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.

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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!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this prior to it's February 2022 publication. The cover was intriguing, I loved the contemporary style and the publisher description for the title made this a must-read. I was, however, a bit disappointed. I could be a person who was not the target audience, but I could see the main character Lina (full name Catalina) as a lovable, free spirited type of person. However she read as more of a whiny person who disliked most of her co-workers. I did love the nod to her Spanish heritage. There are small, fun Spanish sayings that are there untranslated and feels like a natural part of her Spanish-English vocabulary. I grew up in a multilingual home and although I don't speech my parents' home language when I "code switch" it's always tidbits or small phrases that come through.

Some of the writing feels unfinished: the development of the characters, the reoccurring "blue eyes," and the reunion near the end.

I definitely was hate reading this at one point. Why was this book almost five hundred pages? I am just shocked at how much I disliked this book as I went in really excited. We were 50% into the book before we even got to Spain. Seriously disliked.

This isn’t my favourite romcom but I still enjoyed it. We have the fake boyfriend/enemies to lovers tropes here and they worked well once the main characters, Catalina and Aaron, head to her sister’s wedding in Spain. I did like Catalina’s extended family and all their interactions with them. My one complaint is that this book is too long. I think it could have been a bit shorter while still keeping the integrity of the story.

Okay, I can see what all the fuss is about on this one. I adored this workplace, fake dating, romance! I'm usually not a fan of slow burns - but the tension between these two was so well written - the banter, the emotion and that physical chemistry just leapt off the page (or the screen, in this instance).

Again, slow burn isn't always my favorite and I will always scream for more steam - but this book was *chefs kiss* and the steam was mostly work the wait. Although, I will never appreciate the term milking....

In my place, this was way better than The Hating Game and has taken the crown for best workplace romance!

I heard amazing things about this book and saw it on all kinds of best-of lists, but it really fell flat for me. I found it overly long and wordy and ended up skimming through lots of parts. Hopefully her next one is a little more concise.

I really really wanted to enjoy this author's debut novel, but it was too long. It had too much of the same going on and could have been edited. I would consider reading another by the author to see if it is just her writing style or if she just did not have appropriate editors.

The Spanish Love Deception
By Elena Armas

I don't know if there is anything wonderful left to be said about this book, rather than if you still haven't picked this book up, we are going to have to talk. Serious talk, because if you love romcoms, banters, funny, flirty, sexy, hot chemistry, with an enemies to lovers trope, then this book is for you.

I enjoyed this one a lot.

The Spanish Love Deception reminded me a lot of The Hating Game and I really enjoyed both! ☺️ When Catalina needs a date to her sister’s wedding, her work nemesis, Aaron Blackford, offers to fill the role. Aaron is a super hot Clark Kent look alike and the ultimate book boyfriend. I swooned multiple times! The steamy scene is STEAMY. Ultimately, I rate this one 3.75 stars rounded up to 4! Which means I really enjoyed it!!
Read if you like:
💖Fake dating
🖥Workplace romance
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨Enemies to lovers
💍Wedding date stories
👩🏽Feisty heroines
🦸🏻‍♂️Superman