When Sparks Fly, an all-new sweet and sexy best friend standalone romance from New York Times bestselling author Helena Hunting is available now!
Charming, hilarious, and emotional...When Sparks Fly is Helena Hunting at her very best!
Avery Spark is living her best life. Between her friends, her sisters, and Spark House, the event hotel her family owns, she doesn’t have much time for anything else, especially relationships. She’d rather hang out with her best friend and roommate, Declan McCormick, than deal with the dating scene. But everything changes when she is in a car accident and needs someone to care for her as she heals.
Declan avoids relationships, giving him a playboy reputation that he lives up to when he puts a one-night stand ahead of a promise he made to Avery. While he may not have been the one driving the car, he feels responsible for Avery’s injuries and is determined to make it up to her by stepping into the role of caretaker.
Little did they know that the more time they spend in compromising positions, the attraction they’ve been refusing to acknowledge becomes impossible to ignore. When they finally give in to the spark between them, neither is prepared for the consequences. Their love is fragile and all it will take is a blow from the past to shatter it all.
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Excerpt
Commotion from across the field catches my eye. Two of the riders seem to be at odds with each other. The hand on hip, head tip, nose-to-nose business gives me reason to believe there’s some kind of disagreement happening.
“That doesn’t look very friendly.” I nod in their direction.
“Maybe the horses need a time-out,” Harley mutters.
I give her the side-eye, and she fights a smirk.
“Uh-oh, we have hand and hobbyhorse flailing,” London says, pulling my attention back to the field. The argument seems to be heating up, not cooling down.
“You need to deal with that.” London gives my shoulder a shove. She’s amazing with finances and she’s great at connecting me with the right vendors, but dealing with conflict is not her strong suit.
“Not in the mood to mediate stuffed horses?” I drop my bag on the ground beside Harley’s feet and briskly cross the field as the argument escalates to yelling. I’m about twenty feet away when one of the men hauls off and whacks the other one with his hobbyhorse.
“Whoa! Whoa! Gentlemen! Time-out. That’s not very sportsmanlike conduct!” I call.
My admonishment goes unheeded, and the two men begin dueling with their hobbyhorses. The bigger of the two jabs the other man in the stomach and snatches his hobbyhorse when he loses his grip on it.
“Gentlemen! Please!” I shout, but it’s hard to be heard over their yelling and the newly formed crowd of hobbyhorse enthusiasts who have gathered and are now heckling the fighters.
Two other men toss their hobbyhorses to the hobbyhorse-less man with shouts of “Kick his ass!”
And here I thought this was a chill sport. Apparently I’m very, very wrong.
The hobbyhorsers face off again, each one holding a broom horse between their legs and another like . . . a sword, maybe? It reminds me of medieval jousting. Especially when they start stomping their feet, pawing at the ground, and prancing in place. I know things are about to escalate when they shake their heads back and forth, braying loudly and breathing out through their noses in a hardy snort.
Then they run toward each other, while yelling. Even if they’re beating on each other with stuffed horse heads, I’m not interested in anyone ending up with a concussion.
I jump in between them before they collide, which I realize a second too late puts me in a very perilous position. However, the man on my right swerves at the last second and ends up crashing into the trough, toppling it and at least half a dozen of the “feeding” hobbyhorses. The other man skids to a stop mere inches from me, loses his balance, and falls backwards onto the ground. It rained yesterday, so while it’s sunny and dry now, the ground is still soft and mucky. And he happens to land in a seriously squishy pile of muddy grass.
He also manages to hit himself in the family jewels with the hobbyhorse. He rolls onto his side, clutching the muddy horsehead and his junk. It’s quite the spectacle. Before it turns into absolute mayhem, I grab the megaphone from the group MC and shout, “Whoa, Nelly!” like an idiot.
However, it does the trick. Every single one of them freezes. “Rider number seventeen and twenty-three, you are disqualified from this round for roughhousing and inappropriate use of your hobbyhorse!” I’m totally making this up on the fly, but someone needs to get these guys under control, and they don’t seem to be able to manage it on their own.
The guy who nut slapped himself—number twenty-three—picks himself up off the ground and hobbles gingerly over to the bench, which is now assigned to disqualified hobbyhorsers. Number seventeen throws himself down on the other end with a huff.
I lower the megaphone and cross my arms. “This is supposed to be about team building and sharing something you’re passionate about. If you want to joust, I suggest you either join a club or interview for a position at Medieval Times.”
When Sparks Fly is the book I needed to get me out of my reading slump. I was hooked from the very first page and the characters felt like old friends.
There is just something about Ms Hunting’s words that cause you to leave reality behind and immerse yourself into the fictional world.
Its a veritable slow burn! Best friends who live together, Avery and Declan have to make some alterations to their living situation when Avery has a car accident. Needless to say being in close proximity together, causes certain things to happen, however with Declan’s propensity to shy away from relationships is he willing to risk the past experiences to dive headfirst into one with Avery?
Honestly was really hoping these two would become something so much more, their wonderful friendship is truly something to be treasured. When Avery returns to work and things return to a somewhat new normal, will these two solidify their relationship, despite the bumps along the way? The conversations, the banter and the wonderful family/friends surrounding these two made for an enjoyable read!
This is a story you will have to experience for yourself to find out what happens.
I thoroughly enjoyed every moment and really didn’t want it to end. I really cannot wait to see what story Ms Hunting has up her sleeve for us to read next!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this friends to lovers romance from start to end.
Avery Spark is part-owner of Spark House, a hotel/event space that she runs with the help of her two sisters. She lives with her best friend Declan in an amazing condo. What more could she want?
When a car accident stops Avery in her tracks, Declan insists on caring for her throughout her recovery. It may have something to do with him blowing her off the morning of her accident but there may secretly be more to that.
Declan loves living with Avery and loves the friendship he has with her and his other friends. When Avery goes on a date one night, Declan doesn’t take it well for some reason and decides he needs to go out as well. Only, he forgets that he is Avery’s ride the next morning and is too hungover to take her.
After realising the mistake he made with Avery, he takes it upon himself to look after her during recovery. By the time that Avery is fit enough to return to work, Declan realises that there is more to their relationship than just friendship.
I loved the relationship between Avery and her sisters. Even though they are all completely different individuals they are very close. I loved that the character development in this book didn’t just show in the main characters but also Avery’s sisters as well.
I love Helena Hunting’s books and this one is definitely one that I would recommend!
About Helena Hunting
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of PUCKED, Helena Hunting lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her incredibly tolerant family and two moderately intolerant cats. She writes contemporary romance ranging from new adult angst to romantic sports comedy.
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