3,5 stars

Cute Hallmark type romance in a small town during winter. The feel of the small town was a very cute touch and I enjoyed reading about Janie's community.

I missed a bit more background on Crystal to be honest. I get why she kept the lie going for so long, but it would have helped to know more about her past or maybe some deeper thoughts on her side.

Janie was an absolute gem.

There could have been more time spent on the side characters as now it felt like Dana's lie was not as severe as it could have been? Or should have been?

An ARC was provided to me via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

This is a great quick read with some holiday cheer mixed in. I would definitely recommend. Perfect Christmas read!

This book had a strong Hallmark Christmas feel, a low tension story about Crystal and Janie. Crystal is given the opportunity to gain a long desired promotion if she goes to the small town of Pine Grove to try and get them to upgrade to Wi-Fi, streaming, the whole nine yards. While the choice of Crystal coming in secretly created a tension that led to a kind of predictable blow out, seeing Crystal fall in love with Janie and Pine Grove both was cute. I loved the denizens of the small town, both caring and supportive, but very nosy and not above doing a bit of butting in to their loved ones' lives.

Is it too late to read holiday books? I guess if Christmas novels can be released in August, there’s no reason to stop reading them in January.

A Spark in the Air is a light and quick novel, which I read on a dark and rainy Sunday. It’s a pretty traditional romance, safe and cute. Crystal is sent to Pine Grove, Vermont, to convince the local authorities that it’s time for the small town to get better internet, that it would bring more tourists and make life easier for the locals. Among the people she needs to persuade is Janie, who manages the town’s internet café. Crystal goes undercover, not expecting to meet the woman who will make her question her own life.

I didn’t really understand the premise, why a small town would resist wifi and high-speed internet with such force and I think maybe, not being American, I’m missing some cultural nuances. It didn’t really matter as the story focuses on the romance arc. Crystal’s lies bring tension to the story and I felt the resolution was a bit rushed, but it was all in all entertaining. 3.5⭐️

Took me longer than usual to read this book, it's a gentle romance set in a small town before Christmas. I found the decision by one of the main character's to lie, to the other, from the beginning, added some unnecessary tension that I didn't enjoy. Having said that I enjoyed the small town life as described very much, it had a lovely community feel and a network of mostly women taking care of each other. The endless arguments about the pluses and minuses of the internet were a little much, the point was made early on and didn't need repeating. Overall a light read that you'll enjoy if you can suspend some disbelief.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the world that was created with the characters. Although I found Janie and Crystal refreshing, I was anxiously awaiting for the big reveal and it was a little predictable in that sense. The book definitely gave me the small town Christmas fees and I would love to see more stories from the other characters!

This is a beautifully written book. Crystal has the opportunity to advance to a position she always wanted in the company she works for. In order to accomplish this, she goes to Pine Grove a small town to convince them that Wi fi and high-speed internet is better for the community. The characters are lovable and has great chemistry and the small-town feel was amazing. However, Crystal is not the focused career driven person I expected her to be. Regardless, I would recommend..

Big city executive comes to small town during the holidays, falls for local small business owner, learns the importance of love, family, and community – A Spark In The Air has that classic Hallmark movie structure that we all know and love.

Spark Wireless Broadband executive Crystal works too hard and puts her job and pursuit of a promotion ahead of everything, especially according to her ex who dumps her right before the holidays. When her boss sends her to a small, picturesque town in Vermont the week before Christmas to convince the city council to allow Spark to bring in WiFi and cellphone service, she finds herself caught up in the holiday magic and the pretty blue eyes of one of the town council hold outs.

Janie runs the Cyber Shack. The small business has been in her family for years and is the lone place in technology-suspicious Pine Grove where residents can access the internet or play console games while enjoying coffee and local gossip. She finds herself immediately drawn to Crystal, who she thinks is simply a visitor in town for the holiday season, and is thrilled to find the attraction is mutual.

Janie herself isn’t so much against the idea of WiFi as she is someone who goes along with what other people want – her friend, a fellow business owner and council member, is afraid of the town losing its Rockwell appeal and his children becoming addicted to their cellphones; the older generation (including her father) are against the government being able to track them through their phone and interest use. Crystal lies to Janie from the beginning, even pretending to be the niece of the local Inn keeper who goes along with it, and she just gets herself in deeper and deeper. She lets Janie introduce her to friends and family and falls into an intimate relationship with her, all the while using Janie’s insider knowledge to give her an edge in convincing the town to bring in WiFi.

I was so invested in all these people, even as I was yelling at Crystal to stop making it worse before she comes clean (spoiler: she didn’t listen to me). No worries though since this is a feel-good Christmas romance: HEA guaranteed.

Overall, I really liked A Spark In The Air. Sure it’s a little formulaic, but there’s a reason this kind of holiday romance is a classic. It’s warm and cozy, with just the right generous dash of spice and wee-bit amount of angst to keep things interesting.

The story revolves around Crystal and Janie. Crystal works as an internet executive that has been given the task of getting Pine Grove on board with wi-fi. Janie owns the town's internet cafe with only dial up. Crystal goes to the town and tries to blend in with the locals to find out why the town is so opposed to wi-fi. She finds that is not wi-fi that the town opposes. It is what the internet cafe represents. It is a meeting place for the locals to get together and it has been that way for decades.
Crystal finds friends and foes for wi-fi. Even Janie can be persuaded to reevaluate wi-fi as she and Crystal spend time together. All is going well until Crystal's boss comes into town and reeks havoc on some of the progress she has made and Janie finds out why she is really there.
I would recommend this.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Hallmark type of Christmas-themed rom-com. If you enjoy those movies I guess you'll like this book as well.
For me personally it was quite slow, boring and predictable. For the majority of it nothing really happens, there are just pages and pages of angst and fluff. The two MC's were okay but I can't say I found anything interesting or distinguishable about either of them.
The ending was rushed and compared to the whole middle of the book where nothing really happens, the author should have put much more time and effort into making it sound believable.


Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much for the publisher for allowing me to read this book, I thought it was really good! I am excited when this comes out and I can add this to my collection.

Janie Elliott's family has owned a small business for generations, going through many changes but when Janie became manager she decided to turn the space into the internet cafe ‘Cyber Shack’. She was always trying to update her cafe to meet the needs of the Pine Grove community. Many locals were against anything that they feared would change the town's charm, including bringing the internet to the whole community. As it was, if customers wanted to play games, work or just stay in touch with the rest of the world they had to make their way to the Cyber Shack.
Crystal Tucker couldn’t imagine living without access to the internet and it was her job to convince the town her company was the one to do just that. Crystal wants to make the deal for her company because with this deal she’s got a strong chance of getting the promotion she wants. She didn’t count on Janie being someone she wanted to know, possibly date.
Ms Blake’s writing is as always a fun adventure. Great characters and a somewhat believable plot makes this a fun read. Very, very nice read.
ARC via NetGalley/Bold Stroke Books

Perfect Christmas read!

It’s all about the community, family, and friendships. And includes that small-town Christmas feel to it. The characters are realistic, bubbly, charming and defiantly hold that chemistry between them! It's a love story, about caring for others and pulling together at Christmas time.

A spark in the air is an absolute must-read.

I've given A spark in the air a 4 out of 5.

What a sweet, fun holiday read. It's a new addition to my wish it was a Hallmark movie list. Really can't go wrong with this small town romance.

Thank you to Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This read makes me smile. The family support. The small town. The city. The holiday season. The friendships. Janie Elliott, owner of the Cyber Shack; she is such a likeable character and I wanted her to be in a relationship. Crystal Tucker, internet executive for a company called Spark who wants very badly to add this small Vermont town to it's portfolio. There is push back and she works to navigate those in the town who think it will be a negative. Crystal is a little more difficult to like because of the deception she uses to gather information. I did enjoy the chemistry between Janie ad Crystal.

Pine Grove Vermont wants to keep the Internet out of their community in order to retain their small town ideals. Big Brother is just not welcome. Crystal Tucker’s mission is to quietly infiltrate the community to better understand their rational and to determine what would motivate them to change their minds. The telecommunications company she works for is looking for a signed contract with Pine Grove very soon and for Crystal to make it happen. Janie Elliot owns the local cyber cafe and does not want to lose her business if the internet is brought in. If Crystal can get Janie to see the opportunities instead, half her battle is won.

A Spark in the Air is a fun romantic read set in picturesque Vermont just before Christmas. The push and pull of the main characters to open themselves to love is orchestrated beautifully by Blake. She reminds us of the simpler joys in life and all the pluses to living in a small town. There are definitely inevitables to the story but ohhh the journey is so captivating. This is a definite addition for your TBR list.

I received a free advance review copy from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Really good story. The relationship between Crystal and Janie was really sweet. This book had me wondering, about little towns that tend to live in the past and seem to resist all aspects of modernising or coming into the 21 century. I don't think I would live in a place that doesn't have some form of Internet. This was a fun book to read and the supporting characters were well written and made this an even better reading experience. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and family and I look forward to what's next from this author.

I confess I expected a little bit more drama! I know it's supposed to be fluffy, the small town setting appeals to it. But I thought everything was solved so quickly! I do like the resolution, having dual POV helps a lot because we could see Crystal's intention, but she did pretend to be someone else and it was all so rushed. I wanted more pining. All in all, it is a cozy read, good for the holiday season.

Thank you Bold Strokes Books for giving me this ARC in exchange for a review!!

This is a great small-town, Christmasy and cozy read!!🫶

We have Janie Elliot, owner of Cyber Shack in small-town Pine Grove, in Vermont, and Crystal Tucker, internet executive at Spark, in Texas.
Crystal is promised a director position at the company if she manages to sell WiFi to the small and disconnected town of Pine Grove. And she’s set out to fulfil the challenge.
Except she soon meets Janie, beautiful, hardworking and passionate, who turns her plan upside down.

This was a very cute and cozy read! Very holiday-ish and relatively low action. The book mostly just revolves around the characters, especially Crystal getting used to Pine Grove, rather than focusing on action.

Its a sapphic romance that has dual POV, some betrayal, second chance and holiday spirit in a small town in Vermont!

The author’s writing is clear even when dealing with more descriptive scenes and everything flows really good. Although slow at times, it really fits the ‘cozy read’ aspect!!

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.

This book stressed me the heck out. I was mad at Crystal the whole time for concealing her true identity (none more so than the first time she slept with Janie), while simultaneous rooting for them to make things work together. I loved the small-town setting of this book, and found myself wanting to visit Pine Grove during the winter and participate in all the fun holiday activities.

There were, however, a few things that I struggled with. If this wasn’t an ARC, I would’ve refused to believe that this book didn’t come out 15 years ago. Are there even towns in the US that still do not have cell service and Wifi?!? Also, I had a hard time believing that Dana was willing to lie and continue lying to one of her closest friends when she knew it would end with her getting hurt. This fact alone made Dana kind of unlikeable.

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading this novel!