Hey

I am no stranger to the popular books on booktube, booktok or even bookstagram but for the longest time I have had this mantra of not following the most popular books due to the hype being so great to my experience not matching with everyone. I have always thought that the genre wasn’t for me and found myself diving into another genre to make the excuse to avoid it but somehow, after curiously looking at the suggestion display in Waterstones, I couldn’t risk the temptation any longer.

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

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.

Published: February 2021

Published Edition: October 2021

Publishers: Simon and Schuster UK

Pages:468

Genre: Romance, Contemporary

Goodreads Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟.5

Thoughts

I have been aware of the this book for quite some time, almost a year I believe. Back then, I wasn’t interested in the most popular Booktok books and now I caved and read it.

The only way I am able to describe what this book is about is it’s The Wedding Date meets Zoey’s Extraodinary Playlist, minus the playlist. Because Lina and Aaron are part of a tech company the only connection I have is Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which if you have never seen it then I highly recommend it. But also The Wedding Date, which if you have not seen that movie I highly recommend and also a lot of Buble music is included in that movie. This book had so many vibes of the Wedding Date, I wished that it was a bit longer in my opinion.

I think every woman would want a man like Aaron Blackford, he can be cold and stuffy but can be seductive and charming. Not to mention that he would buy you extra food because he knows how much you love food. At first, I thought he only wanted to do it for a favor for him (bidding bachelor, scene) but it was more of an oppertunity to be closer to Lina. And I was in for it.

My only gripe abouth this book would have to be the pacing because I wasn’t in for it for a while. I kept wanting it to reach to the wedding that it took exactly 200 pages to get Lina and Aaron on the plane to Spain. Another thing I didn’t like was how the handaling of the ex boyfriend, it was this big mystery that Aaron and I had no clue about until Lina finally told and at that point I was dissappointed. It didn’t sit well with me and I felt the confrontation between Lina should have been more of a public scene, because it should have been more impactful in that moment for everyone to see Lina be the better person out of the two. I wanted it to be exactly like The Wedding Date, when all the secrets were realsed to the world and for them to change the role of the Best man which would have been nice.

I wouldn’t call this book smut I would conisder this book more chick lit, if there is a difference between the two. I wouldn’t consider it smut when the only sex scene that happened only happened towards the end of the book and I wasn’t in for it.

Have you read the book? What did you think?

Hope you are well.

Happy Reading xx