I love Theres Beharrie's writing and this was such a delight with all of the tropes. The MCs were so relatable and I can't wait to read more from her.

I love a Beharrie romance... They're full of the kind of emotional intensity that makes me oscillate wildly before squeeing over the delight of it all, and sobbing my heart out over the internal conflict!

Her Festive Flirtation is a second chance romance with a twist—namely being that they never really had a true first chance, so I love the fact that their meet cute seems to be the perfect way for them to reconnect. There's a cat and a fire and a delicious volunteer fireman in Noah—all followed up with Ava's brother's wedding.

It's utterly adorable and does what Beharrie does best—that intense emotional connection and then inner conflict that keeps them apart. A perfect read to curl up under the Christmas tree with.

After being humiliated and left at the altar, Ava Keller is now a bridesmaid in her brother's upcoming wedding.
When she returns home she runs into Noah Giles - the best man, her first crush, and her brother's best friend!
What's a girl to do?
This is my first book by Therese Beharrie and I look forward to reading more. Not only was this a sizzling romance, but it was also a tale about honesty, love, and self-reflection.

Her Festive Flirtation by Therese Beharrie is a second chance as well as best friends love story. I adored Ava and Noah's games throughout her brothers wedding. This was a great way for them to get to know each other again as well as avoid very awkward situations. This terrific read is very sweet. .

An incredibly charming holiday romance from new-to-me author Therese Beharrie, HER FESTIVE FLIRTATION is a fun and frothy second chance romance combined with a fun fake dating plot. Perfect for readers on the search of their next favorite holiday read.

This was a fun, romantic read set during Christmas - not necessarily holiday feels but mostly because of all the baggage that both characters were carrying through the story. The relationships were interesting, and it was a good way of handling something as delicate as getting together with your brother's best friend. All characters were fleshed out, and even if I was so annoyed with Ava's brother at first, I loved how their relationship was written - strains and all. The happy ending was well earned, and I'm glad that Ava and Noah got it because they do deserve it.

Her Festive Flirtation is a great romance read that can be read even outside of Christmas. :) I'm looking forward to reading more from this author. :)

Therese Beharrie’s Her Festive Flirtation is neither festive, nor big on flirtation. It’s quite a serious romance about two people dealing with the hurt they’ve experienced in the past and avoiding their feelings for each other. Heroine Ava Keller was left at the altar by her fiancé of five years a mere year ago. When the novel opens, Ava is in a bad way in many ways: though she still hurts from Milo’s abandonment, she is in her brother’s wedding party, also a Christmas-set one. In the opening scene, however, Ava’s estate home is threatened by wild fire and while she seems to deal with the loss of her home, she’s desperate, above all, to run into danger to rescue her cat, Zorro. The volunteer fireman who comes to Zorro’s rescue is none other than Noah Giles, her brother’s best friend and the man she was in love with in her youth, whom she convinced to give her her first kiss. Her brother was furious and Noah left town, cutting all ties with her, though he maintained his friendship with Jaden, Ava’s bro, and his father. Now he’s back to stay and both he and Ava have to deal with those pesky feelings for each other neither’s forgotten.

After Guillory’s mess of a novel, it was refreshing to read a writer who writes clean, elegant prose and sharp dialogue. I was enamoured of Beharrie’s opening: the fire, the cat rescue, the realization of reuniting after all these years, Ava’s immediate attraction to Noah and Noah’s to her, all the messy stuff neither has dealt with right there in the gazes they exchange. Of course, with Ava in the wedding party and Noah as well, it’s natural they spend time together. It’s immediately obvious that Noah and Ava were friends. Those things that united them still do. Ava and Noah are sympathetic, serious people, with a good dose of caustic humour. Beharrie renders their compatibility quite nicely and the aloof Zorro provides comic relief.

Unfortunately, my liking of the novel ended there. Because there was no logical reason for Noah and Ava to be apart, Beharrie had to make their relationship’s push-pull about internal blocks. Noah and Ava indulge in a lot of internal musing about how they don’t deserve each other, how they’re less than the other, how they’re not good enough for a relationship. I really dislike this self-put-down as a source of conflict. Moreover, they had further internal messes to ruminate over. Ava’s was understandable: it’s awful, humiliating, to be left at the altar and the pain lingers. But I also wanted her to take an internal sock, fill it with ireful rocks, and fling it at the fiancé. Which takes forever for her to come to. Noah’s internal obstacle to love was a lot more annoying: he can’t trust women because his mommy cheated on his daddy and he blames his daddy for forever trying to be with other women. Another bad mother romance scenario I don’t enjoy. In the end, the fine writing devolved into so much rumination that every possibly interesting scene was cut off by Noah and/or Ava going to their internal unhappy place. It’s too bad, because Beharrie can write, just wish she’d stay out of her characters’ heads. In the end, Her Festive Fliration was a pleasant if somewhat ho-hum read. With Miss Austen, we say it was “tolerable comfort,” Mansfield Park.

Therese Beharrie’s Her Festive Flirtation is published by Harlequin Books. It was released on November 1st and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-galley from Harlequin Books via Netgalley.

I wanted to adore this book. Instead I was so bored by this lackluster romance that I almost didn't finish reading. I was expecting a spicy Christmas romance but the Christmas stuff was nothing more than window dressing and Noah and Ava lacked passion.

A solid 3.5 stars. A sweet, yet, a little angsty contemporary romance. Childhood friends, family expectations, growing up and facing hard truths : Ava and Noah face these and find a way to happiness. The story focuses strongly on Ava's and Noah's inner journey and how they connect. I would have liked more of the secondary characters, especially Noah's dad and how they worked through their relationship. It was an enjoyable read.

Ava and Noah knew each other growing up. Noah is Jaden’s best friend and Ava is Jaden’s younger sister. They did have a mutual attraction when they were younger but they were kids. I enjoyed seeing the flashbacks and felt it helped me connect to the characters more. After a forbidden kiss Noah and Ava don’t speak or see each other for seven long years. A lot has happened during that time and neither character are the same.

Noah and Ava have some baggage from past relationships. My heart really broke for Ava in this book because you can tell her being jilted at the altar really did a number on her and she was too focused on pretending to be okay for her parents sake. I also found it very tacky that her brother and future sister in law would plan their wedding around the same time she was jilted a bride. Ava was WAY better than me because I don’t think I would have attended, let alone been a bridesmaid. Noah has some MAJOR trust issues and I can’t say that I blamed him in this story. When you read the story you will see and I see why he guarded his heart in this book.

This was my first time reading this author and I only wanted to read it since it was Christmas related. I have to say it was a good read but I felt the ending was a bit rushed. After it was all said and done I would have rather seen the relationship play out than be told. The story was well written and held my attention but I just wanted more couple time between the characters at the end.

Ava was left at the alter and rather then letting people see how it affected her she kept it to herself. Its been a year and now her bother is getting married so near the date she was to be married and old feelings are leaving her conflicted. If that wasn't enough her brothers friend Noah is back in the picture after not seeing eachother for so long and once having a thing for each other. Both are working on distracting eachother for the wedding they are supposed to be attending and the more they talk the more things are getting complicated when feeling get involved.

If your a seasonal reader and looking for a book that takes place during the winter holiday season then your definitely in the right place. While this is in the holiday season its more subtle with the festive part so if your looking for something that'll give you that holiday spirit then you might want to look else wear but I will say that this book was really book regardless. I liked the characters and getting to know them. Ava had things repressed and it was tough seeing what she had to go though to keep a cheer on at least for others while shes dealing with being jilted at her own wedding a year before. But while that was sad it was nice to see Noah helping her get though it and create a distraction and it was fun seeing that bit of romance between the two. Overall a pretty great book I really enjoyed it.

Therese Beharrie is a new to me author. The cover for Her Festive Flirtation is what captured my attention. I read the blurb and was intrigued by the story taking place in Cape Town. This prompted me to look up Therese and discover she was a South African author which further intrigued me.

Her Festive Flirtation is a second chance love story with a little Christmas thrown in and one of my favorite tropes, best friend/sibling. A year ago, Ava Keller’s world was turned upside down when she was left at the altar. For a whole year, she’s had to endure the pitying looks and behind the back whispering of family and friends. In one of the worst showings of compassion and solidarity I have ever seen, Ava’s older brother Jaden is set to get married almost a year to the day of her failed wedding. Adding insult to injury, her soon-to-be sister-in-law has chosen Ava to be one of the bridesmaids.

For the past seven years, Noah Giles has traveled the world being a photojournalist. At first, him leaving was a way to escape his past and embrace his passion of photography. But he’s now ready to return home. Being the best man in his best friend’s Christmastime wedding seems like the perfect opportunity to do so. He just isn’t prepared for the feelings returning home stirs.

I love meet cutes and Her Festive Flirtation contains a really nice meet cute/re-introduction scene. Ava and Noah were very likeable characters who I loved getting to know. They were playful and supportive of each other. This was a romance like I can't remember reading before. Noah and Ava's journey towards an HEA involved them helping each other heal from their pasts. The story was more about them healing individually, with them being a couple secondary. In fact, they were never truly a couple on paper. I liked that the secondary characters eventually stepped up and acknowledged the things they did wrong. My only complaint is that the flashback scenes came without warning.

I’m looking forward to reading more from Therese Beharrie.

This cover ment so much to me. As a lover of romance its challenging to not see women that look like me. So not only did I love the cover but also reading a romantic stor through her eyes.

Lots of holiday emotion and sweet romance in this story.

I loved the cover and the premise for the story. Ava was jilted at the altar and now has to walk down the aisle again as a bridesmaid. She is battling with her own demons from the past while helping her brother celebrate. Noah has issues from the past that he needs to resolve. I enjoyed their chemistry. A few points in the story were unclear to me but overall a sweet read.
Thank you, Netgalley!

This is a great love story.

Ava was left at the alter a year ago, and now her brother is getting married and she can't escape her memories of her own terrible last year. Along comes Noah, her brother's best friend. She hasn't seen him in 7 years, since they were caught kissing by her brother.

This is definitely all about the emotional journey. There isn't tons of action, but just a lot of really nice writing about both Noah and Ava as they struggle to recover from their fears and move forward together.

Ava and Noah were brought back together years after an awkward kiss for Ava's brother's Christmas wedding. Ava got my attention almost immediately because she was still coping with being left at the alter almost a year before. While I found Ava intriguing, I didn't feel anything for Ava and Noah as a couple. The setting was a welcomed treat; how often do you read a novel set in South Africa? I absolutely loved it, but thought that the Christmas aspect was more so in the background rather than being apart of the block. So it was the romance and the lack of Christmas that made Her Festive Flirtation forgettable for me.

Despite being jilted at her own Christmas wedding barely a year ago, Ava finds herself preparing to walk down the aisle again this holiday season. Yes, it is for her brother and he's wonderful fiancee, but Ava is still not thrilled she'll again be the center of attention. Pitied.

Even worse it appears her first crush, the man who she was caught kissing as a young woman, her brother's best friend, is also back in Capetown for the wedding, something she finds out when he rescues her cat from the wildfire threatening her house and neighborhood. Great.

Noah, photojournalist and world wanderer, has finally decided to settle back down at home and try to rekindle is relationship with his father. He cut Ava out of his life after his best friend caught them kissing and warned him to stay away, but now that he's with her again, he can't help but wonder what if.

As the holiday magic of Capetown surrounds these two childhood sweethearts, maybe a Christmas miracle can bring them back together, this time for good.

I had been seeing a few of Therese Beharrie's books around and my co-blogger, Lisa, also enjoyed a book by her. I was also weirdly in the mood for a holiday romance in August so I couldn't resist downloading Her Festive Flirtation from NetGalley. This book gave me all the warm and fuzzy romantic feelings! The characters in this book were charming and adorable.

A year after being jilted, Ava is still reeling. Only it's a lot worse because her brother is getting married. I liked Ava a lot. She was a sweet girl with just the perfect balance of sass and vulnerability. She was the sort of character that I wanted to root for from the very beginning. Noah, her secret crush and her brother's best friend, was just as great. He was a genuine and soft guy who totally gave me the butterflies. He helped Ava come out of her shell in Her Festive Flirtation and helped her see just what a wonderful and loving person she was.

The romance in the book was everything! It's the sort of romance that left me smiling at every interaction between the couple. Ava and Noah also had some history between them that they needed to resolve and that only served to add to the romantic tension between them. The Christmas-time setting also made the whole book seem so magical (even though it was a hot Christmas since the book is set in South Africa) and gave me very happy feelings.

Her Festive Flirtation is definitely a book I recommend for the holidays or just if you're looking for a lovely romantic read to make you happy!