Harley Spark is in her happy place, with the glitter and the cupcakes and the fairy tale dress-up closet. She works with her sisters at their boutique hotel Spark House, running the kids’ birthday parties. She is great with kids, and she loves to spend time with them, helping them find their joy and creativity through crafts and activities specifically chosen for them.
But her joy is coming to an end.
Over the last few years, her sisters London and Avery have both fallen in love and gotten married. They’ve started families. And they have lead the way to taking their family hotel to the next level, where they will be opening franchises of Spark House. While London and Avery have grown their roles in the new direction Spark House is moving in, Hayley is finding her role shrinking.
She had been running their social media and taking photos, but now there is a social media manager and a team doing most of that work. And she only has one more birthday party left. Her sisters thought it would be good to stop them until the first franchise was up and running. Now Harley is feeling left out and a little left behind. But this last birthday party includes a gift for her.
Seven years ago, Harley had to walk away from a job she loved. She was a nanny for a single father whose wife had died in childbirth. The infant she’d cared for was Peyton, and while Harley was only 19, she had loved taking care of her. Peyton’s father Gavin did his best, but he was grieving his wife. After an awkward moment between himself and Harley, Gavin decided to move away, so Peyton could be close to his late wife’s parents. But now they’re back, and they’re at the Spark House party.
Harley is surprised to see them but delighted to see Peyton all-grown up at 9. Over the next few weeks, she makes plans to meet up with them again. They go to the park and the zoo, and Harley jumps in and babysits Peyton when Gavin has to work late. Eventually, Harley has to admit that she’s falling for Gavin. But she also needs to figure out how to tell her sisters that she needs more of a role at Spark House. And when she and Gavin face obstacles in their relationship, will they find a way to work it out, or will he choose to move again?
Make a Wish is the third in Helena Hunting’s Spark House series, one book for each sister’s love story. Harley’s story has a lot of sweetness and a lot of glitter, but there is also more than a little heat in the relationship between Harley and Gavin. Harley has a lot of sensitivity towards the single dad and his daughter, so this romance has a lot of internal struggles and lots of feels. But watching Harley find her voice and go after what makes her happy is inspiring.
I listened to Make a Wish on audio, and the alternating narrators Stella Bloom and Jason Clarke tell this story with warmth and nuance. It was an enjoyable listen with lots of family togetherness. Peyton plays a big role in this book, so there are a lot of G-rated scenes, but there are definitely some scenes with much higher ratings.
I enjoyed listening to Make a Wish. I thought the narrators did a great job with these characters and kept the story from getting too saccharine. It wrapped up the Spark House series well, adding a different style of romance to the sisters’ stories but adding a lot of love to the family overall.
A copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.
