerouted because of the weather and they’re forced to spend the night in a quirky little inn in a very unique, Christmassy little town. As the weather gets worse, everyone quickly realise they may be forced to spend the holidays in this tiny town. 

As Maryam attempts to look after her family she’s forced to open up to Saif – her childhood crush – after admitting to her crush on the plane without realising he was sitting right behind her. Anna begins questioning her new relationship when she unexpectedly meets the star of her favourite Christmas romance movie and begins spending time with him.

What I Liked:

• Maryam and Anna – I loved both main characters and their journeys. I was a little concerned at the beginning but their development was great and I loved watching these two women figure out how to live their lives for themselves and not for anyone else. I loved the deep friendship that they developed very quickly – they both quickly became what the other needed. 
• Relationships – both of the main relationships were really cute
  • Maryam and Saif have known each other since they were kids but didn’t really ever talk but Maryam always had a crush on him. 5 years ago he moved away but as soon as she sees him again, her crush comes back in full force. He is, honestly, lovely. 
  • Anna and Josh – if there’s one thing I love it’s a celebrity romance and I love a celebrity romance set a Christmas. He initially (kind of) lies about his identity and I was worried this was going to be a big issue and would’ve enjoyed the book a lot less but these characters actually TALKED and worked it out very quickly which I loved. There’s nothing I hate more than miscommunication when it doesn’t have a point. 
• Maryam’s grandfather – I loved Maryam’s grandfather. He’s an elderly man who recently lost his wife and has been kind of lost ever since he did. He used to be a Bollywood director and directed over 100 movies so is a big romance movie lover and is even asked to help direct the Christmas movie that’s being shot in the town! I loved how he opened up to Anna and how he was the catalyst of Anna’s storyline in finding herself.
• Setting – if there’s a unique small town in a book, I’m going to love it! Anything that reminds me of a Gilmore Girls/Schitt’s Creek-esque small town and I’m going to read it. This one has Christmas-themed shops with pun-filled names.
• Closed door romance – this romance book has zero spice and it works! It’s set over a few days and the characters barely know each other so in a book like this, no spice works fine.
• Three holidays – I’ve actually never read a romance book that’s set around Ramadan or Hanukkah (but, in my defence I’ve also only ever read about 6 Christmas books and that’s a holiday I actually celebrate) but now I’m really interested in reading more. It’s set in a not-so-typical Hallmark-style holiday town that, instead of just focusing on Christmas, celebrates all holidays! 
• Kind of felt like a mash-up of 2 romance books I really loved:
  • Uncoupling by Lorraine Brown – about a woman who’s train gets rerouted and she ends up in Paris and begins to question her relationship with her boyfriend when she meets a handsome new man
  • A Merry Little Meet Cute – a celebrity romance about actors filming a Christmas movie over the holidays in a tiny, quirky Christmas town.
• It’s a fun holiday romance – even though I have criticisms, I can’t deny that this book would make the perfect cute holiday romance movie and I genuinely enjoyed what I read. 

Criticisms: 

• Characters start out unbelievably annoying – they definitely get better but if I was in a certain mood I would’ve dnf’ed because the characters weren’t likeable enough. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good book about unlikeable characters but I don’t think that book should be a holiday romance. The characters become so likeable and it’s established they were just nervous and scared which makes sense!
• Anna’s boyfriend – okay, this makes sense because you’re not supposed to like him. But, damn, he was unlikeable. I kind of hate when books have love interests so unlikeable that you’re just like ????? what the hell was this girl seeing in him other than his money? I think it makes a little more sense because she’s lonely and has no family, but still, it had me rolling my eyes that he was even an option.
• Maryam’s sister – while I enjoyed Maryam’s family overall, I really didn’t like her sister. It seems to have become a trend in books to include ‘annoying little sisters’ that aren’t actually annoying, but just really mean. Maryam did everything she could to plan an amazing, last-minute wedding for her sister and the minute something went wrong (that wasn’t her fault!!), she was completely blamed!
• It was kind of trying to be too much – it’s a celebrity romance, a small town romance, a holiday romance and the characters are also trying to learn to be themselves. 

Overall, this book had a few issues but not enough that it will stop you enjoying this heart-warming Christmas romance about learning to be yourself and live your life for yourself. It’s fairly short and very easy to read – I managed to read it in one sitting. I think it would make the perfect December Book Club read as there’s a lot to discuss including family, unequal relationships, friendships and religion.