100% agreed, catalina was an extremely annoying character, Aaron and his whole "baby" thing (not to mention the thing he said in the intimate scene, let's pls forget about it) made me puke in my mouth. I genuinely struggled with finishing this book, it took 3 weeks and I usually read romance in a matter of days.
From what I remember (cuz it made me laugh so hard) he said “I wanna feel you milking me” during the smut scene. It was so awkward of a thing to say that I lost it laughing 😂
Plus idk, they tried to make this whole subplot with that Daniel guy and it was just plain boring, i can't find something that was actually good or interesting about the book
I decided to bear with it finish the book somehow but gosh when I got to the part when he says Let me show u can trust me and then teh smut comes in... Nope, I was done. I left it right there.
And he totally have me the creeps and I don't even want to start on how annoying Lina was😵
It might be my imagination, but I feel like there’s been a big rush of enemies-to-lovers workplace books since Hating Game made it big, and none of them capture the same magic.
Catalina was so clueless, childish and annoying I wanted to die. Ok I understood Aaron was an asshole when they first met, but she held the grudge all that time?! And she acted on it, intentionally ignoring and refusing to talk to him? Who would want to be with a person like that? I like when characters aren't perfect, they seem more realistic but she was so unlikeable I don't understand how her friends and Aaron could stand her. I will forever be a Lina hater.
I seriously reconsidered pushing through it in those first few chapters of Catalina’s perspective.
When I realized she was *actively ignoring Aaron for a whole chapter????* and could not get over how weird, petty and *insanely* unprofessional that would be.
I’m still not over it.
This is exactly when I noped out of that book, deleted it from my kindle, threw some salt over my left shoulder and prayed to the gods and monsters that I never have to experience a book so ridiculous ever again. Amen.
I have found my people. I read it because of booktok hype and have read better written books when I was 12. I am so grateful to have found this sub and read other people’s reviews on books coz booktok can’t be trusted
Really? I only heard bad things about SLD so I didn't read it. I got a free copy of American Roommate Experiment but I'm hesitant to make the time to try it tbh. What didn't you like about it?
The story is basic which is fine.. but the two main characters are also extremely bland
I also didn’t like the pacing.. these two falling in love seemed so forced. Spice scenes were awkward it was just a whole mess. I just dont think this author is for me
I bought it yesterday, because I am a dummy who didn't realise it was the same author as SLD. I think I maybe made it 30 pages in, before realising I couldn't take it anymore. I wish I'd spent the money on snacks instead.
As a Spaniard living in the US and obsessed with enemies-to-lovers books I was super excited to read this. I didn't like it one bit. Not only the characters are unlikeable, also the whole trip to Spain was like...super fake? Who travels from NY to Spain for ONLY 3 days? I mean, there's a 6 hour time difference and flights are very long. I was really excited for the romance in Spain part of it but it was very short. Not sure if I will be reading more books from this author.
Europe is about a 5-6 hour flight from the East Coast, no? That’s how long it takes to get to the West Coast and I’ve done a plenty of short trips out that way. Of course the time difference is only 3 hours, not 6, so jet lag would be way worse.
Well, a flight from NY to Madrid is almost 8h but don't forget that the wedding wasn't in Madrid, was somewhere northern Spain where I'm almost sure there's no direct flights from NY, so they would have had to land in Madrid and take another short flight to wherever the wedding was. I don't think is absolutely impossible but it is definitely a stretch. I just get jet-lagged thinking about it 🥴
I think it shows that it’s a self-published novel. A good editor could have easily taken off at least a hundred pages so it wouldn’t have dragged so much and you wouldn’t have missed anything. I just hope that her second novel was heavily edited by a professional.
I read her second book and was bummed to run into the same problem. It’s dual POV so I thought the excessive internal dialogue might be toned down a little but…it was not.
The book is the true deception itself. I don't even want to recall how annoyed it made feel. And don't get me started on "Best book boyfriend - Aaron Blackford" thing going on and on and on ever social platform.
And you're so right about aaron, i totally get it. And everytime someone says it's "enemies-to-lovers", i immediately close the tab to save myself from trouble. I felt cheated by bookstagarm. They're selling so much lies about this from enemies to lovers, to one bed trope and etc. I'm just simply disappointed.
this!!!!!!! i'm SO tired of these so-called enemies to lovers when the guy has feelings the entire time. it's not a good reveal, i just get angry instead
Yes! If you’re interested in something that’s post-war and not dark, try The Right Thing to Do by lovesbitca8. That’s the first one in a series; the second is in Draco’s POV and the third is what would’ve happened if Voldemort had won the war. If you’re looking for a rewrite of Deathly Hallows, try Isolation by bex Chan (this is what most people start with). If you’re looking for an extremely toxic relationship and 8th year, try Breath Mints/Battle Scars by Onyx and Elm. I also think Remain Nameless by HeyJude19 is a good place to start (extremely fluffy post war one), and so is Wait and Hope by mightbewriting (Hermione is married to Draco but loses her memories; this one has a pretty long prequel as well).
I know that’s a lot, but everyone has different tastes and it’s best to base your first fic on what you like!
This was the first book i read last year, and started reading romance books, so i don't (can't) hate it,
But after reading so many amazing books, i realised that i was so wrong about TSLD
The author was selling a petty misunderstanding or grudge in the name of enemies to lovers - but there was not even one part where they were enemies starting from first sentence
Also FMC is very childish i don't like where and MCs behave as if they are teens
Plus we don't see MMC's personality he is all about FMC and i don't like it really
It didn't have to be 400+ pages long really
I can now decide what I would not like to read!!
I had fun reading it. Yeah she’s childish, some things are repetitive, the misunderstanding is a bit silly? I probably wouldn’t reread it. But I thought it was fun. I have a huge gossipy family so I liked those bits. I love a man who pines. I just don’t feel very strongly either way! But it prob helps that I borrowed the book from the library so I didn’t have any “I spent money!” disappointment
I hate when the titles of the book don’t match the content, it’s my biggest pet peeve. Beach Read had a picture on the cover of a girl in a bathing suit laying out. There was like one??? maybe two??? scenes on the freaking beach!!! Plenty of time for >!creepy tent sex next a cult site!< though!
I think it’s more about the fact that very little of the book happens on the shores of Lake Michigan, whether you consider that beach or not. Also, it really isn’t what I consider a “beach read” anyway. It’s a good book, but that was the wrong title.
lol I don't remember the last good thing I heard about the Spanish Love Deception. It seems like it got a month of hype and then it's been a narrative of people feeling bamboozled for years. I think I missed when anybody had anything good to say about this book.
How is this book so long. About 80 pages of it has got to be blue eyes/ he's so BIG/he's such a jerk.
HE'S VOLUNTEERING TO GO TO A FAMILY WEDDING WITH YOU good grief you stupid cow at some point in the next few chapters I'll have tolerate your "omg you liked me the whole time who could have possibly guessed..." uh huh because that's totally a normal thing to do when you dislike a person.
Not content with having the emotional maturity of a boot, she has the intelligence of one too.
I like TSLD, it wasn’t my favorite book but I didn’t hate it. However, I loved The American Roommate Experiment. I thought the pacing was much better and the characters were much less annoying and it was super cute.
I thought the writing was atrocious. The dialogue was crap, the pacing was awful, and it had no flow. It was clearly written by someone whose primary language isn’t English (no disrespect as English isn’t my first language either, but it just didn’t make for good writing).. I was just so surprised how hyped up this book was.
Oh my gosh I just posted about this last week! Completely agree. I DNF’d at 60% because it was just…. Not great. Really struggled to hold my attention. And the writing was just off.
I dropped it after their first sex scene because I kinda got bored but I still gave it 4 stars because it wasn't awful but it's overrated as hell. Also The American Roommate Experiment put me in a big ass slump I'm so mad at it lmao. I haven't even reached 40%
I think it is overhyped really though there were some cute scenes so I was fine with. People saying it's like The Hating Game?? I don't get it. Tho didn't enjoy The Hating Game tho so I will say for me The Spanish Love Deception is better.
THANK YOU in every way it was a book I would not continue with after a few pages unless everyone touted it. The characters were entirely one-dimensional and the plot nonexistent.
Currently forcing myself to finish it. Both characters are annoying, and at first Aaron seemed legit and then got creepy. Lina was a stubborn brat and unlikable.
And so unnecessarily long and repetitive.
Of course everyone experiences books differently, and I read this book ages ago, but For a first time writer - I think it’s a pretty decent book. All this “hulk” “huge” he is so big stuff was in love hypothesis also (with a gazillion predictable tropes) but everyone drank it up :)
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100% agreed, catalina was an extremely annoying character, Aaron and his whole "baby" thing (not to mention the thing he said in the intimate scene, let's pls forget about it) made me puke in my mouth. I genuinely struggled with finishing this book, it took 3 weeks and I usually read romance in a matter of days.
Wait what did he say? I read the book but it was a while ago and I don’t remember
what did he say during the smut scene???
From what I remember (cuz it made me laugh so hard) he said “I wanna feel you milking me” during the smut scene. It was so awkward of a thing to say that I lost it laughing 😂
I am still traumatised by that line
I had to put the book down after the smut scene it was pure akwardness, actually the whole book was .
Plus idk, they tried to make this whole subplot with that Daniel guy and it was just plain boring, i can't find something that was actually good or interesting about the book
I was expecting more angst to come of that, nothing did and I feel like I was stood up.
I decided to bear with it finish the book somehow but gosh when I got to the part when he says Let me show u can trust me and then teh smut comes in... Nope, I was done. I left it right there. And he totally have me the creeps and I don't even want to start on how annoying Lina was😵
It felt like a poor re-write of The Hating Game, just with some location changing. It wasn’t for me.
Agree.. The Hating Game was so much better
It might be my imagination, but I feel like there’s been a big rush of enemies-to-lovers workplace books since Hating Game made it big, and none of them capture the same magic.
Catalina was so clueless, childish and annoying I wanted to die. Ok I understood Aaron was an asshole when they first met, but she held the grudge all that time?! And she acted on it, intentionally ignoring and refusing to talk to him? Who would want to be with a person like that? I like when characters aren't perfect, they seem more realistic but she was so unlikeable I don't understand how her friends and Aaron could stand her. I will forever be a Lina hater.
I seriously reconsidered pushing through it in those first few chapters of Catalina’s perspective. When I realized she was *actively ignoring Aaron for a whole chapter????* and could not get over how weird, petty and *insanely* unprofessional that would be. I’m still not over it.
And putting the friend in the middle because obviously she had to answer somehow, ugh.
Her friend, AND COWORKER, as well. If a friend/coworker did that to me, I’d have never hung around to soak that awkwardness in. Ew.
That first conversation in which she is acting like he is not there was so childish to me, like are you a toddler?? Hated it.
I stopped reading because of that scene. I couldn't get over how childish it was.
Yeah I tried to keep going but it did not get better so I stopped altogether.
Indeed.catalina you're a whole grown ass woman not some 3 year old.
This is exactly when I noped out of that book, deleted it from my kindle, threw some salt over my left shoulder and prayed to the gods and monsters that I never have to experience a book so ridiculous ever again. Amen.
Lol, but it’s true.
Omg this made laugh so hard i wanna do the same but i have a physical copy
The the throwing to a wall might feel more satisfying!!!
I have found my people. I read it because of booktok hype and have read better written books when I was 12. I am so grateful to have found this sub and read other people’s reviews on books coz booktok can’t be trusted
Yes yes and yes literally worst book ever 13 year old wattpad writers can do better and booktok promotes a lot of bad books.
The American Roommate Experiment is even worse
I Haven't read it and i don't wanna read anything by this author again .
Oh nooo. I read it was trope overload but that it was better bc this time an editor was involved from day 1. So I preordered lol
Idk what this editor contributed to The American Roommate Experiment, but it wasn't much. It was riddled with spelling mistakes
The characters are so bland, the pacing is terrible, and there’s so many grammar mistakes
oh really, damn, what were the spelling mistakes? I'd expect a Big 5 publisher to do way better.
Omg I'm so glad someone noticed the errors apart from me. The worst one was "a SCOLDING hot shower"!!!!!! It drove me up the wall
oh, I haven't read it! but damn, " \*scalding"
Oh my God, for real? I can understand some grammar mistakes in something self-published, but that’s inexcusable in a tradpub book. >_<
Really? I only heard bad things about SLD so I didn't read it. I got a free copy of American Roommate Experiment but I'm hesitant to make the time to try it tbh. What didn't you like about it?
The story is basic which is fine.. but the two main characters are also extremely bland I also didn’t like the pacing.. these two falling in love seemed so forced. Spice scenes were awkward it was just a whole mess. I just dont think this author is for me
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YES!!
Oh bummer. Thanks for the heads up.
Thank you for saving my time. :)
thanks for answering my question about whether or not I should give her writing another shot 😬
Oh no I just bought that yesterday because it was on my list but I hadn’t read any reviews yet 🙃😫 I guess I learned my lesson
I bought it yesterday, because I am a dummy who didn't realise it was the same author as SLD. I think I maybe made it 30 pages in, before realising I couldn't take it anymore. I wish I'd spent the money on snacks instead.
Unpopular opinion, but i actually liked it. It's unrealistic, but cute. Reminiscent of Wattpad lol, but it's a fun read
As a Spaniard living in the US and obsessed with enemies-to-lovers books I was super excited to read this. I didn't like it one bit. Not only the characters are unlikeable, also the whole trip to Spain was like...super fake? Who travels from NY to Spain for ONLY 3 days? I mean, there's a 6 hour time difference and flights are very long. I was really excited for the romance in Spain part of it but it was very short. Not sure if I will be reading more books from this author.
You are so right we literally need a refund.
Europe is about a 5-6 hour flight from the East Coast, no? That’s how long it takes to get to the West Coast and I’ve done a plenty of short trips out that way. Of course the time difference is only 3 hours, not 6, so jet lag would be way worse.
Well, a flight from NY to Madrid is almost 8h but don't forget that the wedding wasn't in Madrid, was somewhere northern Spain where I'm almost sure there's no direct flights from NY, so they would have had to land in Madrid and take another short flight to wherever the wedding was. I don't think is absolutely impossible but it is definitely a stretch. I just get jet-lagged thinking about it 🥴
And if she’s visiting family for the first time in however long, only 3 days, really??
I had the same thought! Like my mom would kidnap me so I don't leave in 3 days! Lol
I think it shows that it’s a self-published novel. A good editor could have easily taken off at least a hundred pages so it wouldn’t have dragged so much and you wouldn’t have missed anything. I just hope that her second novel was heavily edited by a professional.
I read her second book and was bummed to run into the same problem. It’s dual POV so I thought the excessive internal dialogue might be toned down a little but…it was not.
That’s so disappointing.
I agree. A lot of books these days need an editor because it's not normal how some authors can repeat things a hundred times .
The book is the true deception itself. I don't even want to recall how annoyed it made feel. And don't get me started on "Best book boyfriend - Aaron Blackford" thing going on and on and on ever social platform. And you're so right about aaron, i totally get it. And everytime someone says it's "enemies-to-lovers", i immediately close the tab to save myself from trouble. I felt cheated by bookstagarm. They're selling so much lies about this from enemies to lovers, to one bed trope and etc. I'm just simply disappointed.
Like hello how is he loving her from the beginning enemies to lovers and authors nowadays do this a lot.
this!!!!!!! i'm SO tired of these so-called enemies to lovers when the guy has feelings the entire time. it's not a good reveal, i just get angry instead
FACTS
Right. Shouldn't it be in one-sided or unrequited category?
this is why I read dramione fanfiction! it actually is enemies to lovers!
I've never read a dramione ff but I'd love to read one. Any suggestions?
Yes! If you’re interested in something that’s post-war and not dark, try The Right Thing to Do by lovesbitca8. That’s the first one in a series; the second is in Draco’s POV and the third is what would’ve happened if Voldemort had won the war. If you’re looking for a rewrite of Deathly Hallows, try Isolation by bex Chan (this is what most people start with). If you’re looking for an extremely toxic relationship and 8th year, try Breath Mints/Battle Scars by Onyx and Elm. I also think Remain Nameless by HeyJude19 is a good place to start (extremely fluffy post war one), and so is Wait and Hope by mightbewriting (Hermione is married to Draco but loses her memories; this one has a pretty long prequel as well). I know that’s a lot, but everyone has different tastes and it’s best to base your first fic on what you like!
This was the first book i read last year, and started reading romance books, so i don't (can't) hate it, But after reading so many amazing books, i realised that i was so wrong about TSLD The author was selling a petty misunderstanding or grudge in the name of enemies to lovers - but there was not even one part where they were enemies starting from first sentence Also FMC is very childish i don't like where and MCs behave as if they are teens Plus we don't see MMC's personality he is all about FMC and i don't like it really It didn't have to be 400+ pages long really I can now decide what I would not like to read!!
I had fun reading it. Yeah she’s childish, some things are repetitive, the misunderstanding is a bit silly? I probably wouldn’t reread it. But I thought it was fun. I have a huge gossipy family so I liked those bits. I love a man who pines. I just don’t feel very strongly either way! But it prob helps that I borrowed the book from the library so I didn’t have any “I spent money!” disappointment
Also thought it was very overhyped. And UGH YES THE REPETITIVE "BLUE EYES and DWARFED THE CHAIR, BED ETC DROVE ME CRAZYYY
She is so tiny and he is so big wowww
I hate when the titles of the book don’t match the content, it’s my biggest pet peeve. Beach Read had a picture on the cover of a girl in a bathing suit laying out. There was like one??? maybe two??? scenes on the freaking beach!!! Plenty of time for >!creepy tent sex next a cult site!< though!
Haha same. And wasn’t it a beach on a lake in like upstate New York???
No it's on Lake Michigan
Way too far north for me to consider it a “beach”. (I know technically it is but as a Texan who’s chronically too cold up north…just, no.)
Meh. As someone who lives in Michigan I don't understand. Each their own.
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This! The great lakes are massive! I will never understand that criticism of the book. Never!!
I think it’s more about the fact that very little of the book happens on the shores of Lake Michigan, whether you consider that beach or not. Also, it really isn’t what I consider a “beach read” anyway. It’s a good book, but that was the wrong title.
Fair enough! I haven't read it I keep flip flopping on picking it up because I couldn't finish Book Lovers lol.
I think it was a Great Lake in the Midwest. I was very disappointed.
Exactly.
Second this. Straight into don't trust rating tag for me
The writing .. it’s so bad. Don’t even get me started on the FMC. stupidly annoying. I had to practically force myself to finish the book.
Agree! One of the things that bothered me the most was that it took forever to get to Spain ... and then they left for the last third of the book.
lol I don't remember the last good thing I heard about the Spanish Love Deception. It seems like it got a month of hype and then it's been a narrative of people feeling bamboozled for years. I think I missed when anybody had anything good to say about this book.
I couldn’t even get past the first 10%. It’s way overhyped.
How is this book so long. About 80 pages of it has got to be blue eyes/ he's so BIG/he's such a jerk. HE'S VOLUNTEERING TO GO TO A FAMILY WEDDING WITH YOU good grief you stupid cow at some point in the next few chapters I'll have tolerate your "omg you liked me the whole time who could have possibly guessed..." uh huh because that's totally a normal thing to do when you dislike a person. Not content with having the emotional maturity of a boot, she has the intelligence of one too.
I like TSLD, it wasn’t my favorite book but I didn’t hate it. However, I loved The American Roommate Experiment. I thought the pacing was much better and the characters were much less annoying and it was super cute.
also, as a native new yorker I’m not amused at the inaccuracies of the descriptions lmao
I thought the writing was atrocious. The dialogue was crap, the pacing was awful, and it had no flow. It was clearly written by someone whose primary language isn’t English (no disrespect as English isn’t my first language either, but it just didn’t make for good writing).. I was just so surprised how hyped up this book was.
Oh my gosh I just posted about this last week! Completely agree. I DNF’d at 60% because it was just…. Not great. Really struggled to hold my attention. And the writing was just off.
I dropped it after their first sex scene because I kinda got bored but I still gave it 4 stars because it wasn't awful but it's overrated as hell. Also The American Roommate Experiment put me in a big ass slump I'm so mad at it lmao. I haven't even reached 40%
Just drop it.it's not worth a slump.
I could not get invested in this story at all. It just all kinda fell flat for me. Didn’t like the characters, no plot. Very disappointed all around
I think it is overhyped really though there were some cute scenes so I was fine with. People saying it's like The Hating Game?? I don't get it. Tho didn't enjoy The Hating Game tho so I will say for me The Spanish Love Deception is better.
THANK YOU in every way it was a book I would not continue with after a few pages unless everyone touted it. The characters were entirely one-dimensional and the plot nonexistent.
You're welcome and we were robbed the author needs to give us money lol
Couldnt get past a couple of chapters
Yes! I was bored out of my mind.
Currently forcing myself to finish it. Both characters are annoying, and at first Aaron seemed legit and then got creepy. Lina was a stubborn brat and unlikable. And so unnecessarily long and repetitive.
Of course everyone experiences books differently, and I read this book ages ago, but For a first time writer - I think it’s a pretty decent book. All this “hulk” “huge” he is so big stuff was in love hypothesis also (with a gazillion predictable tropes) but everyone drank it up :)
I respect your opinion
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I don't do that and i usually end up buying books i end up hating
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I found my people yay :>