Helena Hunting has taken an intriguing premise, and turned it into an engaging, touching story of romantic love built on a strong foundation of friendship and shared history. Avery and Declan became fast friends in college, and developed a tight knit circle of friends. Both Avery and Declan endured trauma and tragedy early in their lives. Declan is a loyal friend, but emotionally closed off to the possibility of a meaningful commitment to a woman, and Avery, who loves her sisters, her friends, and her career, just isn't all that motivated to find "the one."

Here's what makes this book a real standout for me. First, the entire cast of characters are multi-faceted, flawed, loveable, and funny too. There is a genuine, palpable connection between Avery and her sisters, and Declan and everyone. He is considerate and thoughtful (most of the time! There were two times in the story that I wanted to throttle him in the head - see next paragraph), and takes care of those around him. It's rare that characters are so well-developed that I feel like Spark House and Avery and Declan's condo are real places where we could go to hang out with them.

Declan makes two major missteps, and man, I was ANGRY with him. As the story progresses, we gain a better understanding of why he emotionally isolates, and then all I felt was compassion for him, but prepare yourselves. You'll likely want to yell and cuss at him!

I thoroughly enjoyed the realistic description of the tender care and thoughtfulness that Declan provides while helping Avery rehab, and how even when frustration bubbles over, one can see that they truly love one another. The journey of observing them find their way to happily ever after is rich, sometimes very sexy, and totally enjoyable.

This was your typical romance book. I thought it was a bit draggy in the middle and I could have done without the self satisfying comments. Over all it was an enjoyable book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

It was good and then it went ... 🤔. The story is a slow burn, bestfriends to lover trope, and has a dual POV. The chemistry between the two lead characters was okay. However, the story was a little bit predictive, so I ended up skimming the pages. I'm a big fan of Helena Hunting, but to be honest I didn't enjoy reading this book. It felt like it was a chore to read it. I'm giving it 2 stars for being well written.

I was really excited to read “When Sparks Fly”by Helena Hunting- a friends to lovers story one friend nurses other friend to health all while falling in love with them. Call me a weirdo doctor who loves a “shit, you almost just died” trope. Sadly, this book didn’t live up to my expectations.

Avery and Declan are best friends from college. They are now 29, which is important only bc they act like they just graduated college 5 minutes ago, which is confusing bc they are almost 30. It’s clear they are in love with each other, but Declan doesn’t like relationships and is thus an adult boy-slut. Declan is annoying bc he is an adult man who refuses to commit bc he doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of his parents who went thru a bad divorce YEARS ago. Weak sauce.

Declan gets jealous bc Avery has a date. He gets drunk, has a sexy sleepover, and ditches out on a planned trip he was supposed to take with Avery. Avery heads out alone and has a horrible car accident and breaks her whole body. Wracked w guilt, Declan nurses Avery back to health and provides her w sexual healing pleasures and it seems as though he’s no longer a selfish prick. Until he is a selfish prick again. Avery is just there with her broken body, feeling sad for herself, fucking shit up, triggering everyone, and then acting innocent and apologizing. I didn’t really like either of them. I found them both co-dependent and immature- I hope they are happy together.

Smut- 2 stars
Romance- 2.5 stars (add a star if you find co-dependency sexy)
Story- 3 stars (tho this feels generous)
“I can’t commit bc my parents suck” trope- -5 stars

When Sparks Fly is my first Helena Hunting book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a friends to lovers story, and Avery and Declan have quite a fantastic friendship, it makes you feel jealous! Declan is gentle, funny, loyal and a hot mess in the relationship department. Avery is strong, competitive, determined, loyal and has her own relationship issues, and their change in status from friends to lovers is a very satisfying read.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to enjoy this story for my honest opinion.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've read a few books by this author and enjoyed them so I was happy to be able to read this book, however, I struggled to get through the storyline as the main characters felt forgettable. The synopsis of this book was pretty spot on and the plot just went on and on and on. This was a miss for me.

This is your typical friends to lovers romance. It had a very dramatic, traumatic beginning and was not what I expected. I expected more of a build up but a lot of their history is explained throughout the story. I did enjoy the heroine's relationship with her sister and hope they get a story. Declan came out swinging with not great stories but eventually he wins you over and wow the ending! SWOON. I do like that we got so much time with the characters but most of it was spent in a bubble. It felt like their own kind of quarantine. I think the romance was a hard sell at first and then it abruptly changed. The way the relationship spanned was easy until it wasn't. Avery and Declan were a couple that you didn't understand until you did. It was an enjoyable read.

This would have been better as a movie… I’m fairly new to this genre in novel form, whereas I love Rom-Com’s on the big screen and with that in mind I couldn’t stop thinking about how this would have been so much better as a movie.

Hunting kept glazing over the good parts and dragging out some of the parts that would have been better in a montage. That being said I still enjoyed this book. It was cute, the friends to lovers is not my favourite trope but it was fun. I did love the main character's sisters and would love to see a novel for each of them on their romantic journey. I also enjoyed having both main characters’ POV but I wish here were more from Declan.

I would like to point out that I did like how Hunting really drew out the ending explaining exactly how something like that would come about, and not just snap your fingers and everything is resolved and all character flaws are fixed.

Rom-Com Check List:
Super hot leading roles: Yup
Outlandish & adorable meet-cute: Nope
Forbidden love: Not really
Quick-witted fun banter: A little, but what was there was fun
Hilarity: Not so much – more so on the drama than the comedy
Cheesy & endearing love confessions: Nope
Fun montage-able moments: Yup
Sexy love scenes: Yup
Funny quirky sidekicks: Yup
Heartbreak & betrayal: Yup
Happily Ever After: Sorry No Spoilers but the ending really was explained

Special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for sharing this digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This one didn't hit the spot for me. I didn't connect with either of the main characters. A friends to lovers with lots of hurdles along the way to HEA.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Avery is loving life - she’s got a great job working with her sisters to run an event hotel, a great group of friends, and a condo with her best friend, and notorious playboy, Declan. But when she gets into a car accident, and requires assistance for everyday tasks, Declan steps up to take care of her. The lines begin to blur as she heals, and their attraction for each other becomes hard to ignore.

This was a friends-to-lovers romance, and I thought it was well done! The relationship that Avery and Declan have is filled with shared history from their time in college when they met into the present, and I thought there was a good effort to show how strong their friendship was.

There were moments in this book that I couldn’t relate to - some conflicts were a bit out of the realm of possibility for me, but I also didn’t have their experiences driving my thinking.

The ending prior to the epilogue was beautiful, and I thought that the steps they took were really important in developing a stronger relationship. The epilogue was unnecessary to complete their story, in my opinion, but I think some readers will appreciate what it adds.

Overall, I think this was a great story about taking care of the people we love, and exploring how much they mean to us. The writing flowed well and it was a nice quick read. I’d recommend if anything that I said sparked your interest (pun very much intended).

This book was so strange to me because it's extremely well-written, and yet... I disliked it intensely. The basic premise is fine, but first, the idea of posting pictures of a guy doing shirtless pushups on a business website is really appalling. Why would anyone book an event for something like that? The fact that she posted without telling him was a big trust violation, too.

And then...Avery basically asks Declan to serve as her human vibrator. That's completely gross because he's a human who deserves better. But also, it made no sense. The book SAYS she has actual vibrators. I can't believe none of them worked with her left hand. Not to mention, detachable shower head? That was all so bizarre.

Declan had no character arc at for 90% of the book. We don't see a single scene from his POV that isn't centered on Avery. I'm only 50% sure what he does for a living (Accountant? Financial planner? Stockbroker? He did things that made no sense for all of those jobs.) I wanted to love this book. I was so sure I would. But it just wasn't a good fit.

Review based on ARC (not published elsewhere)

Let me start by saying Helena Hunting has been and always will be a one click author for me. I love her! But this one wasn't my cup of tea. I just didn't connect with the characters or storyline as much as I usually do in one of her books. I found it easy to put down and hard to pick back up again. I am of the firm opinion that not all books are for all readers and therefore there are few actually bad books. I think this is the case here for me. The central trope surrounding Avery's accident and the caretaker/patient interaction leading to romance just isn't something that does it for me in a romance novel. And while this didn't hit it out of the park for me it was by NO means badly written. It's the quintessential 'it's not you, it's me' situation. I look very much forward to her next release.

I almost hate to write this review. And I feel I need to write a disclaimer - I usually love stories by Helena. I’ve even done re-reads of several of her stories. With that being said, I could not get into this one. I have tried on three different occasions to get into this one and it just didn’t work. I did not finish reading this one. Yes, I attempted to skip around and it still didn’t capture my attention. It sure why.

A great story...maybe a little longer than it needed to be...about best friends, guilt and sacrifices, including the house and lessons learned to leave your past behind. Avery & Declan show what strong friendships are about. A good read!
Note: chapter 20 is messed up...please fix before final printing.

This is your typical friends to lovers story. Both of the main characters had some issues that they needed to work on. I liked that they took some time to work through their individual issues. Overall it was a cute and quick read.

This wasn’t the book I was expecting going in and I mean that in the best way possible. I was expecting a RomCom, and while this book did have its share of laugh out loud moments, it was so much more. There were scenes that simultaneously broke my heart and irritated my mind and character growth that was unexpected, but made this story incredible.

I adore a friends-to-more story. I love the familiarity and comfort that came with the Avery and Declan story. At the beginning you could tell how strong their friendship was and when it was tested, lines and boundaries were blurred in a way that felt like a new take on the class trope. I thought I knew how this story would flow and how it would end, but the author totally surprises you with an unexpected twist that brought depth to the story instead of unnecessary drama to fill a void.

There is a lot of maturity and growth in this book and I’m happy with the way the author presented it. Many books tend to skip ahead, but having each character work towards being a better partner not only for themselves but for each other made this story unique. It was refreshing to see characters that are flawed and damaged, but somehow find a way to use their insecurities to make them stronger.

I was really impressed with this book overall. The authors have the ability to suck you in from the first page and bring you into a world that is captivating and charming. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC.

This book was an enjoyable friends to lovers romance that I devoured in a short time! I really loved the banter between Avery and Declan, and their arc from friendship to love was well plotted and thought out. Avery's relationship with her sisters was also a highlight for me, I hope that we will get London and Harley books soon!

Avery was a very endearing and believable main character and the reader was really able to understand her emotions throughout. I also thought that her back story and Declan's back story were both well developed so it was easy for the reader to understand their motivations. To me, this book stands out in the friends to lovers trope because of the well developed back story - you feel like you are a part of their friendship. I also appreciated the honest portrayal of a character going to therapy and what that looks like for their growth.

The one small thing that bothered me and I had a hard time getting over was the scenario with the accident. The author alludes to multiple people dying in the accident at a couple of points, and it's clear that Avery has a traumatic back story with driving, but there is never any mention of Avery tending to her emotional trauma. That just felt off to me and I kept thinking back to that and how it felt kind of flippant given the seriousness of Avery's past and also the amount of casualty from the accident. It didn't completely ruin the book for me, but I think I would have been more fully able to immerse myself in Avery and Declan if that wasn't there.

So much heart in this book! I've come to expect to have a good laugh when I read a Helena Hunting book but I got so much more with Avery and Declan's story. I wasn't expecting to get all emotional ! I really loved that we got so much depth into their characters, how they met and what drove them to stay friends instead of reaching for more. You really feel like the author put her heart and soul into this couple.

Declan's loyalty and the amount of care he gives made him one of my favorite heroes. He has his issues and he did do some things in this book that I didn't like, but when you do get that character development to show you why he is the way that he is, I find that I am more forgiving. I could look past his faults and see what he will become. Kudos to the author for making me care so much.

Avery was a pretty awesome heroine. I loved how she was herself. Completely. There was no guessing to what kind of person she is or what you will get from her. She was such a refreshing character and exactly what Declan needed.

This was a fantastic, emotionally driven read that you can't help but fall hard for these characters. I highly recommend it!

Really fun read friends to lovers storyline. The chemistry was was nicely built upon in as the story progresses. Fun quick read for me. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Honestly, it's more like 3.5 stars. I liked it overall, but there were a few things that didn't work for me - the biggest being the 'jump straight to cheating accusation'. I will admit that both of them came through it much better at communicating and realizing to be an adult in a monogamous relationship, you have to communicate with your partner, regardless of whether you want to talk it out or not. Good for the author for making her characters show their work. :P

I'm going to assume this turns into a series and we'll see the sisters in their own books soon.

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC via Netgalley!