Book 4/30.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
1 ½ stars.
I read The Spanish Love Deception for book 4/30 in my 2023 reading challenge because book 4 is always a romance one (IYKYK 😎). I was verrrryyy excited to read it, so it sucks that up until chapter 23 on page 378 TSLD was a 2 star read. And then, enter the long-awaited smut in chapter 23 and it was sooo damn good 🥵 it elevated my rating to 3 stars. TSLD was the author’s debut novel so I went into this hoping her follow-up, which is the second book in the TSLD Universe, is better than the first 🤞
Dear reader, it was worse. insert heavy sigh
The American Roommate Experiment sees Rosie Graham ditch her well-paying job to secretly pursue a career as a romance writer. When she needs a place to stay, Rosie figures she can crash at her friend Lina’s until she returns to town from her honeymoon. What she doesn’t know is that Lina already promised her apartment to Lucas, a cousin of Lina’s that Rosie has a bit of a crush on, based solely on his Instagram feed. Lucas offers to help cure Rosie’s writer’s block by going on a series of unconventional dates to inspire ideas for her book — but of course, it leads to notions that are more than merely literary.
It’s official. Elena Armas puts the SLOW in slow burn. I am still reeling (in a bad way) from how fucking slow this book was and to make things worse, it was 100 pages longer than it needed to be. Just… heavy sigh! After two back-to-back sad books (Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver) I was in the mood for something happy and fun and nothing says happy and fun more than a romcom. But this was just sad. Not sad boohoo, more like sad yikes as there was so much to dislike about this book.
Let’s start with Rosie. I love me a sassy, assertive, strong FMC and Rosie was the complete opposite. She was wayyy too timid and a total wimp. I don’t know why she was written in such a dumb way that she couldn’t finish a sentence, but fucking hell if I had to take a shot for every time a strangled sound left her throat and/or she didn’t finish a sentence, I’d be dead from alcohol poisoning in the first third of the novel.
Then there is Lucas, who is one of the least swoonworthy MMCs I’ve ever read as he did not inspire any pining on my end, just eye rolls and scoffs at his insipid nature. This is meant to be a romcom but there was neither enough rom nor com. Instead we have pages and pages that were filled with strangled sounds/words stuck in Rosie’s throat/sobs/half sentences and it was awful to endure. The MCs were also obtusely blind to what was right in front of them and I hate when books drag things out to prolong the plot.
Also, where was the proofreading??!! The number of spelling mistakes/grammatical errors in this book was absurd.
While The Spanish Love Deception was a 2 star read that was elevated to a 3 star one thanks to the long awaited smut in the final third, The American Roommate Experiment was a 1 star read that was elevated to a 1 ½ star one only because I have read much, much, much worse. And after two mediocre Elena Armas books it’s safe to say I am done with her because dear Ms. Armas, it’s not me. It’s you.
View all my reviews
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 