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A review by onthesamepage
Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin, Marissa Stapley
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Tropes:small town romance, holiday romance, forced proximity
Steam level: none
This is a cute, heartwarming, wintery read, and I definitely waited to write this review until it was almost Christmas because that's the season (I did not, in fact, wait for Christmas, I'm just a massive procrastinator). The writing of both authors blended really well. I liked all the relationships that developed over the course of the story, the small town setting, and Maryam's family shenanigans. But I do have some gripes. For one, while I like Anna's arc in general, I think that Nick was written in a way that was totally over the top so that it would be easy to portray him as a not great guy, and Anna as still a good person in the end. It lacked all subtlety, and I think it could've been handled better. But this is a minor complaint—the next one mattered more to me.
So far, I've read every book that Uzma Jalaluddin has written. I love the fact that she writes halal romances, because it's still rare to find books like that. But this didn't quite hit the mark. Unlike with her other books, there were moments where Saif and Maryam leaned against each other, hugged, and while it doesn't say so in so many words, there is even a moment that feels like the prelude to a kiss. It felt jarring to read those moments because I wasn't expecting to find them between Saif and Maryam, and I will admit that it lowered my enjoyment overall, because that is not what I pick up Jalaluddin's books for.
Tropes:
Steam level: none
This is a cute, heartwarming, wintery read, and I definitely waited to write this review until it was almost Christmas because that's the season (I did not, in fact, wait for Christmas, I'm just a massive procrastinator). The writing of both authors blended really well. I liked all the relationships that developed over the course of the story, the small town setting, and Maryam's family shenanigans. But I do have some gripes. For one, while I like Anna's arc in general, I think that Nick was written in a way that was totally over the top so that it would be easy to portray him as a not great guy, and Anna as still a good person in the end. It lacked all subtlety, and I think it could've been handled better. But this is a minor complaint—the next one mattered more to me.
So far, I've read every book that Uzma Jalaluddin has written. I love the fact that she writes halal romances, because it's still rare to find books like that. But this didn't quite hit the mark. Unlike with her other books, there were moments where Saif and Maryam leaned against each other, hugged, and while it doesn't say so in so many words, there is even a moment that feels like the prelude to a kiss. It felt jarring to read those moments because I wasn't expecting to find them between Saif and Maryam, and I will admit that it lowered my enjoyment overall, because that is not what I pick up Jalaluddin's books for.