The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

Summary of The Spanish Love Deception:

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him.

She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.

Length:

487 Pages

Reading Speed:

7 Hours and 20 Minutes

My Opinion of The Spanish Love Deception:

The Spanish Love deception took Tiktok by storm. There was a time when EVERYONE was talking about this book. And I mean everyone.

And I must say, I’m disappointed.

It’s not that the book was bad, it was good.

Well, that’s a lie. It was okay. I finished it, so there is that. It did move some emotion in me, seeing as I laughed at times. I’m not sure those moments were meant to be funny, but some of Aaron’s lines about Catalina’s sparkle were just amusing. Not romantic, but amusing.

Trope:

Can we agree that this is not an enemies-to-lovers story? There was no actual animosity between them. The romance building between the two, though supposedly a slow burn, was too fast. It is revealed that Aaron, our main love interest, has been in love with Catalina since the beginning and just doesn’t show it. Personally, I never like that whole; boys being rude to the girls they like. It shows a certain kindergarten thought process for me. Like, what if there hadn’t been a wedding you were the only person available to attend? Would you have just stayed silent? Until what exactly? She starts dating someone else and you are too jealous to stand on the sidelines?

Characters:

During the wedding, he acted like a love-sick-puppy, calling her baby the entire time (Way too many times). He talked about her as positively and passionately as is in his power. Some of those lines were too corny for my taste, but I mean, fine. Some tropes were performed perfectly, such as the one-bed-trope. While others could have used a little bit more refining. Or even some avoiding. It felt like the author had a list of her favorite tropes and wanted to fit them all in one book.

And that is just not how it is done.

The side characters, being Catalina’s family, were more interesting than our two main characters combined. Abuela especially, was rather witty. Catalina, despite the author’s attempts, was not.

Catalina was made to be the typical sunshine character that lightens up a room whenever she enters. However, the description was overdone. The scenes that they made to describe how much of a good person she is, showed her as either naïve or just polite. That middle part, of being a positive character but not stupid was missing. Not to mention the main issue of the story. She rather ask someone she describes as rude and can’t bear the presence of, to a wedding than going alone? Someone that insecure shouldn’t be in a relationship, they should be in therapy.

Bonus:

The spanish love Deception covers some of the issues women face at the office, being overlooked for promotions and interrupted while speaking. I also applaud the book for adding actual Spanish text AND its translation next to it.

Recommendation for The Spanish Love Deception:

I normally wouldn’t really recommend anything I rated under a three. I am, however, rather judgy when it comes to typical, overused tropes. The more I read about it, the better I expect the next one to be.

I would recommend this to someone who likes clichés. It might not be your favorite book, but if you are a fan, it could be a nice casual read.