The Spanish Love Deception - Elena Armas ******/5

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. (Goodreads)

Ok, this? this book? It was something I never expected!!! It's not surprising about the fact that booktok made me buy it but, the thing is I almost didn't buy because there were quite a few of bad reviews. To bookstagram thank you for making me buy it!! I'm a lover of slow burn and although I did find the first few pages quite boring, after getting through it, I was addicted. I loved this as much as I loved The Love Hypothesis, and maybe a bit more!!!!

I was immensely caught up with the story and I finished reading it in 3 days!!! I wanted to give it a few more days because I just didn't want Aaron and Line's story to end but, it was addictive. I read this right after It Ends With Us and I absolutely loved this way more than It Ends With Us (will give a review later!), which was surprising because I honestly thought I would love It Ends With Us.

So this is almost like The Hating Game (but obviously way better duh!), there's hate between Aaron and Catalina but, because of Lina's past experience, breakup with her ex-boyfriend which ended up hurting her badly and the society bad-mouthing her, she lied to her family and said she'll bring a date to her sister's wedding when she clearly had no one to take. Aaron volunteered and they started the fake date and went to the wedding. Long story short, the wedding, going to Spain, was the climax and them finding that they love each other *hearty eyes*.

For me, if I ever marry, I want to marry a guy like Aaron because he obviously has his faults, but he was there for Lina, when she desperately needed someone and was there to hold her, when she was almost falling in front of her ex who destroyed her. Her ex is the main reason Lina didn't want anything to do with Aaron when she got to know he was going to become her boss! But Aaron the good guy he is, fought for her, and didn't give up or lose faith on THEM, when Lina did, when everyone in the office got to know about their relationship.

Lina had bad experience and bad experience means you put your walls way high to protect yourself from not getting hurt so much ever again and, that's exactly what Lina did, which is why I don't blame her for the way she acted and why, I love Aaron more, because he understood why she acted the way she did and tried to reassure her again and again that he'll not leave her the way her ex did and that he would protect her no matter what!

I can't hundred percent say I relate to Lina, but I can completely relate to her when she didn't trust Aaron. I had this crush, you know the teen crushes you get, one like that and it honestly broke me when we weren't even together. I didn't fully open up to anyone about how much I was hurt, but one of my friends knew about the story because she was there when the crush happened and even talked with the guy and joked around with me. But other than that she didn't know even. Well, that friend, who I knew since grade 6, has now blocked me on every social media because we had a very bad fight in school, which actually started because of the way she acted, and what hurts me the most in that is, even when I apologized, she didn't apologize, didn't even bothered to sound sorry and got mad at me countless times for just checking up on her!! And the thing is, even now I don't hate her and still consider her as my friend after all the things that happened. This is what I mean when I said bad experience shape you up, make you more guarded, sometimes unconsciously because your mind knows what you had to go through and it definitely knows the best way to protect yourself is to guard up, just the way Lina did against Aaron.

It's hard when you have trust issues with people and harder to open up to someone and you have to keep telling yourself that it is ok to open up and trust that person because you know he'll be there for you always, no matter what happens in life. And that is why Aaron is the best man out there! He understood Lina all too well and didn't give up no matter what she said. For me, that's why I absolutely loved this book and that's why I couldn't stop myself from giving this book 5 stars, because this book deserved it to the core!!!

I literally screamed at myself and did a happy dance when Lina finally realized what Aaron has done for her and that he's not like her ex who left her hanging and broken.

This!! An absolute, perfect quote!!! I wish i can make myself understand and believe in this quote, because this the truth we most of the time fail to understand.

I obviously didn't like the spice scenes but this scene, it has a special thing because of the things Aaron said.

For me, in this book, the things Aaron said, no matter what the situation was have a special place in my heart!! And I would never stop recommending this book!!

Giving your undivided attention to someone is hard, but when she/he means the world to you, it's easy and no matter what the circumstance, the moment you get a chance you check up on them, when they talk, you listen completely and do everything to make them feel completely comfortable around you!

Just Aaron proving he's the guy that all woman crave for in their lives!!!!!!

This part was funny but jussstttt *hearty eyes*!!

I wanted to include the part, where Aaron was shirtless and was carrying Lina and running across the field during the game, but I want you to buy the book and read it!! Because that's another scene I absolutely loved and forgot they were fake-dating!!!

chefs kiss******************

It's definitely so fucking hard to be happy, specially when you feel like your losing everything and you're helpless and have no power to do anything to stop everything from crumbling down!

Don't settle for anyone and wait for your own version of Aaron fucking Blackford!! Be a Lina to someone who loves you like Aaron! Period!!!!!!

Maybe it really is!

How perfect can Aaron be??

One day when I marry I do want to tell the exact lines because it means so much to me and The Spanish Love Deception made me feel things I never thought I would feel and made me realise things that I didn't know I was feeling!

*WE"RE IN THIS TOGETHER, FOR THE LONG RUN*

Aaron Blackford, the man he is, set up the standards way too high and for me, Aaron means a lot because he's the exact type of man I want to find and marry and live my eternity with, knowing he won't give up no matter what happens!

Also I want a family like Lina's. I want what they have which is a rare gem to find in this world. Sometimes in this world, those who hurt us the most is our own family. Sometimes they hurt us to the point that there's no going back and all you can do is hold yourself up, so you wouldn't fall and hurt yourself. Sometimes you have to be your own fucking hero because no one can save you except yourself, it's something I have been telling myself in the long run. We give everyone advice and make them smile, but when it comes to us we're just so helpless and you can't turn to your family because, they've created more problems for you. All you can do is, stare up at the ceiling at night, hoping you would fall asleep before breaking apart and drown in darkness. I want to create a family like Lina's for my children. I want them to feel protected and want them to know whatever happens in their lives and whatever problems that arise in their lives, that they can turn on to me and I'll help them no matter what's the situation. I want to be the parent that I never had in my life for them and had a connection just like Lina's parents had with her.

One day I want to find someone like Aaron who would make my life better just being there, sitting next to me, staring at the stars in complete darkness!

*****Just please trust me and read The Spanish Love Deception! Don't trust the negative reviews on the internet and please, just please read this masterpiece!!!!

ps. sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes cuz i don't edit!