I bought this book back in July when the bookstore had a Christmas in July sale. I finally had a chance to read it and absolutely loved it.

The two main characters are Anna and Maryam. Anna was raised in a Christian household but had a Jewish stepmother. Maryam is a Muslim whose family comes from India.

Both live in Denver. Anna works for a magazine and has a boyfriend she’s been seeing for only about six months. He thinks she’s perfect, but she worries that he doesn’t know the real her.

Maryam is a pharmacist and works with her family in their drugstore. She’s always been the dutiful daughter. Her sister is a doctor with Doctors Without Borders. Maryam spends a lot of her time being the person who arranges things for her family and making sure all things run smoothly. She’s also been roped into planning her sister’s wedding during Ramadan.

Anna finds herself on a separate plane when she is to fly to Toronto to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time for Christmas. She has to catch a later flight than him due to work commitments.

Maryam’s family ends up on the same flight as Anna. They find themselves as seat mates and when the plane hits turbulence, they each share secrets with each other.

The problem is Maryam shares her lifelong crush on a family friend, Saif. Who just happens to be seated behind them and hears the whole thing.

The plane is forced to make an emergency landing at a small airport as the snowstorm that had started at take-off has worsened. By the time their plane would arrive at Toronto, it would be impossible to land there.

They find themselves in a small town called Snowfalls.

Maryam’s sister is miserable and making everyone around her the same as she’s concerned about her wedding. Maryam has that worry as well as finding food for her family to break their Ramadan fast. She’s also concerned that her crush is staying at the same inn and is making no secret of overhearing the conversation with Anna.

Anna, on the other hand, has a boyfriend who is completely enraged that she was on a flight that was delayed. He’s making demands that she make arrangements to get to Toronto any way she can. She stops at a bar she finds open and makes the acquaintance of a man named Josh. He’s nice enough to help her find the inn where he’s staying and Maryam’s family as well.

Over the next few days, Anna makes friends with Maryam’s family as well as Josh and both women become involved with each other as well as the small town that is welcoming to all. Maryam spends time with her crush although she tries to push him away. Maryam’s sister remained self-centered and miserable for most of the book, blaming the family fixer, Maryam, for everything from the snowstorm socking them in to the fact she had to cancel the venues for her celebrations.

This book was charming and inclusive.  All three holidays were celebrated and this reader learned a bit more about Ramadan than she knew. It was interesting to learn those traditions as well as the various celebrations surrounding an Indian marriage.

The two main character women grew in themselves and faced their own faults and shared friendship and guidance with each other. One particular character this reader like a lot was the grandfather of Maryam. He was wise and warm to everyone.

The book celebrated Ramadan, Chanukah, and Christmas in a lovely way, along with the normal romantic tropes. The authors did a beautiful job merging the cultures and celebrations of the seasons of each of the holidays as well as showing growth for the two main characters. I recommend this one as a lively holiday story that could be a Hallmark movie.

BLURB:

Three times the holiday magic. Three times the chaos.

As strangers and seatmates Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson fly to Toronto over the holidays—Maryam to her sister’s impromptu wedding, and Anna to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy family for the first time—neither expect that severe turbulence will scare them into confessing their deepest hopes and fears to one another. At least they’ll never see each other again. And the love of Maryam’s life, Saif, wasn’t sitting two rows behind them hearing it all. Oops.
An emergency landing finds Anna, Saif, Maryam, and her sister’s entire bridal party snowbound at the quirky Snow Falls Inn in a picture-perfect town, where fate has Anna’s actor-crush filming a holiday romance. As Maryam finds the courage to open her heart to Saif, and Anna feels the magic of being snowbound with an unexpected new love—both women soon realize there’s no place they’d rather be for the holidays.