Title: The Spanish Love Deception
Author: Elena Armas
Rating: ★★★★½

The Spanish Love Deception had me smiling like a fool while reading. Smart, funny, incredibly well-written and full of engaging characters, this book is a rom-com lover’s dream. There are so many fantastic tropes included here–fake relationship, office romance, there’s only one bed, slow-burn feelings–that it was impossible not to find this book absolutely delightful.

First and foremost; this is not a hate-to-love story! I keep seeing this book marketed as such and expected to go into this with a romance plot similar to The Hating Game, when in fact it was pretty obvious from the beginning that there is no actual hate between Lina and Aaron. Any of Lina’s animosity towards Aaron was due to a misunderstanding. It’s completely obvious to everyone (including readers) that he was into her from the get-go and sometimes her character seemed a little too dense.

“Had I been that bind?”

Yes, Lina. Yes, you have. Her complete lack of awareness in regards to Aaron’s words/actions/behaviors was so frustrating as a reader, but it made her realization at the end even sweeter.

The romance was perfection. From the writing, to the angst, to the sexual tension that was built so perfectly I thought my pages were going to spark and catch fire. There’s nothing I love more than some well written banter and dirty talk and Elena Armas delivered.

“I’ll give you the world,” he said against my mouth. “The moon. The fucking stars. Anything you ask, it’s yours. I’m yours.”

I’m not sure why I didn’t see this book on many upcoming releases lists, or why it’s not plastered across every Barnes and Nobles rom-com/summer reading display as it rightly should be. I honestly only knew about this book because I had seen some other people reading it on Goodreads when it was released. The Spanish Love Deception is nothing short of a perfect contemporary romance and deserves all the hype and then some.