Review - - A Little Holiday Fling

A Little Holiday Fling

by Farah Heron

Publisher: Forever

Release Date: October 21, 2025

Reviewed by PJ

There are two things that Ruby Dhanji loves with her whole entire heart: Christmas and anything to do with the UK. For Ruby the holiday season means joy, generosity, and warm memories with her late mother. And now she’s on the verge of realizing the dream she and her mom always had: moving to England and opening a cozy inn. The only problem, Ruby needs some hotel experience first. 
 
Rashid just doesn’t get all the holiday hype. But when he meets a woman dragging home a Christmas tree alone from the Winter Market, he has to offer to help—even if he soon finds Ruby adores all the things he dislikes. When Ruby discovers that Rashid’s family owns a luxury boutique hotel chain in Britain, she offers him a proposition: she’ll help him give his young nieces an amazing Christmas if he’ll facilitate an introduction to his family. 
 
As Ruby and Rashid get closer, she realizes that the great big grump loves his large, eccentric family fiercely. And when their friendship turns to something more, she’s afraid she’s falling for someone weeks before she moves across the Atlantic and she’ll soon have to decide which dream she wants to chase. 

PJ's Thoughts:

Need a little nudge to kick start your Christmas spirit? This grumpy-sunshine romance is sure to put you in a festive frame of mind...and maybe booking tickets to Toronto to indulge in a Ruby holiday tour. 

I adored Ruby from the start, with her upbeat, sunshiny spirit and love of the holidays. Rashid, on the other hand, was a bit of an acquired taste. For the first quarter or so of the book, I found myself hoping he wasn't really the hero (such a jerk) but I stuck with it and wow, did he surprise me. By the end of the book, I was firmly in his corner, cheering him on. 

These two took me on a lovely, heart-tugging journey from a rocky start to a blossoming friendship to much, much more. There was substantial growth on both their parts, evolving organically throughout a series of friendship dates with Rashid's twin nieces as Ruby guided them through some of her favorite Toronto holiday experiences. It was so much fun to watch the girls blossom under Ruby's enthusiasm and even more fun to watch Rashid begin to open both his mind and heart to the joy of Ruby and her wellspring of positive energy. 

There was plenty of humor sprinkled liberally throughout this book but Heron tempered it beautifully with heart-tugging emotion, especially as it related to Ruby's evolution. My heart hurt for all she had been through and was still going through as she struggled to find her "place." I wanted to do unspeakably unkind things to Ruby's father (who so deserved them) but, conversely, wanted to smother Ruby's friends and Rashid's family with all the hugs. I also wanted to party with them because...so. much. fun. 

If you're looking for an enjoyable grumpy-sunshine romance with cultural representation, holiday joy, humor, ride-or-die friends, complicated family dynamics, emotional depth, drool-worthy food (it's the holidays, right?), and a satisfying HEA, add A Little Holiday Fling to your holiday reading list.