I really enjoyed this book. It's a great best friends to lovers story. I thought that this story had great writing and characters. You could feel the genuine connection and chemistry between Avery and Declan. After Avery is in a serious accident Declan becomes her caretaker and their relationship shifts. Their road to being a couple had its ups and downs but it was an easy and enjoyable read. I also liked the relationship between Avery and her sisters and her friend group. Hope to see more with these characters.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Look, I'm a huge fan of Helena Hunting and I'll probably read all her books so don't let this review deter you from picking it up. It was a fine friends to lovers, forced proximity romance. However, I thought the transition from friends to more happened too quickly and the ultimate conflict was a little over the top which made Declan seem psycho. One thing I really appreciated in the story is the highlight on therapy and mental health. It was nice to see Declan prioritize that before the grand gesture.

Overall, not as good as her All In series but I do look forward to her next book!

Declan and Avery have known each other and have been best friends since college. They grew a friendship that was made to last. When Avery is hurt in an accident, their friendship grows and changes into more. As Declan takes care of Avery while she recovers, they both realize that they've always been in love with each other for a long time, but had never crossed that line. Everything is great between them until Avery makes a business decision that Declan reacts badly to, Coming from a messed up family, Declan's baggage sabotages what they have. Are they destined to find their way back to each other, or are Declan's skeletons too much to overcome.

I Loved When Sparks Fly! Declan and Avery's story is a wonderful Friends to Lovers read.

Everything in Avery's life comes to a screeching halt when she is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing his best friend, 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. Once things start to get serious, their past threatens to destroy everything they have recently built.

The first about 30% of this book, I could not put down! I was so invested in Avery and Declan and watching their relationship build over the weeks while Avery is healing. It was amazing and full of that delicious sexual tension. But, things started to slow down for me after that and especially once Avery starts to regains her independence.

It definitely filled that friends-to-lovers trope, however it fault lackluster. It didn't have anything keeping me enthralled after the beginning of the novel and unfortunately, it started to feel repetitive. And that sexual tension I mentioned? Gone. There was practically zero heat after the initial encounter.

I really wanted to love this book because Helena Hunting is up there as one of my favorite authors and I was very excited to receive a free copy in exchange for my review from NetGalley, but I just couldn't rate it more than a 3/5 stars.

After a weak start about hobbyhorses of all things, the story seemed to get bogged down with Avery’s accident, her frustrations, and Declan’s guilt trip. The lack of chemistry between the two didn’t help matters either.

Frankly, this one was just a really heavy read and one I had a difficult time connecting with any of the characters. Eventually, I gave up around 50% and skimmed. Even the epilogue couldn’t save the story for me.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley/St. Martin’s press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5-4 Stars! This was a cute book. The main characters, Avery & Declan, are lovable and perfect together. I felt pulled in and invested in their happiness. I would’ve liked to slap Declan a few times but he made up for the wrongs he did in the end. This can be read as a standalone, though I’m hoping the other Spark sisters’ books are upcoming. It has a HEA ending - which I loved! All around cute read - perfect beach read!
*I received this book at no charge from NetGalley & I voluntarily left this review.*

When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting is a friends-to-lovers story, Avery Spark runs her family's hotel-event space along with her two younger sisters London and Harley. She lives with her best friend Declan since graduating from college in a high-rise condo in Colorado Springs and hangs out with the guys for sports night, and she is just one of the guys, loving life. An accident changes all that, and her relationship with Declan changes from best friend to caretaker to something more.

Apparently, hobbyhorse riding is a thing I needed to see for myself, and yes, I did YouTube, and some things can never be unseen. Things you learn when you read!

When Sparks Fly is a fun and sexy friends-to-lovers contemporary romance. Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and live together. I absolutely adored their friendship and it was fun to see these two grow even closer together when Declan insists he will take care of her when she survives a car accident. Declan has trust issues rooted from observing his parents' toxic relationship. He has never been in a serious relationship and prefers it that way. However, when he and Avery are spending even more time together his feelings for her grow even stronger. Avery feels the same way and after a frustrated incident they decide to take the next step. It is all fun and games before Declan's insecurities start to show.

I normally don't like when the hero jumps to conclusions but I thought the author handled it well in this book. It didn't bother me at all, and I even found it to be believable. I could see where Declan was coming from, and I also liked how Avery handled the situation further down the road. The author really took the time for the characters to grow as individuals and as a couple. Personal growth was a very important part of the story, and I was happy that things weren't resolved overnight. I enjoyed this book and I would love for Avery's two sisters to get their own books. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a light and fun friends-to-lovers contemporary romance.

I received this book in exchange of a honest review. ONE OF MY FAVORITE READS OF 2021! When Sparks Fly is Hunting’s latest contemporary romance that hits all the best aspects of a friends-to-lovers romance.

The positive parts Declan was there for her after her accident the negative after a while it began t drag out. The book took its time and I began to skim towards the last half of the book. It's lacking. I was disappointed after such a strong start that it would slow down and just .... 2.75 stars

Always a pleasure to read something from Helena Hunting. When Sparks Fly is a sweet friends to lovers romance. Avery and Declan have been best friends for years, even roommates. Both have more intense feelings and have for years but never acted on it or told the other not wanting to ruin a great friendship. But when Avery is injured and Declan feels responsible, he takes on the responsibility of caring for her as she recovers. They get closer and more intimate and, well, “sparks fly” Very enjoyable for a quick and easy read!

Avery has been one of the boys for as long as she can remember. She's in a car accident and left unable to take care of herself. Her best friend Declan steps up to take care of her. They have been best friends since college, what could go wrong? As they spend more time together its apparently that there's a mutual attraction. This also brings up a lot of what ifs? When Sparks Fly is a great read especially if you love the friends to lover troupe. I really enjoyed this story. It's full of likable characters and witty writing. It's a bit predictable but it's still a lot of fun to read.

In short:

This is a cute and emotional BFFs to lovers story with all the good, bad and ugly that can come with it.

Avery and Declan have been best friends since college, i.e., for almost a decade. They live together, have similar interests and have a close knit group of friends.
Avery gets into an accident and Declan chooses to become her primary care giver (since he blames himself for it). As close they already are, the close proximity and newer levels of intimacy are hot enough for sparks to fly.

Would they finally pull their heads out of the sand and confront the feelings they have for each other? And can they overcome their hangups and sort out baggages to be their best selves with each other?

Review:

4/5

I loved Avery and Declan's characters and their extended friend circle. Through the description I could gauge a little of their personalities and like them as individual selves. The writing is fluid. Though I felt it could have been a little tighter in some places. I found some portions repetitive, but then, this is an unedited galley, so allowances must be made. I am sure the final version would have sorted out all of these.

I also loved Avery and her sister's boss lady sass, Declan and the boys camraderie, banters witty, and also how they handled their hiccups in the end.

Read it for: friendship/sisterhood/boss lady vibes/love and romance/emotions/sports

Trigger warnings: traffic accidents, jealousy

A best friends and roomies to more by Helena Hunting? My answer will always be "Yes, please." to this. I truly enjoyed When Sparks Fly. It was a sweet and somewhat steamy romance. Avery and Declan are besties who live together. After Avery is injured in an accident, Declan naturally takes care of his roommate. Their close friendship morphs into something more with each passing day. I loved how close Avery and Declan were emotionally. Their friendship and connection was so strong. It made their chemistry pop when they finally decided to become more. I loved them as single friends, but I adored them in a relationship. 

Usually when I get to the conflict in a romance I'm all for hurrying up to resolve it and get to the happy ending. Surprisingly, I didn't feel that way about this one. I appreciated the way Hunting wrote the way the conflict was handled. There was a lot the characters needed to think about and deal with to be whole as a couple and I loved how the ground work was laid. It made the romance all the sweeter. So while the romance between Avery and Declan was my favorite thing about this book, the resolution of the conflict was close up there. 

Another great thing about this book was the supporting characters. Avery's sisters were a close knit group and fun to get to know. Avery and Declan's friends were also tight and entertaining. I would adore for the two sisters and two best friends to end up together in future books to make this a series. Or even books for each of the four of them. The characters are too good to go to the character graveyard. 

One last thing... I feel like I need to talk about a couple of things that weren't a problem for me, but are sure to be for other readers. This first thing is kind of SPOILERISH, but happens in the first few chapters so I don't think it's a true spoiler. As the blurb details, Avery and Declan are best friends and roommates. They know pretty much everything about each other. This is their love story, but at the beginning they aren't together at all. Declan brings a woman home. There are no details of this, only the morning after seen through Avery's eyes. While some readers will put this in the OW in a book category, I don't. If it was, it would bug me. Done with SPOILERISH. The second thing is the heat level. I would not call this high heat, but those who favor closed door romances might be surprised by the steam factor. This isn't the steamiest I've read of Hunting's books, but it's also not the least. I would say it's closer to her NA romances than her adult romances in heat level. It's more mature, but not quite there. I won't go into my dislike of cutesy illustrated covers as what it makes people think they're going to be reading, but this one might do some damage in that area.

So, yeah. When Sparks Fly hit the spot for me. It reminded me what I enjoy about Helena Hunting's writing and made me hope the next release is sooner rather than later.

I’ve never met a Helena Hunting book I didn’t like! This book was a fun, fantastic friends to lovers read, one of my favorite tropes. The hero was so swoony I couldn’t get enough of him, I just wish there was more from his perspective. I’m glad this had an epilogue, but I wish it was a little longer.

I highly recommend you put this on your must read book list. The story and characters keep you engaged and wondering how Declan and Avery will work through their issues. I really enjoyed this book and I think you will too.

I love Helena Hunting’s books, the Pucked series is an all time favourite but while this was a mainly sweet read, this wasn’t my favourite by her,

It’s a friends to lovers and a forced proximity which resulted in some quite delicious tension, but it seemed to flag a bit and become quite repetitive after a while . Unfortunately when the pace flagged, it lacked the humour and outlandish characters that made the Pucked series such a joy to read so it dragged a bit. It’s not to say it was bad, it was nice enough, but it didn’t blow me away.

As a Brit, all of the talk about therapy and working on yourself and working on your friendship with a therapist left me a bit bemused too. I guess it’s a cultural thing, but nobody I know talks like that or behaves like that and I found the navel gazing left me cold and rather killed the vibe between them which was a pity because it had been great at first.

Complete story. Thanks to the publisher via netgalley for the arc. Sorry I didn’t love it.

This author is hit or miss for me, but this was a definite hit. The relationship between the characters was interesting and I enjoyed the lead up to them. I thought the conflict/resolution was a little drawn out and I discovered that I enjoy neat and pretty endings better than messy and realistic endings. Overall I enjoyed reading it and found it well paced and entertaining.

When Sparks Fly is contemporary fiction, chick-lit, but to me it was TMI. Information that was included was not necessary to the storyline and should have been left out. Enjoyed the book (without the TMI material).

As usual Helena Hunting delivers. I love the interaction between Dylan and Av and this book had it all,