What a fun read! I didn’t want this book to ever end. So much passion. I was obsessed!! Is it too soon to reread?

Aaron and Lina’s story was fun and overall light hearted. A great read for fans of contemporary romance.

Lina and Aaron are work enemies, so how exactly did he end up as her fake wedding date to her sisters wedding in Spain? Lina finds herself in situation she never thought would happen and accidentally into her own romance story.

This was a very fun book! I enjoyed how the author was able to create tension and I enjoyed the slow burn romance. There were some moments that were laugh out loud funny, and there were some that I just thought were so romantic, and perfect.

This book started out fairly slowly and was longer than it needed to be. It was somewhat hard to follow and all of the characters spoke unnecessarily formally. The romance was surface level at best. It’s only redeeming quality was well-written adult love scenes.

Very similar vibe to The Love Hypothesis, but found it dragged in some spots. The enemies to lovers felt a little under developed and more nemesis to lovers.
I would recommend this book, and am excited to see what else Elena Armas will do!

I loved this book!
Thank you so much.
I appreciated that it was two cultures, countries and languages.
I loved how their relationship grew and twisted and had backgrounds w/ past challenges.
I look foward to reading the American Roommate Experiment.
THANK YOU

This is one of my favorite plots for a rom com. I love the fake relationship turned real. Anytime I see a book with that as a theme I know I need to pick it up! I completely understand how this self published book got picked up by a publishing house, it is amazing! I only wish someone would have published it even sooner so I could have enjoyed it earlier.

Lina and Aaron Oy! So good. I fell for Aaron hard, he's so well intentioned with the patience of a saint. Armas did a wonderful job with Lina and watching her character grow was so fun. This book just made my heart so very happy.

I have been hearing about this book for months, with the main feedback being how everyone loves Aaron Blackford, and honestly same. The hype for this book is so real and it's so worth it. I honestly was not at all composed reading this book. One of the quotes I saw the most before reading this was the "do you want me to beg" line and for it to take place in a coffee shop, I was FLOORED. I really really enjoyed Catalina and Aaron's story even though the slow burn was torture at times. I can't wait to read more from Elena Armas in the future!!
Thank you soo much to the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

The writing in the book is...fine (grading on a curve for being originally self-published, that means great). But the marketing is a masterpiece so I'm giving it another star. This book went viral on BookTok, apparently because it has almost every romance trope packed into one book (? But who knows? BookTok's ways are mysterious). And now it's a major release. Credit the author for managing that trajectory, even if the characters seem one-note, at least half the book is spent speculating on what touching each other feels like and - in the least unsurprising plot note of all - the big obstacle between the couple is bad communication.

The Spanish Love Deception was an adorable, laugh out loud, slow-burn, love story. I absolutely loved Aaron and Catalina, they were perfect together.

One of my absolute favorite tropes in romance novels is enemies-to-lovers and Ms. Armas did an excellent job of making us believe these two enemies were meant to be lovers. I loved that in The Spanish Love Deception it's Aaron who falls first and he's determined to prove his feelings to Lina by helping her convince her family that she's happy and thriving in New York.

I loved the entire book, but Aaron and Lina in Spain was especially fun to read. I loved how protective and possessive Aaron was with Lina and the fact that he learned Spanish just showed how very invested he was in starting a real relationship with Lina.

The Spanish Love Deception was a fantastic debut novel by Elena Armas and I cannot wait to read Rosie's story and hopefully catching up with Aaron and Lina.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book when it was indie and was so excited to see it being traditionally pubbed and available to a wider audience. I didn't see any noticeable difference between this and the indie book (that I noticed, it has been a bit and quite a few books in between).

This book was just as wonderful the second time around and I can't wait for the second book in the series.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! I honestly read this book because of the hype from the internet about Aaron as a great book boyfriend. This is the debut romance from Elena Armas, and it’s a swoon worthy read that I thoroughly enjoyed, especially the second half. Catalina (Lina) needs a date to her sister's wedding in Spain since her ex will be there with a new fiancee and her co-worker Aaron, who she hates, volunteers to go as her fake boyfriend. The chemistry between Aaron and Lina is great, and I loved the use of many popular romance tropes: forced proximity, fake dating, one bed, and enemies-to-lovers. Aaron is great as the perfect guy: beautiful, kind, and constantly bringing Lina food. I recommend this book for anyone who likes contemporary open door romance, enemies-to-lovers, and fake dating.

This was very slow for about the first half; I think if it was a shorter book it would’ve been easier to get through. Aaron was a bit irritating at times, but overall I enjoyed the characters. It was a fun story, my biggest drawback was just that I felt it was too long.

So, a lot of people I know have already read and reviewed this book, and their opinions are decidedly mixed. Is The Spanish Love Deception similar to The Hating Game? Yes, in some ways, but there are only so many romance trope permutations that one can have before some things start reminding you of what came before. Did this book need to be nearly 500 pages long? No, it absolutely did not. There are a lot of places where cuts could have been made without much of an impact on the story.

But having said all that, I still mostly enjoyed this book. It has the enemies-to-lovers thing going on, but if you've ever picked up a romance novel in your life, you know this enemies thing is completely one-sided, and that the other side has been completely smitten since day one. It also has the fake dating trope, which is a favorite of mine, and this one is done fairly well. It also partly takes place in Spain, and I love pretty much any book set in Western Europe, so YES PLEASE GIVE ME ALL THE SPAIN. One thing to note, however, is that there is (of course) a lot of Spanish being spoken in this book, and not all of it is translated for the reader. Having minored in Spanish in college this was not much of an issue for me, but someone unfamiliar with the language might have some trouble. Also, this is a very slow burn book, and when it does start to burn it burns a little too quickly to be realistic. In addition, I kinda didn't like our heroine all that much. Lina is kind of a clueless ninny for most of the book, and I much prefer my FMCs to be strong, intelligent women. On the other hand, Aaron was delightful.

So yes, I am a bit conflicted on this book. I surface-level enjoyed it, but I'm sure a re-read would further emphasize the less enjoyable qualities of it, so I will stick with a single reading and give it a middle-of-the-road three stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book!! So much so that I ignored all responsibilities for a day so I could it in one sitting. My only negative to this book is it felt very similar to the hating game in the beginning and a little repetitive.

This book was cute. I enjoyed the banter between main characters and love a good enemies to lovers… I just felt like there were some really draggy portions. Some of the dialogue felt unnecessary and contrived. I think some pages (if not chapters) could have been cut with minimal changes to storyline.

The main characters were slightly unbearable but I enjoyed the way they played off of each other.

This is a books that I simply had to get my hands on because of the hype- and somehow it met my expectations.

I’m a bit disappointed in this one. I usually don’t read books because of the internet hype - but I’ve been in a “romance” mood so I requested this one and was happy when I got approved.
I really didn’t like either main character.. I felt the story dragged at times or rushed too quickly at others that I couldn’t develop a liking towards either of their stories.

how can i give this book 1 million stars??? this book deserves EVERYTHING. obsessed does not even begin to cover my feelings towards aaron and lina! the way i LITERALLY had butterflies throughout the entire book... for real. that man would literally smile and i'd absolutely lose my mind. this book was he perect mix of banter, romance, and spice! 10/10 would recommend to everyone!

many thanks to netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review!