Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

13 reviews

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

 Unsure how this is the same lady who wrote The Long Game. I really enjoyed that book, but the writing in this one was just fuuuucking terrible omg???? Like literally wasn't even 5 pages in and already was dreading having to read the rest of it. Literally was brought to tears (and I'm not being dramatic -- ok well, maybe the fact that I was brought to tears is dramatic, but I am not lying about it happening) by how bad it was. Which is actually really sad and frustrating because I thought the romance was so cute/fun and I liked the characters! It was so obvious from like the very first interaction that that man was like hopelessly in love with her meanwhile she was like "ugh he hates me and I hate him" girl.....Rosie had some sense but miss Lina refused to listen.

Absolutely hated that they said each others' names every sentence. Soo annoying. Which is really my only complaint about the romance itself. I love a (not so) enemies to lovers / fake dating romance. I believed that they fell in love over a weekend,
given that he was in love with her for 2 years, and the only reason she didn't realize her feelings is cause she was holding a grudge (so true of her, tbh)


Small thing to get stuck on, but I hate that she described an (American) football as "melonlike." Has this lady ever seen a football? or a melon???? they're two completely different shapes!!! wtf! google if you're not sure!

This book was a study in gaslighting fr. On one page, Aaron curses. The next page, "Aaron never curses." On one page, Aaron smiles. The next page, "Aaron never smiles." HELLO????? Why are you trying to convince me I'm insane??? This, more than the unnecessary metaphors and run-on sentences (and I love a run on sentence - my reviews are evidence), was my least favorite part of the book.

If the writing wasn't so shit, this book could have easily been a 4. What a sad sad case of wasted potential.
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blackveilbeccy's review against another edition

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

3.5

This was an enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, fake dating romance between two engineers. Lina is vivacious and a little flighty, Aaron is serious. He offers to play fake boyfriend to Lina and accompany her to her sister’s wedding, but it turns real along the way. Lina’s family are big and loud, and they add colour to the story. I wasn’t convinced about either the FMC or the MMC as Lina annoyed me a bit and Aaron was two dimensional. He was also super possessive and it came out of nowhere?  The book was just okay.
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infjkiki's review

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emotional lighthearted medium-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

5.0

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yllenia's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I was definitely deceived.. into reading this book - dnf @ 73% (νέο ρεκόρ για εμένα)

Αυτό το βιβλίο προχωράει βασανιστικά αργά. Για να καταλάβεις, η πλοκή βασίζεται σε μια κοπέλα που φέρνει ένα ψεύτικο ραντεβού στο γάμο της αδερφής της, και δεν φτάνουμε καν στο μέρος που γίνεται ο γάμος με τη σελίδα 240 (!).

Το παραπάνω πιθανά δεν θα με πείραζε εάν ένιωθα ότι έγινε για να δώσει βάθος στους χαρακτήρες και τις περιπέτειες τους. Αντί για αυτό αναλωθήκαμε σε περιστατικά μεμονωμένα και χωρίς την απαραίτητη ροή ή σύνδεση, τα οποία πήραν τη διπλάσια έκταση από αυτή που τους αναλογούσε. 

Παράλληλα το βιβλίο προσπάθησε να δημιουργήσει σασπένς κρατώντας από εμάς πληροφορίες για τα μεγάλα συμβάντα της ζωής της πρωταγωνίστριας μέχρι (φαντάζομαι) το τέλος του βιβλίου. Κατάφερε όμως να γίνει τόσο βαρετό που δεν θα μάθω ποτέ.

#bookstagram #booktok #booktokwaswrong #willievercomebackfromthis
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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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culzean's review

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adventurous emotional 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

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faitherslibrary's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-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

3.0

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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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mollydollydoodah's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

An absolutely perfect read for Valentine’s Day <3 I couldn’t put it down, and I was absolutely in love with every character (except Daniel, gross).
I loved every little thing Aaron said to Lina, everything he did to show her how much he loved her, despite her stubbornness and refusal to believe it. Also, the spice scenes were on point. Absolutely fantastic ;)
I definitely recommend this novel, especially if you are looking for a fake-dating trope, because this is sure to be on the very top of the list for that trope. I absolutely loved it, and it made me physically laugh out loud several times. Highly recommend! 
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astoryofpages's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I've heard a lot of good things about this book and... it's a disappointment.  The enemies-to-lovers trope wasn’t incredible, I didn't even feel like it was central to the story (unlike the fake dating one). The characters were just rude to each other which is quite annoying. 

Lina was a bit childish and Aaron (who I liked at the beginning) completely changed his personality at 50% of the book. Everything was ✨miscommunication✨ and the difficulties Lina and Aaron had to face were swept away without real solutions. 

The smut was weird and made me uncomfortable and the end was meh. I think the “sexism storyline” was too superficial, while it would have been really interesting if it has been explored with more depth. While the beginning was long, the end was completely rushed. 
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