About the Book:
Author: Elena Armas
Published: February 23rd, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Description:
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 Martín, 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 romantic comedy. Perfect for those looking for a steamy slow-burn romance with the sweetest Happily Ever After.
Rating: 4.5
Trigger Warnings: student/teacher relationship(not main couple), cancer, mentioned death of a parent, mentioned sexual misconduct
Tropes: one bed, miscommunication, enemies to lovers
Review:
This book was really really really great, I was practically screaming into my book the whole time. Firstly, the tension build up between the main couple in this book was impeccable!! The author did such an amazing job making you as the reader want them to be together. As you read it you almost get swept up in the romance. I loved all their little moments! I found their slow development into an understanding and trusting couple was really well done.
There were a lot of funny parts in this book too, especially once they arrived in Spain with her family. Her relatives said many comments that embarrassed the main character but are funny to us as the readers! I particularly enjoyed the banter between Lina and her sister Isabel. I also thought the more serious content of the book (trigger warning: power dynamic relationship) was dealt with very well. The character who is in the wrong is rightfully demonized by the main character as well as by her friends and family. However, the complexities of having someone like that still partially in ones life are also addressed in a way that’s realistic. Other topics like the death of a parent, cancer, and a mention of sexual misconduct were also treated with a great deal of respect.
Now, let’s talk about the spice! This book was particularly steamy which I really appreciated but be warned it is a slow slow burn. All the tension between the characters went on for so long in the book (past 300 pages) that when they finally got together I was so excited. The chapter where they hook-up for the first time was really well written and truly sexy (I was blushing)! I really appreciated how the author wrote Aaron as so hot yet so very respectful of Lina.
To conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, hence my high rating of it. The only reason I did not rate it the full five stars is because I thought Lina could have been further developed as a character (she’s almost outshone by Aaron) and I thought there were a few cringey moments. I’d recommend this book to any contemporary romance fan who loves a good book that mixes comedy and spice.
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