Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Spanish Love Deception

You are light. And passion. Your laughter alone can lift my mood and effortlessly turn my day around in a matter of seconds Even when it's not aimed at me. You . .. can light up entire rooms, Catalina. You hold that kind of power. And it's because of all the different things that make you who you are. Each and every one of them, even the ones that drive me crazy in ways you can't imagine.
You should never forget that"

This book was everything I needed when I needed it.

In an act of desperation Catalina tells her family she’s being her “boyfriend” to Spain for her sister’s wedding. Truth be told she very much single. Now Catalina has a few weeks to 1) find a date 2) convince her family that he’s head over heels in love with her.

So Aaron (her workplace nemesis) volunteers to accompany her to the wedding! Catalina is shocked but she’s desperate so she agrees.

My thoughts:
If I have a dollar for every time the books mentions how tall Aaron is and how blue his eyes are I’d be filthy rich. But ngl, I do love a big burly man who can carry me around like I’m a piece of paper 😍

Catalina is just amazing. She’s sweet, loud, funny & quirky. Her family is to die for. She suffers from a pretty bad previous relationship that she still carries with her years later.

This book is definitely a mix of feel good romance and escapism. It’s told from Catalina’s pov (not usually my style) but you can feel Aaron’s longing through her perspective and I’m here for it. We love a pining, love sick man 😍

This book definitely didn’t change my life but it was fun and spicy. I‘ve also decided I won’t stand for walking on my own two feet anymore - I demand to be carried everywhere 💁🏽‍♀️

⚠️ CW: teacher/student relationship, death of a parent, gaslighting, sexism, cancer

Content Warnings

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)

Content Warnings

georginainvisablestring22's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense 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? Yes

3.25

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livelyghost's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Catalina Martín works with Aaron Bradford at an engineering consulting company, but after getting off on the wrong foot they’ve been quietly antagonizing each other for months. When Catalina wants a date for her sister’s wedding, Aaron volunteers himself. Catalina doesn’t necessarily trust him but ultimately agrees and an adventure begins.

I question every single decision the characters in this book make. Catalina says she absolutely loathes this dude but decides to trust him with her reputation and international travel. We learn that Aaron has been obsessed with her and remembers seemingly everything she’s ever said in a way that gives me the ick. It’s cool that he’s being “polite” and asking for permission before trying anything but the overall impression I get is that if he didn’t get his way he’d end up as one of those guys whose favorite movies is The Joker and constantly laments about being “misunderstood.” Catalina doesn’t pick up on any of this and/or denies it’s happening which is like, girl, you’re a woman in the 21st century, a better radar for the people who are uncomfortably hot for you would be immensely helpful.

This book hits so many tropes in such an unsatisfying way. The girl who doesn’t eat and faints so a man gives her a granola bar and then has to coach her into eating for 50 pages, the man who doesn’t know how to express his emotions and just never bothers to be outwardly nice in public to this girl so they can stop being turds to each other, an ex who is a literal predator with no repercussions, miscommunications, entire sentences being exchanged through a glance, a plot that centers around a wedding that we see approximately 10 seconds of, one bed only, fake dating. It tries to giveth, but it mostly taketh away. I feel like Lina got oddly Stockholm syndromed into horniness.

Also I have no idea what the author has against conjunctions but what 28 year old seriously only speaks with an apostrophe only twice in 400+ pages??

Also also I never want to hear a man say “milk me” ever again thank u.

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goddaniiit's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.0

I don't know if I went in with too much expectations with all the hype BookTok was giving it or if it just came off a little lackluster to me. Some choices were made and it felt like it was just done for the sake of plot convenience. Not gonna lie, there were certain scenes wherein I had to take a break from reading because of secondhand embarrassment. In addition, I also thought that Aaron Blackfort is such a bland love interest. Catalina Martín could do so much better!

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fabichirinos'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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

AAA I COULDN'T GET MY HANDS OFF THIS BOOKK i loved it so much, it was sexy, funny and had some intercultural perks it's my kind of cliche and THE DIALOGUE so sexy, really fun read and light to have a good time

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jfield351's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

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

0.75

I hated this book :(. All my friends love it and theres a major hype around this book but i vehemently despise it. The writing style was good, and thats the only praise I have for it.

The characters were dreadful. So unrealistic and horrible people. Everything they said and did was completely stupid. Aaron was an insane, controlling, horrible alpha male which did not get better at the end, it was very uncomfortable to read. Catalina told him no SO many times and he kept pushing which i find disgusting, not romantic. But then, Catalina magically falls in love with him? And all they do is have sex nothing else happens. Catalina is also quite dumb and shoves off her 'best friend' Rosie a few times. She also starves herself and does all this stupid stuff that is so unrealistic. For example, apparently she hated him for 2 years but then he gets a promotion and she's all like "I'm genuinely happy for Aaron!'. What? Definitely does not pass the Bechdel test. Catalina and also the plot are very inconsistent.

. the main thing i got from the title was deception. this was not love.

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arthur_ant18's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

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