One More Spark

Base City Romance #4

by Ellie Roth

That awkward moment when your superhero crush is kind of... boring.

Seven years ago, Candace Malachi ignited the uprising against French Industries. Armed with the electricity-wielding Ampere DP-11—and dozens of other stolen tactical suits—she assembled her team, coordinated an island-wide network of heroes, and helped to take the company down… only for a new threat to rise in its wake. Now, with the Department of Security Affairs allying themselves with General Barnes and the Coyotes, she has her work cut out for her—especially when DOSA goes on the offensive.

Vanessa Kapur thought her life couldn’t get any worse after losing her job at French Industries and joining her former enemies’ team of heroes, but DOSA breaking into her apartment to try and steal her telekinetic Kinetix DP-11 is officially a new low. Without a safe place for herself and her daughter, Monique, she reluctantly agrees to move in with Ampere… and promptly discovers that their team’s fearless leader is also the mother of Monique’s best friend.

Reconciling their civilian identities with their heroic ones is hard enough. Figuring out how to balance their steadily growing attraction with the needs of their team is even harder. When they’re forced to enlist the heroes’ oldest enemy to take down DOSA, will their relationship—and their team—crack under the strain or emerge stronger than ever?

This 130k-word friends-to-lovers romance features the same familiar world and characters from Books One through Three, mistaken identities, numerous superhero battles, tragic backstories, an ill-advised jailbreak, meddling best friends, some mild steaminess, major angst, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

*Content warnings available on website.

564 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2024

About the author

Ellie Roth is a contemporary LGBTQ+ romantic fantasy author who writes about love interests earning their happy endings and found families building a more hopeful world for themselves. She can mostly be found in a New York town that no one can pronounce unless they grew up nearby, slouching over her laptop and probably giving herself back problems. Her hobbies include writing, working out, and scrolling through Tumblr to indulge her latest fandom obsessions.

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Reviews

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fitting end to the series! I think anyone who's read the books this far will enjoy the climax. Ellie Roth goes all out and ties off every overarching plot nicely, plus the superpowered action scenes worked especially well. That's what I've been here for all through the series.

Even though this is Ampere's & Kinetix's story, I loved seeing more of our other heroes. Everyone we've liked in the earlier books gets a little more page time and that's a nice touch.

I find Ellie Roth's books easy but emotional reads. While I didn't especially connect to either of our MCs, it was a good read (and more of a team story anyway). I think the plot twists and reveals won't surprise careful readers, but that doesn't take away anything from the book. It delivers exactly what it promises and I'll call that a success.

It feels like both of Roth's series' I've read (or started reading) start with a strongly character-focused book and then shift to more plot-heavy stories, so while I connect more with the early books, I really look forward to the later ones because I'm invested in the overarching story.

Altogether, I'd really recommend the whole series to anyone who likes superpowers and queer stories.

Thank you to the author and booksirens for the ARC!

[s.elle.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨📚 I absolutely love Ellie Roth's books, and this final chapter in the Base City Romance Series was fantastic. 

4.5⭐ rounded up!

I loved the character and relationship development. 
The plot twists sucked, but were so well done (IYKYK).
The diversity and LGBTQ+ representation is incredible.
The storyline of this series is so unique, I highly recommend it!

Can't wait to read more by Ellie Roth!! Thank you so much for this ARC!!

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One More Spark is the fourth, and final, book in Ellie Roth’s Base City Romance series. Time on Our Side, the first book in the series, sucked me in deep and I have been hooked ever since. I powered through Thrill of the Chase, followed by Worth the Fight, and the same happened with One More Spark. It is a series I adored a lot more than I expected, and I could not wait to see how everything came together.

One More Spark is a story that brings together the Base City Romance series in a wonderful way. To understand and appreciate everything that takes place, you need to have read the prior books in the series. The story brings together the various storylines that have been playing out throughout the series, ensuring everything comes to a satisfying confusion. While I adored this final book in the series, I will be honest and say that the pacing did not quite work for me. Although lots of things were happening early in the book, with multiple elements coming together, it did feel a little slow at points. I did not mind this as so many things were interacting, but the speed at which everything concluded felt like a stark contrast to the start of the book. It made it feel like things happened a little too quickly – a little too easily – in the end. Did I enjoy it? Yes. I adored watching the way everything came together. Do I wish there had been a little bit more in the final scenes? Yes. I was ready for an explosive fight that would have me on the edge of my seat. Although the way things played out worked for the story, I do wish there had been just a bit more to the conclusion to allow it to hit with the same intensity as moments in prior books.

All in all, One More Spark was an addictive conclusion to the series. Without a doubt, this series is well worth the read if you are looking for a wonderful superhero series to follow. I now need to go and read the Longview Romance series to be able to say I am up to date with the author’s work.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Thanks to BookSirens and Ellie Roth for a free advance review e-copy of this book, I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The concluding book of the Base City Romance series focuses on the Heroes leader Candace Malachi aka Ampere and ex villain, current second in charge, Vanessa Kapur aka Kinetix. The two single mothers have become fast friends since the teams joined forces and when a home invasion forces Vanessa to look for new accommodation Candace offers her a place to stay. Now they just need to finally unmask for each and try to find a solution to Island 11’s current disastrous issues.

What I liked: This was a sweet friends to lovers relationship. The second half of the book worked well and the series conclusion was satisfying. I’m also very glad a certain someone didn’t get forgiven as I was very worried that was going to be the situation.

What didn’t work for me: Again with this series, the first half of the book limped along and I often found it hard to find the interest to pick it up. The only reason I did is I genuinely like the world and characters Ellie has created and wanted to know how she was going to fix everything.

Final Thoughts: A mostly enjoyable ending to a fun series.

Who would enjoy this: Fans of the rest of the series.

[Elizabeth D · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 This is an epic conclusion to the series! I enjoyed how the revelations between the MCs in the books all go differently despite the overarching premise similarities. I loved the “Mom friends” reality between Candace and Vanessa. Tiffany and Monique are great kids, and I liked how present they were in this book as we really dove behind the scenes of Ampere and Kinetix.

There were lots of emotional and complex moments here as characters dealt with difficult events, injuries, and hopelessness. Also, they sometimes made dumb decisions (lol), but always with the best of intentions. I appreciated how fiercely protective Candace always was, how hard she fought for peace and safety for Base City. (The stuff with her father-in-law made me sad, overall. I kept wishing for a different outcome. But I did like how people weren’t one-dimensional.)

The ultimate showdown made me very happy (and made me laugh). After the despair and hopelessness at some parts of the book, it was so uplifting to see the team figure things out and work together to finally sort everything. I was very glad for the outcome for everyone and how it all came together. It was so satisfying.

I received an ARC from BookSirens. This is my honest review.

[Jeanette Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

One More Spark is the last of the Bay City Romances. The series goes out on a high note with Ampere's & Kinetix's story. It's a good friends to lovers for a superhero and a supervillain. Each of these books have had a song playing in the back of my mind. Book one had me humming the Rolling Stones, for this one, it was Daft Punk.

Ellie Roth does a great behind the mask story. And she does a lovely job of wrapping up all the various plot lines. The ending is fast, very slam-bam. Edge of the seat action.

Candace Malachi, Ampere, and Vanessa Kapur, Kinetix, are both single moms. The love they have for their daughters shines through, making them more realistic. Not cardboard superheroes.

I liked that there were pop ins by the mains from the other books. Each pair got some quality book time.

Fun, fast and furious read.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Ruby Ridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book complimentary from Book Sirens in e-book form in return for my honest review. Everything stated in this review is of my own opinion and I was not compensated monetarily for providing this review.
Firstly let me say I picked up this book not having read the previous 3 so there was a bit of a learning curve but it was not too steep and it was fairly easy to figure what went before.
It is hard to write an original superhero book but this is a good try with the suits and the complex team dynamics but the real strength of this book is in my opinion the relationship between the two women (or even the two women and their daughters) a real cute enemies to friends to lovers journey.
From a slow start the action (and the relationship) ramp up as the book progresses leading to a satisfying conclusion.
I for one hope the Candace/Vanessa story is not over and I would also love a Monique/Tiffany spinoff.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Base City Romance series by #ellieroth
Out Now!

From superheroes & villains to lovers & friends, it's been a perilous yet rewarding journey for our Base City team. Each book in this series has had its own budding romance while simultaneously giving us a little action and adventure. When you're fighting bad guys that are plotting to take over the world, who doesn't want to find love along the way?

Each book in this series features an exciting twist to found family and we are able to follow an overarching story while each book features it's own unique plot and LGBTQ+ romance perspective set in a modern world. I highly recommend signing up for the author's newsletter as well to get a copy of Base City Library which features additional scenes for each book in the series.

Thank you to Ellie Roth and BookSirens for helping me discover this fun and unique series.

[Traci S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been an interesting series, while not a big superhero person, I did think the world building was excellent and it has well done characters throughout. I liked the friendship between Vanessa and Candace (Ampere and Kinetix), but I wasn’t too invested in the romantic relationship side of the story. For me, there was a just a lot of focus on the kids, and it felt too slow and drawn out for me. I did enjoy the rousing conclusion to the overriding story and seeing the previous characters again. There was a lot that had to come together here and the author pulls off a satisfying ending for Base City.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book

[Suzanne Irving · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Ellie Roth’s last book in her Base City series. The couple in focus is Candace and Vanessa although much of the book is still the ongoing story. This is why you should read the series in order. I can’t say too much without giving things away. There is a lot of complex and interesting writing to this whole series and it makes excellent reading. I love how she has her characters make mistakes and say dumb things and learn. They are not the typical one dimensional characters you might expect from a superhero book. I loved the whole series.

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

[Elijah Mears · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a wild ride for us Base City fans, and in the final book of the series, Ellie Roth brings us home masterfully. What can I say? I laughed. I cried. It was better than "Cats". Roth's ability to craft characters who feel like real people is uncanny, and as usual, she's not afraid to use how much you've fallen in love with her cast against you to send her readers on an emotional rollercoaster they won't soon forget! Combine that with Base City's backdrop of colorful characters, and Candace and Vanessa's romance certainly sparks in what I'm happy to report is Roth's best book yet.

[Priscilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final couple and the final book to the series! Ampere (Candace) has been the leader of the heroes for past 7 years. When Kinetex (Vanessa) needed a place to stay with her daughter after being targeted by DOSA, Candace offered her place unbeknownst that Vanessa and her daughter were already familiar with her family. The plot was well thought out and it is still a clean slow burn story, so be prepared. I'm very happy that everyone gets their happy ending.

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

[Lina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great end to the series. The world building was great in this series and the characters were fun and engaging. This book was a bit more serious than the previous one and perhaps not as fun. It al comes down to the story and the end game. The story is abut slow and there are a lot of facts necessary to understand the story. You need to have read the other books in the series to understand the characters and the story. While this is a slow burn romance I felt that the superhero part is the main story.

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