When Sparks Fly

Writing style is good, I will be reading more from this author. I liked the sisterhood, that the book focused on the heroines career even after the romance started, and overall the book was fun. Always nice when therapy is mentioned and promoted too.

However, this hero was not it for me. And I thought the heroine apologizing at ALL post fight was very very annoying. He didn't do enough groveling at all and that was frustrating

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I received a NetGalley widget via email from St. Martin's Press Publicity. This books expected release date is September 21st. 

Ok first I just have to say the first paragraph hooked me and at first I was like what the heck am I getting myself into but luckily the rest of the story wasn't as weird as that. Lets just say I didn't know hobby horse riding was a real thing especially amongst grown men. Anyways I freaking loved this book. This is a best friends to lovers romance and I loved how the romance developed. Declan and Avery have been best friends since college and they even bought a condo together after college and have lived with each other for 2 years I believe at this point. Avery is essentially one of the guys. Declan has commitment issues because of his past but its obvious that these two are into each other even before they realize it themselves the chemistry just jumps off the pages. It's funny, it's sexy it's cute it's just everything I could possibly want in a romance. This is one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time. 

In When Sparks Fly, we meet Avery and Declan, friends since college, and housemates now. When tragedy strikes, they will find a new balance in their lives and their relationship.
Overall rating: 3.5

If you enjoy friends-to-lovers, forced proximity and caretaker tropes, strong female MCs, and you don't mind flawed love interests, then this is the book for you.

I love Helena Hunting's books. Meet Cute, and Kiss My Cupcake were two of my favorite romances of last year. But sadly this one didn't meet the same mark for me.

First of all, it's not easy for me to buy into a friends-to-lovers. Either, the attraction has to be there from the get go with a solid reason why they stayed friends instead, or we need to see the relationship grow on the page as they realize they could be more. I don't think When Sparks Fly delivered on either. We can see that they're mildly attracted to each other and are in denial about it. But when they take that step into a sexual relationship, it still came out of nowhere for me.

The main issue for me was that when the big conflict hit Declan was so out of order and I was so offended on Avery's behalf that I just wanted her to move on. To make matters worse, the author clearly didn't feel the same because Avery actually finds a lot of fault in herself instead of calling out Declan's bs for what it is. Which offended me even further. The resolution to the conflict felt awkward to me as well. How they tackled their reconciliation while cute, just did not make sense to me, it felt forced.

Putting those two issues aside, there was also a lot that I enjoyed. I really liked Avery as a character. She was smart, strong-willed, knew what she wanted and was a badass at her job. Such a great MC.

Also, while one of the sisters really grated me, I loved the relationship Avery and her two sisters had and how supportive they were of each other. This is the kind of sisters I always wanna see in books (and in real life).

Most of Declan and Avery's scenes were quite cute, I loved their tradition of doing crosswords together. Also, Declan is just AMAZING at taking care of Avery. He might not be a good significant other, but he's an incredibly loyal and giving friend. If you like the caretaker trope, you're in for a massive treat! I can easily say that despite the fact that I thought their relationship didn't have a good evolution, they gave me smiles all the way. Until the main conflict this book was 4 stars or more for me.