Review: Starry-Eyed Love

Starry-Eyed Love is the second novel in Helena Hunting’s Spark House series. In this book, we get to read about London, one of the three sisters the series focuses on. I was pleasantly surprised by the first book, When Sparks Fly (review here), and I think I enjoyed this one even more!

Here’s the book’s description:

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 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 think this romance came along for me just at the right time. It’s been a little while since I actually read it (school really gets in the way of writing blog reviews!) so, thinking back, I’m not sure exactly what it was that made me bump up the rating for this book to 4 stars. You know me though – I’m all about how a book made me feel vs how “good” it is. I was all in for this romance and the fact that I was completely invested made me really enjoy my reading time.

There was a lot of miscommunication in this book. Neither London nor Jackson really share how they’re feeling as they’re both worried the other might not want the same things. Plus, London was hiding SO MUCH from her sisters. They have such a close relationship, but this novel showed that they weren’t really talking to each other. How did neither of her sisters realize how beaten down London was getting?

I really liked the romance – miscommunication aside – between London and Jackson. Normally I hate reading about billionaire heroes because there’s always a serious power imbalance between him and the heroine and that makes me feel icky. But Jackson was a solid dude and you could tell he respected London and truly wanted her and her family business to succeed. They had time to get to know each other as they worked as business partners before finally giving into the romantic feelings they had for each other. I think that allowed for a more solid foundation of a relationship.

I’m definitely looking forward to book three in the Spark House series after enjoying Starry-Eyed Love so much. When Helena Hunting does romance right, she does it right and this series is a great one to dive into this summer.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*