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A review by navyaaa
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
This book infuriated the heck out of me. I have so many thoughts. When you read the description of this book you think, huh sounds like a cute little rom-com that will give us great characters and whatnot. I tell you that instead I got annoyed. Really annoyed. This is going to take a while.
First, The plot. No depth. I knew about 100 pages in how this book was going to end. Not even a little suspense was instilled. there was literally zero angst and tension or whatever. For me this was not a slow burn, this was a book being dragged out for about 200+ pages with zero plot or character development. Instead of being a brooding person if Aaron asked Lina out, this book would've ended like 20 pages in.
Second, The characters. One of the main reasons people seem to love this book is the character, Aaron Blackford. I understand why but we'll get into that a little later. Let's talk about Catalina first. When I started reading the book the beginning was cute. The typical fiery female main character who won't take shit from anyone. And then I hit the 100-page mark. I just wanted to hold Lina by the shoulders and shake some sense into her little brain because it was not working. She is blind as a bat when Aaron is like a heart-eyed emoji behind her. Lina could go hit a child and Aaron would say the child deserved it. The worst part is, Lina herself is like a 14-year-old kid. And no offense to anyone who relates to her but god I hated her as the book progressed. Then comes Aaron. this man has a tragic past and is googly-eyed for Lina from sentence one. I hated how the author did not even bother to give us the element of suspense with this. He is remembering little things about Lina that he has no business knowing. It's cute in the beginning and then it gets annoying and creepy. They have no chemistry or tension or any kind of real build-up to the things that go down between them. the side characters have literally no significance but to tell Lina how Aaron is perfect. They go to Spain for Lina's sister's wedding which is why this book happens. Guess what? we don't get to see the wedding at all. AT ALL. And also, Aaron tells Lina the cheesiest most romantic lines and Lina just goes, This is not real he is just pretending.
Third, The writing. Super descriptive mediocre writing. but then the smut kicked in. God, it was so sudden. them being lovey-dovey was cute to read but the smut just made me cringe. except for the smut and extra extra long inner monologues of a woman who is immature and holding a grudge over the littlest thing, it wasn't all that bad. The problem for me kicked in when I started reading why Lina is so traumatized over relationships. It kind of negated it and disconnected Lina even further for me. It was super icky. Also, compared to Aaron's tragic past, Lina's problems seem superficial to the reader. Especially after the cancer bomb was dropped twice on Aaron. Even the misogyny seems superficial.
This book was two-dimensional with a literally perfect male protagonist (it's actually a little creepy how this guy has no flaws at all.) and a literally annoying female protagonist. I see why people are obsessed with Aaron's character and I myself agree with people. The rest of the book? in my opinion, was about 250 pages too long and could've been written better. But, if you loved this book, good for you. For me, this is one of my worst-rated books and it's a bummer because I get the Aaron Blackford hype. If the author writes a book with Aaron and a female character that he actually deserves and one that deserves him, I would love that.
First, The plot. No depth. I knew about 100 pages in how this book was going to end. Not even a little suspense was instilled. there was literally zero angst and tension or whatever. For me this was not a slow burn, this was a book being dragged out for about 200+ pages with zero plot or character development. Instead of being a brooding person if Aaron asked Lina out, this book would've ended like 20 pages in.
Second, The characters. One of the main reasons people seem to love this book is the character, Aaron Blackford. I understand why but we'll get into that a little later. Let's talk about Catalina first. When I started reading the book the beginning was cute. The typical fiery female main character who won't take shit from anyone. And then I hit the 100-page mark. I just wanted to hold Lina by the shoulders and shake some sense into her little brain because it was not working. She is blind as a bat when Aaron is like a heart-eyed emoji behind her. Lina could go hit a child and Aaron would say the child deserved it. The worst part is, Lina herself is like a 14-year-old kid. And no offense to anyone who relates to her but god I hated her as the book progressed. Then comes Aaron. this man has a tragic past and is googly-eyed for Lina from sentence one. I hated how the author did not even bother to give us the element of suspense with this. He is remembering little things about Lina that he has no business knowing. It's cute in the beginning and then it gets annoying and creepy. They have no chemistry or tension or any kind of real build-up to the things that go down between them. the side characters have literally no significance but to tell Lina how Aaron is perfect.
Third, The writing. Super descriptive mediocre writing. but then the smut kicked in. God, it was so sudden. them being lovey-dovey was cute to read but the smut just made me cringe. except for the smut and extra extra long inner monologues of a woman who is immature and holding a grudge over the littlest thing, it wasn't all that bad. The problem for me kicked in when I started reading why Lina is so traumatized over relationships. It kind of negated it and disconnected Lina even further for me. It was super icky.
This book was two-dimensional with a literally perfect male protagonist (it's actually a little creepy how this guy has no flaws at all.) and a literally annoying female protagonist. I see why people are obsessed with Aaron's character and I myself agree with people. The rest of the book? in my opinion, was about 250 pages too long and could've been written better. But, if you loved this book, good for you. For me, this is one of my worst-rated books and it's a bummer because I get the Aaron Blackford hype. If the author writes a book with Aaron and a female character that he actually deserves and one that deserves him, I would love that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship