Review - The Spanish Love Deception (Spanish Love Deception, #1) by Elena Armas

 

 

Title: The Spanish Love Deception (Spanish Love Deception, #1)

Author: Elena Armas

Pages: 497

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Release Date: 25th November 2021

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 A wedding in Spain. The most infuriating man. Three days to convince your family you're actually in love. . .

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister's wedding. Especially when her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled out of control. Now everyone she knows – including her ex-boyfriend and his fiancée – will be there.

She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic for her and aid in her deception. NYC to Spain is no short flight and her family won't be easy to fool. . . But even then, when Aaron Blackford – the 6'4", blue-eyed pain in the arse – offers to step in, she's not tempted even for a second. Never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate and as the wedding gets closer the more desirable an option Aaron Blackford becomes. . .

The Spanish Love Deception is an enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating romance. Perfect for those looking for a steamy slow-burn with the promise of a sweet happy-ever-after.

"Everything you could want in a romance is right here."
Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient

Goodreads | Storygraph | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Bookshop

My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Simon & Schuster UK and NetGalley*

Catalina Martin lives in New York, but will be returning home to Spain for her sister's wedding in four weeks. After finding out that her ex-boyfriend will be at the wedding and that he is engaged, Catalina is determined to take a date with her and even lies to her family, telling them that she has an American boyfriend that is coming with her.

Then Catalina's colleague, Aaron Blackford, offers to be her date. Catalina is hesitant to accept - their relationship is not exactly friendly, and Catalina loathes Aaron.

When no other options are forthcoming, Catalina reluctantly accepts Aaron's help. As they start spending time outside of work together, Catalina finds out that maybe Aaron isn't so bad after all.

Will Catalina's family be fooled?

I can't remember the exact reason I requested this book on NetGalley. I think it must have been a moment of madness, because I usually try to steer clear of 'TikTok sensations', and this book was the perfect example of why that's the case.

Catalina was an OK protagonist, and while I did feel sorry for her given what she had been through in the past, I didn't feel that I particularly connected with her, and wasn't invested in what happened to her.

Aaron was a bit of a meh character for me. Sure, he did nice things for Catalina, but if he had just talked to her and explained his feelings, then this book would pretty much have been redundant - the 'deception' part, anyway. I found Aaron to be quite a flat, two-dimensional character, unfortunately, and did not feel any chemistry between him and Catalina.

The plot was OK, but pretty predictable. Nothing happened that surprised or shocked me and I was pretty bored throughout.

The dialogue was very cringy at times, and I found the wording/writing quite stilted, especially with the first chapter, even the first few opening lines. If I hadn't been reading a review copy (and even then I switched to the audiobook to get through it faster), then I would have stopped reading and DNF'd the book before long.

Unfortunately, this was not for me and I will not be recommending it.

DNF Review - The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

 

 

Title: The Once and Future Witches

Author: Alix E. Harrow

Pages: 529

Publisher: Orbit

Release Date: 13th October 2020

Blurb from Goodreads:

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters--James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna--join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.

 

 

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Bookshop

My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley*

- DNF @50% -

It's 1893 and it is not a good time to be a woman - they don't have the right to vote and their magic has been reduced to small, useful spells which are nothing like the powerful witching that was once around.

The Eastwood sisters have grown apart and are living different lives, but James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth and Beatrice Belladonna find themselves drawn back together and seeking the power of the old witching.

However, there are forces at work that intend to stop them.

Will the sisters triumph?

Having enjoyed the author's previous novel, I was excited to read this one, especially as the time period and the magic intrigued me. Unfortunately, I ended up being disappointed.

The sisters were fairly interesting protagonists and they were very different from one another. While Agnes was my favourite, I'm not left with overly strong feelings about any of the characters.

The setting of New Salem didn't feel very fleshed out to me and I would have liked some more information/detail about it.

My main issue with the book was that it was far too long. I don't mind character-focused books when I love the characters and enjoy the plot and setting, but in this case I found the storyline almost achingly slow and the other aspects of the book were not enough to save it. I read over two hundred pages of this book and it could quite easily have been cut in half given how little actually happened.

I liked that nursery rhymes were used as spells and the fairy tales that were included throughout the book.

I might have another go at reading this at some point, but on this occasion I couldn't bring myself to pick up the book to read more and decided to DNF it.

I can definitely see other people enjoying this book, but, unfortunately, this wasn't for me.

Review - Emily Eternal by M.G. Wheaton

Title: Emily Eternal

Author: M.G. Wheaton

Pages: 304

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Release Date: 23rd April 2019

Blurb from Goodreads: 

 

Meet Emily - she can solve advanced mathematical problems, unlock the mind's deepest secrets and even fix your truck's air con, but unfortunately, she can't restart the Sun.

 

She's an artificial consciousness, designed in a lab to help humans process trauma, which is particularly helpful when the sun begins to die 5 billion years before scientists agreed it was supposed to.

So, her beloved human race is screwed, and so is Emily. That is, until she finds a potential answer buried deep in the human genome. But before her solution can be tested, her lab is brutally attacked, and Emily is forced to go on the run with two human companions - college student Jason and small-town Sheriff, Mayra.

As the sun's death draws near, Emily and her friends must race against time to save humanity. But before long it becomes clear that it's not only the species at stake, but also that which makes us most human.

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US

 My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley*

Emily is an artificial consciousness. She was designed to help humans, which is good because the human race needs all the help it can get when the sun starts dying billions of years before it's meant to.

Humankind might have a chance to survive when Emily finds hope in the human genome, but then her lab is attacked. Emily finds herself on the run with human companions.

In a race against time, Emily must try to evade the people that attacked the lab, and find a way to save the human race.

Will she succeed?

Going into Emily Eternal, I was expecting to love it - science, an apocalypse, and a race against time? Those things are right up my street! Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

From the first page I struggled to get into the plot and to connect with the characters due to the writing style.

I persevered, however, despite debating DNFing at several points. Part of me wishes that I had given up, because I didn't particularly enjoy what I read. I usually would have stopped reading this instead of finishing it, but I wanted to give it another chance to grab my attention because it had all the ingredients to be something that I should have enjoyed. I did find myself skim-reading at several points.

The idea of an artificial consciousness was interesting and I like the cover, but those are the only positives for me.

I'm really disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall this was an okay, but disappointing read.