Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an arc of When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting!

I have been a fan of Hunting’s books and was so excited to read this one. It definitely had some good humour and I loved the forced proximity. There was a lot of “telling” about how things happened and less showing through writing and character interactions and this sometimes felt forced and it took me out of the story a little bit. I also found some behaviours of characters out of line - I really did not like London, Avery’s sister and even though some of Declan’s behaviours and reactions were ‘explained’, it did make it hard to root for Avery and Declan as a couple. I did like that there was importance placed on therapy and mental health support.

Triggers: death of parents in car accidents, serious car accident of main character told on page with detail. Alcoholism, discussions of cheating on partner,

I really enjoyed this romcom. There were spots that kinda got annoying the constant reading of their past. I think we got it that Sam cheated and was an asshole lol. But overall highly recommend it if you want a good summer romance novel. Love that it takes place in my home state 😍

A friends-to-lovers romance with plenty of steam, this book was humorous but also dealt with some serious issues. I appreciated the family dynamics between the main character and her sisters as well as between all the friends. An emphasis on mental healthcare really helped ground the romantic relationship and was written with sensitivity and care. All in all a great romantic read.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the early copy to read. All opinions are my own.

What can be said? This was true to Hunting's modus operandi. It made me laugh, teary, and was an adventure from start to finish. I'm creating quite a following with her titles and my readers are no disappointed!

This was my first time reading author Helena Hunting & I really enjoyed the book. The story of friendship & love & fear & jealousy was a wonderful read. I enjoyed the relationship between Declan & Avery, their relationship was one of friendship first & after a tragic accident it turns into more. It was fun watching the very independent Avery have to rely on Declan to take care of her & heartache on Declan’s part for his hand in Avery’s accident. The roller coaster ride of emotions as they grew closer & then were torn apart by fear & jealousy kept me glued to the pages. This is a definite recommend to read. I’m hoping that there might be a couple more books coming after this. Thank you to the publisher & Net Galley for letting me read this book for an honest review.

This is not my kind of novel, so it was a challenge reading through. But I appreciate the publisher sending me a copy to read.
There's A LOT of sexual undertones throughout the entire novel, with a heat level that will take you behind closed doors. For me, this was off-putting, as it wasn't so much about the relationship between the hero and heroine, but more about how long could they hold off jumping in bed together.
There were some clever moments, but unfortunately I just didn't get into the story due to the heat level. (I'm more of a sweet romance reader).

I haven't read this author before, so I didn't know what to expect. Very interesting read about two best friends that had been dancing around their feelings for a number of years afraid of what would happen to their friendship. When an accident puts them in each others space 24/7...see what happens! They both learned a lot about themselves, each other and their relationships with the other people in their lives. It was very introspective.

With a title like When Sparks Fly, there better be some fire. And there's that first drop of sizzle, like when a steak hits cast iron, but then the heat is turned down and pushed to the backburner. That's when Helena Hunting starts prepping the side dish, which isn't romance, but recovery. Avery and Declan met in college, freshman year, but Avery was dating someone else and Declan was dating everyone else. But when Avery's college boyfriend is caught cheating, Declan sides with Avery, and the lifelong friendship emerges - a friendship so strong that they move in together as friends long after college. Declan still getting all the action, and Avery embracing the single life while she works at her family's business, Spark House, an event space.
Eager to help the business grow, Avery sets off to get their alumni association on board, and Declan is supposed to help, but he bales last minute and she's off on her own... and that's when the accident happens. Bad accident. And who will help Avery recover? A guilt-ridden Declan takes the job - and he may as well, since they already live together.

Proximity leads to intimacy. Friends turn to lovers. And then all the other stuff happens. And the stuff is repetitive, predictable, and really takes the heat out of the flame. The sparks aren't flying - they're sort of just hanging in the ashes. But any fire can be rekindled, if given attention - and this is when it gets GOOD! Declan goes for it... but slowly. Winning Avery back at a pace that steadies the flame and turns up the heat.

Excellent story with a feel good ending. I throughly enjoyed getting to know Avery and her sisters. Declan was a great hero and it was nice to see where the story went and I’m hoping for more.

When I started When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting I was ready for a rom com similar to her Pucked series. This book was not as “rowdy” as those books. This was a friends to lovers romance with light humor. While I enjoyed this story, I did have trouble keeping all the side characters straight. I assume there were many additional characters to provide for future stories to create a new series. Overall this was a cute romance story that I would read on a vacation.

When I saw this storyline, I always wanted to a read a book like this one. It was done well. Friends to lovers story and I love any story that has a dual POV between the two characters. What I loved about this story was the relationship Declan and Avery have together and how you see it throughout the story. The side characters fit well I felt. I really loved how the characters made mistakes and grew from them.

This was a cute and funny friends-to-lovers story. I enjoyed the low angst and charm of this book and this trope is always one that makes me happy to read. Helen Hunting made her story within this trope her own and created fun characters for whom are easy for readers to relate.

It's no overwhelming romantic at points because of the nature of the friendship and it took me a while to really believe in the chemistry that was being cultivated but the true friendships in the story were delightful. The book is a great way to escape an afternoon by reading. It's not overly angsty and there are some really special moments and definitely some entertaining and comedic ones. Definitely recommended for fans of this trope. Hunting's story telling will entertain for sure.

loved this romance and finding love with a friend. I enjoyed the sisters and hope to have their romance too. I loved that they loved their business and all did different things. I loved the romance between deck and ava. I loved that they found their way to each other and took their time. I will read more books by her. she is becoming an auto read author for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I wasn't a big fan of the "hurt/comfort" trope in this book with the way it was framed and also how it was used as a plot device to get the couple together. Made me uncomfortable with some of the ableism and that got in the way of me fully enjoying it fully. Otherwise it was a fairly good read. I liked the past revelations that the couple had to face as it added more layers to their friendship and eventual love.

When Sparks Fly is a friends to lovers story. It was a quick and fun romance that would make a cute Hallmark movie. I enjoyed it, even though I was not a fan of Declan. He did redeem himself in the end but it took a while to get there. If you need a fun weekend read this is a great book!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins press for my advanced reader copy, all opinions are my own.

Absolutely adorable and witty! I enjoy the one liners and couldn't put it down. A great summer read on the hammock!

Overall this is a good best friends to lovers read. Underneath there is a heavy emotional aspect for both of the main characters. Avery is unfortunately in a terrible car accident that leaves her injured in many ways both physically and mentally. It brings up heavy past emotions for both her and her sisters about their parents fatal accident. Declan who was meant to be driving with Avery that day is also torn up with guilt over what’s happened, and the realities of why he wasn’t there.

Luckily they are best friends and roommates so he can work for forgiveness by taking care of her while she’s on the mend. Which is honestly pretty sweet, and it was great as a reader to see their connection and friendship from that side and not just a romantic side. These two start to realize their feelings for each other and while neither of them are relationship experts they do know that they already have an established friendship and dedication to each other. Declan however has only seen a very toxic relationship between his parents, and he’s always cut any of his relationships off before they became serious at all. So is their relationship journey simple? No. It gets bumpy and while I liked that things weren’t all gumdrops and good times, how their angst starts did make me want to junk punch Declan.

Anyway. I’d consider this relatively slowish burn, sweet at times, heated at times, emotional at times, frustrating at times, and fun at times. If you’re looking for a good contemporary romance, then you’ll find it here.

Sadly this one just didn't hit the spot for me.
I usually enjoy a good friends to lovers premise but this one quickly turned into something repetitive and boring which is a risk with this trope. I just didn't understand how these two made it this far sharing a place together without anything happening between them and then I wasn't convinced with their half-assed chemistry, it felt forced, far from genuine.

The hero's behavior at the beginning of the story was also hard to forgive and I bet it will be a serious no-no to readers seeking non-cheating male characters. I usually don't care much about these things myself but I have to admit his actions from the beginning then again when things turned sour between him and the heroine truly bothered me until the end of the book.

I get the hero had trust issues and I appreciated the author's highlight about therapy and mental health BUT once again we have a hero using and abusing women—heroine included— to get over his issues. Not attractive.

I'm a total sucker for stories where friends fall in love. This was no exception. It's a story about friends who become closer when a terrible accident ends up pushing them closer together. The author has crafted well developed characters and a lovely, quick paced plot. A perfect weekend beach read!

A light, fun read, but not my favorite of Helena Hunting's unfortunately! Still enjoyable... I'm not a fan of best friends turned lovers after an intense and scary incident with arguably many foundational issues to work through. But, a good weekend summer read!