This is why I love Melissa Brayden! She creates interesting characters and places them in situations that keep me riveted page after page. I loved this romance between the number one and number two female pro surfers and I think you will too.

While it's above a lot of f/f books I've seen till now, I got a bit tired of the....formula? It just felt the same as I've read the book before and before. I enjoyed first and second one more and then it just got repetitive.

A fantastic addition to a fantastic series. Both Elle and Gia were very likeable and relatable characters, their chemistry sizzled and jumped off the pages. The romantic storyline was very well paced with a healthy dose of competition between the two leads. I was really invested in their story and rooting for both of them to succeed. An excellent read.

There’s something about surf related books that I find very enticing. The sport itself, being one with the water and the board... This book was a great read! Gia and Ellen had a lot of chemistry and I loved their interactions! It was everything I was hoping this book would be and more! I can’t wait to read other books of this author.

Once again an absolutely stunning romance from Melissa Brayden! The shifting perspectives flowed together effortlessly, each character had a very distinctive voice and I was totally invested in both of them - individually and as a couple - by the end of the second chapter.  The only reason this isn't a five star is due to the way sex is treated: at first I was convinced that would be asexual; all the signs pointed towards it but then it took a swift turn and changed direction. The connection between them was 100% believable and I loved every page but the connotation of someone who doesn't like sex being 'broken' slightly spoiled the book for me. Overall the plot was incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Sparks Like Ours was a fresh and fun book to read, very quick and simple too, which made it so easy to be one of those books you finish in one day. I loved the surf theme of the book and I fell in love with Gia and Elle. I only found out it was part of a series when I finished the book, but it can easily be read as a standalone.
I love the "girls supporting other girls" that goes in this book, I love how they're family to each other and how close the friendships were.
I also liked how the author dealt with the discover and compreention of the characters sexuality, and how the romance took its own time, becoming that slow burn we cheer so hard to end well.
It's the kind of read that warms the heart, makes you laugh and cry and fall in love with it's characters and the story itself. Highly recomend!

Another notch on the series down. I do love how connected all the characters are throughout and how the develop alongside the main story.

This is the first book that I have read by Melissa Brayden, and my first thought was that it contained a disproportionate amount of gay people. But she writes really well and I enjoyed the read. 💕

The story follows two world-class surfers, Gia Malone and her main rival Elle Britton. It's about their attraction to each other, after their agents throw them together for an advertising campaign, and how their relationship affects both of their careers.

It's a fun and lovely romance story, and is worth a read.

I'm addicted and out of control with this series. 3rd book I've read in a span of 5 days. I'm glad that the fourth book isnt out yet or I'd have lost more sleep reading that too :)

I love this feeling of getting hooked onto a series. That happiness you get after you finish a good book is worth everything. 

So this book is about Gia Malone, who is a surfer, placed 6th in the world. Her only aim is to get that coveted 1st place. Enter Elle Britton, the charming people pleaser who is currently placed first in the rankings. So Gia has a bit of a jealousy streak and hates her and misses no opportunity to call her a fake person. (I can relate to this juvenile display lol) 

So as fate would have it they are chosen to endorse a chips brand and so they are forced to call a temporary truce, which leads to sparks and much more. 

I love the entire troupe of a straight girl falling for another girl. Elle isn't straight but she hasn't given much thought to herself as she is way to focussed on her career. So when suddenly she's put in close proximity to Gia all hell breaks lose.

I love how Isabel is an enabler. She keeps making Gia believe that there are sparks between Elle and her, and that inturn messes with Gia too. It was a relief that they didn't deny their feelings.

Brayden's books are strangely tragic. Like in Waiting in the wings or in First position, there is something bad that happens to one of the protagonists. 
The Same thing happens here too, as both Gia and Elle's surfing suffers. It made the entire book believe able. I loved how both of them came to terms with their life, and weren't in denial. Everything was finally resolved in a satisfactory way and thank God for that.

So all in all I loved this book a lot. This author has me hooked. I can't wait for Hadley's story now and jeez it's gonna be a long wait

I really enjoyed this book and mentioned it when recording an upcoming episode of  Wicked Wallflowers podcast!

I have really enjoyed all of Brayden's books. I was more excited when I first began reading her books and would preorder, and start them the day they were available. I am not that reader anymore, but I still enjoy them a great deal. I have liked each book in this series more than the last. I still do not feel like this group compares to the Soho group, but I liked this book the best. I enjoyed catching glimpses of some of our favorites from her other books, and look forward to more that in the next one. This book was an easy uncomplicated romance, with some pretty hot scenes, some humors moments and of course great dialogue. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the final book in the series.

Gia Malone and Elle Britton are both elite surfers who have competed against each other for years. Brayden does a good job immersing us into the world of surfing. I actually found myself wanting more of it.. As she has done in the past, the author builds up the developing attraction between the two leads wonderfully. Just as their relationship is taking off, however, Gia and Elle find their standings start to fall. They start to weigh their feelings for each other against their ambitions. A few of the secondary plot lines didn't seem necessary, such as when a sponsor reveals sabotaging Gia's vehicle to get the women closer to each other. Also, you only briefly meet their coaches, which could have been explored further. Being more self-contained could have benefited the book in many ways.

I loved the chemistry between the two and felt there could have been a better way to end the story. Somehow, it wasn't as good as Brayden's previous ones.. It seemed like Gia and Elle had to sacrifice wanting to be at the top of their profession in order to be together. Even though they weren't surfing with the best results, correlation is not causation. Challenging each other to be better is something I feel could have been maintained at the end of the story. Maybe have them be apart but ultimately realize that they love each other too much to let the other go. 

"Sparks Like Ours" reminds me of Brayden's previous work "First Position." In the latter, Brayden did a great job having Ana and Natalie challenge and make each other better dancers. The cherry on top is that the world of ballet is set up beautifully. I wish the same happened for Sparks Like Ours. Also, Gia reminds me of Hunter from "Just Three Words." Brayden is a very good writer. I hope she writes more mature relationships like she did with Emory and Sarah in "Heartblock." Still, "Sparks Like Ours" is a solid story and a worthwhile read.

Unfortunately for a writer of Brayden's character, I would expect more.

This book completely lacked depth, perhaps highlighted by the great opportunity presented by the surfing background.

The characters were sweet but not overly believable in any of their convictions.

This is the third book in the Seven Shores romance series.  Although this book is part of a series, one could read it as a standalone book. The series deals with the lives of four good friends. In Sparks Like Ours we learn more about Gia, a professional surfer.

Gia is currently ranked number two in the world and has a highly competitive relationship with the number one ranked woman, Elle Britton.  Although Gia and Elle have met in competition for several years, they really don't know each other. It is when they are pushed into working together in a marketing campaign, that they discover their mutual attraction. There is only one drawback - Ellie is straight, or at least she thinks she is.

This is a book with an excellent plot and all the characters are well-developed. Readers will enjoy the interactions among the women, as well as the surfing action that takes place throughout the book. Although I am not a surfer, I thoroughly appreciated learning about surfing and the physical demands placed upon an individual who is competing at a high level.

I highly recommend this book. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

I was given this ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

It's Gia's turn in the Seven Shores Romance series.

She's #3 in the surfing world and when she wins a tournament suddenly she's number two, and she's only looking up at the number one, Elle.

They've always been very different people when it came to out of the water stuff, but, when a chip maker comes up with an ad campaign for both of them to do together, and then Gia's Jeep breaks down and Elle gives her a ride. The romance suddenly has just a few sparks. Will they be able to get a full blown fire going from them though? That's the question.

From there they get closer and closer. It's in fits and starts because 1) they're competitors, and, 2) Elle is straight seeming at the beginning of the book. The first one of those reasons was what interested me the most because I'm not sure that I've read a lesfic where the two women falling in love were quite so specifically competing for the same thing. And so I really wondered how Brayden would resolve that part of the book (I was pretty sure I knew how the romance would end).

The end wasn't my favorite part of the book unfortunately, but, it wasn't bad, just only good. And I assume that there's another book in the series since Hadley has to get her girl. 

It wasn't my favorite book of the series thus far, but, I really liked the surfing descriptions and the characters were pretty awesome as usual.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.  This is the first book that I have read by Melissa Brayden.  This is not the usual type of books that I read.  It is the first one of this type that I have read.  Gia is a world class surfer who is looking to become the top surfer.  Love steps in and side tracks her.  This was an interesting read.  I would recommend this book to anyone who wants something different to read.

I really like this new series of book from Mellissa Brayden. Per usual with her books, it involves friendship, falling in love, breaking up and being back together for life.

I'll add a more detailed review when I will be done with the series.

I love Melissa Brayden. Let's just get that out of the way. Her writing style is funny, the dialogue is snappy, and her characters are lovable, realistic and just wonderful. This is the case for every book I've read from her, and this one is among them.

I wasn't aware that this was book number 3 in a series, and I was unsure if I should read the two previous ones before this. I didn't, and that worked too.

This book is sweet, funny, angsty and all over romantic. To be recommended!

I’ve never read a book by Brayden before, but they have been recommended to me non-stop for some sweet f/f romance. Therefore, I was excited to finally pick this up and experience her novels for myself. My main issue is that I haven’t read the first two books in this companion series and it wasn’t difficult to deduce which side characters they would be about. However, it wasn’t really a spoiler to find out that they got a happy ending so it didn’t affect my reading experience at all and I’m excited to actually pick those first two books up because those characters seem interesting.

The plot was very slow moving at the beginning of the book, which made it difficult to get motivated to read. There was a lot of explaining for surfing - something which I’m not interested in and don’t know a lot about - so it was difficult to trek through that at the beginning of the book. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the writing and it was witty yet poetic, but I was just bored. I found myself skimming scenes or being unable to read for longer than five minutes at a time. There needed to be more action in the novel, especially considering the fact that there isn’t any realisation of feelings until about 38%. Not that I hate slow-burn romance, but this was a bit too slow for a romance book that didn’t have a lot happening in the first place.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t really interested in the two main characters. It was difficult for me to connect to Elle and Gia because they both had completely different mindsets to myself, where they focused all of their attention on surfing/work. I was more interested in the side characters because they were all fleshed out and intriguing. I loved all the dialogue the friends had with Elle and Gia respectively and they all seemed to be leading interesting lives. I wasn’t exactly interested in two girls who spend all their time either surfing or doing press. My favourite aspect of Elle’s character was the fact that she was still coming to terms with her sexuality later in life. This is great representation to have as not all people are as confident in their sexuality as someone like Gia is. Also, I feel like there could have been more discussion about the rivalry and how it was set up by the media. There were so many chances for Gia and Elle to state how unhealthy it is that they are pitted against each other and made out to hate each other instead of being good sports. I think it would have been important to have two girls competing without the intense girl-hate. Additionally, I didn’t like that it was inferred that the girls couldn’t hold any romantic pursuits on top of their job. It would have been significant if they could achieve a healthy work-life balance that didn’t emphasise that women can either work or be in a relationship.

 At the beginning: I wasn’t originally convinced on the romance based on the fact that there wasn’t any chemistry between Gia and Elle. Whenever Gia’s friends would make fun of her for having feelings for Elle I didn’t understand why because I couldn’t see any deep connections between them. Sure, they had a rivalry but that was the extent of their “hatred”. They barely had any banter that contributed to the “rivals to lovers” trope, instead they just superficially hate each other and then automatically start liking each other after an article suggests that they are together. Though, I love supportive girl friendships like this and thought it was hilarious that they were teasing. Yes, they were rivals, but if you pare that down they really didn’t have the deep connection that I was expecting. I also felt that Gia’s dislike for Elle just because she liked to please other people was unneeded. Gia’s inner monologue when she was around Elle at the beginning was borderline girl on girl hate and I wasn’t expecting them to be the main couple. When they start to get closer it’s less of a “I have a crush on you but secretly think you’re cute” and more of a “Gia thinks Elle would be cute if she was anyone but Elle and Elle is discovering for the first time that she’s attracted to women”. There were good discussions with Elle’s realisation that she’s attracted to Gia, including the scene where the man she’s dating, Christopher, decides to come out as gay and she subsequently confesses that she might have a crush on her competitor. Furthermore, the lead up to their first kiss is so anticlimactic. It just… happens randomly and then it’s over. Even though the descriptions while they were kissing said that it was “earth-shattering”, I still couldn’t see the chemistry. Their romance just fell flat to me.

Overall, this was promising but everything just fell flat for me. The plot was uneventful and slow which gave me no motivation to continue reading. The two leads don’t have a convincing chemistry and it was difficult for me to believe that they actually had feelings for each other because it felt so forced. However, I did like some of the social commentaries that this had, specifically about a woman coming to terms with her sexuality later in life instead of as a teenager. I also loved the dynamic between Elle and Gia and their friends because they were humorous and the most interesting part of the novel. I’d recommend this to anyone who’s read the first two books in the series or enjoys cute, sports romances (especially those between two girls) but it’s a shame that I couldn’t love it.

ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I’m a Brayden fan, but for some reason this series isn’t sitting as well with me as the Soho series did. I had the same issues with this one as I did with book two, in that the four friends are way too ‘cutesy’ in their banter with each other, and they all sound exactly the same. It made scenes with the four of them tiresome rather than sweet. 

As for the pairing, I liked both Gia and Elle, and enjoyed their romance. It unfolded slowly and seemed realistic (both ups and downs) and the supporting characters on Elle’s side were both good. 

There was just something about the book though that didn’t gel, maybe it was the friends stuff, and all the cute little get-togethers (like the Ms Pac-Man and ice-cream stuff), or it could have been the surfing talk (I’m not a fan and found it a little boring) but whatever it was I just didn’t love this. I was also annoyed that Mallory from the Soho books showed up, I get that she’s in advertising and they were doing an ad campaign but it’s a stretch to make me believe that a boutique ad company from New York would be doing that campaign. Hunter also gets a mention in a very weak and unnecessary tie-in to Gia that the book also could have done without. 

I feel like if this had been a stand-alone rather than part of this series I would have liked it more. It’s a nice read, but not my favourite Brayden. I am looking forward to Hadley’s book though, she’s been my favourite character throughout. 

3.5 stars but I’ve rounded down because I liked books 1 and 2 better.