This book was refreshing and got me out of my reading slump. I enjoyed the development of the main character and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of the plot. This isn’t the first story I’ve read by this author and it won’t be the last. 5 stars given to Elena Armas.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC of “The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas in exchange for my honest review. The story follows the lives of Matthew and Josie. Josie has a complicated history with love and has been a runaway bride multiple times. She’s dealing with navigating her relationship with her newly discovered father while dealing with a PR nightmare. Matthew is the best friend of Josie’s newly discovered sister. Josie easily convinces Matthew to become her fake fiancé.

I’m a fan of Elena Armas and have throughly enjoyed all her other books. I found this one to be a bit slow and choppy from chapter to chapter. I wasn’t hooked to the story until I reached 85% completion. Overall, it was a good read and I’d recommend if you’re into Fake Fiancé/Fake Dating, Small Town Romances, Single POV and Slow Burn Romance. I’m rating this one at 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Well I DEVOURED this book in 2 days and I absolutely LOVED it! I’ve read all of Elena’s books but this is my fave and I can’t wait to buy a physical copy for my shelf.
I loved the humor throughout the book, especially the banter between Josie and Matthew. And Matthew is my new favorite book boyfriend- a cinnamon roll with a dirty mouth?? Sign me up!

Thanks for the ARC!

The Fiance Dilemma by Elena Armas
Overall: 4
Spice: 3

Another enjoyably painful slow burn from Elena Armas.

Josie Moore, the adorable coffee shop owner/mayor from The Long Game, is back and coming to terms with the newfound knowledge that Adalyn is her ½ sister and her dad is business mogul Andrew Underwood. Finding herself and her past thrust into the spotlight as Andrew’s long lost daughter is a bit painful thanks to her FOUR prior engagements that were broken off just before the wedding (or on her way down the aisle). Andrew sends Bobbi Shark, PR Shark, to Green Oak to fix the problem of Josie’s romantic past. Also arriving in Green Oak is Adalyn’s best friend Matthew. He stumbles upon Josie and finds her introducing him to Bobbi as her fiancé. As fake fiances, Josie and Matthew navigate Bobbi and Andrew’s plans, support from the locals of Green Oak, and a grumpy Granpa Moe. Will Josie finally make it down the aisle?

After greatly enjoying The Long Game, I was very excited for the chance to read this ARC thanks to NetGalley. The two books do have a similar formula, but its all enjoyable. I love how her books somehow combine the kookiest characters and situations and the hottest, steamiest slow burn romances. There are some obvious similarities to Runaway Bride here, but the book references the movie itself. I liked the blend of narrative mixed with scripts from a pop culture podcast that’s on the hunt for the juicy story of Josie’s four prior relationships. Recommended for fans of funny, romantic romps.

I liked the plot of the fiance dilemma. I did find it hard at times to follow the story. The pace of the book was a litle at times.

Another hit from Elena Armas!!! I swear I become a bigger fan with each book I read. This one was the sequel to the Long Game, which I read fairly recently so I was glad I got to continue on with the series. I love led the characters and getting to see so much of the ones from the prior book. 10/10 would recommend

Elena Armas is one of my favorite authors so when I was chosen for this arc read, I may have squealed with delight!
The Fiancé Dilemma is the second book in The Long Game series. The first book is all about Adalyn and Cameron. This second book follows Adalyn’s sister, Josie, and her fake engagement to Adalyn’s best friend Matthew.
The beginning of this book felt very forced and rushed. A fake engagement troupe is always a tough one for me especially if the relationship doesn’t have angst. Which this one lacked… at first.
I promise, keep reading. Because once it was there and we got an introduction to the filthy mouth on Matthew, holy crap 😅 the book for sure turned around for me around the 40% mark. It turned into a beautiful, loving story of someone who really loved someone for exactly who they are. So please if you are struggling at first, keep reading! You will not be disappointed!

I want to thank Elena, Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to review this arc!

If you are a fan of Elena Armas you will not be disappointed in her newest book. It comes after The Long Game however you don't need to read the Long Game to understand or enjoy The Fiance Dilemma. These characters are my favorite and they had such great chemistry. Josie is everyone's goofy best friend that you want to find happiness. Elena Armas has once again delivered a captivating and swoon-worthy romance that will leave you wanting more. I highly recommend picking up a copy of The Fiance Dilemma – you won't regret it!

Received an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Fiancée Dilemma is a sequel to The Long Game, following Josie, the mayor of Green Oak and recently discovered half sister of Adalyn, and Matthew, Adalyn’s best friend. When a PR fixer comes to try to fix Josie and Adalyn’s father’s reputation after his parentage of Josie is revealed, Josie accidentally tells a lie, claiming that Matthew, a man she had one texted but that has recently come to Green Oak and walks by her house at the right time, is her fiancée. Thus starts the fake fiancée dilemma.

Elena Armas wrote another fun book. If you don’t like her other books, you are not likely to like this one as it has many of the same bits: guy who falls first and hard, big protector energy, dominant guy in the bedroom, etc. I have grown to accept this is just how Elena Armas writes her heroes, so it doesn’t faze me. Fake marriage/fake dating is not my favorite trope, but this book was still very enjoyable. Josie and Matthew were both fun to follow. The lack of Adalyn and Cameron at the beginning felt odd, but the glimpses of them were fun. I am rooting for Maria’s dad to have the next book in the series (if there even is one).

I liked The Long Game so I expected to like this as well. I love that it’s mainly Josie and Matthew. I love how Matthew was with Adalyn so I couldn’t have imagined how great he was being a partner. Love the relationship between him and Josie and this was a feel good book.

I loved every Elena Armas’ books and this one is no exception. Relating Josie and Matthew’s story, the book revolves around a fake engagement leading to a real relationship. As always, I liked the characters, the setting and the romance, and would recommend this book as a nice summer read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc of this book.

I swooned for this harder than I have in a long while. I was a little weary about the concept going in. I really didn’t think it was going to work for me, but I quickly became obsessed. This is probably one of the best uses (and most realistic and believable portrayal) of a fake dating/fake engagement troupe I’ve read! I haven’t read a book that made my heart race that hard in a good minute.

First of all, the banter and chemistry between Josie and Matt was just perfect and they were a match made in heaven. Matt is just a dream and so understanding of everything that Josie is feeling and going through.

The way that the relationship developed throughout the story was really fun and sweet.

Plus let's not skip over the texts between Adalyn and Matt???? I melted

However, I do have some negative feelings about how Josie feels like she has to do things for her father, such as, ya know, having a (fake) fiance for PR when her father has never done anything for her, and never even met her. Josie didn't seem like she was afraid to speak her mind and had a strong personality, except to her father and Bobbi, which was weird to me.

Also, I do wish we got to see more of the familial bond between Josie and Adalyn. At times it just seemed like Adalyn was only mentioned and then forgotten, and then when she did show up, the story skipped over those scenes.

Almost every woman's dream is to find their soul mate in a person who treats them as Matthew treats Josie. These are the male & female leads in The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas.
This book is the 2nd book in Elena Armas, The Long Game series. Both fun stories, but both get very looong & wordy in the middle, but then wrap up with sweet endings. The Fiancé Dilemma has family drama, swooning romance, a female lead (Josie) you just wanna tell "Get your act together" & a male lead (Matthew) that you'll fall absolutely in love with.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book on #NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own, buy please do yourself a favor & read any of the books by the talented author Elena Armas.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Elena Armas’ The Fiancé Dilemma!

I did have the pleasure of reading The Long Game which takes place in the same setting / world as this book. The main character of this story is Josie (Adalyn’s sister from the first book) and it’s about her pretend engagement to Adalyn’s best friend, Matthew, to help aid her (narcissistic) absentee father’s hurt PR image.

This book continues with the newfound family theme you get at the end of The Long Game when Adalyn and Josie discover they are half sisters. Their father decided to retire and when he did there was an article written about his family. Josie was mentioned and of course the media buzzed when they realized she had 4 failed previous engagements. She unfortunately sees herself as a liability to his public image or as a “misstep” in his life. Josie panics and lies to his PR strategist, Bobbi Shark, that she’s engaged for the 5th time to Matthew. Bobbi kicks off this elaborate plan for a wedding to happen 2 months later that’s paid for by Josie’s father and a wedding he would be present at.

Throughout the book you see that Josie has a more quirky personality. This personally was a little hard for me at first. Matthew tried to create these flirty moments and Josie would usually follow with a comment that completely torpedoed the mood and ruin the illusion of a romantic relationship. It did make me a little hesitant to read on but I’m glad I stuck with it. Matthew and Josie had a lot of undeniable chemistry even though their relationship was supposed to be pretend and getting to witness this relationship unfold was definitely the highlight of the book. I would’ve loved more duel POV chapters where we could read more about what Matthew was thinking in the moments where we couldn’t tell if he was playing pretend like he should be or actually flirting.

Overall, because of the slow start and I give the book a 3.5 rounded to 4! After I got to the 55% mark I was able to fly through the end of the book.

I definitely plan to read and look forward to Elena Armas’ next book! Part of me hopes we get to see more of Bobbi and maybe a friendship between her and the sisters.

I really wanted to love this book but it ended up falling flat for me. The writing was good and I liked the characters but it was just missing something. It took me almost a week to read because I just couldn’t get myself to focus on more than a few chapters at a time. It’s far from the worst thing I’ve read but now that it’s done I’ll likely never think about it again.

I am a huge fan of Elena Armas and really wanted to love this book. It just never came together as a story. Josie was very flat and Matthew just felt like a trope come to life. It sat on the edge of being a really good book but just never quite made it. I think it was supposed to be a slow burn of sorts but there was so little chemistry, the well written love scenes seemed implausible (if very hot). Every author has a miss, though, and I am really looking forward to the next from Armas!

I was so excited for Matt and Josie's book after meeting them in the long game and unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. The way Matt so readily agreed to marry her and how quickly they fell "in love" was a bit unbelievable. I also so wished for Matt's pov.

I don’t think this is a bad book but I just think this is not the book for me. I couldn’t connect to the story and the characters at all and I’m just not interested in the story unfortunately.

Ok wow. I didn’t realize how much I would love Josie and Matthew. Josie’s people pleasing capabilities resonated with me and my own tendency to do the same. It was beautiful to watch her grow from “I can do it myself” and in Taylor Swift’s words, “I can do it with an [anxious] heart,” to “I don’t have to do it on my own,” and see her lean on Matthew. Matthew made me realize that I’ve been discounting cute blondies with glasses because WOW. This man. Top tier. Make all the men read this book so they can know what to do to help an anxious perfectionist. I wanted to leap into the pages to koala hug him and never let go. Finishing this book made me sad but I’m so happy at how it ended. My only complaint is the book cover wasn’t “Baby Blue.." However, the flowers are gorgeous and I do love the cover. Ok I lied, I do have one complaint: I do wish we would have dove a little more into why Josie always tried to make it down the aisle. Even a smaller scene of her explaining why she continues to hope for love. It didn't tarnish the story because of it, but I think it would have made her character in that area a little less surface level.