When Sparks Fly

By: Helena Hunting

Narrated by: Jason Clarke, Stella Bloom

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Griffin.

Sparks and more Sparks

The story was great. Avery and Dec meet their first year in college, have missed opportunities to be a couple, forge a good foundation with friendship and realize a few years out of college, living as roommates, that they love each other.

Sparks fly when Dec is taking care of Avery after a personal tragedy. I absolutely love Helena Hunting and they do an amazing job with the issues of loss, trauma, trust, infidelity and friends turned lovers to partners.

Jason Clarke and Stella Bloom as narrators were the perfect choice for these characters. Jason's voice breaking at the end, with his love for Avery had me crying. Jason also does a terrific job with the female voice. The only other male narrator I can stand doing female voices is Teddy Hamilton. Stella delivers the emotions just right and also does the male voice really well. Pacing and timing was spot on. Thank you for another great story!

Sweet and short

I love the concept of this story, beautiful flow with the narrators, and definitely a feel good kind of story. These 2 characters had great chemistry and love the banters. I truly dig Helena Hunting’s books so far.

Love this story!

The chemistry between the two is on fire in a slow build. I love the story and the characters. Narration is great.

Memorable but fades to black

I searched my library for a re-listen of this story. It’s one that stuck out in my brain bc of the caretaking scenes. These two are roommates and the tension builds for a while but doesn’t get to come to crescendo in a satisfying way. There is this weird/heavy guilt on the MMC that kinda poisons the relationship. Furthermore, when they do get intimate go the first time, the scene literally fades to black. I was chasing their relationship until I got a little fatigued.

Loved These Two!

5/5 ⭐
3/5 🌶️
5/5 🎧

When Sparks Fly was absolutely adorable and I loved every moment. Helena just has this way of wrapping you up in her stories and making them feel like you're in this cozy hug. They're always just the right amount of sweet, funny and spicy, and this one was no exception.

I listened to the audiobook and absolutely loved Stella Bloom as Avery and Jason Clarke as Declan. They kept me so entranced in the story and I couldn't put my ear buds down.

I love the dynamic between these two best friends. They were both a little blind to their love for each other either for bottling it down or just being naïve; neither wanted to ruin their friendship. But when Avery ends up in a car wreck and needing almost round the clock care, Declan steps up and what was already a forced proximity (they are roommates ) becomes a forced close proximity and the sparks start to fly.

In true Helena fashion I laughed out loud often, especially in the moment that preempts them taking their relationship to the next level. Poor Avery just finds herself in a few vulnerable situations and we get to laugh at her expense. I really loved her, she is laid back and fun, but driven too and truly just "one of the guys". Declan was so great too, just the perfect amount of broken for a romantic comedy.

I'm really excited to continue on with the series. London is up next and I can't wait to see what's in store for her.