Much Ado About Nada


 
 
 
 PRAISE FOR MUCH ADO ABOUT NADA
 “I’ll read anything Uzma Jalaluddin writes. Her latest embroils a pair of stubborn ex-lovers in a Jane Austen mess à la Persuasion. . . . Warm, witty, and utterly charming.”
 —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code
 “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
 “Uzma Jalaluddin has a remarkable gift for breathing new life into classic romantic plots. . . . Jalaluddin has created a pair of star-crossed lovers with deep history, crackling chemistry, and a secret that could change everything. . . . A genuine delight.”
 —Kate Hilton, bestselling author of Better Luck Next Time
 “Tender, poignant, and fiercely original, this is Uzma Jalaluddin’s best book yet. . . . If a slow-burn romance can break your heart while lifting you up to the clouds, Uzma Jalaluddin’s Much Ado About Nada is that book.”
 —Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of Blackwater Falls
 “A love story that is both addictively tart and marvelously sweet told by a writer who has mastered the art of blending romance with laughter. . . . I didn’t want it to end, and will have a hard time waiting patiently for another novel by this outstanding talent.”
 —Marissa Stapley, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky
 
 
 BERKLEY BOOKS BY UZMA JALALUDDIN
 
 Ayesha at Last
 Hana Khan Carries On
 Much Ado About Nada
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 BERKLEY ROMANCE
 Published by Berkley
 An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
 penguinrandomhouse.com
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Uzma Jalaluddin
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 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Jalaluddin, Uzma, author.
 Title: Much ado about nada / Uzma Jalaluddin.
 Description: First Edition. | New York: Berkley Romance, 2023.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022058278 (print) | LCCN 2022058279 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593336380 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593336397 (ebook)
 Subjects: LCGFT: Novels. | Romance fiction.
 Classification: LCC PR9199.4.J3515 M83 2023 (print) | LCC PR9199.4.J3515 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/2022129
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022058278
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022058279
 First Edition: June 2023
 Cover illustration by Sanno Singh
 Cover design by Rita Frangie Batour
 Interior design adapted for ebook by Molly Jeszke
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 pid_prh_6.0_143790368_c0_r0
 
 
 
 TO IMTIAZ, FOR EVERYTHING
 
 
 
 PART ONE
 Once upon a time at a Muslim convention . . .
 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER ONE
 Present day
 Nada Syed was no coward; at twenty-eight years old, she had simply learned that strategic retreat was the better part of valor.
 Cell phone clutched in one hand, black ballet flats in the other, cream-colored hijab loosely draped over her short, dark hair, she tiptoed down the spiral oak staircase of the home she shared with her parents and two brothers. She crept toward the laundry room, which had a side entrance that led to the driveway, her car, and freedom. As she reached the door to the laundry room, her phone pinged with another message from her best friend, Haleema: I’ll be there soon! We’re going to have so much fun at the convention!
 Nada shuddered. There were few things she could think of that would be worse than being forced to attend the Islamic convention over a hot July weekend. Perhaps skinny-dipping in the Arctic Ocean. Or being forced to eat her mother’s offal-and-tongue nihari curry.
 Her phone pinged again. Haleema really didn’t give up; that persistence had fueled her rise to the top of her graduate engineering program, but right now, Nada wished her friend had the profile of a party-forward humanities major, because Nada needed to concentrate. Coordinating a covert weekend outing was tricky. Her mother, Narjis Syed, guarded their front door more zealously than a nightclub bouncer and asked more questions. Nada glanced at her phone, reading her friend’s messages quickly.
 Aren’t you excited? Girls’ weekend! Then: Babe? Where’s my sister from another mister? Nada? HELLOOOOOOO????
 Haleema wasn’t going to stop until Nada responded. Carefully dropping her shoes and slipping her feet into them, she texted her friend the perfect decoy message: Just getting ready. Big plans for the weekend! xxx.
 Nada knew two things: 1) she couldn’t attend the convention for reasons that couldn’t be disclosed to anyone, especially not Haleema and 2) by the time her habitually late bff showed up at Nada’s house, she would be long gone, snacking on a delicious latte and blueberry scone from her favorite café.
 One might wonder why a twenty-eight-year-old woman didn’t simply stroll out of her parents’ house as if she owned the place, flip her busybody neighbors a flirty goodbye, and head to wherever the hell she wanted. That person was clearly not the daughter of traditional South Asian parents, nor did they live in the Golden Crescent neighborhood in the east end of Toronto, a.k.a. “the nosiest place on Earth.” And they were particularly not the daughter of Narjis Syed, mother of three, interferer of all.
 The side-door escape was the perfect plan,