when-sparks-fly-helena-hunting

Avery Spark is living her best life. Between her friends, her sisters, and Spark House, the event hotel her family owns, she doesn’t have much time for anything else, especially relationships. She’d rather hang out with her best friend and roommate, Declan McCormick, than deal with the dating scene. But everything changes when she is in a car accident and needs someone to care for her as she heals.

Declan avoids relationships, giving him a playboy reputation that he lives up to when he puts a one-night stand ahead of a promise he made to Avery. While he may not have been the one driving the car, he feels responsible for Avery’s injuries and is determined to make it up to her by stepping into the role of caretaker.

Little did they know that the more time they spend in compromising positions, the attraction they’ve been refusing to acknowledge becomes impossible to ignore. When they finally give in to the spark between them, neither is prepared for the consequences. Their love is fragile and all it will take is a blow from the past to shatter it all.


Release Date: Sep 21, 2021
Series: Spark House
Book: 1
Heat Level: Sensual
Publisher: Macmillan
Imprint: St. Martin’s Press 
Price: $7.99


When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting is a good friends-to-lovers story about two roommates and school friends, Avery and Declan.

Avery runs a family business with her two younger sisters in Colorado Springs, they lost their parents to a tragic car accident and so Avery feels responsible as the oldest sibling to work hard and ensure that their business runs well. She also attempts to have a dating life on the side with her limited free time, heavily encouraged by her sisters.

She and Declan have been best friends since their college days. She dated his best friend Sam, but when that relationship ended she ended up with their friend group and has maintained a good relationship with them ever since. So good in fact that she and Declan bought and live in a condo together and regularly spend a lot of their time together. They both recognize that they are attracted to each other, but are too invested in their friendship to risk anything happening to ruin it. However, once Avery gets into an accident and needs around-the-clock help to take care of her basic needs, their chemistry is harder and harder to ignore. 

This book is good. I love a good friends-to-lovers trope, especially when there is forced proximity, but there was just something about it that just did not do it for me. It took me a little while to figure out what it was that was off, the characters are all very likable, the storyline was good, and the sexual tension was steamy – so what was the problem? I eventually figured out that I just didn’t really believe it. Two single people who are attractive and attracted to each other living together for so many years with nothing happening . . . nope. Don’t buy it. I think that was why I could never fully invest myself or believe in their relationship. The chapters also switched between their points of view, and they both sounded very similar, not a huge deal, but it was like there was no difference between their voices.

Declan was also very problematic in many ways, his actions at the beginning of the book and his behavior when they got into a miscommunication towards the end of it, was very unattractive and raised huge red flags for me. I never understand why so many of these types of romance novels have the girl ultimately being responsible to “fix” the problematic boy.

Avery is a solid female lead, but I wished better for her than to get involved with someone that still has many issues they need to work through before they can be in a healthy relationship. The secondary characters were also really fun to read about, and I would be interested in reading their stories as well.

Although I didn’t really believe in their happy ending, this is still a good novel. I recommend it for those who like steamy friends to lovers’ storylines.

~ Harshita

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