Love, in English

I lived in Spain for over a year, where I met the man who is now my husband. Since I’ve gotten back into reading lately, I’ve been looking for books set in Spain, which led me to Love, in English by Karina Halle. In this novel, Vera is a 23-year-old astronomy student from Canada who is spending a few weeks of her summer teaching English in a resort outside of Madrid. Here she meets Mateo, a 38-year-old retired soccer player, now a businessman. The two instantly have a connection, despite their many differences. But they have an uphill battle if they want to be together. Beyond their age gap and each living on other sides of the world… Mateo is still married (a loveless marriage, but still). Should he and Vera even pursue a relationship? Could they last beyond these few weeks together?

There’s so much I loved about Love, in English. For me, a lot of it came down to what first drew me to the book. I enjoyed seeing the Spanish culture and getting to know Spanish characters. And although Vera is there to teach English, I also loved when characters would speak a bit of Spanish, too. (I speak intermediate Spanish, so for me it’s fun to read it in books.)

I also liked Vera and Mateo as a couple, especially when it came to cultural differences. My husband is Peruvian and I’m American, though we met in Spain, and encountering cultural differences and language hiccups is a part of our relationship every day. In Love, in English, I enjoyed seeing something similar with Vera and Mateo coming at things from different perspectives. On top of that, they also have an age gap of 15 years and distinct personalities: Vera is tattooed and wild, Mateo is more serious and by the book.

Another thing that resonated with me was the long-distance relationship arc. Being separated between Canada and Spain is something that would end most casual relationships; how can these two get around having full lives in different countries, or the immigration difficulties if they do want to stay together?

The one thing in Love, in English that is a definitely less savory is the fact that Mateo is married. Yikes. I do not condone affairs or cheating in any circumstances. While this would normally turn me off from the book and the romance between characters, here it’s set up in a way that I guess seems less bad? Mateo and his wife should not be together at all. Still, I would have preferred if his whole relationship with Vera happened after the divorce. Even so, I enjoyed the rest of the book so much, so I only knocked it down half a star for that.

There is a sequel to this called Love, in Spanish, and I can’t wait to read that and see what happens next with Vera and Mateo!