Helena Hunting

I am writing to inform you I need to terminate our agreement (as author and reader) for the following violations:

1.)Incredibly awful language about casual and consensual sex.
I get my dramatic flair from my mom. I hope I’m not this bad. “Brainless hockey slut? I’m not a puck bunny, Mom. We’re hanging out
This isn’t the worst, but it is all over the damn book. Women who like casual sex are also women. Thanks.

2.)There’s funny, raunchy dialogue and there’s…this. And this doesn’t show more stop.
“I have not lost it, Char! That’s a totally legit question.” She looks to me as though I’m going to confirm the legitimacy of having a reaction to jizz on my face. At my silence, she continues her explanation. “Sometimes, when Alex eats too many suicide wings, his jizz makes my chest red.”
I have yet to meet women who discuss anything at this level. Yes, Violet is supposed to be a bit of a disaster, but this kind of talk is not limited to her.

3.)When I first read Pucked, I was kind of smitten. Alex was a great hero. Good pairing. Now I wonder if that was my younger years of romance and I missed something. after having just read Hooking Up, the tone and content felt so similar,I’m can’t find a reason to read anymore. I’ve read a good portion of the catalog, and nothing’s above a 3: It’s not me, it’s not you, it’s us.
4.) Weak character development. No character development?
At 85% Randy talks to his mother and I feel like I literally just learned he had a sister?

5.)A silly silly subplot on disfigurement
Not even sure what to say about this one, it was such nonsense.

6.)These are too long for the subject matter. Dare I say much of the page space is taken up with too much sex? Or talking about sex. Or thinking about sex. They did some skating. They ate once. Even hanging out with friends, it’s all sex all the time. I’d rather chill with the “puck bunnies” at least maybe they talk hockey or something? If 4 females are going to hang around discussing my current fling’s junk for 50 minutes, I would start to think I need better, more interesting, more sensitive friends.

7.) Protagonists who believe the actions of their parents who have had little influence on their upbringing have sealed their fate.
That’s just dumb.

I will perhaps miss the good old smut. Because I do like some of the sex scenes quite a bit, just not enough. Honestly, more of the friendship between Miller & Randy. It was kind of endearing.

Disclaimer: I’m in a bit of slump and attempting to do just this: eliminate reads like this from my TBR. I honestly don’t know why I finished…but I did, and so now this termination is fair. show less

All the feels and happy sighs
5 Stars

Starry-Eyed Love is the second in Helena Hunting’s Spark House series about three sisters who own and run a boutique hotel together. Each book is about a different sister and stands alone although obviously the sisters feature heavily in all stories. Having said that, I’m glad that I read Avery’s story first in When Sparks Fly, as as much as I liked her in her own story, I didn’t really care for her in this one. But that’s okay, as this is middle show more sister London’s story.

This book is a bit of insta-spark followed by some slow burn goodness. It’s also got a bit of the friends to lovers trope going on as London and Jackson stay annoyingly in the friend zone for the first wee while. The sexual tension was just exquisite - I just wanted to smoosh their faces together and get them to admit that they liked each other.

Although we do get the story from both London and Jackson’s perspectives, the majority if the time we hear from London. This works to make us just as frustrated as she is when it comes to Jackson. Does he like her as much as she likes him? Why is he playing hot then cold towards her? It’s delightfully annoying and a testament to the always wonderful writing of Helena Hunting.

I adored London as our heroine. She’s dealing with a lot of anxiety and really doesn’t know her place with Spark House or believe in herself as much as she should. She was so relatable and I really wanted her to get her happily ever after. She so deserved it.

Jackson was absolute perfection as the slightly cocky, in charge billionaire. I adored that he was instantly smitten with London and so caring and understanding of her. He was honest with his feelings but also often clueless as to how things were playing out around him. When he realised, and things came crashing down around him, the fact that he was so broken about London - it made my day. It seems like I do enjoy it when an author makes her heroes absolutely miserable without the heroine.

As I said, the slow burn really amps up the sexual tension so much that a simple kiss on the back of the neck had me melting into a puddle of lust. When things finally come to fruition, it felt right and inevitable and oh so satisfying. And once it starts, well, all bets are off!

There were a few difficult issues in the back stories of our characters but while upsetting, the story never wanders into traumatic territory, thankfully. And while this isn’t a romantic comedy, it’s definitely got that light, uplifting quality about it. It’s funny, too. The part where Jackson ‘officially’ asks London out was a hoot. I even told people about it to share the laughs - although most just thought I was a bit strange!

I really loved this story. London was such a great character and I loved that she found her perfect match with Jackson. It was adorable, funny and romantic - another clear winner from Ms Hunting and a book I would very highly recommend. All the feels and happy sighs. Can’t wait for Harley’s story. show less

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Charming, hilarious, and emotional, Starry-Eyed Love is Helena Hunting at her very best!

Having just broken up with her boyfriend, London Spark is not in the mood to be hit on. Especially not when she’s out celebrating her single status with her sisters. So when a very attractive man pays for their drinks and then slips her his number, she passes it right back to him with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’. As the business administrator for their family’s show more event hotel, the Spark House, London has more important things to worry about, like bringing in new clientele.

As luck would have it, a multi-million-dollar company calls a few months later asking for a meeting to discuss a potential partnership, and London is eager to prove to her sisters, and herself, that she can land this deal. Just when she thinks she has nailed her presentation, the company’s CEO, Jackson Holt, walks in and inserts himself into the meeting. Not only that, but he also happens to be the same guy she turned down at the bar a few months ago.

As they begin to spend more time together, their working relationship blossoms into something more. It isn’t until their professional entanglements are finally over, that London and Jackson are finally ready to take the next step in their relationship. But between Jackson’s secretive past and London’s struggle with her sisters, London must question where she really stands—not just with Jackson, but with the Spark House, too.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: It's a very, very different experience to read a straight-people romance than my usual M/M reads. In this case, I think I came in after some character work had already been done in the first Spark House book, When Sparks Fly, on this entry's PoV character. London Spark, to those who might not know her from before, is a rather serious-minded and goal-oriented participant in a family enterprise called Spark House. It is an event hotel-cum-venue, and London has somehow been foisted the job of numbers lady. She's not a natural number-cruncher but she knows about sacrificing for a greater goal and gets her considerable wits marshaled to the task of making the finances run.

I, like all other readers, am meeting Jackson the love interest with London. He lets her know he's interested without being more than ordinarily persistent. She declines; he leaves her possessed of his details and accepts his rejection without drama. So far, so good. When a time has passed and Spark House attracts business interest from a tech-bro investor, one who's made to sound like Elon only hot, absolutely not one soul is surprised it's Jackson the rejected suitor.

We know this drill: what's going to happen, the misunderstandings, the idiotic miscommunications, the resolution of HEA or HFN; so the point of reading this book is *how* not what.

The satisfaction of a superior craftworker's results is this very thing. Now, the M/M romance world will usually have something very sexy pretty early. Not so this book. London's been burned and isn't in a huge hurry to try the waters with a tech bro. She is, once he shows back up as a potential financing source, perfectly happy to work with him. They come to know each other, and the readers each of them, as their work brings out facets of their lives quite naturally and unforcedly. Again to no one's surprise Jackson is a good guy, and he's got a solid head on his shoulders; he comes to like and respect London, he fully engages with her as an equal in business (if one with different skills from his); the result is a slow-burn low-steam character study of two young people whose lives are pressurized by goals instead of ambitions.

Why I enjoyed reading it enough to rate it more than a solid three or possibly three-and-a-half stars of five was London's affectionate but exasperated relationships with older sister Avery and younger sister Harley. They were...warm. They didn't ring swords of wit in battles for prominence, they half-ribbed and three-quarters snarked and generally behaved the way friends do. It worked to give me a sense of their bond that was less intense than the Three Musketeers and more positive than the Three Stooges but still very real.

You can't go wrong with a read that does this kind of work when one accidentally reads book two in a series. I am glad I spent time with the Spark family. show less

This was an absolute delight—equally swoony, emotional, and hilarious. I loved the second-chance dynamic between Essie and Nate, especially with all the wedding chaos forcing them back together. Their chemistry was electric, and the grumpy/sunshine pairing worked so well. Essie is charming and self-aware, and Nate’s slow emotional unraveling really got to me. The banter, salsa dancing, and unresolved tension kept me hooked. I especially appreciated how the story handled vulnerability and show more therapy in a realistic, positive way. The side characters added so much warmth, and the entire Toronto Terror universe feels like a cozy place I want to revisit. This was such a feel-good, heartfelt romance. I laughed, teared up, and didn’t want it to end. show less