Ratings: 4/5⭐
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 482
Format: Paperback
Published: February 22nd, 2021
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
The Spanish Love Deception- Elena Armas
The Spanish Love Deception, the debut novel by Elena Armas, is one of the most sensational and hyped books on Booktok.
Blurb
Catalina Martín desperately needs a date for her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiraled 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 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.
The Spanish Love Deception Summary
Our female lead in The Spanish Love Deception is Catalina Martin aka Lina, who fled Spain to live in Brooklyn and works in an engineering firm called InTech. She’s hardworking and dedicated but also carefree and bubbly. Our favorite * drum roll * Aaron Blackford joins the firm and soon Lina and Aaron become annoyers to each other in the office. Real meet cute!
Lina has left behind a lot of baggage in Spain and she flies to the US not only to pursue her career and dreams but also as an escape. She is afraid that she has to face all of it as she has to go back to Spain for her sister’s wedding. The only problem is that she does not have a date. Aaron comes to the rescue and proposes to be her date at the wedding on the condition that she will be his date at an event.
Lina imagines a friendship developing between them, while they plan The Spanish Love Deception, while we can all sense the growing tension between them. When their walls come down, they both reveal a side of themselves that surprises both them and us. Lina has her concerns, though, because Aaron’s modest physical and emotional touches make her wonder if it’s genuine or just a ruse to make their phony relationship appear genuine in front of her Spaniard family.
“I’ll give you the world,” he said against my mouth. “The moon. The fucking stars. Anything you ask, it’s yours. I’m yours.”
Aaron, on the other hand, is determined to make her trust and believe him rather than dispose of him. And after a three-day vacation in Spain for her sister’s wedding, several dances, and a few glasses of wine, their physical attraction manifests itself in that small room with the small bed they must share. Aaron does not let us down. He is the most charming and hot, and after a few steamy chapters, we are totally in love with him.
“If you get any more perfect, I’m going to believe you were made just for me.”
They face some turmoils and hardships but their love overpowers all and we are so glad to see Aaron and Catalina together – happy ever after finally.
“When I finally kiss you, there won’t be any doubt in your mind that it is real.”
Personal Reviews
I am writing this review FINALLY! I finished the book a few months back but could not sit down to write the review until today. The story is still relatively fresh in my mind as it is not just a book you read. You’ll highlight its lines and quote them in conversations with your lover, you’ll look for a little bit of Aaron Blackford in your IRL crush (if you have one), and you’d definitely want to live all of those steamy romance moments for real!
“You feel complete in my arms. You feel like my home.”
The Spanish Love Deception is a contemporary romance and rightly so because it has all the elements of it- the most adorable meet-cute, a central plot of the love story where Catalina and Aaron slowly fall in love and later struggle to make their relationship work, and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.
I had read a lot of mixed reviews about the book and truly it is about the taste. The book does have a few drawbacks, nevertheless, I like the story. The characters are relatable in some ways and more. There’s a hopeful feeling that remains constant throughout when I read this. Although the book is a slow burn, it has its dynamics and keeps the pace just enough to keep you hooked to its pages. I think Elena Armas has tried to put in all the emotions in the right amounts so as to not leave the story bland- there’s humor, family love, respect for tradition, office courtesies, friendships, jealousy, and a lot of romance.
I don’t know if it was because I was almost in a slump or was too occupied with work and exams to give much time to the book, but for a fun and light-hearted read, it did take up a lot of time. It is almost 500 pages so I think that could be another reason.
I can’t wait for the Spanish Love Deception movie! BCDF Pictures has acquired film rights to Elena Armas’ 2021 New York Times bestseller The Spanish Love Deception, which will be adapted on the big screen by Peter Hutchings (The Hating Game).
If you are a sucker for contemporary romances and tall guys with blue eyes, this can be your next read. Books like The Spanish Love Deception are good for a one-time read.
About The Author Of The Spanish Love Deception
Elena Armas-Author of The Spanish Love Deception
Elena is a Spanish writer, a self-confessed hopeless romantic, and a proud book hoarder. Now, she’s also the author of an International bestseller and is soon to be adapted to the film The Spanish Love Deception and instant New York Times bestseller The American Roommate Experiment. Her books are being translated into over 30 languages––which is bananas, if you ask her.
After years of devouring stories and posting––sometimes yelling––about them on her (books)tagram @thebibliotheque, she finally took the leap and started creating some of her own.
While she’d never describe herself as adventurous, having a degree in chemical engineering and being the Monica of her group of friends, this definitely qualifies as the most exciting yet terrifying project she has ever taken on. She’s probably biting her nails as you read this. Heck, she’s probably full-on freaking out. But don’t mind her, that’s just a little off––hopefully healthy––stage fright.
Regardless, she cannot wait to finally share her dream with you. To perhaps gush over her stories together, and who knows, maybe fall a little more in love with love. Because isn’t that the point of all of this?