Viral Sparks

Tidewater Cove Firefighters #1

by Carley Henry

Enemies to lovers meets fake dating in this cozy spice small town firefighter romance where one viral video leads to chaos and flames neither of them can put out.

Photographer Savannah Blake's career imploded the moment her biggest client fired her. Now she's desperate enough to shoot the "Hot Firefighters of the Beach" calendar in small town Tidewater Cove.

There's just one her assigned liaison is Max Robbins...the firefighter she accidentally turned into a viral meme when she filmed him shrieking at a cat. Now he hates her guts.

Max would rather fight a five-alarm blaze than spend eight weeks with the woman who humiliated him. But orders are orders, and their disastrous first meeting involving spilled coffee proves this calendar shoot is going to be hell.

The internet labels them #Maxannah and when their ex's show up at the same gala, a desperate alliance is fake date to save face then part ways when the project ends. If only it was that easy.

A laugh-out-loud, scorching romance about second chances, found family and learning that sometimes the person who drives you the craziest is exactly who you need.

Genres: Romance, Fake Dating, Firefighters, Enemies To Lovers, Amazon, Contemporary

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 12, 2025

Reviews

[Krystin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had potential but the execution wasn’t good.
This needs an editor, badly.
The plot was so choppy and all over the place, the pacing was off, the POV switched back and forth from 1st to 3rd person and it’s full of continuation errors.

The most glaringly obvious one…the book opens on May 3rd @ 2:17a and then flashes back 15 months. The book ends coming back to the present day timeline…but on May 2nd @ 3:14a

[Rhea Morrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read overall. There are a couple of places where the author switched from third person to first person in the narrative, and that brought me out of the story, thus the 4-star instead of 5-star rating.

The characters were relatable and, for the most part, believable. There were a couple of areas where a reader would question actions or timing, but they weren't so far off that it made you stop reading to question it.

I loved seeing the growth of the MMC, and can't blame him for being mad with some of the shenanigans of the MFC. :)

Would recommend!

[Jenni Blackburn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sigh. I feel I must warn readers, read this book if you want the cheesiest, most cliche romance book that moves too fast. A very “his abs were rock solid and I couldn’t stop staring even though I hate him” kind of book. I skimmed the last 50% just to see if they developed chemistry, and while the premise was cute, it was overdone and choppy (also, no chemistry). I couldn’t get over the fact that they went from “hating” each other to making out passionately the next day without real emotional connection in between? And then hating each other again? And then making out again? Also, some glaring editorial oversights. You may like it, but it was not for me!

[Victoria Skye Better · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some may call it cliché, but I think it’s simply a lovely story. The author is an artist, and this is how she chose to see it.
Why not?!

[Karm Barter · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was cute. A good palette cleanser. Spice was decent. Fighting was decent. I’ll read more from this author.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

So much wrong with this story. We should feel sorry for a fireman who was teased with captain whiskers as a nickname? We should believe a photographer would slam her (extremely expense) equipment on a table? We should believe that, even though she is a professional, her camera is too slow to in capture a guys mocking face, seconds before he changes it. Whatever.
I love a good enemies to lovers. But this is bullshit. Glad it was free on amazon.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the romance between max and savannah so much and love the enemies to lovers, fake dating so much and love sparky the firefighter house new mascot who doesn’t like max and couldn’t stop laughing. Love the sexual tension between max and savannah through out the book. I didn’t like their exes max ex wife Jessica and savannah ex boyfriend Julian. Love the found family between the firefighters and savannah being part of that and love the small town of Tidewater cove. And savannah is a photographer doing a firefighter calendar and max is the lieutenant firefighter and he has a sister called daisy. Love the spicy scenes between max and savannah and also savannah made max go viral a while ago and it didn’t go well. And love the ending with max firefighters saving him from a burning building and savannah being by his side and they get married and find out that savannah is pregnant and I just love this book so much with the spice and funny moments and I liked that max slowly opened up to savannah about what happened on the job with a little girl and she understands him.

Spicy
Firefighter romance
Romantic Comedy
Under 90 pages
Read as an ebook
Firefighter x photographer
Fake dating
Enemies to lovers
Cozy Small town

[Faithe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viral Sparks by Carley Henry is book 1 in the Tidewater Cove Firefighters series.

Savannah Blake is a photographer looking for her next gig. Although it's not her usually photographic style, she takes a job to shoot the "hot firefighters" calender for Tidewater Cove. Should be easy enough to do, until she shows up and realizes her firefighter liaison and her have met before, and it didn't go well.

Savannah may have turned Max Robbins into a meme when she filmed him shrieking from a cat. Max would rather run into a burning building then spend time with Savannah, and he does whatever he can to sabotage her photoshoots in return.

The Internet dubbed them #maxannah and when they show up to an event where both of their ex's are, a fake dating romance begins.

I loved how this book incorporated viral moments and I loved how Max sabotaged the photos. I also loved the firefighter doggy!

Tropes
- enemies to lovers
- fake dating
- firefighter romance

I liked this fun, firery romance that starts and ends with suspenseful drama.

#maxannah #viralsparks

[Ashh C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has potential to be very catchy… I actually liked how the first chapter was the present day to get you hooked instantly to the story and then remaining chapters minus the last one was how their story came to be. It was definitely different and like I said it was catchy. The banter was great. The push and pull .. trying to resist. Great. But.. it’s needs work. A lot of work… it was choppy. All over the place at times. Some scenes were rewritten .. (example: bedroom who woke up first) it could definitely use a editor to look through it and catch some other errors (story started on May 3rd but last chapter coming back to present day said May 2nd and the times were off) overall like I said it has potential to be really good. It just needs some work and if it ever gets edited and revised, I would be interested to read it again.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super fun, quick read (under 200 pages) that had me laughing, but also brought an underlying emotional aspect to the hardships of being a firefighter. Savannah and Max had a great dynamic and chemistry. LOVED the meddling crew and the fake dating. I am also a complete sucker for photographer main characters.

There were a few instances I felt that the timeline didn’t flow properly and a pov change mid chapter threw me off. However, with that said, I had a great time and excited for the next book! Also, cannot forget sweet Sparky!! The pup that brought some great moments throughout.

[Tracy Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the debut book for a new author, and if the rest of her books are like this one, I will be a long-time reader. I loved the book opened with a situation (no spoilers), and the chapters following were the backstory/history leading up to the event. This Firefighter storyline is HOTT as the characters begin fake-dating and build into a real relationship. I am looking forward to the next book in the series – already pre-ordered it!!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review honestly and voluntarily.

[Angelina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure if three stars aren't too nice. I was excited for this short book, but it disappointed me. Enemies at first for childish reasons then they are attracted to each other and from one day to the next they are in love and engaged? it was so rushed. the proposal was only a page long. I didn't feel the love and the attempt to make him a layered character just felt flat. There were cute scenes but they were too short. Some plot points just vanished. However, what triggered me the most was the switching between third person and first person. Why would someone do that!?!

[Kellie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love firefighters, I love clumsy and grumpy firefighters.

This had the potential to be an amazing book - the banter was great, those smashing movie moments were exceptional but everything felt so rushed! There was so much opportunity to really keep building on the angst and the tension and even develop more of the relationship - at times it felt like their was instant love and ick moments, and then there was real character development.... Lost stars because of how rushed it was.... hoping there's an opportunity for MORE

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly should have DNF’d this book because I knew I was not going to like it from the prologue but I figured it was so short that I would just stick with it. I didn’t like how the book started and then jumped back in time, normally I don’t mind this but it did not work with this one. The POV kept switching from first person to third person and there was a section where the writing was very stilted as it was being split into very short paragraphs. I didn’t care for either character and I felt their relationship development lacked authenticity.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book in the series and it had some editing issues. The timeline didn’t make sense at times, for example she says she made him do some weird poses with firefighting equipment, however later on in the same chapter he is arguing with her and mentions puppies. I hope that the author can get an editor to help with some of these issues. This is a rom-com, lightly spicy book that has a lot of potential.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Book Funnel for an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.
I'd say my review is closer to 2.5 stars.
Parts of this were good, but often, I felt like pages or chapters were missing.
I felt like I missed some context.
One minute, they hated each other the next they weren't, then they were, then they weren't.
A couple of times, the POV changed from Savannah's viewpoint, from she to I, so the editing and proof readings wasn't great.
For me, it just missed the mark a bit.

[Jessica Redfern · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick, cute read. This book has all your insta love (or in this case, lust) cute banter, fake dating, enemies to lovers, and all that jazz in a rom com you usually see. I enjoyed the characters dynamic and chuckled a lot. If you want a fast paced romcom with a HEA, pick this one up! This would serve as a quick palette cleanser with a dash of spice.

[Marion · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book but so much was missing from it. The story was very rushed. The editing was horrible, with different character names and changes in narration (third person to first person). The characters went from working together to being in love in a matter of weeks, with very little romance. The fake dating trope barely played a role in the story.

[Big Sho ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I don’t like that the entire book was a flashback about how the couple met and eventually fell in love. Even though I enjoyed hearing about their backstory, present day was just a few pages and an epilogue. If there was more details when we come back to present day, I would have loved it. Anyway their back story was cute, humorous and spicy so it held my attention till it was over.

[Chantell Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

chemistry filled and full of spunk and spice!

I enjoyed this one, all the book tropes in all the right spots. The chemistry between the characters was so fun. I enjoyed this quick read so much!

[Amber Kent Huth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay

At the beginning of the book it was sad, had me crying. I gave it a four star rating. Because so much of the plot was skipped. It was skipped to make it a short story. I believe if it wasn't skipped. Then, the book would have been a five star.

[ᶜᵃˢˢⁱᵉ ᶜᵒˡᵒⁿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed, I cried, I can't believe it was under 200 pages. I got this book on Stuff Your Kindle Day and I am so glad I did. I loved everything about it. The fake dating only lasted about a chapter but it was still great. Especially when Sparky gets brought it.

[Clarissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give it less stars I would

This whole book reads as if an AI was fed a brief outline and got told to write smut with every possible romance cliche thrown in.

If you value your time, then don't bother with this.

[Loralei · Rating 1 out of 5]

needs editing

I wanted to like this because it had such good potential, but unfortunately it needs a lot of editing. There were inconsistent details and timeline inconsistencies that made it hard to understand what was going on

[Ra’s World read books with Ra · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much potential and sadly the last half just didn’t pay off. I feel the pacing killed it and didn’t allow the romance to feel natural. Shame too, because I really liked the first half of the book.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a cute, quick and fun read! Samantha and Max had great chemistry and I loved that the crew kept interfering by trying to push them together. What started as fake dating turned into something real and beautiful. Oh and the new fire station dog Sparky made for some funny moments.

[Åse Palerud · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5⭐️ Denne var en kamp og komme seg gjennom ass, fyfaen. Tror med hånden på hjertet at jeg skrev bedre stiler i norsk i 8. klasse enn denne boken her.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

this was cute. super cheesy but cute and fun.

[schniefelise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was a bit messy but this short story had surprising depth. I liked it 😊