The long awaited book we’ve all been waiting for! This time with Rosie and Lucas at center stage in this slow burn romance that Elena Armas created so wonderfully! Rosie, on a new career path, Lucas appearing as well, but what they both didn’t anticipate was staying in the same apartment… Lina’s apartment to be exact. Forced proximity, temporary roommates, a handsome, charming Lucas alongside the ever so sweet and romantic Rosie came to an agreement, and my goodness it was amazing from beginning to end.

I cannot tell you how long I had waited for this book to come so when it finally arrived, I was ready to dive back in the genius mind that is Elena Armas. Back in, “The Spanish Love Deception”, Rosie was present in the story and Lucas was mentioned as well. Now, in this book, I got to dig deep into both Rosie and Lucas. The beginning of the book was funny and I couldn’t believe that was how Rosie and Lucas met for the first time haha what a great impression to make. Right off the bat, it was clear that Rosie couldn’t articulate herself when being in the presence of her online crush a.k.a. her best friend, Lina’s older cousin, Lucas. Lucas was all smiles, charming, kind, and dare I say radiated golden retriever vibes. I also enjoyed seeing how Lucas was sweet to Rosie from cooking dinner, to picking up on small things about her behavior, and trying to make her feel better. Lucas was a sweetheart, and I was loving him (as well as Rosie!). 

Back in the previous book, Rosie was working at InTech with Lina, since she was also an engineer, but in this book we find out that Rosie has since changed career paths. I found Rosie to be relatable in that while she initially loved working as an engineer, it wasn’t exactly what made her happy, and I think we can all agree that sometimes in life we realize that what once brought us joy means maybe we’ve grown or found a passion in something else. Writing romance novels was an unexpected surprise to Rosie, but ultimately sparked both her creativity and love of writing. Rosie was a hopeless romantic at heart, a bit old fashioned when it came to dating which was another thing I felt was relatable about her. 

With the premise of Rosie and Lucas agreeing to doing the whole dating experiment, I couldn’t help but feel giddy and excited at the prospect of all the cuteness and romance that was bound to ensue! This book was for the hopeless romantics such as, Rosie herself. Reading along to see the dates that Lucas came up with in order to help inspire Rosie with her writing was great. Lucas was killing it with the dates he set up for Rosie, and it just goes to show how thoughtful and sweet he truly was, as well as swoon worthy. From the long glances across the room, to the forced proximity, and almost close encounters that could have easily resulted in more ( at least early on in the beginning) it was a delicious slow burn romance.

One of the things that fascinated me about Rosie and Lucas was how they both shared some similarities you wouldn’t have expected. Rosie was always use to being the friend that would offer advice, or be the shoulder they’d lean on. For a long time, Rosie would always put others before herself, and felt like she needed to be the “strong” one for others. When Lucas came into the picture, Rosie opened herself up, and let her vulnerability be exposed which was something she hadn’t really done, even with Lina. Lucas was the one that was all smiles and charm, and when looking at him, you would think that everything in his life was great, but deep down they weren’t. With Lucas’s injury forcing him to leave behind his career of surfing, he suddenly was faced with questioning what to do with his life, and without surfing who was he really? Both Rosie and Lucas found themselves in new directions in their lives, and started to open up to each other. I liked seeing both Rosie and Lucas’s vulnerability and fears be shown/ talked about in the story, it created more depth to them. 

Lucas was absolutely delightful and just down right thoughtful, and had me swooning the whole time. Among many incredible things Lucas did, I loved how protective he got over Rosie, especially making her see the value in herself. For Rosie, being the romantic, you would think that she’d have fair expectations of what she would want in a relationship, but the fact that even the bare minimum to her was seen as too much, had Lucas realizing that Rosie had low expectations of what should and shouldn’t be expected in romance. For instance, the fact that Lucas without a doubt instantly put himself as a barrier for Rosie while at the masquerade ball so she wouldn’t get bumped into, that was a given and sweet gesture. Meanwhile, Rosie told Lucas that it wasn’t necessary for him to protect her. I was in the same boat with Lucas in that Rosie deserved better and shouldn’t have thought that way, but thankfully Lucas helped her see SHE DESERVED THE ABSOLUTE BEST!

I love a good slow burn and Ms. Elena DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Everything from the little glances, touches, tension, all culminated into a beautiful crescendo of romance, passion, and swoon worthy moments. Rosie and Lucas’s chemistry was FANTASTIC! I loved seeing them go from friends to lovers, and OMG SEEING THEM TOGETHER! FINALLY KISS AND SAY HOW THEY FELT ABOUT ONE ANOTHER! YES! In addition, THE SPICE IN THIS BOOK WAS NOT ONLY GREATLY APPRECIATED, BUT OMG LUCAS! (GASP) THE MOUTH ON THAT MAN! THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL! PHEW I HAD TO FAN MYSELF AND COULDN’T STOP MY JAW DROPPING! *all caps due to my over whelming excitement, sorry not sorry* As if I didn’t express my appreciation for the romance, now you know.

Overall, this was such a phenomenal book and Elena outdid herself! Simply fantastic and I couldn’t get enough of Rosie and Lucas. Seeing Lina (Catalina) and Aaron also in the book was amazing because, I’ll always love those two. This book was every bit of the slow burn romance we were promised and more. Rosie was endearing and sweet, and Lucas was literally the fictional man of my dreams from cooking, to dancing, to literally saying anything in Spanish and making me melt like a puddle. This book spoke to the hopeless romantic in me, and seeing the various dates between Lucas and Rosie had me giddy with joy. I feel like I can keep going on and on about just how freaking fantastic this story was! I truly felt like I escaped into this book that by the time I was done, I realized I wasn’t in New York with Rosie and Lucas. The ending and epilogue was so wholesome and romantic! (Sigh) I’m going to be thinking about this book for a long time, and wanting to read it again and again!