C.H. Armstrong Books

The Spanish Love Deception
by Elena Armas

Published by Atria Books
A Simon & Schuster Imprint
Release Date: February 1, 2022
Excerpt from Simon & Schuster

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled 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.

Cathie’s Review

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on my blog, but with the new year comes new resolutions and changes. In 2022, I’ve decided it’s time to start sharing my reading with more people and doing my best to help new authors by sharing their work. So my first review of 2022 goes to Elena Areas and The Spanish Love Deception.

Without giving a lot away about this book, this is an enemies to lovers, based upon misunderstandings, fake-dating trope–a trope that’s like candy for me. Not just candy, but candy like really good Godiva Chocolate Truffle. I just never get tired of this trope and could read it all day, every day.

Before I go any further, I should also point out that I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review–which is the only thing you’ll ever receive from me anyway, so we’re all good. With that in mind, let’s go.

To put it mildly, I completely loved this everything about this book. I loved the writing, the story, and especially the characters. But what I loved the most about it was the slow burn that introduced us to Lina and Aaron and made us, the readers, fall in love with them so completely that we were rooting for them to finally find their way together. There was no rush to consummate their relationship before they were both bought-in. Instead, by the time their relationship was consummated, it was like they’d finally won the race and were being awarded the championship prize. And the feelings it produced as a result were worth every second of the wait.

I highly recommend this book and offer it a completely unprompted 5-star rating. It released today and is available everywhere books are sold.