I couldn't breathe a single bad word about this book if I tried. Honestly, every Elena Armas book I read somehow gets better and better. This one had me feeling all too giddy and excited over words on paper, but I totally don't mind.
The premise of this novel (spun off moderately from The Long Game) is wild, yes, silly and overdramatic, yes, but who says that's a problem in the slightest? I'm all for rom-coms like this: where despite the unrealistic tropes, a very real, complex, and optimistic relationship arc is presented between two people who have such a way with words and love. I honestly think this novel is the perfect depiction of what it means to portray the unbounded happiness and pure joy that comes from a happy, healthy, romantic relationship.
Everything in this novel is so fun, silly, sweet, and kind. This small town has always been a great setting, and the side characters that make up the lives of Matthew and Josie are a perfect ensemble. I love the goats, the pigs, all the little soccer kids, and Moe Poe. Everything this novel creates is just an experience of pure bliss as a reader. It's everything you want in a romance novel but more, because it really gets you to believe the love these characters have for each other. The idea of soulmates, destiny, hopeless romantics, etc are all portrayed so beautifully through this trope and premise. The execution of this is so special because without the writing skills Armas has and without the ability to plot well, this wouldn't be the amazing book it is. But luckily Armas has a level of genius dexterity when it comes to words and characters. I couldn't stop the smile on my face for all 300+ pages as I read their story, whether it was because of the heartfelt declarations the characters were making, or the funny pop culture references that had me silently screaming. I appreciate so much about this book and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to read it!
Rating: 5/5
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @atriabooks for an early copy of The Fiance Dilemma by Elena Armas. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Rating: ⭐⭐.5/5
Release date: July 30th, 2024

Blurb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203572092-the-fianc-dilemma?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=0sXmDgZk45&rank=1

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑

The Fiance Dilemma is the sequel to The Long Game, but can be read as a standalone. It tells the story of Josie and Matthew’s fake engagement to fix a PR problem surrounding Josie and her very rich and influential father, Andrew, who has been absent for the majority of her life. Josie’s parentage and her long history of failed engagements are now the hot topic, and Andrew’s PR, Bobbie, has been tasked to put out the flames that are tarnishing his reputation.

I really wanted to love this book because it has such a good premise and has so much potential, but overall the story felt flat for me and somewhat all over the place. In the first half of the novel I feel like Josie was such a closed-off character, and probably because of her abandonment issues that I think weren’t really resolved towards the end. Matthew’s actions, on the other hand, were very romantic and sweet. He was very supportive of Josie and his actions though were quite confusing for me there wasn’t any clear indication throughout the story of when Josie and Matthew decided they weren’t pretending at all anymore (exclude the spicy sex scene from this narrative because I feel like the clarity of the status of their relationship should have been established regardless of how spicy their sex was). Matthew’s declaration that he has liked Josie for a while, and Josie’s breakdown while wedding dress shopping for her wedding to Matthew happened so suddenly and out of the blue – and no they didn’t feel like a plot twist.

There were a lot of cute scenes between Matthew and Josie here, but overall the story and romance felt flat and not exactly swoony for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.  

Slow burn, no third act break up AND no miscommunication!! Yes, please.

Matthew is a dream of an MMC. Josie is a hot mess but we love her for alll she does. Loved Grandpa Moe and getting to see more Cameron and Adalyn from The Long Game.

If you enjoyed Elena's backlist- you will definitely groove with The Fiance Dilemma!

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up because i didn’t think Elena could ever top TSLD but she just might have ????

Matthew must be protected at all costs. In reality to i ever feel that most women don’t deserve their male equivalent? No. I don’t think Josie deserves Matthew because NO ONE DOES. I absolutely wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her because HOW DO YOU EVEN COME CLOSE TO FUMBLING THE BAG ????

Anyways thanks for listening to my rant and thanks to NetGalley and Elena’s team for the ARC because i simply can’t wait to discuss this at length when it comes out this summer and i recommend it to everyone i know. K thanks bye!

This was a good story but it seemed to kinda kinda jump around and you never felt fully in the story. But thats just how I felt. I would say that I would probably read this book again and buy it. It did have a good story line I wish it was in Dual POV because it was hard to tell what matthew was feeling.

The Long Game was such a great book so I was so excited to continue reading about Green Oak and its residents!

Josie (our FMC) is the Mayor of Green Oak, owner of Josie's coffee shop and sister to Miss Ada. Because of the high profile life of her estranged father, she becomes the focus of celebrity gossip. In order to help diffuse the situation and save her sister from the gossip, she decides to enter into a fake engagement with Matthew (Ada's best friend who has just oved to Green Oak).

What I loved:
* Josie was such a great character with multiple layers. She suffers from major daddy issues, she has no sense of who she really is in a relationship and she keeps breaking her engagements.  
* Matthew, he was such a good MMC
* Josie's growth and development through the book
*The residents of Green Oak provided moments of laughter and joy, especially little Maria.
*It was a slow burn that showed us their feelings more than just telling us.

What I didn't like:
*Not hearing Matthew's POV. I think that it would have really helped us see why HE chose to continue the fake engagement. We kinda got a little of it towards the end but I needed more from him.

Overall a great book and I would definitely recommend it!

Thanks NetGalley and Atria for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun read! Is it the best book I've ever read? No, but at the end of the day I had a lot of fun while reading it and once I fully bought into the premise and Matthew and Josie started to spend more time together I was fully in love.

The beginning of the book was a little rough. I was so confused why the fake engagement even had to happen, frustrated the Josie was in charge of correcting a PR issue that wasn't her fault, and some of the decisions and choices characters made were so unnecessary. All that said - and I think this is a bit true for all Elena Armas books in my opinion - you honestly have to fully give into the fact that there will be over-the-top ridiculous scenarios and our characters will do things that very few actual people would do. If you just sort of let this book happen to you and don't question anything, I think you will have fun.

I absolutely loved Matthew in this book and would have done anything for more of his POV. He was so wonderful and sweet and just gone for Josie in way that was heart-stopping. The way their friendship and relationship develops was great to see and how they supported each other was a highlight of the book.

Overall, if you want a fun, frothy, romcom this will be a great choice!

Delicious chemistry and high heat! This was thoroughly a romp with laugh-out-loud moments. Elena's fans will not be disappointed. I had a, uh, very good time.

Thank you to Atria and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the Spanish love deception and I was so excited for this book. The romance was so sweet and the characters had great development throughout the book

Let it be known that The Long Game was one of my favorite reads last year. I was extremely excited for Josie’s story & was lucky enough to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first 30% of the book was pure chaos, a bit hard to follow, and all over the place. But once it found its stride, it was un-put-down-able. I fell fast and hard for Matthew & loved how he loved Josie. Josie is just the cutest & very relatable.

I did think some of the descriptions were a little wordy at times but it worked, because Josie is one of those characters that has a lot to say. And thank goodness she does. I loved her character development throughout & I loved all the cameos from Ada & Cam <3

I thought the conflict and resolution were so nicely done. & PRAISE GOD FOR NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP OR MISCOMMUNICATION.

Overall, it was cute & I’m glad I read it. I absolutely adored these two but had a hard time following some of the chaotic inner thoughts. Which, could just be on me.

Disappointment is an understatement. I thought that this was going to be a 5 star read from the first chapter and I am heartbroken that this feeling dissipated.

The Fiance Dilemma follows Josie and Matthew, two fiances pretending to be engagement to handle a PR crisis. I thought that this set-up was cute, and I loved the initial conversations with Josie and Matthew. However, the further I read, the less I understood WHY both Josie and Matthew would agree to the fake engagement in the first place. Josie gained more out of the fake relationship, but she only really does it to handle her absentee father's PR issues, which is quite frankly NOT her problem. Matthew gained *actually nothing* from this partnership, he is just a simp. To truly root for their romantic development, I needed valid motivations for them to be in a fake relationship. Because of this, I found their chemistry lacking. And while Josie had a lot of depth to her character, Matthew was just a plethora of tropes thrown together to create a character with no real substance. The highlights of this book were the dynamics with Josie and her grandpa, as well as Josie and Adalyn's sisterhood. This book also had plenty of laugh out loud moments.

Unfortunately, The Fiance Dilemma just did not deliver on the romance. You cannot build a proper romantic relationship without proving why the two characters should be together in the first place. I wanted this to be my new favorite by Elena Armas, and while I will continue to try her new titles, this was such a letdown!

♾️/5

if i could give more than 5 stars for this book i absolutely would. Elena has absolutely done it again with this book and then some. When i tell you Matthew had me kicking my feet & giggling to the point i had heart palpitations i could not put this down. The growth you see in Josie is a beautiful thing and i absolutely adored this book and see it being in my top 5 for the year.

Thank you again NetGalley and Atria for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review ♡

Loved it, a bit over the top with the situation, but overall extremely enjoyable,
Some of the scenes feel a bit too much and the whole Pr thing for me felt a bit overdone. I did like matthew and Josie relationship and how it develops even if it was a bit fast. Overall fun read

4.25/5 stars!
Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I have some conflicting feelings about this book.

Ultimately, I don't think Elena Armas's style of writing is for me, but I loved Josie's story.

There was nothing *wrong* with it. Let me start there. It was just very different from book one (and Elena's other books). The first half and the second half of the book felt completely different. The first half left me feeling like this would be 3 stars or lower, but the second half had lots of redeeming qualities. I was very excited to visit this world after reading The Long Game. Josie and Matthew's story was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, but this was really *Josie's* story only and Matthew was a supporting charcater (the man was really supportive of my girl though).

What I loved:
🌸Josie is all over the place (#relatable). Daddy issues, runaway bride, zero backbone. We only barely scratched the surface of her back story in book one, so getting throught that intial 10 percent was a little rough, but necessary.
🌸Matthew is soooo HORNY. He was down bad for Josie and all their little touches had me kicking my feet and squealing. He's all the *right* amount of protective.
🌸Josie had a great character arc (I totally knew she would though). Much like book one, I wouldn't consider this romance, as much as I would a self-discovery book. And Josie sure does go through it. If you go into this book with that mindset, you will love it.

What I didn't love:
🌸Matthew really had no personality other than horny? Also we got no dual pov in this one? I think this would have been so much better with his point of view. I don't understand why it wasn't written like that.
🌸I love a slow burn, but it was too slow.

I loved reading this book because we got to see two characters from The Long Game, Josie and Matthew, get their own story. I actually liked this storyline better than the previous one in the series, because it was fun to read along as the characters started out faking their engagement and watch their relationship actually grow into something. Plus, there was a ton of chemistry with these two. We mostly get the perspective of Josie, until the end when we get some of Matthew's - although this worked out fine, I would have personally loved a bit more perspective from Matthew. I also liked to read about the dynamic between Josie and her dad. It is always nice when an author inputs more into their story beyond just a romantic relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Spoiler Free Arc Review! 4 ⭐️

For anyone who doesn’t know, my favorite tropes are fake dating and marriage of convenience so this was right in my wheelhouse. The Fiancé Dilemma was the same wonderful swoon-worthy comedic romance you expect with Elena Armas. Matthew and Josie’s story was so perfect.

Josie has been engaged four times, but has never been able to say I do. When her high profile father comes into her life, her failed marriages become public knowledge. In order to fix a PR crisis and get her father’s assistant off her back, Josie finds herself self saying she’s actually engaged to her sister’s best friend Matthew. Matthew plays along but eventually the lines blur between pretend and reality.

This book was so fun to read. I love reading about two destined to be together characters find themselves in each other. I super recommend to fans of Elena’s previous books as well as someone who appreciates a true romcom with a little spice here and there! Note: this book is a very slow burn. But worth the wait! Josie and Matthew are probably my favorite couple that Elena has written so far!

This book is poignantly beautiful. It has the perfect blend of light heartedness and major character growth and discovery. The main characters made me feel in my bones that they are soulmates and I absolutely adored them both. But holy hell Matthew!!! You little complex horny devil in glass ILY!

I definitely wanted more content and thought it would have been interesting seeing the exs a bit more. I feel what you did see from the exs just highlighted Matthew so well because he GETS josie in so many ways


Thank you so much to Atria books and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

3.5
Ce livre ne sort que le 30 juillet prochain en anglais mais j’ai eu l’opportunité de le découvrir!
Il faut savoir que ce livre fait partie de la série The Long Game et que je n’avais pas lu le premier tome mais cela n’a absolument rien changé à la compréhension de cet univers! Nous allons suivre Josie qui doit gérer une catastrophe médiatique du fait que son père revienne dans sa vie et elle va faire croire qu’elle est fiancée à Matthew… Mais à force de se côtoyer, il va peut-être avoir des sentiments…

Le résumé m’a donné envie de foncer tête baissé dans ce livre surtout avec la trope fake dating/ fake engagement mais j’ai trouvé que l’histoire était assez prévisible même si mignonne! La première partie du livre est vraiment bien mais on tombe rapidement dans des longueurs. J’ai eu du mal à ressentir quoique ce soit envers Josie que j’ai eu envie de secouer à plusieurs reprises tandis que j’ai trouvé Matthew très mignon, c’est un véritable sucre d’orge!

En bref, une romance mignonne, assez prévisible et quelques longueurs!

I loved this book! Thanks to Atria and Net Galley for my advanced copy.

The Fiancé Dilemma had all the classic elements of an Elena Armas novel: funny, jump-off-the-page supporting characters, and a love story with BIG heart. I loved Matthew and Josie in this. The ability Matthew had to see Josie exactly for who she was, what she wanted, at all times was beautiful, and I loved the return of Cam and Ada. I would have LOVED to see an epilogue, a longer look into the future, but the lack of one means I’ll hold out hope for a book three, a special edition, a something else. I’m not ready to say goodbye to this world!,

Oh my goodness. This book is amazing! If you haven't read The Long Game yet, I highly recommend reading that first. You don't have to, but there will be major spoilers if you don't.

This is the story of Josie, who is the mayor of Green Oak and the owner of Josie's coffee shop. She has been engaged 4 times and is single, never married. She has never actually met her father, Andrew Underwood, in person. She finds herself in a robe with a face mask on and her hand in a jar of jam trying to get an old stuck engagement ring off her finger when she has to answer the door. At the door is a PR specialist for her father, Bobbi Shark. Bobbi says that Josie has to fix her father's image as a deadbeat and come to Florida unless she's getting married again. Then Matthew pulls in, her sister's best friend, and she decides not to go to Florida. She does this by pretending Matthew is her fiancé, which he goes along with.

What ensues is a masterpiece. The way Josie grows, although subtle, is a masterclass in character growth. I adore Matthew and how he genuinely loves Josie and helps her to love herself. I can not recommend this one enough. Elena Armas knocked it out of the park.