Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - The Spanish Love Deception

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

20 reviews

fernandalaram's review against another edition

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funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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th3misna's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I needed to have this little breather after reading heavy fantasy for a while and this novel was just what I needed. Fast paced, funny, witty and with top tier tension, is everything a novel like this should be. I always aim for books like this because they make me feel good and airy before I embark on the journey to do some heavy fantasy reads so for anyone looking for a nice book to read and break away from the heavy stuff, this is it. Please be advise that it has a few themes of sickness, power abuse in the work/study area.

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luna_lovelace's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I couldn't put this book down! If you're looking for a slow burn romance novel than look no further. It was so beautifully written that I really grew to love the main characters.

I was surprised how the author had Aaron fall for her so hard before Catalina even knew what hit her, or at least did not want to admit there was real chemistry between them.

Their love story was well paced, I didn't feel like it was being stretched out and thought the timing always felt right when it came to their relationship developing.

There's also another book about her best friend, I can't wait to read it!

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alexismil's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Not gonna lie, I was hesitant for the first 50 pages. But then I understood the hype. I mean Aaron Blackford raises my standard once again. I mean the things he says to Catalina is so wonderful. Ugh, I want those things to be said to me. Lol. Anyways, I thought the book was good. It wasn’t my favourite read of the year, but it was probably in my top 5!

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Writing: 4.25⭐️/5

The Spanish Love Deception is written very well, with some sections shining quite nicely. At certain tiny moments, the dialogue felt a bit forced or unnatural but these were fleeting sections and didn’t impact the overall read.

Characters: 4.25⭐️/5

Again, apart from a couple of moments where the characters felt like cookie-cutter tropes, but it was quickly overcome by deeper character development. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters by the end and honestly fell in love with a few.

Plot: 4⭐️/5

While the overarching plot (and the great use of the fake dating trope) was thoroughly enjoyable, I didn’t love the semi-focus on some of the side plots. The somewhat flippant plot point in which Lina decides to not eat felt unfinished, especially as it never comes up again. Similarly, while I understand the desire to keep certain backstories secret until necessary, the way both Lina and Aaron’s backstories are consistently hinted at without being revealed until they confess to each other left other sections of the novel feeling unfinished. Definitely a fun (and good) read, but I wonder what it could have been had these been more thoroughly thought out.

Who Should Read This Book?

Fans of fun romance novels
Those who love the fake dating trope

Content Warnings?

Disordered Eating, Toxic Relationships, Sexual Content, Swearing, Stalking, Sexual Harassment, Misogyny, Sexism

Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5

Very fun.

Final Rating: 4.25⭐️/5

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lizzye33's review against another edition

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emotional relaxing tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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mhairi_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Rating: ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️
Tropes: Fake dating, hate to love, one bed, grumpy / sunshine, slow burn,
POV: Single - Catalina

The first thing I think an out when I think about this book if Mr Aaron Blackford 🥵! Yes please!

When I saw that she was a chunky girl I thought does a romance book need to be this long? Then I started reading - and let me tell you, oh yes it did. I could have done another 400 pages of Blackford alone!

We follow Catalina - who is in dire need of a date to her sister’s wedding in Spain where everyone she knows will be in attendance. Including her ex and his new fiancée. She’s told everyone she’ll be bringing her new boyfriend. The only problem is, she doesn’t have one.

Aaron Blackford - obnoxious, condescending, insufferable … tall, built and freaking gorgeous. Blackford is a colleague of Catalina’s and when her overhears her talking about her dilemma he offers himself to go back to Spain under the ruse of being her new beau. Sounds perfect, right? Wrong! Aaron is Catalina’s worst nightmare.

However with time most definitely not on her side Aaron is looking like her best option, she goes all in and does everything she can to make sure their Spanish Love Deception is bulletproof.

Throughout their time in Spain the pretending becomes much less forced and whole lot more natural. It doesn’t feel entirely like pretending anymore.

I loved this book!! From the obvious chemistry, to the banter this was just *chef’s kiss.* The more I read, the more I was totally sucked in to the story and I just didn’t want to put it down. Armas’ writing was easy and beautifully written. The dialogue was written effortlessly and it didn’t feel out of place. I will definitely be picking up more of Armas’ work. This was fantastic.

I can definitely see me picking this up again as a comfort read.

⚠️ Content Warnings: loss of a parent, sexism in the workplace, grief, unsafe dieting (restricting food)

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lacrimaeignis's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I absolutely adored this rom com! It was a fun trip and the perfect story to start off the new year! I loved how the characters played off of each other. Lina and Aaron's banter and chemistry was fantastic and seeing the build up of their relationship was nice.

Even though I was a little disappointed at first, I am ultimately glad that we didn't get to their trip to Spain until later in the book - about halfway through. It allowed the relationship to build up more and allowed the characters to understand each other a bit better before getting others involved in their relationship.

. It was also very pleasant to read about a loving family and not just the strained relationship families that appear more often than not in this genre. I only wish that we had been given a chance to see and experience more of Spain in the story. I also would have preferred to see more of Aaron's flaws - especially during the trip.

And while it was fun to get references to pop culture, they were used a bit too much especially the Twilight references. One or two Twilight references would have been fine but they started throwing me out of the story; it got to a point where Lina was basically pretending she was Bella and Aaron was her Edward.

But all in all it was an enjoyable story with believable and relatable characters. And most of all it made me want to visit Spain once again.

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roadesntoades's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is one of the cutest romances I have read in a long time and does not deserve any of the hate it’s given. This is a book that doesn’t shy away from being a bit cliche. I mean it literally lays out the tropes on the back. It’s fake-dating, enemies to lovers, one bed. It doesn’t shy away from that it embraces it. Yeah there are some moments that are bit rinse and repeat but they are enjoyable. Plus I love that it’s made clear that Aaron has always been attracted to Catalina, or at least liked her. It wasn’t some sudden romance, or spontaneous declaration. We know how it will end and we know that Aaron wasn’t hiding it, just respecting Catalina’s boundaries. It’s honestly such a cute read, and really enjoyable

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honkmoon's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so cute! I ended up really enjoying it. I hesitated to read it because it had some bad reviews, but I thought it was wonderful! Truthfully I didn’t enjoy the first few chapters as much, but once we got to know Aaron, I was hooked. I definitely see why he is on the book boyfriend list!

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