This book was ok, but at times I kind of wondered what the point was. I get having the evil ex girlfriend trying to break them up, but it did seem like that was a strong enough plot point to base an entire book on. It was ok, but nothing groundbreaking.

This was an engaging read. The characters were well constructed and developed , The writing was really good and it flowed so well, my first book by this author and won't be my last. A perfect piece of escapism, but also touching on more serious issues, an entertaining read that really lifted me when I was feeling low. The perfect book to pick up to pick you up

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

A cute very predictable book that I just lost interest in. I found the villain’s tactics to be quite childish. I wish I could of liked this one more than I did

I adored this book from the start!.
When Jess and Sam lock eyes at a party, there is an instant spark between them. Although they soon come to realise that love at first sight does not flow as easily as the movies make it appear. When Sam's ex Victoria sets her mind on ruining their new budding romance, they have to decide whether the initial spark is in fact worth it.

This was a brilliant read from beginning to end. The characters were wonderful and detailed, and the way in which the author gave them their own unique traits really brought them to life. The storyline flowed beautifully, keeping me well and truly invested in the story as it progressed.
A perfect form of escapism, and a beautiful book to fall in love with.

Jess is falling for Sam.

Sam is falling for Jess.

But it seems life will do whatever it takes to make them fall apart.

When Jess and Sam lock eyes at a party, a spark ignites. The spark. But love at first sight isn’t like the movies, especially when Sam’s ex, Victoria, is determined to make their honeymoon period a living hell.

Is love at first sight enough?

This is an easy read - one for relaxing by the fire one lockdown afternoon and follows the fairly predictable rocky road to love... boy meets girl, they fall in love, it all goes wrong, love prevails and happy ending. Enjoyed it none the less!

My thanks to netgalley for an arc of this book in return for my honest opinion.

What a fantastic book! I love love LOVED Sam and Jess from the start. Just like their Lego pieces, this book just clicked for me. The chemistry between Sam and Jess was palpable (can I run my fingers through Sam's luscious curls?!) and I absolutely hated Victoria, just like we were supposed to. A wonderful story and equally wonderful character relationships from start to finish. Can we get a book for Shelly and the parachuter?!

Also, I have to say- I love the phrase “long in the tooth” and laughed out loud when it was used not once, but twice in the book! Well done, Jules!

Cute, light read. I absolutely loved Jess, the main character, and enjoyed the plot. It was nice to read it after a thriller, it was fresh and delightful.

The writing quality in this book was good. The pace was too slow for me. I felt like it focused too much on "the spark" and not enough on the plot. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received.

A fantastic light read, ideal for these dark winter days. Jess and Sam meet and hit it off straight away. but he's not actually currently single. We follow their relationship, complicated as it is, and discover what unfolds.
Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read it

DNF @ 50%

I am not necessarily known for my brevity. When writing reviews in particular, I often find myself getting carried away on further details, long after I had planned to stop. My reason for this is a desire to provide readers with a well-informed understanding of what to expect. Regardless of whether or not I enjoyed a particular book, the reading experience in a subjective one. My goal is to simply serve as a resource for a potential reader by providing an in-depth examination of what I found to be a book's strengths and weaknesses.

With that said, I did not finish this book. In fact, had I not forced myself to continue out of obligation, I would have put it down one chapter in. I will also try to keep this review fairly short because, well, if you don't have anything nice to say...

The crux of it comes down to this: The Spark just feels kind of juvenile. Highlights include instalove (which I feel the need to point out is not the same as a spark), "not like other girl" characteristics, glorifying thinness, virtue signaling, mild slut shaming, and cringe-worthy pop culture references.

I say this as a die-hard romantic, but I just did not connect one bit to the main couple. It does not bode well for my impression of the book when I find myself turned off by supposedly romantic lines rather than charmed. At one point, I physically recoiled.

My overall opinion of the couple is that Jess and Sam seem to be in an unhealthy relationship, spending way too much time together and getting far too attached much too early into the relationship, at the expense of other longer-standing relationships in their lives. The way this book instantly leans into "soulmate" territory also means that while technically, the two never cheat, the gray area is still plenty murky enough that I don't feel comfortable even wanting them to get together in the first place.

Yet the two of them continue to act like they're completely innocent parties in the situation, and everyone else is in the wrong for putting a damper on their love life. Jess constantly pouts over not being immediately accepted in Sam's social circle and instead maintaining loyalty to the ex-girlfriend they'd developed a relationship with over four years. Jess wants sympathy for being in her position, to the point of obsessively internet-stalking Sam's ex to find fodder for self-pity. Sitting at the halfway point, I honestly can't be sure that the book isn't trying to condone cheating.

In the end, I just don't like the romance between the main characters, and nothing can save a book for me if that happens. For others, the love story might work, and in which case, they might have better luck with enjoying the read. For me personally though, I have to stop here. There's no point in continuing when I don't care how the characters will end up.

(Side note: at one point, Jess is served a Chinese tea. She promptly describes it as tasting like piss, which is...a choice. What was that all about?)

My thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an enjoyable read this was! It was one of those romcoms which you fly through, rooting for the central characters and wholly believing in central premise of love at first sight. The whole range of characters were vividly drawn and such a great contrast. Jess emerges as a feisty character who has her own vulnerabilities and a kind heart. Her social conscience is the product in part of her own childhood and you can altogether believe in her. As the story develops, so does Jess and she learns that not everything in her past was as she has always believed. She isn't afraid to own up to that and live for the moment.

Despite the situation which Sam and Jess find themselves in, I found that there was lots of fun and wit in the story. Victoria, Sam's ex-girlfriend, was a nightmare and I enjoyed following the twists and turns as she tried her best to win him back. Despite this, the overall feeling is one of forgiveness and moving on. There are some gentle moments to offset the anguish as family and friendships come under the microscope.

In short: A heart-warming romcom full of wit and character.
Thanks to the author for a copy of the book

So I have read all of Julie Caplin’s books (Jules Wake’s other pen name) and loved them but this was my first Jules Wake book.
I am very pleased to say however that I loved this book just as much. Sam and Jess meet at her Aunt’s barbeque and as the title suggests there is a spark between them however Sam is currently in a long term relationship. Sam felt the attraction though and therefore ends his relationship with Victoria and after a little while gets in touch with Jess and they embark on a relationship.
Victoria however is not taking this rejection lying down and makes Jess life hell with a nasty vendetta. This vendetta however could have serious repercussions for the families who live in the Women’s refuge that Jess works at.
Jess also has to decide whether the relationship is worth all the issues they are facing especially in light of the issues from Jess’ childhood.
I loved all the characters which Jules brought to life so well that I felt I knew them all personally because her descriptive writing is so vivid.
You could feel the venom coming from Victoria but you also felt a little sorry for her as she had been in the relationship with Sam for 4 years so to just be dumped out of the blue must have been devastating for her and Jules brings this into her writing so although I hated Victoria’s behaviour I really felt for her as the ex-girlfriend trying to make sense of the failure of the relationship.
A fantastic read which I finished in a couple of days so just need to wait for my Sam to come along now!

This was such a lovely read! It was so uplifting. Jess meets Sam at her aunt and uncles bbq and instantly find a spark. Until Sam admits he has a girlfriend. Determined not to be the other woman, she backs off. But a month or so later, Jess gets a call. Sams broken up with his girlfriend and asks Jess on a date. From here their relationship blossoms and it truly was love at first sight. I like Sam, I thought he was such a good guy, waiting a month after breaking up with his ex before even calling Jess. This didn’t stop his ex, Victoria, and their friendship circle being furious with Sam. Victoria is now hellbent on making life difficult for Jess with a serious of juvenile pranks, like puncturing her tyres. However, these schemes go so far it leaves both Sam and Jess’s jobs hanging in the balance. Can their love make it through? Is a spark enough?

I won’t lie this book had so many cliches and cringey moments, but I really enjoyed it. I found myself racing through it, desperate to know if Jess and Sam would work it out. Jess is such a likeable character, she is such a good, kind person and is constantly putting others before herself. We really get a new perspective of ‘the other woman’ from this story and we see first hand that this aren’t always as cut and dry as we may think. Hearing what Jess had been through in her childhood, with her parent messy separation and her father leaving her, was so sad and it also made Jess conflicted over whether to continue her relationship with Sam, as she know what being left for another woman did to her own mother. But like I said, things aren’t as cut and dry as we may believe.

All in all, I really like this book. It’s an easy, light, charming read!

I tried but this book didn't pull me in. DNF. I felt it was to descriptive and couldn't hold my attention.


***********************************I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion.************************

If you believe in love at first sight then you definitely need to read this book. I just loved how even though Jess had a hard childhood and didn’t really believe in love and giving her heart to another. Everything she thought she wanted changed as soon as her eyes met Sams.everything Unfortunately it doesn’t run smoothly due to an extremely jealous ex, who gets everything she wants or so she thinks. A definite read

A delightful story, I read it in a day. It is about two people, Jess and Sam, who meet by lucky chance, and instantly know that the other is ‘the One’. The trouble is - Sam has a girlfriend of four years standing. Sam is an honourable man, he won’t cheat. He is a teacher at a junior school for special needs children, a class of nine aged between nine and eleven, most of whom are autistic. Jess is the manager of a woman’s refuge, a job she doesn’t tell too many people about because it is important to keep it a safe and secure haven for the women, who often arrive with nothing except their children, all traumatised by the violence in their homes.

Jess and Sam become Facebook friends, although they don’t converse on-line. They meet by chance one day whilst both are out running, but they chat for a while then Sam runs on, and Jess hears nothing from him for ages. When he does contact her again he has broken up with his girlfriend and waited a further month before making contact. Theirs is a most beautiful relationship, but there is a fly in the ointment - Victoria is a spoiled rich girl, and she is not prepared to let him go. The trouble is both Sam and Jess are too nice, too polite, and Victoria uses every mean and sly trick in her armoury to try and make Sam go back to her.

Eventually Victoria goes too far, causing serious issues for Jess’s job, and she is sent off for a week while the issues are investigated. She finishes with Sam even though it breaks her heart to do so. Jess had a troubled childhood, her father left when she was very young and her mother would never talk about him at all. It very much influenced her life and character, and the job she decided to do. She decides to use her week by going to visit her father to see if he will explain what happened. This is so well-written, their meeting heals her soul, and gives her the strength and determination to sort out the situation once and for all. Her father also knows a lot of people, he finds things out for her that are the weapons she needs. Even if she cannot win Sam back she can ensure that his ambitions are not taken away from him. The final climax of the story is very powerful., very satisfying to read.

All in all, a feel good story. I will be looking out for this author in the future..

Thank you Net Galley for a copy of The Spark. This was a beautiful, fun, romantic ride!! I absolutely love the way this author writes and I am planning on following her. Thank you!

A lovely fun read, one to be enjoyed curled up on a sofa or lying on a sun lounger! The former is more achievable at present. I enjoyed this immensely and will read more from this author.

I would firstly like to say a very big thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for very kindly sending me a copy of this book, for my Kindle, in return for an honest review.
This was one of the first books that I had read from this author and I’m really glad that I did because I loved it and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more books from her.
The main characters were all lovely and they, along with the situations were all believable and realistic.
It was a wonderful, refreshing read and a great introduction to this author...

I loved the main characters, Jess and Sam and their blossoming relationship was beautiful to read.

The pieces of lego they each had and the reason why was so sweet and adorable.


Victoria was the perfect villain as the troublesome ex. 


A heartfelt, uplifting and escapist rom-com

A wonderful story about love, healing and self-discovery.

ThankYou HarperCollins UK and One More Chapter for the approval in return for an honest review and Netgalley.