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Helena Hunting

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When Sparks Fly Kindle Edition

by Helena Hunting (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 2,682 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Spark House

Editors' pick Best Romance

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Charming, hilarious, and emotional...When Sparks Fly is Helena Hunting at her very best!

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.

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When Sparks Fly Helena Hunting RT Review

When Sparks Fly Helena Hunting Alice Clayton quote

Editorial Reviews

Review

"When Sparks Fly will warm your heart and make you cry - sometimes at the same time." - PopSugar

"In this delightfully fun standalone contemporary from prolific and ever-lively Hunting, the author plays to her literary strengths by giving readers a sensuality-forward storyline that is neatly lightened by snarky humor even as it's deftly grounded by a thoughtful exploration of the roles family and friends can play in our lives." - Booklist

"This is a solid pick for romance fans." - Publishers Weekly

"The supporting characters―Avery's two sisters and her and Declan's group of friends―make the romance richer." - Kirkus Reviews

"Readers looking for a good friends-to-lovers or forced-proximity romance will enjoy." - Library Journal

"Sparkling and emotional, When Sparks Fly combines the friends-to-lovers trope with forced proximity and offers a happily ever after to two forces of nature with undeniable chemistry―the perfect summer read!" - The Nerd Daily

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author HELENA HUNTING lives outside of Toronto with her amazing family and her two awesome cats, who think the best place to sleep is her keyboard. She writes all things romance -- contemporary, romantic comedy, sports and angsty new adult. Some of her books include Meet Cute, Pucked, and Shacking Up. Helena loves to bake cupcakes and has been known to listen to a song on repeat 1512 times while writing a book, and if she has to be away from her family, she prefers to be in warm weather with her friends.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08R2M3C73
Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Griffin (September 21, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 21, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2931 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 317 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #42,469 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #147 in Holiday Romance (Books)
- #2,587 in Contemporary Romance Fiction
- #9,131 in Contemporary Romance (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 2,682 ratings

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NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Helena Hunting lives outside of Toronto with her amazing family and her adorable, emotional cat, who thinks the best place to sleep is her keyboard. Helena writes everything from emotional contemporary romance to romantic comedies that will have you laughing until you cry.

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Keri Loves Books

A Book Boyfriend-Worthy Romance

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2021

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A book boyfriend-worthy romance!!! This friends-to-lovers love story will deliver sweet and sexy moments with a dash of angsty drama. Declan will become your favorite book boyfriend!

Avery has just been one of the guys for years. Her best friend just happens to be a hot guy who she lives with. They have always had a strictly platonic relationship. She's driven and works along side her sisters running Spark House.

Declan is a good time guy. Loves his friends, enjoys his hook ups and has a great job. Avery has been his bestie for years. They even bought a condo together since they get along so well. All is perfect until he makes a mistake.

Avery finds herself in the hospital and in need of care to mend. Declan steps up. They already live together, so this should be easy. However, being so dependent on another person is not what Avery wants. As her frustration with her limitations mounts, she seeks comfort and relief from her best friend.

A friends-to-lovers romance with lots of heart and steam. Two people who mean the world to one another cross a line they cannot come back from. Declan is buried under his own baggage so far down that he can't see the light. He's struggling with what he wants but can't get past the feeling of not deserving happiness. Avery isn't willing to go back and erase what happens, but she can't fix him. Declan will have to find his way.

I absolutely loved Declan and Avery. The relationship they fostered over the years was the perfect foundation for the most beautiful forever. It took some work to get there, but that kind of love is worth the sacrifice. The author dug deep with these characters and their struggles. I loved watching Declan's evolution from a man who was just pretending, to a man that felt everything and wanted to be the best partner he could be. A fantastic couple with real life challenges and a love worth fighting for. You are going to fall in love with Declan as he becomes Boyfriend-Worthy!

8 people found this helpful

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No Genre Left Behind

When Sparks Fly

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2022

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When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting is a light-hearted and fun-filled romance that hides some surprisingly deep moments. Avery is the sporty, athletic, always on the run kind of girl – so when a car accident takes her out of commission, it’s quite a blow. And emotionally, her sisters are also hit emotionally as their parents died in a car accident years ago.

Avery’s roommate and long-time friend, Declan, volunteers to help take care of Avery as she recovers. What no one really expects is for them to realize they’ve fallen for each other. And it’s not a good time for that to happen. Both are dealing with some pretty heavy emotional burdens that sabotage their budding relationship every step of the way. Some of Declan’s threw out some red flag alerts for me, but don’t worry, the author does a great job confronting those and not just letting them slip around without resolution.

There are a lot of hilarious scenes that definitely balance out the more serious scenes and brought the story back into the feel-good romcom territory. The relationship between Avery and her sisters made me wish I wasn’t an only child. They are everything to each other and are perfect at annoying each other and lifting each other up at the same time. Declan’s tenderness with Avery after her accident really showcases how much he cares for her (just hadn’t realized it yet), and I was so excited to see them get a happily ever after.

2 people found this helpful

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Curly Bibliophagist

Not my favorite Helena Hunting book

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2021

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Helena Hunting is an excellent author. I haved loved her other books, especially the Pucked and Inked series. Her characters are so relatable, even when they are very different from anything that you have experienced.

In this story, the heroine is Avery, one of three sisters who run the family hotel/event center, Spark House. Avery is very athletic and has a best friend, Declan. They have been besties since college. They play on the same rec soccer league and hang with two other guys to round out their group. Avery is driven and very committed to the business she runs with her sisters. Their parents were killed in a car crash when they were younger and they were raised by their grandparents. She works long hours.

Declan was raised in a disfunctional family. We don't really understand how toxic his home life was until much later in the story. His family dynamic has affected his dating life and he never dates anyone past the point where it would be a become a relationship. He is the king of hook ups. When he and Avery met in college, they became best friends and their relationship is very important to Declan. They live together in a condo.

Avery and Declan have plans to go back to their college for an alumni event. It is something that they have been planning for a long time. Declan is supposed to drive because Avery is not a fan of driving, since her parents died in a car crash, and also because her car is overdue for new tires. The night before they are supposed to leave for the event, Declan brings home some random from a bar after a night of too much drinking. This and the fact that Declan has left his car at the bar, force Avery to drive by herself in her car with the bad tires. Of course, there is a crash where Avery is critically injured and Declan blames himself for it happening. He decides to dedicate himself to helping her through her recovery.

When they spend all thisntime together and Declan has to help Avery with personal care and activities of daily living, their relationship changes and lines get blurred. Things go well until their pasts get in the way and Declan has a spectacular blow up.

There are a few things here that I want to touch on without giving spoilers. First if all, why the heck did Avery let her tires go so long, especially when she had fears of driving? Even if she was busy, she could have had someone pick up her car or dropped it off and caught a ride to work. This seemed irresponsible of her. And I get that Declan, Mr Random Hook Up, was upset when he went out the night before he and Avery were supposed to leave but it seemed so out of character for him to do something like that to his best friend who he was so close to. There were other things that happened that I thought didn't seem realistic. I found that I liked the characters more in the second half of the book. I also liked how Declan was willing to get help for his problems.

I feel bad saying this but this isn't my favorite Helena Hunting book. I have read all of her books and I have read most of them multiple times. Some of the story felt forced.
It was hard to like Declan.
Avery felt like she was a little into her own world. The name of her family's event center felt odd to me. Maybe it's a regional thing.
I enjoy a good sex scene in stories but even for me, it was too much.
Overall, it's a good book with a great story of two friends who find that they are more to each other than they thought.

15 people found this helpful

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Stacy Mor

One of the best books I’ve read so far!

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2024

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Wow. Just wow. I loved everything about this book. How real it is. How gentle their connection feel and how strong their friendship is. Will probably reread it in some
time.

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2024

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I enjoyed this so much. I am happy that Declan was able to see that therapy was his friend. Growing up with unhealthy examples of love can really do something to you as an adult. Im glad Avery realized she wasn't the perfect person either and that they needed the time apart to grow as themselves prior to being together.

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Ali's Adventures

Gorgeous story of friends to lovers with depth

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2022

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I've been trying to pace myself catching up with the back catalogue of Helena Hunting, but, with the second Spark House book due out next month, I couldn't wait any longer to catch up with the Spark sisters.

When Sparks Fly tells the story of best friends Avery Spark and Declan, who met at college and now live together. When sporty Avery is involved in a serious accident, Declan rallies to look after her. With Avery - usually so independent and fearless - having to rely so heavily on Declan, it's inevitable that long-repressed feelings start to bubble to the surface.

If you love friends-to-lovers with mutually repressed feelings and a whole heap of emotional baggage to wade through, this one's for you. Helena Hunting writes funny, adorable, and flawed characters who often have to navigate big obstacles and/or emotions. This story is no exception. What I particularly liked is that, even when one of the characters is forced to confront their issues, the answer isn't a quick fix for the sake of the HEA. As a result, when that eventually comes, it feels so much sweeter because it's been earned. I loved both Avery and Declan right from the start, and the supporting cast of their best friends and Avery's sisters added more depth as well as teasing further stories.

Naturally, When Sparks Fly bubbles over with the usual chemistry we expect from the author, plus there's a nice setup for book two, which is due out on the 10th May, following London's story.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥🔥
Emotional Rating: 😂💓💔😢🥰😍

NIkita

Well sparks did not fly for me

Reviewed in India on December 19, 2021

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Well spark did not fly for me. I was almost compelled to stop reading this book in between, but thinking “you never know” I finished it. But I was disappointed. I loved the storyline and was excited about it but it just did not deliver.

Avery and Declan have been best friends and roommates since college. However, when Avery gets in an accident, Declan is the one who insists on taking complete care of her. While spending more intimate time with each other, they realize that what they feel for each other is much more than friendship. Scared to jeopardize their friendship they give in to their physical attraction without voicing their feelings. However, they soon realize that neither friendship nor love is going to be enough unless they, or rather Declan, is ready to work on his issues.

Declan’s behavior in the beginning of the book made me wince. For someone who claims to be Avery’s best friend - who knows her fears, it was downright unforgivable. Further, the whole relationship between Avery and Declan felt forced. There was no background or build-up to their attraction nor to their romance. I felt it just popped up in between and it just did not fit in at all. I found the whole story to be quite clinical. There was just no feel.

Well, this for sure wasn’t the book for me, clubbing it under “ok if you don’t read” kind of book.

Daniela S.

Friends-to-Lovers Geschichte die unterhält

Reviewed in Germany on December 14, 2021

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Für eine gute Friends-to-Lovers Geschichte bin ich auch auch immer zu haben. Und diese hat Helena Hunting mit "When Sparks Fly" definitiv geliefert. Die Geschichte um Avery und Declan hatte eine gewisse Gemütlichkeit und einen Wohlfühlfaktor. Auch wenn der Anfang mit Averys Unfall und der darausfolgenden Genesung schmerzhaft war.
Trotzdem konnte die Spannung zwischen ihr und Declan sich ausbreiten und wenn sie quasi den ganzen Tag auf einanderhocken müssen, weil sich Declan um sie kümmert, kommt es zu Annäherungen. Und vor allem gab es hier einige der heißesten nicht Sex-Szenen überhaupt.
Wie es ja auch von der Autorin bekannt ist, kommt auch der Humor nicht zu kurz und so gab es auch immer mal wieder unterhaltsame Situationskomiken.

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Kristal Jane Vaughan

A wonderful read

Reviewed in Australia on September 22, 2021

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Engaging and heartfelt, I loved how this story unfolded and that we got to see the depth of their friendship. I laughed out loud and teared up a couple of times. It was steamy and sweet. Every Helena Hunting book is my favourite!

MJ Symmonds

Enjoyed!!

Reviewed in Canada on August 16, 2022

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3.5 Stars

I read WSF after reading a string of deeper, more emotional reads and really needed something lighter to boost my reading mood. Enter When Sparks Fly. This was the perfect book to lighten my mood and give me a little reset.

Declan and Avery are not just room mates but also best friends. After Avery is in an accident that Deck completely blames himself for he promises to help her with everything even when everything blurs some lines that could break their friendship.

I really enjoyed watching the growth of Declan and seeing him learn that love doesn't always have to hurt.

Not my top read by the author but enjoyable none the less.

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