When Sparks Fly

by Helena Hunting

Blurb:

Running the Spark House, a hotel/event space that has been in her family for years, has been Avery Spark’s lifelong dream. After years of working hard and making personal sacrifices, Avery and her two younger sisters have turned the Spark House into the premier destination in Colorado Springs. Avery is living her best life—she works with her sisters and loves every minute of it, she has a great group of friends, and she lives in a fantastic condo with her best friend Declan. She might not have any love in her life, but she's happy.

But everything comes to a screeching halt when Avery is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing Avery, Declan insists that he will be the one to take care of her while she recovers. However, as Declan becomes Avery’s caretaker, lines begin to blur.

Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and always had an attraction to one another, but when she ended up dating his best friend, Sam, they successfully stamped down any feelings they may have ever had for one another. Now, as Declan and Avery spend more time together, they each begin to wonder what would’ve happened if she'd dated him instead of Sam. What starts as a friend helping out another friend turns into foreplay and, before they realize it, they recognize how deeply they care for one another. But when things get serious their past threatens to destroy everything they have built.

Themes: Contemporary

Rating: 3.5 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

So this was a first for me by Helen Hunting and while I enjoyed the story I don’t think I’ll be returning to this author. The writing and premise of the story was interesting and could have been amazing but it sadly it a few of my peeves. The story begins with two best friends/roommates who have to deal with the trauma of one of them in a live altering car accident and then they have to deal with the fallout. Avery Spark has shared an apartment with her best friend Declan since college and despite a few bumps in the road she is generally happy with her life, except that her family business is in serious danger of going under. When she sets out to win a contract to save the business, tragedy strikes and she wakes from a terrible car accident to find herself with a broken arm and leg, and essentially at the mercy of her roommate. Declan is devastated about Avery’s injuries, blaming himself for letting her down and her being hurt, but he’s determined to see to her every need and make sure she gets back to 100%. Forced into constant and VERY personal contact, Avery and Declan discover a deeply buried attraction that quickly becomes more as they become lovers. But can their relationship survive when Avery is no longer dependent on Declan or will the love they thought they found die like sparks flying from a fire? I enjoyed some parts of this story, but there were a lot of points where the story got to slow and mired down for me. Avery was not my favorite character and Declan definitely had some issues to work through. I will say that they are definitely believable characters, with a lot of personable and understandable traits, but sometimes there is such a thing as an overwritten character. I also wasn’t a huge fan of Avery and the way her sisters interacted for a good bit of the book, the huge lack of communication making me slightly nuts. In the end the story was an enjoyable enough read, with plenty of heated moments, a few laughs, but entirely too many tears and moments of unhappiness for the H/h and I was left wanting for the romance. I wont say not to read it for yourself and see what you think, but I will say it was not my cup of tea by any standard except that is was well written and the plot flowed nicely.