Hands down, my new favorite romcom!

If you love the tropes hate-to-love and fake-dating, some office tension, even more tension in Spain, and probably the - okay the most perfect book boyfriend (really, he is), then read this book. Because there was not one single scene that I wasn‘t completely loving. Cancel all your plans, because The Spanish Love Deception has your weekend booked, and you don‘t need anything else.

Whenever I pick up a romcom, I quickly get absorbed into it. They are addicting, fun and leave me behind with the best giggly feeling ever. So whenever I read one, I kinda expect to love it, not questioning much, just here for the vibes, the tension and the sertonin. But The Spanish Love Deception hit me so much harder than others before that I can safely say this is probably the best I‘ve read so far, and Aaron Blackford is a very important reason why, but not only.

Putting the gushing aside a little longer (because I know there will be no going back once I start), I do want to say that the one thing I loved the most about this book was actually the pacing. The set-up. The build-up. Of course, the premise of the story is that Catalina needs a date for her sister‘s wedding in Spain. So we expect that a majority of the events in the book will take place at said wedding, right? I was ready to see everything else rushed to the point where the two protagonists are fake-dating their way through the big event. But that was not the case. We get to see Lina and Aaron in their daily environment first - at work, where they are bickering at each other, glaring at their opponent, oblivious that there‘s a different reason why their eyes always keep finding the other. We get to see them interact, coming closer because desperate situations call for desperate solutions, alas taking your nemesis - the one person you swore to hate until death and beyond - as your date to your sister‘s wedding. But before we reach that critical event, the book takes its time to show us some vital moments between the two protagonist, making me eager to see them finally go through their plan of fake-dating. And once we‘ve spent enough time with them in New York City, and finally take off to Spain, everything that we witnessed before just gets more tense, and I was all here for it. The pacing, the time this story takes to let my two all time favorite tropes (enemies-to-lovers, though it‘s more a hate-to-love situation here, and fake-dating) come together is just beautifully executed. And that‘s probably really the main reason why this book has become my new favorite romcom. Nothing felt too rushed, nothing felt unnecessary, every scene had its impact, and the build-up felt so convincingly real that I didn‘t question one thing. This is slow-burn at its finest!

Which leads me to my next reason why I absolutely adored this book: Catalina and Aaron. Can I begin with how much I love their names? Catalina, I know you prefer being called Lina - but CATALINA?! Such a beautiful name! Actually, I may have been gushing over the name before picking up the book so I‘m biased, but damn every time Aaron said that name it was me getting all the goosebumps. And then there‘s Aaron Blackford. A man with such a name already has me in his grasp, but Aaron‘s appeal doesn‘t stop there. Oh no, that man. That man. *sigh* Every time, I felt like he couldn‘t top whatever he did, he does, and the main problem is how perfect he is doing everything he is doing. Honestly Lina, no wonder you were at his mercy. I would have caved in, and let him do whatever he wanted the moment he opens his mouth. Scratch that. The moment he looks at me. But after all he does? There‘s no way I would had been as strong as Catalina was. And while usually, the enemies-to-lovers trope demands some bad behavior, I loved how there was no need to make him the big nemesis, the counterpart of Lina, for the tension to work. I loved how it was her perception of him constructing this image, and I loved seeing her notice things as the story moved on - while I was already head over heels for this man.

Really, The Spanish Love Deception does everything right. Everything. From the way, the premise is introduced to the story, to the pacing that gives us enough time to fully build up to the main events, the little scenes that had my heart aching, craving more, more, more, to the characters that just worked perfectly together, giving us the banter, the tension and all those moments where I kept screaming for them to finally give in, and get themselves as much as myself out of this misery. Elena Armas perfectly tied the two tropes of hate-to-love and fake-dating together in a convincing slow-burn romance that will put you on a high, making those butterflies in the stomach go crazy.

And now, how shall I continue with my day, my life without Aaron Blackford?