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A review by rensreading
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
slow-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
3.75
i went into this with no expectations and got a lot more than i bargained for.
i liked catalina up until the last 2 chapters. she felt like a real life person i could come across on the street. most romance mc’s aren’t very dimensional so armas did very well with hers. she was strong, stubborn, but also prone to panicking because of the rough stuff she had gone through in life.
as for aaron, i didn’t like him when he said nothing to defend lina from gerard in that meeting where she gets assigned to organize an event she has no idea how to put together, but he grew on me. it became very clear that he had liked her a long time before she ever considered him even being nice and i liked that about him, but then he started getting weird about how much she ate and about her health. it reminded me of christian gray and that is not someone you want to be compared to, fellas. he very quickly dropped that “how much have you eaten today” thing though so i was relieved about that. but then he started to try and seduce lina at weird, inopportune moments and that gave me mad second-hand embarrassment. he ended up being pretty okay in the end.
what did give me the ick was a spanish woman using the word “savages” in a playful manner when spain is just as much of a colonizer country as england and the fact that after beinggroomed and manipulated by her first boyfriend/old professor , LINA is the one left to pick up the pieces. her family give her so much shit for how she drifted along in life after being traumatized by him and all the people that jumped on the bandwagon to harass her but are cordially polite with said ex-boyfriend of hers. what the fuck?
i did like that she caught onto the fact that he groomed her when she sees him in spain again though. he says something like “we’re both adults now” and she goes ballistic “compared to when? to when we were dating and you said you loved me and made me feel so special?” GOOD FOR HER! i hope daniel gets fucked by a cactus or something. it’s the least of what he deserves.
and then we hit the last chapter and im hit with so much cringe.in my opinion, that very last act “breakup” was also unnecessary as fuck. there went the rational woman lina had finally worked herself into being. she had done a lot of work on herself and i get her trust issues aren’t going to be in tip-top shape, but we didn’t need a novela worthy drama arc to rush her into going where she was already headed, yknow? that was unneeded and it ruined a bit of her character development as well.
also armas, you robbed us of the martin family meeting aaron’s dad in the epilogue. ABSOLUTE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR! JAIL!
in terms of spice, i’d give this a solid 2/5 🌶 there were 2 explicit smut scenes and 2 heavy petting, semi-public makeout sessions.the dirty talk wasn’t all that surprising, but the mild spanking was. it was okay though. they weren’t really detrimental to the plot but they did add a nice enough kick to keep things very interesting. not bad
i think i’d give this book 3.75 stars if i wanted to get very specific with my ratings. it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t bad either. a good and enjoyable experience for the most part 😊
(why were there so many twilight references btw??)
i liked catalina up until the last 2 chapters. she felt like a real life person i could come across on the street. most romance mc’s aren’t very dimensional so armas did very well with hers. she was strong, stubborn, but also prone to panicking because of the rough stuff she had gone through in life.
as for aaron, i didn’t like him when he said nothing to defend lina from gerard in that meeting where she gets assigned to organize an event she has no idea how to put together, but he grew on me. it became very clear that he had liked her a long time before she ever considered him even being nice and i liked that about him, but then he started getting weird about how much she ate and about her health. it reminded me of christian gray and that is not someone you want to be compared to, fellas. he very quickly dropped that “how much have you eaten today” thing though so i was relieved about that. but then he started to try and seduce lina at weird, inopportune moments and that gave me mad second-hand embarrassment. he ended up being pretty okay in the end.
what did give me the ick was a spanish woman using the word “savages” in a playful manner when spain is just as much of a colonizer country as england and the fact that after being
and then we hit the last chapter and im hit with so much cringe.
also armas, you robbed us of the martin family meeting aaron’s dad in the epilogue. ABSOLUTE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR! JAIL!
in terms of spice, i’d give this a solid 2/5 🌶 there were 2 explicit smut scenes and 2 heavy petting, semi-public makeout sessions.
i think i’d give this book 3.75 stars if i wanted to get very specific with my ratings. it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t bad either. a good and enjoyable experience for the most part 😊
(why were there so many twilight references btw??)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Cancer
Minor: Bullying, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
it’s never made clear how old lina was when she met daniel, but she was definitely groomed and manipulated by him. he was in a position of power and used that to his advantage to mess around with her then happily left her to pick up the pieces and bear the brunt of the blame as well.