'The Spanish Love Deception' by Elena Armas is a slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance novel that follows the story of Catalina and Aaron. Catalina, in need of a fake boyfriend for her sister's wedding, reluctantly accepts Aaron's offer. As they navigate through the deception, family drama, and personal struggles, their chemistry and tension grow, leading to a lush and emotionally detailed love story between two stubborn individuals. The book is told solely from Catalina's perspective, with a writing style that expertly conveys the emotions and challenges faced by the characters.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of disordered eating and emotional struggles, which could be triggering for some readers.
Has Romance?
The romance is a central theme, with significant development and emotional depth between the leads.
From The Publisher:
A wedding. A trip to Spain. The most infuriating man. And three days of pretending. Or in other words, a plan that will never work.Catalina Mart n, finally, not single. Her family is happy to announce that she will bring her American boyfriend to her sister's wedding. Everyone is invited to come and witness the most magical event of the year.That would certainly be tomorrow's headline in the local newspaper of the small Spanish town I came from. Or the epitaph on my tombstone, seeing the turn my life had taken in the span of a phone call.Four weeks wasn't a lot of time to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic-from NYC and all the way to Spain-for a wedding. Let alone, someone eager to play along my charade. But that didn't mean I was desperate enough to bring the 6'4 blue eyed pain in my ass standing before me.Aaron Blackford. The man whose main occupation was making my blood boil had just offered himself to be my date. Right after inserting his nose in my business, calling me delusional, and calling himself my best option. See? Outrageous. Aggravating. Blood boiling. And much to my total despair, also right. Which left me with a surly and extra large dilemma in my hands. Was it worth the suffering to bring my colleague and bane of my existence as my fake boyfriend to my sister's wedding? Or was I better off coming clean and facing the consequences of my panic induced lie?Like my abuela would say, que dios nos pille confesados.The Spanish Love Deception is an enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating, SLOW-BURN romance. Perfect for those looking for a steamy slow-burn with the sweetest Happily Ever After.
Ratings (219)
Incredible (27) | |
Loved It (53) | |
Liked It (72) | |
It Was OK (36) | |
Did Not Like (20) | |
Hated It (11) |
Reader Stats (368):
Read It (224) | |
Want To Read (88) | |
Did Not Finish (15) | |
Not Interested (41) |
8 comment(s)
not my cup of tea
I'm not feeling this book. I've got 32 % left but I'm not feeling the need to finish this one
Leaning towards a 3,5 stars.
This wasn't so much an enemies-to-lovers, as it was oblivious-heroine/onesided-love-from-hero. Yes, there was some animosity on the FL's side, but none on his side. Not even him pretending to hate/dislike her, like in The Hating Game.
I liked the writing style of the author. Despite some issues - which I'll touch upon further down below - I couldn't put the book down. There were so many lines, where I was just swooning.
- I loved the side characters (I never figured out if Daniel was really engaged or he came up with his own fake story, but couldn't get anyone to pose as his fake fiancee).
- The depiction of sexist standards, both in college and their workplace.
The main reasons I didn't rate it higher:
- I felt like the ML got to be whoever he had to be at any particular moment. He didn't have a consistent tone. Which made me think the ML could have been anyone (personality wise) and the story would've still played out the same.
- I had a hard time believing the ML was the kind of guy to be so intimidated by a woman "hating" him, that he wouldn't dare clear the air between them sooner and instead wait months for a small opening (offering himself up as a "fake" date). I mean he realised she was attracted to him as well, but even then he didn't change his approach. What if the opportunity to be her fake date never came up? I'm pretty sure he would have continued to stay on the sideline.
- We spent several weeks in NY, but there was barely any progress between the MC's. Then we spent a couple of days in Spain and we went from almost 0 to 100 (like they were both at the ILY-stage in their hearts). I would have prefered if it was spaced out a bit more.
- Lacked chemistry; was inconsistent. Physical attraction was there on both sides early on, but it wasn't used to create tension. For the most part the FL was oblivious to the ML's feelings; often mistaken his behaviour for anger. And the ML never acted on the signals the FL was unconsciously sending him (and we know he noticed it). The steamy parts near the ending were graphic (too graphic IMO; didn't fit with the rest of the tone of the book), but it was also almost clinical. I didn't get the feeling they were love-making.
- Story was a tad too long.
Lead character was annoying
how (HOW) am i ever going to fall in love after reading this book. HOW.
I wanted to like this book. That's probably the only reason I read it to the end. Based on the hype it received on booktok and the reviews I read before checking it out, I thought I was in for a fun ride. It was not, however, as fun as expected.
First thing—this book reeeeally could've used an editor. If it already had an editor, it needed a different one. There were so many places that the author refused to use contractions. Would it have killed her to use, don't, won't, isn't?! The characters didn't feel like real people when they spoke like that. They felt a medieval lord and lady transposed into a modern love story.
Second thing—Lina was not main-character material. There was nothing to endear me to her, and I found her personality honestly frustrating. Her decisions made no sense, and she was infuriatingly immature at times, particularly with Aaron.
Third thing—I didn't understand why Lina and Aaron ended up together, besides their physical chemistry. They didn't seem all that compatible, and I didn't buy his story about having liked her for almost the entire two years they've known each other. I didn't feel any emotional connection between them. I'm sure others would disagree, but I think that if you're going to write a slow-burn romance, that means you're allowing yourself plenty of time to develop these characters and their feelings.
I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone. And while it wasn't the worst book I've ever read, I wish I could get the hours I spent on it back.
A cute romance. It would’ve been a lot shorter if the characters just had a complete conversation at some point.
this book is a creative work of art. do not let the innocent cover fool you it gets really spicy. the plot is amazing . it is with a curvy girl .10000/10 i love this book
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The Spanish Love Deception?
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