A wedding. A trip to Spain. The most infuriating man. And three days of pretending. Or in other words, a plan that will never work.
Catalina Martín, finally, not single. Her family is happy to announce that she will bring her American boyfriend to her sister's wedding. Everyone is invited to come and witness the most magical event of the year.
That would certainly be tomorrow's headline in the local newspaper of the small Spanish town I came from. Or the epitaph on my tombstone, seeing the turn my life had taken in the span of a phone call.
Four weeks wasn't a lot of time to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic-from NYC and all the way to Spain-for a wedding. Let alone, someone eager to play along my charade. But that didn't mean I was desperate enough to bring the 6'4 blue eyed pain in my ass standing before me.
Aaron Blackford. The man whose main occupation was making my blood boil had just offered himself to be my date. Right after inserting his nose in my business, calling me delusional, and calling himself my best option. See? Outrageous. Aggravating. Blood boiling. And much to my total despair, also right. Which left me with a surly and extra large dilemma in my hands. Was it worth the suffering to bring my colleague and bane of my existence as my fake boyfriend to my sister's wedding? Or was I better off coming clean and facing the consequences of my panic induced lie?
Like my abuela would say, que dios nos pille confesados. -
I finished this book, and I immediately went back to the beginning to start over. I enjoyed this book that much. For many months, I had seen people praising this book, and regrettably I never paid it too much mind. But then I saw a quote, and I immediately went on Amazon and bought the book.
The Spanish Love Deception is an enemies-to-lovers, office romance, and fake dating story. And it deserves every bit of praise that it gets. I will admit the beginning is maybe a tad bit slow. But once it gets going? Wow, wonderful adventure!
Normally, I’m able to devour a book. However, I couldn’t with this one. Every single page, I had to take a moment because it was hitting me that hard. I literally had to pull myself together and take charge of my feelings so I could finish this. And then I found myself going back and rereading things because I wanted to experience that magic again. I hadn’t read a book like this in a while.
This is the romance book for me. The chemistry and banter are off the chart. And it’s just an overall honest and beautiful romance.
From the get-go, Aaron has basically been obsessed with Lina. But she overhears a conversation between him and their boss, and that causes a bad taste in her mouth. So, for like almost two years there is this weird dynamic between the two mixed with misinterpretation and slight hostility. Aaron just takes it because as he says in the book- “because it was all you were willing to give me. and I’d rather have you hating me than not have you all.” And Lina is just still impacted from a prior relationship, so she misses the signs.
As the book progresses, we slowly see them become more comfortable around each other and reveal more about themselves. And this fake relationship starts to not feel so fake anymore. It’s a beautiful ride.
Moving on to the characters now. First, Lina. Loved her. The book is told through her POV, and her personality shines through. She is full of light and definitely not afraid to speak her mind. And she is passionate about everything. Prior to moving to New York, she had a terrible experience at being in love. And that experience has made her a bit untrusting and uncertain, which is 100% understandable. There were so many times where she deserved a hug because people are unnecessarily cruel. And Lina deserves the world. And thankfully, Aaron Blackford is willing to give it to her.
He is perfect. Every word out of his mouth is sworn worthy. The ultimate book boyfriend. Deserves to be number one in everyone’s heart. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that Aaron Blackford smuggled donuts out of the wedding because he knew that Lina would be hungry afterwards.
There are few, if any, other book romantic interests who are as dedicated, as thoughtful, and as caring as Aaron. He paid attention to every single detail of Lina and was the most respectful gentleman. The bar has been raised. Goals.
Final Thoughts
The Spanish Love Deception is an incredible book, with a beautiful love story and characters that are certain to stick with you.
