Ok, so I really tried with this. I didn't realise that this was part of the long game series (which I didn't particularly enjoy either).

I just found this quite bland and boring, and think I just don't mesh well with this author's writing.

Have you ever read a book that you loved so much that when it came time to write the review, you weren’t sure what to say? This is one of those for me.

Y’all, I have so many quotes highlighted in this one. It’s borderline ridiculous.

I just love it so much.

At a glance:
- Engagement of convenience (fake engagement)
- Small town
- She’s been engaged four times before.

Some notes I made while reading this (but, again, I absolutely adored this one, so this is just a glimpse of what I loved about it):
- This is absolutely delectable/delicious
- I love a man in glasses
- 🥵🥵🥵
- Did I highlight nearly an entire scene featuring a phone conversation? Yes. Yes, I did. *stops to fan self*
- I love, love, love his patience with her
- And the way he categorizes her smiles
- And how they discuss fear
- And how they truly see each other
- Swoon

Select quotes (a sampling of favorites, if you will):
“Then I finally saw her. In the flesh. And as much as I tried not to build her up in my head, as much as I’d told myself not to be a fool, that there aren’t such things as soul mates, or fate, or love at first sight, there she was.”

“…Josie had always been Technicolor in my head.”

“‘That f***ing sound,’ he all but growled. ‘The things I’d do for it. The things I’m doing, Josie. The things I’ll do if you ask.’

“God, I was going to cherish this woman as long as she let me. As hard as I could.”

“‘I’m yours,’ I whispered. ‘I’m yours. I’m yours. I’m yours.’”

“‘You once told me perfection is subjective. Remember?’…. ‘This moment, right here, right now, is perfect for me.’”

“The sight of him standing in the middle of my room, smiling, was like a punch to the heart. He looked so right. So very mine.”

Thank you, Atria Books, for the advance copy. All review opinions are my own.

I read “The Spanish Love Deception” by the same author and didn’t love it, but hoped that this book would be better. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for me. I found the writing style goofy and immature. I thought the characters were annoying, the plot was so obvious that anyone could know what was going to happen, and it felt to me like the book kept going on and on and on. Definitely not for me.

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria.

Another great book by Elena Armas! From the very first page I got attached to the main character! A fun possible romance with a bit of family drama. I laughed and felt so much!

Josie is Adalyn's (The Long Game) secret sister and when word gets out, the national news groups go berserk because their father, Andrew, is some billionaire hellbent on salvaging his reputation. And because their father is so famous, he employs people to take care of situations. Unfortunately for Josie, she has become such a situation.

Matthew is Adalyn's best friend who comes to visit her in Josie's small town of Green Oaks, NC where she is the mayor. Josie is quirky, generous with her time and spirit, and loves her small town. She also has a string of ex-fiances that weren't so right for her. As her father's PR strategist is trying to convince her to come clean and fix her relationship with her father, Josie sees Matthew and claims he is her fiance. He weirdly and readily agrees and thus begins their fake engagement.

Overall, I liked Josie and Matthew together but I wasn't a fan of how they came to be. It was a little too easily falling into place. I really did not like how much of a doormat Josie was to everyone that didn't care about her. Why try to salvage her father's reputation and their relationship? Why is his scandal hers?

I enjoyed the writing style and loved the characters from The Long Game popping in. The town's characters were entertaining as always. And I am sure Josie and Matthew will have a long life together.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC. The Fiance Dilemma is out now.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I hate to say it, but this one was not for me. At first, I was so excited because I love the fake dating trope and the engagement situation felt like it could build up tension in a great way. However, my excitement deflated the longer I read through this book, even though I enjoyed Armas' humourous, witty writing.

The main issue with this romance is that it didn't feel earned. The MMC has (clearly) liked the FMC from the get-go. He was so into her, but we never figured out why that was. We don't watch him fall in love with her. As for the FMC, she falls pretty quickly and I never understood why, because Matthew sadly has no personality. He is just vague enough that he can fit into anyone's dream guy wall of trophies. And ultimately, I hated that. If you're doing slow burn, I want the angst! Instead, we got a phone sex scene 130 pages into this 340-page book. There was NOTHING keeping these two people apart, literally nothing.

I'm disappointed because this should've been right up my alley. I ended up reading most of the smut scenes in the subway and for what? I got nothing from this book.

The perfect fake dating story! A funny and sweet small town fake dating story. I loved how this worked into the previous story and continued in their universe. Cute, romantic, steamy and fun romance,

Oh how I adored this book, and Matthew was the PERFECT book boyfriend…. Errr fiance! Loved the chemistry, the friendship, and the whole fun fake fiancé story line! The story was really sweet, there were just a few plot holes and a lot of repetitive sentences that knocked the rating down a bit for me. But overall I’d highly recommend, and huge bonus points for no third act breakup!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for my ARC in exchange for my honest feedback!

4.5 stars

Matthew my dream man. Although too bad he’s blond…

I adored this book and I adored this couple. I was WAITING for Josie’s book as soon as we met her in The Long Game. I absolutely loved the fake fiance situation and I loved how absolutely down baaaaad Matthew was for Josie this entire book. Also bonus points for no third act break up!! 💃💃

I’m not usually a fan of pet names but baby blue was doing something to me in this book 😜

This book was a little bit long and could have been amazing with a little trimming so I did take a half star off. Still this book was very very good!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this earc in exchange for my honest review.

2.75⭐️. Was kinda disappointed with this read - it started out strong with a funny meet cute but it went down hill from there. There are some adorable, sweet funny scenes but nothing spectacular that made me want to root for the couple. Half the time I’m still wondering why the male lead lacks personality (he has plenty of good looks and seems to be someone whose love language is acts of service) but we really needed a dual POV because I don’t know why he even fell for her? Especially with how he got into this whole fake fiance fiasco. Our FMC, gosh, she needs to grow a spine? I can’t believe she is being stepped all over by 2 people who she doesn’t even have close relations with.

While I adored TSLD, this book was not it for me.

Love the humor in this book, loved the dynamic that Josie and Matthew had right off the bat. Animals as extras were a great add, would doesn’t love a pet pig?! A lot of repeat sentences for inward thoughts after they were said, got a bit old after awhile since the book was a little slower than I’d prefer.
Events cut off and flashed too far forward, felt like I was missing out on events that would have helped shape characters. Adaylan and hers maid of honor talk, after the phone dropped in the water, welcome dinner on Andrew’s estate with Duncan, etc, just would have loved a little more. Will be going back to read the other books from Armas. 4 stars just because it was a slower moving book than I would prefer. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the early read in exchange on my honest review.

Matthew Flanagan breaths and my clothes are OFF. I ADORE THAT MAN!!!! This was beyond fun & sweet I loved them so much. Josie is a daddy issues icon so I have no choice but to stan. The spicy scenes in this one were HOT & the small town rom-com moments were so cozy and cute. Elena has an excellent ability to never miss 💜✨💜

3.5/5 stars rounded up

Thank you Atria Books for the advanced reading copy!

Okay, first thoughts were what the heck is this plot. PLEASE NOTE that I did not read the first one, and while I don't necessarily think that you have to, I do think it would make the transition into this one easier, as it took me a second to get into/figure out the characters. If you can suspend belief about the overall premise of this book, it was cute!! The connection between Josie and Matthew was sweet, and they had some really heart-warming moments. There was some spice -- though not enough imo -- that was well-written and fun. Overall a cute story, but would have probably hit better for me had I read the first one!

SYNOPSIS -- Josie Moore is more than willing to give love a try, given that she's been engaged four times. With her influential, long-lost father retiring and needing good PR, Josie learns that her relationship history is... not a good look. When her sister's best friend, Matthew, makes a wrong turn and shows up at her door, he's suddenly roped into a chaotic and not well-thought-out plan to convince everyone that he's her new fiancé... lucky number five. As they get further and further into their charade, it get's harder and harder to turn back, and that's not only because this started under false pretenses... are those butterflies Josie is feeling???

This was really sweet 🥰 I love when the guy falls first and harder. I only wish we had more with his POV instead of just the last chapter because that was *chef's kiss!

he falls first x fake engaged x sisters best friend

Now this wasn't a bad book. It was just incredibly DULL. It's a shame though because I really liked the start of this book. The set up was quite fun, despite the reasons for their fake engagement being so unbelievable. I still can't quite wrap my head around it. Who the fuck cares so much about a random bussiness man's non famous adult daughter to this extend? It just felt extremely fake, and like it could have been solved way easier than this whole mess. However, like I said I liked our early introductions to these characters, I thought Josie and our love interest had great chemistry, and overall I was having fun. So I hate that it turned out this way.
Overall I think my problem is just that this just felt extremely surface level. The characters are extremely underdeveloped, and I can't tell you anything about them. Matthew and Josie do have some really cute scenes together but overall their feelings felt like they came out of nowhere. I truly feel like this could have benefited from being dual POV so much. It would have just been able to add a little something extra to the mix that was currently missing. On top of that I also feel like almost nothing happens in this book, making it feel like quite the drag to me.
The small town is still great. It isn't as showcased as in The Long Game, but we still get some time at town events or with different townspeople. Those scenes always were my favourite because Elena Armas just really knows how to bring this town to life. It's just a shame that it was wasted on these books, man. But yeah, I did like it more than the first book in the duology but it still really wasn't my thing.

Thank you Netgalley and Elena Arias, for the e-arc. My review is being left voluntarily, and all opinions are my own.

I have tried to love Elena Armas books, but have come to a conclusion that I just do not vibe with this author's work after TSLD.

4.25 ⭐️

If there is one thing that I love it’s a well written fake dating (engagement!) romance. And let me tell you, Elena Armas delivered!

This is a slow burn with some serious heat/flirting throughout. I’m normally not a huge fan of slow burns but this one left me feeling … giddy? It’s so cute.

This is my first Armas book (I didn’t read the first in the series but this works great as a standalone and the character background stories are explained) but I can’t wait to read more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Elena Armas for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I read this book during a few hour flight. It was a quick and easy read with a fun plot line. The story kept me engaged, but I wish there had been more lead up and meatiness into their romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

I always love the fake dating trope, and this one did not disappoint; in fact, I think this might be my favorite Elena Armas book so far! Matthew was so sweet and protective (the way he SPRINTED across town when she sent an SOS??), and I loved how he went along with all of Josie’s crazy with no question 😂 I also loved how they decided to reclaim their own story and just do what was right for them. (Also, I totally called Ada from the start lol IYKYK)

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read before pub day! ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. THE FIANCÉ DILEMMA is out now!

Ah, this had great potential but unfortunately it just did not live up to the expectations Armas had set since TSLD. I enjoyed The Long Game, even if I had some qualms about certain elements, but the second book in this duology just did not hit that sweet spot I was hoping it would. The banter was dry and the pacing dragged in the middle. I think this book could've benefited from some editorial tightening. While I acknowledge Elena Armas' attempt to tap into the small-town, sports romance niche, unfortunately she did not really capture the attention needed to show for it! Interested to see what new direction she decides to go in next but hoping she brings us back some original Aaron Blackford-level obsession!