while i did enjoy make a wish, the third and final book in the spark house series, there were some highs and lows that made the book a four rather than five star read for me.

things i enjoyed was harley finding and carving out a spot for herself within the family business after feeling her voice and opinion wasn't heard. given that was a point of contention within the second book of the series, it was nice to see the three sisters coming together in a way that didn't feel nearly as toxic and overbearing as previously written. i believe the romantic moments written between the mains offered the right amount of steam and spice. it was also realistic in how being a single parent can impact a romance and how their child is considered in every action was front and center, which i very much appreciated.

i found it to be a good way to end the series as well. each character's arc is wrapped up succinctly and their future is addressed enough by the end of the book and epilogue, that i felt that it was a solid conclusion for anyone who started with when sparks fly to starry eyed love and ending with make a wish.

things that i didn't enjoy was the ongoing miscommunication — not between the romantic leads— but between the sisters themselves. this was an ongoing connection from the first book through this one, where they didn't seem to ever say their true feelings until it boiled over to become too much to contain. while this book, the lead up to harley speaking her mind on the direction of the business and her place within it, was far softer than the previous 2 books, it felt like something that could have easily been cleared up early on in the narrative. the idea that over the course of at least a year or two of the 3 gaining traction with the family business and building it into something more, that they couldn't find a way to communicate with one another until it became to much in each individual case, boggled my mind. especially given how close the three are written to be.

i also believe that the relationship building between harley and gavin wasn't as developed as it was meant to appear. while peyton was a thread that connected the two together, it felt as if that connection was leaned on too much in bringing them together. i don't believe either had full or even partial knowledge of one another enough to build a relationship, let alone one that leads towards a lasting one with a child involved. at times, peyton felt younger than she was written as and gavin seemed too closed off to being honest with his in-laws, specifically his mother-in-law. what could have been a moment between a grieving parent and a grieving spouse, was lost and only addressed far too late for the reader to fully empathize with either.

Harley Spark is in her happy place, with the glitter and the cupcakes and the fairy tale dress-up closet. She works with her sisters at their boutique hotel Spark House, running the kids’ birthday parties. She is great with kids, and she loves to spend time with them, helping them find their joy and creativity through crafts and activities specifically chosen for them.

But her joy is coming to an end.

Over the last few years, her sisters London and Avery have both fallen in love and gotten married. They’ve started families. And they have lead the way to taking their family hotel to the next level, where they will be opening franchises of Spark House. While London and Avery have grown their roles in the new direction Spark House is moving in, Hayley is finding her role shrinking.

She had been running their social media and taking photos, but now there is a social media manager and a team doing most of that work. And she only has one more birthday party left. Her sisters thought it would be good to stop them until the first franchise was up and running. Now Harley is feeling left out and a little left behind. But this last birthday party includes a gift for her.

Seven years ago, Harley had to walk away from a job she loved. She was a nanny for a single father whose wife had died in childbirth. The infant she’d cared for was Peyton, and while Harley was only 19, she had loved taking care of her. Peyton’s father Gavin did his best, but he was grieving his wife. After an awkward moment between himself and Harley, Gavin decided to move away, so Peyton could be close to his late wife’s parents. But now they’re back, and they’re at the Spark House party.

Harley is surprised to see them but delighted to see Peyton all-grown up at 9. Over the next few weeks, she makes plans to meet up with them again. They go to the park and the zoo, and Harley jumps in and babysits Peyton when Gavin has to work late. Eventually, Harley has to admit that she’s falling for Gavin. But she also needs to figure out how to tell her sisters that she needs more of a role at Spark House. And when she and Gavin face obstacles in their relationship, will they find a way to work it out, or will he choose to move again?

Make a Wish is the third in Helena Hunting’s Spark House series, one book for each sister’s love story. Harley’s story has a lot of sweetness and a lot of glitter, but there is also more than a little heat in the relationship between Harley and Gavin. Harley has a lot of sensitivity towards the single dad and his daughter, so this romance has a lot of internal struggles and lots of feels. But watching Harley find her voice and go after what makes her happy is inspiring.

I listened to Make a Wish on audio, and the alternating narrators Stella Bloom and Jason Clarke tell this story with warmth and nuance. It was an enjoyable listen with lots of family togetherness. Peyton plays a big role in this book, so there are a lot of G-rated scenes, but there are definitely some scenes with much higher ratings.

I enjoyed listening to Make a Wish. I thought the narrators did a great job with these characters and kept the story from getting too saccharine. It wrapped up the Spark House series well, adding a different style of romance to the sisters’ stories but adding a lot of love to the family overall.

A copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This story wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad either. The child in the story annoyed me and I wish there was much more romance. Just an ok story in my opinion.

I loved this one!!! It gave me all the feels and just made me happy ❤️❤️❤️ thank you netgalley!! I know this was third in a series but it was totally great as a stand alone

I thoroughly enjoyed "Make a Wish" by Helena Hunting. A sweet, enjoyable rom-com that will be a great addition to any romance lovers shelf!

This was a great interconnected stand alone as I didn’t feel like I missed any of the main details of the story coming in at book 3. Jason and Stella did a great job in the narration, while there were certain areas Jason’s kid voice felt a little inconsistent. I enjoyed seeing the gradual attraction bloom between Gavin and Harley as they navigated the world of dating after having a previous working relationship.

Another great release from Helena Hunting!

I love a book in a series - it feels like I’m catching up with old friends!

Make a Wish, Helena Hunting’s latest tells the story of Harley Sparks. Harley is a young nanny looking Peyton. She grows close to the daughter and dad Gavin.

One night Harley kisses Gavin and he quickly moves away. Years later, Gavin and Peyton return and Harley’s feelings do too.

Such a fun read and heartwarming story about navigating feelings with complicated family dynamics.

While I loved the two previous books in this series., I only really liked this one. At times, the main character seemed weak and too unsure of herself and her wants.

At times, I felt the expectations for the daughter were more for a younger child and that took me out of the book a little.

I have heard of Helena Hunting for years, but had never read a book by her before. Now, I want to go check out her backlist because of how much I loved Make a Wish. In Make a Wish, Harley is a nanny to a fun little girl named Peyton. When she attempts to kiss Peyton's dad (who is widowed - no cheating here!) and then he moves away just a few days later, Harley grapples with her life as she wonders if she's why he left.

Seven years later, Peyton and her dad are back. Harley and Gavin (dad) meet up at a random event and slowly become part of each others' lives again, thanks to Peyton. Harley is available to watch her while her dad is at a work meeting, suggests times to go to the park together, etc. I don't really have to tell you where this goes...considering this is marketed as a contemporary romance. I do recommend this book and I want to go read Helena Hunting's backlist, especially the earlier books in this series.

This series is a little more tame than some of Helena Hunting's other books - it has the spice but not too much to make it hard to recommend to romance readers at the library. I liked the nanny connection and slight age gap - it's not too much to be "forbidden" but it gives it a twist that you don't see as much in a more "tame" rom-com.

MAKE A WISH was an excellent addition to Helena Hunting's romance corpus, and a beautiful read for the romance season. We are following two characters were very much written for one another, but in a way that feels natural and gentle, not cheesy or forced. I love their chemistry, their story, and the flow of the narrative. Can't wait for her next.

I absolutely love the Spark House books. This one was no different! I loved Harley and Gavin's storyline. Alternating points of view is my favorite. Harley was such a likable character and the chemistry that she had with single dad Gavin was amazing. The narrators were perfect and I thought the length of the book was perfect. I was engaged the entire time.

3.5! I thought this was one was sweet! This is my first of this author and I will definitely try more of her work! We have Harley who was a nanny for Gavin and his young daughter Payton 9 years ago. He lost his wife in childbirth and Harley stepped in and really helped him when he was a bad place but Lines started to blur back than and Gavin was not emotionally ready to let it happen than and suddenly up and moves to the town where his in laws live to help with Payton. Leaving Harley left to wonder what happened. Now that Payton is 9 Gavin decides to move back home and work for his dad. That’s where he runs into Harley again, and they can’t help but feel a spark and Payton is drawn to her. As they spend time together they can’t help but feel like there is something more between them. I liked Harley enough as a character and I really think she was the reason I kept on reading, she is a Disney adult who’s joy is just contagious. She is great with children and is always putting other people ahead of her but also firm in who she is. Gavin is where this kinda bugged me, I thought he was kinda spineless sometimes. He was holding on to a lot of guilt from his first wife died and he just lets his mother in law walk all over him. With his personal life and parenting. And that’s what really bugged me is we see Payton crying and being clearly uncomfortable with how his mother In law is doing things and Gavin takes along time to stand up her to and my heart just broke for Payton. I also thought the ending was a little rushed. But overall I really did enjoy this story and happy that they got their HEA!

Make a Wish by Helena Hunting is the third book in the Spark House series and is narrated by Jason Clarke and Stella Bloom. I did not read the previous books, but was able to enjoy the story fully despite that. Returning readers will have a better grasp on the main character's sisters and some backstory.

Ever have a defining life moment you wish you could do over? Harley Spark has one. The time she almost kissed the widowed father of the toddler she nannied for. It was so bad they moved across the state and she never saw them again. Fast forward seven years and she’s totally over it. At least she thinks she is. Until Gavin Rhodes and his adorable now nine-year-old daughter, Peyton, reappear at a princess-themed birthday party hosted by Spark House, Harley’s family’s event hotel. Despite trying to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, she can’t help but notice how unbearably sexy he looks in a tutu. Add to that a spontaneous hives breakout, and it’s clear she’s not even remotely over the mortification of her egregious error all those years ago. Except Gavin seems oblivious to her inner turmoil. So much so that he suggests they get together for lunch. For Peyton’s sake, of course. It’s the perfect opportunity to heal old wounds. Or it could just reopen them. This is one of those times Harley wishes she could see the future.

Make a Wish is a solid romance with a single parent, a kind of second chance romance, a smart kid, and plenty of emotion. Lets start with the narration, because honestly that can make or break an audiobook. I greatly enjoyed the dual narrators and think that Jason Clarke and Stella Bloom did a great job bringing these characters- and all of those emotions- to life. They did well conveying grief and stress as needed in the story, and I think I would have been less invested in the story if I had read it instead of listening to it. In the story itself I liked the characters, and think the struggles they faced were very realistic and well portrayed. Harley is dealing with huge changes at work and in her roles and dynamic there with no concrete solutions in sight, adding in the relationship with Gavin and Peyton made everything even more high stakes. Gavin is still struggling with loss, grief, and facing his own emotions making things harder for everyone, but especially himself. I thought the trauma and grief was handled very well, and it felt real as I was listening. As did Harley's frustration and uncertainty about work. I have to say that the biggest downfall of the book for me was Harley herself. I completely understand and commiserate with where she stands and how she rarely asserts herself- but aside for one moment in the book she is almost too perfect, too understanding, too empathetic and it bothered me. She never seemed to even have negative thoughts about people seemed a bit off to me, and she just seemed too perfect to be real. However, I am still glad I read the book, and it was overall an enjoyable read.

Make a Wish is a good romance, and fans of the author and series will not want to miss it.

Cute romantic comedy that at times had me laughing out loud and other times feeling emotional . This is the first I've read by this author and I'm looking forward to checking out more of her titles.

Harley finds herself standing in front of her ex-boss in a tutu at a kid birthday party. The ex-boss she completely embarrassed herself in front of as she had years before almost mistakenly kissed him. She can't believe it is really him, but soon finds herself reconnecting with him and his daughter, Peyton. She always felt they had a connection, but can they overcome their past demons to build something new together?!

This audiobook was just the light, fun listen I needed this dreary winter! An adorable story of a widowed dad, and the woman who was once his daughter's nanny. While it is fairly predictable, the whole story was really heartwarming and easy to listen to. The only thing I didn't like about this was that the daughter was supposed to be 9yrs old and acted more like a 5-6-year-old. As someone who works with children 3-11 every day, it made me wonder how much time the author had spent around 9-year-olds, and made it seem less authentic.

The narrators were great, and the length of the book seemed just right! Would recommend for those who love a good second-chance romance, or the single-parent trope.

I found this to be an interesting and engaging story, but I struggled with decided how I felt about it and really had to sit with it for a couple of days to work it out. This is what I came to realize:

First, many of the characters in this book speak like they are therapists. I think the world would be a much better place if this were reality and all our siblings and friends were able to look at our behaviors and explain them back to us, then also explain why other people might be acting the way they are. Imagine if we could all understand why people do what they do, call them out on it, and have them be introspective enough to understand and make changes accordingly? Wow! I would love that. As a therapist and a human being, I can tell you the world does not work that way. When you speak to a friend, they are more likely to commiserate with you than ask if you considered that the other person may be thinking or feeling a certain way and proceed to give sage advice. I feel that this tactic was used to explain the character's behaviors, but I don't think we necessarily needed that narrative. However... this didn't really bother me. When I think about it I feel like it should have bothered me, but it didn't. I actually rather enjoyed the therapeutic aspect of it and most of the behaviors were fairly realistic, so that was a bonus.

I found the dad to be somewhat immature. I understand that he had his reasons, but the much younger female lead had it together more than he did. Of course, this is possible, so not completely unrealistic, but it didn't really make me love him. He definitely had a lot of redeeming qualities, but some of his issues, including his inability to confront a certain person in order to stand up for his daughter, his girlfriend, and himself was bothersome to me. So not unrealistic, just not my guy.

Finally, the sexy times were... well, uncomfortable. I wasn't feeling it here guys. It was just a little awkward for me. I don't think it was the age difference, just the writing and some of the terminology used. I'll leave it at that. Everyone is different here and you may think these scenes were super sexy, so I'll let it pass.

So, this all this said, how did I come up with a 4 star rating? Well, I honestly enjoyed this story. I loved that the issues they had were realistic and I liked how they worked through them. I enjoyed most of the characters. I loved that actual therapy was mentioned as a useful tool within the story. This book had a lot going for it. I liked the therapeutic way all the characters spoke and my only minor issues were that I didn't particularly love the dad (though I didn't actively dislike him either), I didn't find the sexy times particularly sexy, and I thought it wrapped up a smidge too quick and neat. Those issues took me a while to work out. They weren't significant enough to jump out at me. While I was reading I was engaged and enjoying the story. It wasn't until I finished that I felt a bit conflicted on how to rate it. So, I'm going with my overall enjoyment of the story.

I listened to the audio version of this book. I thought both narrators did a good job. However, it was a bit strange to have a female narrator for a long time, then switch to a male narrator who does the female voice completely differently. I would recommend being prepared for the shift in narration. Otherwise, it was good. I would listen to another book narrated by either of these narrators.

Make A Wish
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 1/24/23
Author: Helena Hunting
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrators: Jason Clarke and Stella Bloom
GR: 4.01

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: Helena Hunting is one of my favorite authors and this book was no exception. This could be read as a standalone but the series is fantastic. This is book number three in the Spark House series, an excellant series! Harley used to nanny for Gavin when she was a teen. He was just so devastated after losing his wife that he moved away after Harley almost kissed Gavin. Fast forward seven years later and Gavin is back in town with his daughter, Payton. Has Harley gotten over Gavin? Or will that spark reunite?

The story is narrated in a dual narration by both Harley and Gavin. Harley is kind, considerate, and loyal to a fault. Gavin is very attentive to Payton, swoony, and fierce. The prior two books characters make appearances in this book, which I loved! It is so nice when we get character follow up in later books in a series. The characters were well developed, with depth, witty banter, mad chemistry, and were creatively woven. The author’s writing style was complex, swoony, steamy, and kept me engaged throughout the story, kept me invested.

The narrators were amazing, really brought the characters to life, narrated with passion. This was a fantastic ending to the Spark House series. All three stories had different elements to them that brought them together in this final installment. You could read any as a standalone, or the whole series. I do recommend reading the whole series. It is funny, swoony, and endearing.

This is the third book in Helena Hunting's Spark House series about three sisters building a life running a hotel/resort after their parents' death. Each volume can be enjoyed independently, however, and Make a Wish is a charming novel about a young woman (the youngest sister) carving out an independent role for herself in a changing world while coming to terms with an incipient but untimely relationship she fled from a decade earlier. Harley cared for a baby whose mother died in childbirth, giving her all the love and attention she could while the child's father, Gavin, struggled with his heartbreak and loss. When a late night encounter almost ends in a kiss, they go their separate ways, and Harley obsesses guilty about how she crossed an unforgivable line. Nine years later they meet again, but both parties must come to terms with what a relationship would involve. The story takes a bit too long to resolve itself, especially the last third or so, but all in all it is a rewarding visit to a charming locale (Colorado Springs) with good people trying to do what's right for their families and themselves.