Cover Image: The Spanish Love Deception

The Spanish Love Deception

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Member Reviews

It was fine, but not as good as the hype had me anticipating. The main character felt underdeveloped, and I never really connected to her. It felt like there was a sudden switch in personality halfway through, rather than a gradual, natural change.

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What could I possibly say about this book that hasn’t already been said? I just hope to convey how much I ADORED The Spanish Love Deception (as in I was secretly reading on the playground while I’m supposed to be watching my kids 🫣). When you get down to it, the hero, Aaron freaking! Blackford, is what makes TSLD so good. I think if you could roll all of the perfect boyfriend characteristics into one perfect specimen of a male, he would be it—and Elena Armas gets that. What makes Blackford the perfect hero?
-He is an observer. He watches, knows, and understands Catalina better than she perhaps knows herself and picks up on everything.
-He is the physical description of Tall, Dark, and Handsome™️ and the nerdy Clark Kentish vibe is completely working. (Again perfection in physique)
-He is confident, but in a silent way that never brags and is patient even when Catalina is at her worst.
And then there are all the nods to romance tropes: ONE BED (with a hilarious scene—seriously top 5), Fake Dating, Enemies-to-Lovers, Work adversaries…I mean, TSLD has it all. And through it, Armas keeps you flipping pages and wanting to read more. So if any of the above appeals to you, please read The Spanish Love Deception and then go check out Armas’s next book that features Rosie, Catalona’s best friend!
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
[Review has also been posted to Amazon—awaiting approval]

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2.5 stars
I think this book was too hyped up, which is why I was underwhelmed by it.
Also, the beginning of this book was so abrupt for me; I struggled to understand what was happening until they stopped being strange, I swear.

Main Character was a bit too erratic for me, and the ML was ...alright. I know this trope; I have loved it, but only when it works, and I'm sorry, but this did not work for me. It bothered me how prolonged it was or drawn out; for example, the phone call when she mentioned Aaron as her boyfriend was like pulling teeth.
It just did not work for me.

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Highly readable and charming.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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⭐️ The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

I wanted to love this book. I had heard so many good things about it on social media. Enemies to lovers, fake boyfriend…yummy! But…I couldn’t do it. I made it to Ch. 12 (which is about page 160) and had to unfortunately close the cover for good.

First, the chapters were woefully long. Excessively long. I would often have to pause in a chapter because I couldn’t get to the end in order to finish it. I would flip the pages to see how close I was and I would never be close.

Second, Catalina (Lina) was not a likeable character for me. I could see where she had the potential to be appealing but she was very obnoxious, unfascinating, and dimwitted. Nearly every thought was cringy and her compatibility with Aaron was unbelievable and unworkable.

Third, there seemed to be so many words in this book. It was just word, after word, after word, wordy. I felt like many of the passages were repetitive and drawn out. At about 160 pages in, she hadn’t even made it to Spain with her fake boyfriend…which was the point of the book!

I’m so sorry to give this book such negative feedback. I feel like Ms. Armas has the potential to be a good writer and storyteller…this just wasn’t it…for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title for review.

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Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary romance about two colleagues Lina and Aaron who go from enemies to lovers. Thisstory had all the usual tropes for this genre. It took a while for the story to develop and I felt like there was a lot of repitition of dialogue, plot points, etc. I didn't like the sex scenes and skipped those. The ending felt rushed and didn't really resolve well. Overall an ok read but wouldn't recommend based on the swearing or sex.

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A PERFECT fake dating arrangement! Love it with all my heart, and wish to get an Aaron Blackford for my birthday.

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I’m going to start by saying I have a lot of conflicting thoughts about this one! Did I enjoy it? Absolutely! But unfortunately there are two things I could just never get over when gathering my thoughts. I’d been hesitant on reading this one for a while because of the crazy amounts of hype I’ve seen around and sadly I was expecting just a little more. The second thing was that for myself personally, I never prefer RomComs to be almost 500 pages!

With that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff!

This was definitely a bit of a slow burn but it was bursting with some sizzling chemistry and the eventual steam and built up tension was worth it!

Fake dating and enemies to lovers are always my favourite tropes but they need an entertaining amount of fun witty banter to work well for me and this one had the absolute perfect dosage!

All in all, a solid read and I’m really looking forward to reading the next in the series, The American Roommate Experiment!

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I was excited to read this book because I've heard such positive reviews. Personally, this wasn't the book for me. I felt like the storyline was very drawn out which made it hard for me to get into.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

This has been on my radar for a long time, and I’m grateful I have finally had a chance to read this. Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was a great beach read, and had me laughing so hard my mom was wondering what I was reading.

Though it was great to spend so much time with the characters, I did think that the book was a bit too long. Due to the length, I felt that several plot points were a bit disjointed and too long. It kind of felt like whiplash going from one scene to another, as if they were in the story to extend the length, rather than contribute positively to character development.

Despite that, I am excited to see what else Elena Armas has in store.

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“I’ll give you the world…The moon. The fucking stars. Anything you ask, it’s yours. I’m yours.”

Wow, this book… I totally understand why it’s as hyped as it is!

Not going to lie, the pacing felt a bit off in the beginning and I felt myself just wanting and waiting for the plot to pick up. Like in the first 20% where Lina kept going back and forth with accepting Aaron’s help. But once it picked up and they arrived in Spain… that was everything I wanted!

The slow burn… the enemies to lovers… the fake dating… “It was always you” vibe… It not only has all the best tropes and they were all executed in a great way!

My heart went out to Lina and I felt so bad for all the crap she had to go through. Lina cares so much about her job and it was nice to see that her relationships never interfere with her work. We love to see a career oriented female main character!

Lina and Aaron had such great banter and I enjoyed everything about them. Ugh I can’t get over the fake dating! Aaron is so in love with Lina and it made my heart swoon!! It was so beautiful to read, my heart melted every time he smiled at her. His love for her truly blew me away! I love the way physical touch was described and it shows Aaron’s love language. It was done so perfectly!

“If you get any more perfect, I’m going to believe you were made just for me.”

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review!

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Literally 10/10, The Spanish Love Deception is SO good. You are going to fall in love with the main characters, the banter and the plot line. It reminded me a little bit of the Hating Game but with a different backdrop and it was unique all in it's own way. Loved it!!!

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The Spanish Love Deception has such a fun and interesting premise for a romance. Lina, an engineer living in NYC is heading home to Spain for her sister’s wedding. After leaving home years ago after a messy breakup, she’s loathe to return home for the wedding single - especially as her ex is the best man. She invites her colleague/work nemesis Aaron to join her as her fake boyfriend.

While I though the premise was a good one, the whole story didn’t quite click for me. Her arch nemesis being her *only* option as a date was very unlikely. The first half until they went to Spain was really slow. The dialogue felt stilted and there was a lot of rehashing of Lina’s angst. I held on in the hopes that the wedding weekend would be great, as other reviewers seemed to really enjoy this one. The wedding segment was like a whole other book - it felt like Twilight. Aaron suddenly has this possessive, protective, starry-eyed thing happening, and our strong heroine suddenly can’t breathe without her new man. The tonal shift wasn’t believable for me.

Overall, I did finish the book, and while it definitely isn’t a favourite, I think if you are looking for a romance with a fake dating and one bed tropes, you might enjoy this. Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for free access to an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own,

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I will be recommending this to my followers who are obsessed with romance. Suck a fun summer read!!!!

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This was a fun enemies to lovers rom-com. Similar to the Hating Game, but more smut and the Spanish setting made it more interesting. Pretty typical in the tropes used and plot line.

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I read the entirety of THE SPANISH LOVE DECEPTION next to the beach and I’m glad I did because it was a cute fast paced cheesy rom com! Lina needs a date to her sisters wedding in Spain and she’s desperate because her ex is the best man! After some back and forth, Lina finally agrees to bring her Clark Kent lookalike coworker (that she doesn’t get along with) and pose him as her new American boyfriend!

I loveeed Aaron and I think I may have enjoyed this book better if we would have gotten his POV! Catalina was very much in her head the entire time and at a certain point it just became too much for me. I also didn’t love how the entire enemies to lovers was basically just a bunch of early miscommunication🥲. This one definitely reminded me of The Hating Game + a few other fake dating books, but it was only Armas’s debut and I look forward to reading her subsequent novels!

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A charming and bubbly love story with all the swoon, steam and feels! Brimming with tropes, Elena Armas writes enemies to lovers/fake dating/workplace romance/grump/sunshine in a way that was fresh, fun, and teeming with the delightful tension all good romances have-the kind where you know the passion on the other side will be worth it! The chemistry between the two love interests practically sizzled off the page and there were so many laugh out loud moments as well. Extremely excited for her next in this series! Thank you so much to Atria and Netgalley for my copy.

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Catalina needs a date for her sister's wedding especially since the man who she thought she was going to marry but instead broke up with her in a scandal that was made out to be all on her and not her boyfriend the professor will be there with his fiance.
Aaron Blackford steps up to the plate, volunteer of course because Catalina would have never asked Aaron at all. All he does is irritate her, he does a good job at though not just in the office but also in the meetings and now after talking to her he does it by driving her to her home in Brooklyn how did she get to where Aaron is at her house, even taking her shopping? Then when he thinks she will go by herself to the wedding in Spain no, she just happens to be in his car when a call comes in and yes he does talk to them, now she is stuck with him going. Once there they are sharing a room and then another of many surprises he speaks Spanish and wait for it her family loves him. OH my, what is she to do? There are so many things I liked about this story one because I did marry into a large Hispanic family from my little family and not so loud and not so many people. But was taken right in, one I loved to eat so both her Nani’s loved feeding me. This is a good funny at time story with many good characters and moves along at a good pace, a very good book.

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Recommended if you like reading:
1. Fake dating
2. Enemies to lovers
3. Workplace romance
4. Slow burn
5. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

'The Spanish Love Deception' is a cute rom-com for the obvious reasons. It is witty, entertaining and gives you everything what a rom-com does.....almost!

As much as I want to love this book, I still feel that it is a bit overrated. Perhaps, I just felt that it was too cliché at times. I didn't feel completely invested in the main characters' banter. Also, I found the book a bit repetitive at times. The book could have been less than 400 pages.

Nonetheless, I'll still recommend it to rom-com lovers since it is a quick summer read.

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The MC is sooooo dumb! It's so very obvious from the beginning that he likes her, but she's the dumbest.

It's not as frustrating as the Hating Game, but it's also not at all as entertaining as the Hating Game 🤔 especially the second half!

Lotsss of cringe moments towards the end... He lets calling her baby and it was so weird.

I just don't understand the hype. I was able to finish this because I listened to the audiobook but I don't think I could have read the paperback.. It would have been too painful 😆

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