A Spark of Romance

by Jamie K. Schmidt

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Is she out of reach? Fire Chief and former Army sergeant Kayleigh Baker is determined to save Mulberry’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display. She doesn’t want to disappoint the kids and the fireworks are a bittersweet memory of her mom’s last summer. As the town prepares for the summer parade and picnic, Kayleigh works to convince her former high school crush — now the straight-laced police chief — to help her cause. Does he stack up? Police Chief Liam MacAvoy doesn’t like the chaos the fireworks cause for his department and can’t hide his relief when they’re cancelled. But now he’s got the woman he’s been in love with for as long as he can remember asking for his help. How can he say no? What he’d really like is to show her that fireworks and town traditions are not the only things worth fighting for. Can the boy next door and the town hero find the courage to finally seize their chance at love?

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Book Details

Genre

Contemporary Romance

Subgenre

Small Town, Office / Workplace

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

1 None

Violence

1 None

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

1 None

Publication Date

June 30, 2020

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author, Jamie K. Schmidt, writes erotic contemporary love stories and paranormal romances. Her steamy, romantic comedy, Life’s a Beach, reached #65 on USA Today, #2 on Barnes & Noble and #9 on Amazon and iBooks. Her Club Inferno series from Random House’s Loveswept line has hit both the Amazon and Barnes & Noble top one hundred lists. The first book in the series, Heat, put her on the USA Today bestseller list for the first time, and is a #1 Amazon bestseller. Her book Stud is a 2018 Romance Writers of America Rita® Finalist in Erotica. Her dragon paranormal romance series has been called “fun and quirky” and “endearing.” Partnered with New York Times bestselling author and former porn actress, Jenna Jameson, Jamie’s hardcover debut, SPICE, continues Jenna’s FATE trilogy.

A fun friends-to-lovers romance!

A Spark of Romance is a sweet friends-to-lovers romance between the fire chief and the police chief of a small town who are clashing over whether or not the town's fireworks display is going to happen on Independence Day. (Her: yes, it's my dead mother's legacy. Him: but the noise complaints! the dogs! the kids using the example to set off their own and almost blowing off their body parts! Oddly enough, given that the heroine is an Army vet, veterans' PTSD being set off doesn't come into play...maybe no one else in town has been in combat?)

Kayleigh and Liam were clearly into each other--the whole town could see it, as is evidenced by her dad's social media feed--and it took them *forever* to finally get together, but there was a whole lot of rom-com-y-ish reasons why throughout which made it more fun than frustrating most of the time. An honest conversation or two could have cleared things up as well, though it was obvious that they both had baggage (especially from the carnage left behind by their first kiss as teens) that made it *mostly* believable that they didn't just sit down and have a chat to clear the air.

And then they do get together, and it's all adorableness--worth it!

The small town setting is delightful and the secondary characters a lot of fun (KAYLEIGH HAS TWO SISTERS, Y'ALL!) so my fingers are crossed that we'll see more books set in Mulberry in the not-so-distant future :)

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

A Spark of Romance and Fireworks!

I received this arc from Tule Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book. However, I felt it took so long for the couple to get together, there wasn’t much left of the book. The story takes place in a small own in NY, Mulberry. The story is about 3 friends since kindergarten, Liam, Kayleigh and Evan. Liam is the police chief whose always had a crush on Kayleigh, the Fire chief. Evan is the head of their city and their boss. Kayleigh joined the military right after high school and had been gone for 10 years. She was devastated when she learned she missed her mom’s funeral while in Iraq. She returned after getting out of the service and looking for different places to live instead. She isn’t sure about staying in Mulberry.

Liam has always been in Mulberry along with Evan. He unsuccessfully kissed Kayleigh when they were younger but his dad ruined it. Either have pursued it over the years. Kayleigh has 3 sisters and her dad left in town that she’s very close with. Her mom was always the one to shoot off the fireworks at the towns annual festival at the Fourth of July. His year she wants to take over this responsibility to honor her mom’s memory. The year before she had some mishaps with her fireworks show and so Liam and Evan wanted to cancel the fireworks. Neither realized how important they are to Kayleigh. The story is mostly about the competitions between Liam and Kayleigh as they try to best the other. There is the chili cook off and softball game between their departments where each tries to win. It is ironic as both are in love with the other but won’t give up a hint until the end of the book. I can see possible future books sr each of Kayleigh’s sisters. I recommend this for a light read with a HEA..

Fun, delightful romance

Take two equally stubborn, hard-headed people. Mix in a bit of history of crushes and an unsuccessful kiss back in high school. Fold in some conflict over Independence Day fireworks. Sprinkle with lots of sexual tensions and small-town ‘romantic help’. And you’ll discover ‘A Spark of Romance‘.

Liam and Kayleigh are obviously interested in each other… for a very long time. Yet, each now has responsible careers that will put them on opposite sides of a holiday tradition in their small hometown. As the Police Chief, Liam isn’t the least bit sorry that troubles with the supplier of the fireworks display will prevent that nightmare of calls, emergencies, and possible body parts being blown off from taking place. On the other side, Kayleigh as Fire Chief wants that display with all of her heart for many differing reasons. And she’ll do anything she needs to do to make those fireworks ignite the sky this year.

I enjoyed ‘A Spark of Romance‘ and certainly hope it is an introduction to a soon to be series, it has that feel to it. A romance that feels old-fashioned in mindset and delivery was a delightful discovery. Yet. It seemed to me that for most of Liam’s and Kayleigh’s story all they did was argue, or fight, or walk away with issues unresolved. I felt the attraction, knew that they had feelings for each other (or was told that they did), and there were so many laugh-out-loud moments (think mischievous Husky on a roof needing rescuing), and a down-home small-town feel that the arguments didn’t take away from my enjoying their story and wanting to know more about characters I met. So, I’m going to leave it at that. I had fun, I definitely want more stories about this family, this town, and these secondary characters because I can see what might be – and I want to experience that.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher, Tule Publishing. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

Fireworks are magical!

I love fireworks and I agree with Kayleigh – 4th of July deserves fireworks. This is a sweet story about Kayleigh and Liam. They are both chiefs – she is for the fire department and he is for the police department. Well Liam is about to deliver some bad news to Kayleigh as the place that was supposed to deliver the fireworks was flooded out and then robbed. Now they only have half the money to make this work and Liam and along with Evan doesn’t want to spend the money due to what happened the year before, which some part is funny but also to use the money for something else. Well Kayleigh is not going to give up the problem with these two is that they have feelings for each other but one is waiting for the other to act on it. The story has some funny scenes, but the competitive nature in these two is what makes this story great.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

2nd chance at love but VERY slow burn

I adored this story. This author can really write and she creates stories and characters I absolutely adore. This is a wonderful story and I absolutely loved it. But the couple don't even kiss until 90% of this book ends and I really wanted more romance. That said this was a lovely story just not really romance.

This is a the story about three best friends in a small town who grew up together in small town and now they help run the town. Kayleigh is the fire chief and a former military army. Liam is the Police Chief and Evan is the Mayor or Townsman or something like that. Kay belongs to the middle class and Liam richer part of town. And they are both in love with each other but also best friends and they never tell each other how they feel. All three get dragged in to an issue of whether theys hould fireworks for the 4th of July and it really hurts their relationship.

While this was a wonderful story I wanted more romance and this story is more centered on the 4th of July fireworks than on figuring out Kayleigh and Laim's relayionship. That said it was a wonderful story and I absolutely loved it.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.