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Spark

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Spark

By: Lauren Rowe
Narrated by: Samantha Brentmoor, Austin Stone, Connor Crais, John Lane, Sean Masters, Tim Paige
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Summary

She’s my best friend. And I secretly want her.

Ruby’s my best friend and bandmate. The sister of my good friend, too. Which makes her “triple off-limits” to me. I’d even say she’s like a sister to me, if it weren’t for the unbrotherly dreams I’ve had about her since age sixteen.

But when Ruby drunkenly kisses me at a party to piss off her ex, the spark I’ve been working hard to snuff out for years bursts into a raging pyre. And now, I can’t stop obsessing about that kiss and yearning for another one.

In fact, after The Kiss That Changed Everything, I’m now determined to do whatever it takes to make Ruby mine, even at the risk of burning my whole world down.

Spark is a complete standalone, best friends to lovers, forced proximity, rockstar romance.

©2025 Lauren Rowe (P)2025 Lauren Rowe Contemporary Funny
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slow burn, musicians romance besties to lovers with music throughout...love it. the narrators brought this to life 🌶️🎸🎶

one of the best audiobooks ever

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One of the best recorded duet narration novels I’ve heard - this actually sounds as though the various exchanges were recorded with relevant narrators present at the same time. It's great to have snippets from the music referred to included throughout the narrative and a complete EP at the end of the story.

The audiobook gives us the full story of how Ruby and Kendrick get together but their tale also includes Savage and Laila's origin story which can be found in full separately. I’ll definitely be purchasing that one.

This is obviously a story which isn't founded in a reality most of the audience either will aspire to or can achieve but it's a relatively believable one (including overindulgence in various substances and mindless hookups). The major characters are all well developed though don't expect a great deal of growth or change in any of them. Even the MCs don't grow to any great extent, with the obvious exception of them coming to their own understandings of their feelings for one another.

The spice is well distributed throughout the tale and is reasonably hot - probably 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5. It's fairly explicit but not crude and though there are details of minor kinkiness in there, we’re not subjected to derogatory language or behaviour. The musical snippets, though not my usual taste, were well done. If I were to hear that the actual narrators’ voices were those we hear, I’d be seriously impressed.

The list of narrators includes some of my absolute favourites. Ms Brentmoor hits the perfect note for Ruby. She sounds just the right age, comes across as bright and bubbly where appropriate and can express everything from uncertainty to sultry passion believably. I haven't heard much by Mr Stone previously but he has a wonderful warm tone which doesn't sound as though he's smoked 60 a day for most of his adult life.

The audiobook was a great example of how an author can use the Plus catalogue to their advantage. It's a good length, meaning the audience gets plenty of time to establish whether the style, language and content are to their taste. It doesn't end on a cliffhanger (one of my pet hates) and so I didn't feel tricked into purchasing more just to find out how a story resolves. Though it is a standalone and can be listened to as such, we get to know enough about other characters to pique my interest in their own stories. Caleb’s is next on the list for me and I’m pretty sure I won't need to have heard Spark first to enjoy that one.

This was free from the Plus catalogue when I listened to it but it's gone into my list of titles worth a second hearing. I think I’d have been more than happy to have used a credit on it without having listened to it free first. It's the first title I’ve listened to from Ms Rowe and I’ve already lined up a couple of others which are also in the Plus catalogue. Assuming I enjoy at least one of them as much as I have done this one, I’ve got a number marked out in my Wish List for future purchase.

Aptly named as it's sparked my interest in the rest of Ms Rowe's novels.

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Good story, the songs sprinkled through added a nice twist. Sadly spent the whole time thinking the main female character was about to jump into “this one time, at band camp…” as she puts on that strange slightly shaky intonation. Would avoid books performed by her in future.

Easy listen

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I got to appreciate Love Hate High much better this time around and really enjoyed Savage Love (Acoustic).

The story was long and convoluted and could have been trimmed, to be honest.

I stick with my opinion that book 2 is the better story out of all 3.

The Songs Were Better Than The Story

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This book and the others in this world are so good. The music just adds another layer. They're all bops! I always love a duet narration. This one feels like a full cast performance. Just awesome.

Just fun!

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