When Sparks Fly
By: Helena Hunt
Published Year: 2021
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Pages: 320
I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this story.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.
First Impressions
The cover was bright and cute and looked like a great summer romance read. I loved the idea of the friendship to lovers trope and was intrigued as to how it was going to play out.
What I thought
I started this book on a plane ride, completely forgetting what the synopsis was and just remembering that it was a romance. I enjoyed the book in the beginning but about halfway through got very annoyed with the characters and it lost a lot for me.
Avery and Declan are best friends who live together. They’re supposed to drive together to their alumni association but Declan screws up and backs out at the last minute, leaving Avery to drive herself. On the way, she gets into a very bad car accident, leaving her unable to take care of herself. As Declan turns from best friend to caregiver, they start to cross the line into something more.
Since I had forgotten what this book was about, I was taken aback but the car crash at the beginning. Avery gets herself injured pretty badly. Declan immediately feels guilty and volunteers to take care of her. Their attraction sparks pretty quickly and I wasn’t a huge fan of what finally made them cross the line. It felt more awkward and embarrassing to me than romantic.
I also ended up getting very annoyed with Avery’s sister London. Avery and her two sisters run a B&B/Event business that is struggling a little bit. Apparently, Avery had a deal in progress with the Alumni Association but then when she got injured they backed out. As a result, London tries to get another company to sponsor their business but then Avery, while she’s injured, messes that one up too. London, obviously, gets very upset but then she basically yells at Avery and accuses her of doing nothing and that everyone is pandering to her. Like what? The girl has a broken arm, a broken leg, and rib fractures and it hasn’t even been 6 weeks! And also Avery has been wanting to come back to work since day 1 but everyone is telling her to take it slowly. Irritated the heck out of me.
Add that to the constant whining of Declan about how he’s never been a relationship before and he’s going to mess everything up and by the middle of the book I was just over it. The big conflict came about in a slightly unexpected way. Like, I knew their relationship was going to implode but seeing what was the igniting factor was interesting.
Not one of my favorite romance novels. I liked Avery and Declan together when they were friends but would’ve preferred more of a slow burn build to them finally connecting. I also did like the way they resolved their conflict in the end, but it took a little while and again, came off a bit whiney. I think maybe the writing just didn’t work for me? I’m not quite sure, but either way there are other contemporary romances that I love much much more.