Three Holidays and a Wedding

Finished January 15

Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marisa Stapley

This holiday novel begins in Denver as, nearing the end of December, people are travelling for the holidays. The year is 2000 and Hanukkah, Christmas, and Ramadan are all happening near the same time. This means more people are travelling, and travelling by air in the winter in North America is always taking the chance that weather will cause delays. 

Maryam Aziz is herding herding her parents and grandfather, and a vast amount of carry-on luggage toward their gate. Her younger sister, a doctor working with Doctors without Borders, has chosen this time to get married, and the group is travelling to Toronto for the wedding. Her sister Saima has just flown in, and is meeting them at the gate. Maryam is the one who is always tasked with organizing things, and, in this case, she has worked with Saima's future in-laws to organize the entire wedding, and the travel plans for her closest family members. She is tired and a little bit annoyed at feeling taken for granted.

Anna Gibson has been dating Nick, a wealthy man she met at a fundraiser for a few months, after bonding over their roots in Toronto. She is travelling to spend the Christmas with his family, but sometimes feels that he doesn't really listen to her or want to hear her thoughts and dreams.

It is the weather that foils all their plans, and they find themselves landing at a small airport outside of Ottawa instead of at their destination. It is near the town of Snow Falls, a very Christmassy, yet surprisingly diverse small town, where they find themselves welcomed. 

As they work to figure out a way to get to their planned destination, they also find things to do, a time outside of their normal busy lives to ponder what they really want, and insight into the shared traditions across all three religions. 

This is a feel-good novel of hope, friendship, and romance. It has second chances for some, a fresh start for others, and newly formed bonds made stronger through shared experiences. 

A great and uplifting read by two skilled Canadian writers.

Snowstorms & Sleigh Bells

Finished December 22

Snowstorms & Sleigh Bells by Kelley Armstrong

This novella is part of the A Stitch in Time series where characters have access to a place where they time travel. Here, Rosalind Courtenay, her husband August, and their five-year-old son Edmund, have come to visit friends at Christmas. At their friends' home, Thorne Manor, there is a room where there is a spot where the house's family time travels often. The wife is from the present day, and the husband from Victorian Scotland, and they have lives in both time periods. Rosalind has recently returned to Victorian times after finding herself stuck in the future for a reasonably long time. So she is wary of that room, and of getting stuck away from her family again. 

When her young son goes into the future alone, she and her husband follow, and have an adventure of their own that brings them closer to each other, and initiates curiosity about their cultural past as well as about the technology of the future. 

This story also brings in a paranormal aspect as Edmund has the ability to see ghosts, and more than one appears in this story.

I haven't read any of this series, but this definitely has me interested reading more.