11 Trope-tastic Books like The Spanish Love Deception

When it comes to plot summary alone, The Wedding Date Disaster is closest among books like The Spanish Love Deception. Hadley Donavan is traveling to Nebraska for her sister’s wedding, when her best friend’s evil twin shows up at the airport to be her plus one. That wasn’t the plan! Even worse, the handsome billionaire keeps roping her into the family activities she’s trying to avoid. I personally cannot resist a romance where a cutthroat family game of Scrabble is a plot point.

Mia Sosa is among the elite authors writing truly laugh-out-loud funny romantic comedies. The Wedding Crasher is no exception and has the greatest premise: Solange Pereira crashes Dean Chapman’s wedding because she witnessed proof his fiancé is not a good match. What can Dean do, except enlist Solange to be his fake girlfriend after that? It’s an opposites attract romance rather than an enemies-to-lovers tale, but the chemistry between Solange and Dean and the twisty plot are sure to delight.

Anyone seeking books like The Spanish Love Deception ought to be seeking out Christina Lauren’s catalog. If you’re just diving in, start with The Unhoneymooners. Olive and Ethan are the only two left standing after food poisoning wipes out an entire wedding party. Rather than let the honeymoon go to waste, Olive and Ethan agree to pose as the newlywed couple for a free trip to Maui. Olive and Ethan may be nemeses, but once they arrive at that honeymoon suite, everything changes.

Dating Dr. Dil is the first in Nisha Sharma’s new series riffing on Shakespearean works. It tackles The Taming of the Shrew, pairing homebody Kareena with the love-phobic Dr. Dil. He’s got a TV show, and a televised argument between him and Kareena goes viral. In the absolute pinnacle of romance logic, the best solution to the troubles this viral sensation creates for these enemies is to fake date. Except it’s never really fake for Dr. Dil, whose feelings for Kareena were never imbued with the enmity that hers were. 

While I’m recommending The Dating Playbook specifically among these The Spanish Love Deception read-alikes, I also want you to read the first book in this series, The Boyfriend Project, which will get you deeply invested in the characters in this series lightning fast. But if you’re in a rush, this does act as a standalone. And it’s got a fun twist on the fake dating setup: Jamar Dixon wants to train to be back in the NFL, but he doesn’t want anyone to know. Taylor Powell, a personal trainer, could use the fat paycheck from Jamar. They fake a relationship to hide the training, but we all know fake relationships are destined to become real. That’s romance science.

Hold Me is an enemies-to-lovers story to savor. It has that You’ve Got Mail appeal, where two characters hate each other in real life but share an online correspondence that is crackling with chemistry. Maria Lopez is a science blogger protective of her identity as a trans Latina woman to her online audience; Jay na Thalang is a brilliant physics professor corresponding with her. You might really hate Jay upon meeting him, but stick with the story for that Courtney Milan magic. She can develop characters like no one else, and before long, you will be rooting for this nerdy power couple. I mean come on, they flirt using math!

If the travel aspect of The Spanish Love Deception is part of the appeal, Conventionally Yours will be up your alley. In it, two mortal enemies, Aiden and Conrad, are on a cross-country trip to a gaming convention. There they will face off at the Odyssey gaming tournament. That forced proximity allows their animosity to morph into affection. Their relationship is a slow burn, like Catalina and Aaron’s. Read this if the idea of a queer romance set within the culture of gaming intrigues you.

Cole and Lisa did not get off on the right foot. He showed up drunk at her apartment, mistaking it for his own. And Lisa met him with a baseball bat. Luckily, their relationship turns around quickly when Cole finds himself with custody of CJ, the baby brother he never knew about. A secret baby is one of the tropes The Spanish Love Deception doesn’t have, so you know I had to find another trope-embracing romance that weaves it in! Lisa then comes to Cole and CJ’s rescue — such a fun twist on this trope! Lisa and Cole also fake an engagement in the course of their romance, which manages to be incredibly sweet while dealing with some heavy-hitting topics.

While we’re talking about fun twists on tropes, The Ex Talk turns the fake relationship trope on its head by featuring two co-workers faking being exes. It isn’t hard, because radio producers Shay Goldstein and Dominic Yun already clash. So they co-host a radio show dispensing relationship advice from the perspective of a couple who didn’t make it. Like The Spanish Love Deception, this one is a slow burn, filled with yearning that will thrill you when it finally pays off.

If you love a romance where the buttoned-up one and the free-wheeling one fall in love, look no further. In a delightful conceit that could only exist in a romance, Satisfaction Guaranteed pairs two women who end up co-owners of a sex toy store. Because this is how romance works — and thank goodness for romance! — Cade, our starchy character, fell into the sex toy biz because of an inheritance. An inheritance! Selena is on a sex break, because she realized she’d fallen into some unhealthy patterns. But the two new colleagues must figure out how to work together and whoops, so much for that sex break.

Lovers of food romances are having an absolute field day with the recent boon in the sub-genre. And yes, The Spanish Love Deception read-alikes with foodie flair exist. When a respected cookbook publisher pivots to video, recipe developer Simone Larkspur is unwillingly thrust into the limelight. Then, obnoxious test kitchen manager Ray Lyton goes viral with a homebrewing video. So Simone and Ray are forced to work together to remedy Simone’s less-than-stellar screen performances. It’s a workplace enemies-to-lovers slow burn that also explores Ray’s process of coming out as nonbinary. If you, like me, are a former Bon Appétit fan, this book will remind you of the good times in the best way.