The Spanish Love Deception

From its blurb, The Spanish Love Deception sounded like it had all the good things that you'd find in an entertaining RomCom - romance, a trope or two, a far-off locale and humorous bits. And it did! But it never came together for me. 

My biggest beef is with Catalina, the main character whose head readers are stuck inside as we hear her repetitive thoughts, gripes, over-dramatizations and misinterpretations of .. every .. little .. thing. Her constant need to be in turmoil and hate on Aaron was petulant, annoying and her cluelessness about his intentions was aggravating.

Aaron was written as a perfect kind of guy and readers are reminded a few times that he resembles Clark Kent (my mind immediately goes to Henry Cavill so that's a bonus). We don't get to know him well, so he comes off as a bit dull and too good to be true as he attempts to woo the oblivious Catalina with his homemade energy bars, learning a new language and flying across the world to her family wedding. You know, as one does for your, um, coworker.

This was a sloth-like slow burn RomCom that had an enticing blurb and bits of good banter and fake dating trope (love it!), but the steamy bits (complete with cringy dirty talk) don't happen until the last quarter of the book so readers who like a lot of sauciness will be waiting a long time. There are secondary characters, but they are barely used ... heck Spain is barely there! I assumed, based on the blurb and title, that much of the book would be spent at the wedding, interacting with Catalina's family members and trying to hide the fact that Aaron isn't Catalina's boyfriend, but that wasn't the case, and it was a missed opportunity for tension and humorous situations.

This book is a TikTok sensation, but it didn't live up to its hype for me. It had a couple of good plot points and Scarlette Hayes narrated the audiobook well, but this was more of a frustrating read and was never a story that had me itching to get back into it.

My Rating: 2.5 stars

Author: Elena Armas

Genre: RomCom, Romance

Type and Source: eAudiobook from public library

Narrator: Scarlette Hayes

Run Time: 14 hours, 32 minutes

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio

First Published: Nov 23, 2021

Opening Line: "I'll be your date to the wedding."

Book Description from GoodReads: Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiraled out of control. Now everyone she knows - including her ex and his fiancée - will be there and eager to meet him.

She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight, and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford - her tall, handsome, condescending colleague - who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.