Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - When Sparks Fly

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting

23 reviews

claracavanaugh's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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khloereads86's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

If I wasn’t listening to the audiobook this definitely would’ve been a dnf for me. I feel like there was no character development early on, all we learned about them was that Avery is ‘one of the guys’ and decklan has daddy&commitment issues. It feels like the author tried to make cute moments but I never felt smiley or giggly reading it, never really felt the connection between the characters. The end was so drawn out, obviously they needed it but it was a very annoying conflict and the book felt repetitive brining up the same problems over and over again. It annoyed me how introspective they all of a sudden we’re at the end. Glad it’s over

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mads_ione's review against another edition

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medium-paced

2.5

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iamamyyyyy's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I found this book to be a bit boring. I was mostly ambivalent about both the main characters. I appreciated that

after the breakup Declan truly focused on therapy and working on himself before they got back together, instead of the much more typical all is immediately forgiven situation. However I was very upset that Avery going to see an ex for a business opportunity (when we were repeatedly told the company was in a tight financial place and needed the deal) without asking for permission first was equated with Declan's off the handle jealousy, accusations, and aggressive yelling. Those things are not equal and the amount of apologizing Avery did really rubbed me the wrong way.

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I love a good besties/roommates that are forced to spend weeks confined together while one takes care of the other. What I don’t love is a whole lot of guilt and one half of the couple meanly accusing the other of things they didn’t do with no room for simple explanations.

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beccaand's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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_persephone_'s review against another edition

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So here's the thing about this book, it's not terrible. Which in a way almost makes it worse. When Sparks Fly had decent writing, possibly even good and the characters seemed interesting enough. Though I don't even know if I read enough to actually know this, the romance seemed pretty good at times as well. But that's pretty much all it had going for it. For being a book that was released in late 2021, this book read as a bad romance novel written the 2010's. Holy shit the misogyny. It wasn't even that prominent, but I swear I died every time the main girl said something about how 'men are easier to live with' and 'women are so complicated', every time they mentioned that she was 'one of the guys', and how, besides her sisters (which I believe are only there so that this can be a series and the next books have main characters to focus on), she has literally zero other female friends. The only other female characters other then the main character and her sisters are either not even named and given speaking lines, or characters like the 50 year old next door neighbor who they only talk to once, or the woman who is only used as a sexual object to further the relationship between the two love interests, and she's heavily shamed and made fun of for it. Plus the, so far unnamed, "Bridezilla" character that the main character and her sisters make fun of, because god forbid a woman doesn't want to get injured before her wedding, and god forbid she has trouble deciding things for her own wedding. The romance seemed nice enough but also weirdly boring, which shouldn't even be possible seeing as the events that lead up to it is anything but (not always in a good way). Also I think based on the cover and title I thought I was going to be reading a fluffy romcom type book and this was anything but, which definitely put me off.

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kfmcf's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

Oy.

This book missed the mark in just so many ways. None of the characters had depth or were very likeable. Avery was a pick me. Declan was a caricature and wholly underdeveloped to the point of being so flat and unattractive. Plus WHY have his POV? It was only in like 5/25 or whatever chapters so it just seemed nonsensical.

This book was also REALLY flippant about the car accidents. Like her parents are supposed to have died in one and then she gets in one and she's just like "la dee da I'm recovering"?! No.

Also, this book was not friends to lovers. It was long term roommates. There was no connection beyond "hey we live together and like soccer." And yes it's my favorite trope but that usually means I'm more forgiving. When you biff that trope I get grumpy.

Finally, one of the worst 3rd act breakups on the market. Just full on pointless withheld communication and manipulation. Yick.

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jennergyy's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

8/10 This was a fun read! After reading so many thrillers in a row, I needed a fun palate cleanser and this definitely did the trick for me! Found myself entertained, wanting to read more, and liking the writing style. Would’ve been a 5 star if the following two things were different:

- it’s a big murky if this relationship is truly healthy. With all the guilt, jealousy, and dependency going on, I felt like it was kinda iffy. There also was the caretaking (which was an essential part of the plot) but went into this grey area of how much is too much when not injured…?

- during the 🌶️ scenes, she sounds like a child by saying “oh, yes please!” over and over. Gave me the ick 🥴

Overall, a good read & I will read more from Helena Hunting in the future!!

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holyhead_harpie's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Great example of friends to lovers trope. Refreshing to see two characters willing to admit their transgressions, understand how they wronged/hurt others, and seek professional help (i.e., therapy) to deal with their baggage.

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