These days, getting two books in my monthly wrap up is quite the achievement. I could say the same for July, though I could actually add some more to it if not for the past couple weeks. Extremely burnt out and stressed, I've been feeling really low. It's not a secret that this year's July has not been treating me well. Let's just seek for comfort in the thought of a new month tomorrow.
Catalina MartÃn is very desperate as her sister's wedding is coming closer, which is all due to the lie she has fed her whole family. By claiming that she is going to bring her American boyfriend over just so she can prove that she has completely moved on, Lina has a tough job in finding someone willing to play pretend and go to Spain with her. The worst part is, she has no other option to choose from other than her nemesis at work, the brooding and condescending Aaron Blackford.
It was obvious to me that I really enjoyed this book... at first. The Spanish Love Deception kind of reminded me of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (which, of course, I loved wholeheartedly), and I was convinced that it was a good kind of similarity. And things were actually really fun before Spain. The build-up anticipation of wanting to see the two end up together, the yearning for more tension, and the excitement I felt for their chemistry... it was all there... pre-Spain. Everything felt too stretched out after that though. What should be an entertaining story I wanted to devour within days had turned into a story I hoped would end soon as it had gone a little too long.
2. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch (reread)
Following the story of Lina Emerson's life post her mother's death, Love & Gelato is a book of love, truths, and Italy. Because of her mother's last wish, Lina moves to Florence to live with her father she barely knows. But there is more to it than what it seems: her mother also left Lina her old journal she made when she was spending a whole year in Florence as a photography student. With that journal in hand, Lina finds herself following her mother's every footstep with her new friend Ren by going through the places she used to go, trying to find the reason as to why she was so insistent about Lina moving to Italy.
Love & Gelato was still the heartwarming cute book that I had always adored. It delivered Lina's story brilliantly, with her learning her mother's past bit by bit over journal entries, and threading her way through every place written while making new memories. I loved Lina's point of view too—her witty and chaotic side particularly—and how this book guided us through various of interesting places in Italy I wish I could go visit one day. It's just that I found new light in terms of her relationship with Ren that I used to adore so much. I now realized how unfair everything was for Mimi, Ren's former girlfriend.
