Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Spanish Love Deception

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

63 reviews

aschmitttyy's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed this one, but it wasn't my favorite of the genre. Their enemies to lovers storyline was cute enough, but it just didn't seem realistic that Aaron was always just always into Lina but she never knew? Did wrap up with a cute little bow though.

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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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nyquillll's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense 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

3.75

Hopeless romantic here - this book did it for me.

I did think the pacing of the story was a bit slow at times, but I think that was meant to be for this slow-burn, and I’m apparently into those kinds of stories now. In hindsight, when you consider the whole story happens within maybe a couple weeks, it’s probably not so slow.

What can I say about this book. At times I was frustrated with the FMC for how much her inner dialogue and doubts controlled her actions, but then I quickly empathized because isn’t that what we all do? I appreciated the author’s handling of this passionate, soul-consuming, pure kind of love which selflessly offered each other to one another. And, of course, as the reader, we can tell from the beginning how enraptured Aaron is with Catalina. :)

This book touched on self esteem, sexism in the workplace (working in a male-dominated profession), international romance, past trauma, power and gender dynamics in relationships, fake-dating, the things you do for the people you love, strained relationships with parents, loss of parental figures, the presence or absence of extended family, and the strength and courage it takes to trust in love and let it flow in.

I adore the love between the two MCs, even if it took them a while to admit it to one another :)

Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Death of parent, and Cancer

Some of my favorite quotes:

”We are ignoring him though. You don’t need to spare his feelings, he doesn’t have any.”

"They probably thought they were not taking any side, but they were. Their silence was doing exactly that."

"Be there in an hour. best, Aaron." "What in the f-"

"What if I still want to tell you about it?"

"What's so surprising, Catalina? I pay attention when you talk. Even when you mumble to yourself."

"If you think I'm not elated to see you eat, then you don't understand how serious I was yesterday."

"Thank you, boyfriend."

"There you are."

"This was a historical moment."

"No sleeping, baby. Please."

"You'll already know that I am."

"And for a while there, it wasn't like that. All that lightness faded out, and seeing my daughter going through something like that wasn't easy...But that's in the past. She's here now, and she's okay. Happy."

"Anything that bothers you matters to me, and I want to hear about it...Nothing about you is boring or doesn't interest me-ever. Understand?"

"I'll earn my four-letter word."

"It doesn't have to be a dream you need to wake up from."

"When there's a rock on the way and you fall, I tumble down with you. We fight our way up together."

"We protect and heal each other. That's how this is supposed to be."

"Half of them wanted to file the complaint themselves..."

"...as long as I had him, my life-altering moment would never be a measurement of time....He was my moment. And for as long as I had him, my life would constantly be changing, be altered. I'd be challenged, cherished, loved. With him, I'd live."

"I'm here. I'm here. I'm running toward you. I trust you. I love you..."

"I would have come back for you, you know? I told you I wouldn't let you quit on us. You still owed me that four-letter word."

"But I finally got it. I understood how hard it'd hit him, losing Mom. How lost he must have been at the reality of not having a way to get her back."

"Your Thea,"

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.75

While I had quite a few issues with this book, it was ultimately fine and I did enjoy reading it to an extent. I'm confused by all of the hype praising this book though.
The writing was... not great. Clunky sentences, things were worded strange for characters, and there were whole paragraphs and pages of "filler" that felt repetitive - all of the things going on in Lina's head that seemed to just loop. I admit to skimming a lot of those sections. Also the part in Spain was a shockingly small part of the book?
I did like Aaron's character. Sure he could be stand offish and cold, definitely didn't deal with things in the right way and said "baby" way too much - but I felt like his character had more depth in some ways than Lina.

Anyways. The banter was fun, I liked the fake dating aspect. This is NOT enemies to lovers though. It was a fine read.

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alexxmichelle's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

Its a cute fun read, some cringy moments and pretty slow to start but its overall fun and enjoyable!

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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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melist6's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.25

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bri__'s review against another edition

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.5

The only good thing about this book for me was Aaron Blackford. Catalina bothered me sometimes, especially in the beginning when her hatred seemed so unnecessary. I feel like this book could have been shortened by atleast 100 pages and it would have had the same affect. The chapters should not be over 20 pages long, it was so hard to motivate myself to keep going because of it. The book was pretty cute but definitely dragged in the beginning and I was just excited to finish it so I could read a different book.

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fkshg8465's review

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emotional 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

3.5

I was ready to hate my book and took my eyes start to finish. I had tried to read this book once before, but I’d DNFd it the first time. But it kept coming back to me from one must read list to another, so I gave it another chance. So glad I did. Aaron is the perfect man in so many ways. Despite my desire to hate the book, I kept finding myself charmed. I even laughed hard at few times. And OMG, the first sex scene in the book - I was fully present and there for it and for quite a while afterward. That was an unexpected and delicious surprise. But then, after that, I started liking him less. It was almost like he was a different character - less attuned, less perfect. He got crass, insensitive, patronizing, closed off, and needy. Carolina went from smart and respectable to a hero to root for, to needy herself and simpering. But they eventually became two characters I could like and respect by the end of the story and my disappointment was lifted. For all these reasons, the book started out a 2, climbed to a 4, and landed as a 3.5.

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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2.5

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