Spotlight & Giveaway: Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin

Posted June 13th, 2023 by in Blog, Spotlight / 19 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Uzma Jalaluddin to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Uzma and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Much Ado About Nada!

 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

MUCH ADO ABOUT NADA is a swoony, hilarious, and very romantic second chance romance that starts off inside a unique place – a giant Muslim convention in Toronto! Nada Syed, 29, has a few big regrets in her life, some private and some public. Her dreams of becoming a techpreneur have been dashed due to a double dealing business partner, and her love life is non-existent. When best friend Haleema drags Nada to a large Muslim convention, a series of events are instigated that will lead Nada to question her past decisions and future goals. And it all starts when she bumps into the one who got away — her ex Baz, whose family just happens to run the convention.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

There are so many! Here’s one from the first chapter:

“She had prayed for a sign. She had been patient. She had tried, again and again, to move on, to forget. Nothing had worked. Now fate had set its sights on her at last. In a way, this moment was inevitable. More importantly, Nada was tired of running.”

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

The novel is a playful take on Shakespeare’s play MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, but the inspiration for the book is actually Jane Austen’s novel PERSUASION. I initially had planned to write a mash-up of the two literary works, but over the course of revisions and drafting, the book settled into a PERSUASION retelling.

 

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Nada and Baz have a long history together. They first met as children, and their lives have intersected at various points. It was fun writing characters who got to see each other in small snapshots, over the course of their lives.

 

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

There is a scene when Nada attends a concert at the convention. It is a very touching, but also a very funny scene, and it had me giggling when I wrote it. I also included an inside joke for my cousins. All I’ll say is “double hijabis.”

 

Readers should read this book….

MUCH ADO ABOUT NADA is a heartfelt, entertaining, fast-paced second chance romance with an inherently optimistic message wrapped in some genuinely angsty angst. It’s also a compassionate view of a tight-knit immigrant, Muslim, Canadian community, but is sure to appeal to a wide audience!

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

My next novel will be out in late September 2023, a multi-faith rom-com set in the year 2000, when Ramadan, Christmas and Hanukkah all happened within days of each other. I wrote this book with Marissa Stapley, a NYT-bestselling author and fellow Torontonian!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: 1 copy of MUCH ADO ABOUT NADA, fulfilled by Berkley Books.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Having regrets is a normal thing. How have you dealt with the things you regret from your past?

 
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Book Info:

“Much Ado About Nada is the contemporary take on Persuasion that I’ve been waiting for. I’ve been a huge fan of Uzma Jalaluddin’s since her debut novel, but this one has become my favorite. Nada is feisty, complicated, and wholly relatable, and watching her love story with Baz unfold gave me butterflies at times and squeezed my heart tight at others. As ever, Jalaluddin expertly balances explorations of family, faith, and love in a smart and authentic way. I am such a fan.”—Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Happy Place

“I’ll read anything Uzma Jalaluddin writes. Her latest embroils a pair of stubborn ex-lovers in a Jane Austen mess a la Persuasion: frustrated tech engineer Nada is tired of her job, her mother’s matchmaking, and living at home with her parents; the last thing she needs is a run-in with Baz at the local Muslim conference in Toronto. Nada and Baz’s past won’t stop tripping them up—is it possible they still have a future? Much Ado about Nada is warm, witty, and utterly charming.”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code

“Perfection! At once achingly romantic, wonderfully funny, and with a cast of characters that makes you want to move to Toronto immediately, Much Ado about Nada is a book you’ll wish you could read again for the first time. Uzma Jalaluddin is one of the best writers in romance today—and this gorgeous book proves it.”—Sarah Maclean, New York Times bestselling author of Heartbreaker
Book Links: Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Uzma Jalaluddin is a critically acclaimed and internationally bestselling novelist, playwright, and teacher. She writes nuanced and entertaining stories about Muslims, South Asians, and Canadians and is the author of MUCH ADO ABOUT NADA (2023), THREE HOLIDAYS AND A WEDDING (2023), HANA KHAN CARRIES ON (2021) and AYESHA AT LAST (2019) as well as her first play, THE RISHTA (2023). Her novels have been optioned for film and television, including by Amazon Studios and Mindy Kaling.
Website | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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19 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin”

  2. EC

    I don’t think you can ever get rid of regrets unless you have closure of a sort. Well, in my case even though I had some closure, the regret (s) still lingers.

  6. Laurie Gommermann

    Luckily I don’t have a lot to regret.
    Learn from your mistakes, try not to repeat them. If I’ve hurt someone by saying something I shouldn’t have, I’ve tried to talk to them and apologize.
    Basically you have to accept what you can’t change and try to move forward in a positive direction.

  7. Texas Book Lover

    You can’t change the past so I don’t dwell on them just keep moving forward.

  9. Amy R

    How have you dealt with the things you regret from your past? move on and do the best you can to fix things if possible

  10. SusieQ

    Regrets, I’ve had a few
    But then again, too few to mention
    I did what I had to do
    And saw it through without exemption
    I planned each charted course
    Each careful step along the byway
    And more, much more than this
    I did it my way

    Hey, you put this ear worm into my brain, I have to share.

  13. Summer

    Try not to dwell on them too much, sometimes I’m more successful with that, sometimes I’m very much not.

  17. Patricia B.

    I have been lucky that there have been no major regrets in my life. Like any parent, I wish I had done a few things different with the children. I was able to fulfill a dream I had in high school and married a wonderful man.
    For regrets about things I may have done or said, I have talked with the person, apologized, and when possible, discussed what happened. There were a few careers I would like to have pursued, but it would have been a choice between marrying or going after those jobs. It would have been nice, but marriage and family worked out nicely. We are both retired now and are actually volunteering for things that are close to what those careers would have been.