Thank you to Helena Hunting, NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin, and their teams for the advance reader copy of When Sparks Fly. This story releases on September 21st!
I absolutely adore Helena’s sweet rom-com stories. Everything she has published with St. Martin’s Press has been adorable!
I am a member of Helena Hunting’s review team, but I stand by my reviews remaining honest and true.
“Running the Spark House, a hotel/event space that has been in her family for years, has been Avery Spark’s lifelong dream. After years of working hard and making personal sacrifices, Avery and her two younger sisters have turned the Spark House into the premier destination in Colorado Springs. Avery is living her best life—she works with her sisters and loves every minute of it, she has a great group of friends, and she lives in a fantastic condo with her best friend Declan. She might not have any love in her life, but she’s happy.
But everything comes to a screeching halt when Avery is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing Avery, Declan insists that he will be the one to take care of her while she recovers. However, as Declan becomes Avery’s caretaker, lines begin to blur.
Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and always had an attraction to one another, but when she ended up dating his best friend, Sam, they successfully stamped down any feelings they may have ever had for one another. Now, as Declan and Avery spend more time together, they each begin to wonder what would’ve happened if she’d dated him instead of Sam. What starts as a friend helping out another friend turns into foreplay and, before they realize it, they recognize how deeply they care for one another. But when things get serious their past threatens to destroy everything they have built.”
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: Avery and Declan are the main characters of this story. Avery owns and operates the Spark House with her two sisters. Avery is trying to navigate the dating world. She is much more of a tomboy. She is athletic and has always been the type of girl with guy friends. I loved her independent and do it herself attitude. It made for a fun dynamic when she was hurt and Declan had to care for her. Declan is Avery’s best friend. They met in university and were instant friends. He is loyal, caring and kind. I could not help but want to get to know him better as the story progressed.
- Setting: The story is set in Colorado Springs. I was a bit down that we did not get to spend much time at the Spark House. But getting to know her sisters better sure made up for it. Both London and Harley are fiercely protective and hardworking. They are all very close after losing their parents young. So what I am really hoping to see from this series are future books about the other sisters navigating love.
- Pacing: The pacing was quite good. The characters did not fall in love too slow or too fast. It felt a bit longer than the average romance story and I liked that about it. The referenced accident in the blurb does not happen in the first chapter or so. It is a bit later on and I liked the pace of all the plot points. Helena really allowed for the readers to get to know the characters first before the falling in love happened.
- Romance: So often in romance novels, the characters either do not know each other or they know each other but were never that close. It was so lovely to have the epitome of a friends-to-lovers romance. This romance really starts with two characters giving in to their whims. I do not want to spoil how they start hooking up to you but please please trust me. Any romance reader is gonna love how this all goes down!
When Sparks Fly receives five out of five stars.
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Thank you again to Helena and her team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
