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,

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 😆

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas has gotten a lot of attention in the romance community, and also became a NYT bestseller upon paperback release. I’d heard good things, although the book has also got some negative feedback, and I was excited to read it.

Catalina – Lina – Martín is returning to Spain to attend her sister’s wedding, and she desperately needs a date – her ex-boyfriend is engaged, and she cannot show up pathetically alone – and to her great surprise, her coworker Aaron offers to go with her. They’re not friends – after getting off on the wrong foot, they’ve been barely civil. Still, as the wedding grows closer, Aaron starts surprising Lina, and she wonders if her taciturn coworker might be better company than first impressions indicated.

I really did enjoy this book, though it didn’t bowl me over. Lina’s is a very vivid depiction of a young woman in recovery from trauma and trying to succeed in her field. She feels very human and flawed, and she’s self-aware of the ways in which she can’t fully realize her hopes. She hasn’t had a romantic relationship recently because of her inability to trust, and she’s not able to consciously take that step without great trepidation. She still does have close friendships and positive working relationships, but Lina has mostly closed herself off to love. Aaron works as a love interest and his characterization is at least consistent, but he’s a little flatter as a character then I would like. My main issue with the book overall is that we’re told more about the way he looks – the readers who talked about how often Aaron’s blue eyes are mentioned and how big he is were not exaggerating – than about his internal life, and I had to infer a lot until the midpoint of the story. Still, the romance is pretty strong on the whole, with the central obstacles being a lack of communication and Lina’s trust issues.

I liked the trip to Spain itself. Lina’s family is the perfect blend of loving and concerned, involved in her life but not too meddling. Lina standing up for herself, both in a work setting and with her ex, were some of my favorite parts of the story.

However, the book is a little bloated; trimming it down in some places would have made it stronger, and the pacing is a bit off because of the story being so front-loaded. The tension flags in places because too much pre-trip ground is laid; the plot can’t really get going until Lina and Aaron are in Spain, and that doesn’t happen as soon as it should.

I also noted a lot of similarities to The Hating Game and The Love Hypothesis here. Obviously, there are going to be some common threads in enemies-to-lovers workplace romances, but this one doesn’t feel too derivative; it handles the premise better than most and isn’t too formulaic. I did think the book would have benefited from dual points of view, to give the reader context for Aaron’s feelings for Lina. In the end, I found The Spanish Love Deception to be fairly average but enjoyable. I’m not surprised it has become so popular, given that it hits the same beats as a lot of mainstream books right now, but I didn’t fall in love with it.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer

Thoroughly enjoyed this enemies to overs office romance. The banter between Catalina and Aaron was amazing and loved their chemistry. If i had one complaint it would be that the ending was ruched and the third act breakuo was totally unnecessary. Other than that this book was a great fun read.

I really liked this book! It was a bit slow to start but once they got going with the banter I liked it a lot! It's a great slow burn workplace romance with a bit of spice. Hating Game vibes but with a trip to Spain.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the e-ARC

I really love these books that start off with a ruse and end up being a reality! This was a great fake-boyfriend-to-real-boyfriend book!

The Spanish Love Deception was such a fun read. I really enjoyed that it was fast-paced and enjoyable. There were plenty of tropes, and it was entirely predictable, but that didn't minimize the enjoyment. It was quite the slow burn to lead to the grand finale, and I wanted to see so much more once they got home. I enjoyed the Spanish setting, and I thought the wedding scenes were visually satisfying. Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for the arc.

3.5

I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

It was painfully slow for the first half and took so long to get to Spain, and I found myself struggling to get through. And while I do love a slow burn, this as a little too slow for my liking. Looking back now, I do think that the slow burn worked for their relationship. However, once they were in Spain, it really picked up, and I started to enjoy it much more. I do think that the book could have been a little been shorter though.

Despite this, I loved the grumpy/sunshine and fake dating tropes. I also fell in love with Aaron Blackford throughout the book. Lina, on the other hand, I couldn’t really connect with as well, and she did annoy me sometimes. I wish we could have also gotten Aaron’s point of view - that would have increased the rating for me.

Overall, it was really well-written and a great rom-com, just a little slow for my liking.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.

You'd never know this book is almost 500 pages. It moves so quick! The steam is perfect, and the chemistry between our two MC is off the charts. I loved this book!


I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

I had high hopes for this one since it has similar "Hating Game" vibes, and it did not disappoint! It had everything you'd want in a fun, sexy, light rom-com. 10./10!

I absolutely loved this slow burn enemies to lovers story. Adding in workplace romance was the cherry on top. I immediately felt connected to the characters and although the read was predictable, we all need an Aaron Blackford in our lives! Can't wait for the next Elena Armas read!

Aaron Blackford!!! This book is perfection! I never annotate books, but omg I had to draw hearts everytime Aaron spoke! Perfection. Character development, Everything! This book is funny, squeal-worthy and steamy!!! I love it!

The book is a workplace romance, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, slow burn. The story building in this debut novel was so surprising to me, every single scene was essential and added to the overall storyline. The slow burn was frustrating at times, just because I was like CLIMB THAT MAN LINA, CLIMB HIM!! When they went to Spain, I understood Lina’s struggle to find home. When you go home and you’re with your family, but it doesn’t quite feel like home anymore. Instead, you find your home with a person. I felt that so deeply, home hasn’t been a place for me in the past decade but instead a person, Mr. Rich Reads ❤️ I adored Lina’s family, I cannot wait to see more of them in the next book, The American Roommate Experiment. Aaron is such a grump (my fav) but the best ooey gooey cinnamon roll.

I have been hearing a lot about this book recently and was a little nervous to get into it in case the hype wasn’t warranted, but I was wrong! The hype is absolutely warranted. This book follows Catalina who has lied to her family about having a boyfriend and everyone is dying to meet him at an upcoming wedding. Catalina’s coworker, Aaron volunteers but Catalina can’t stand Aaron…but is he really that bad? The author does a great job of character building and the environment is great in this story! The author has a great writing style that is easy to read and funny. This book felt like it would be such a cute movie!