Title: When Sparks Fly
Author: Helena Hunting
Series: Spark House #1
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance
**** My Review ****
Love is an emotional attachment to a particular person, expressed through action, care and affection. One of the most common confusions occurs when people confuse their love for their friends with something deeper. Consciously or unconsciously, this feeling can easily be replaced by a feeling of being in love, but sometimes it develops into the purest love that marks both hearts for the rest of their lives…
Such is the story of the main characters Avery and Declan, two friends who share many secrets and happy moments. Roommates and friends since college, Avery and Declan have never seen each other as more than that, or does closeness bring feelings that both of them don’t want to admit? Hidden feelings, hidden desires and hope smoldering in hearts…
Jealousy, selfishness, one wrong decision, one terrible car accident, and everything changes… What will happen when the independent girl has to depend on her best friend? How much does the truth hurt once it is acknowledged? Will their relationship withstand this test?
I have read several books by this author and I always like her engaging writing style. Completely simple, compulsively readable, with enough touches of humor, Helen always weaves stories that have the power to immediately draw the reader into her fictional world. As always, she introduces quite serious topics such as mental health and childhood traumas and they inevitably make the reader empathize with the characters. Thought-provoking romance is her trade mark.
Both characters are quite strong and impressive in every possible way. Avery, the independent, athletic girl who faces a real tragedy, is a character who manages to reach the reader. Strong and weak at the same time, she evokes empathy and tenderness as you try to understand her pain. Declan is the playboy, driven to redemption by guilt, but I have to be honest and admit that I had some issues with Declan, especially near the end of the book… Yes, his development was phenomenally painted throughout the pages. It was more than obvious. But will that be enough? The power of love is the main driver for all the changes that are visible in Declan, but somehow all that does not reduce the lump that weighs after the fatal accident. It is beyond my understanding that a best friend could do such a thing.
And even though the entire work hints at a deep connection and incredible chemistry between the characters, I somehow failed to feel it. In all the previous works of this author, these elements simply blasted like fireworks, here they were somehow like a small spark.
‘When Sparks Fly’ by Helena Hunting is the first in a new series of standalone romances. If you like sweet stories where a friendship develops into love, then this story should be on your reading list.