Ahhhhh god, I loved this. I live for fake engagements. Matthew was an actual dreamboat. I can’t wait until this comes out so I can talk about it with everyone!!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really like this one. A bit slower of a start, but once I got invested, I really enjoyed it. Matthew was amazing! 4 out of 5! Thank you for letting me read it. I really appreciate it.

ELENA ARMAS NEVER MISSES!!! i so so so love armas's books so i was absolutely HONORED to receive an arc for her newest release! this story was unique with all my favorite cliches woven into that quintessential romcom feel, and armas's writing style is both the perfect blend of romance and comedy and is also so familiar and wonderful. i was obsessed with the characters and found myself rooting for them (or praying on their downfall) and the book itself was fast-paced and simply a FUN book. i loved seeing the character development/growth and i thought the way armas handled their conflicts was realistic and nice. so so so good and so excited to get my hands on a physical copy. this is by far my fave elena armas book! literally love her sm!!

fake dating trope. small town with the most eclectic cast of characters. he falls first.

for me, this was cheesiness overload. i enjoyed reading this over a few days, but nothing about the characters or the plot had me glued to the pages. the characters were likable and I especially liked the MMC Matthew, but I wanted to see more character development and the FMC Josie’s internal reckoning of her running/abandonment issues feel more satisfying.

Overall, a little cheesy, a little spicy and a little underwhelming, but a quick breezy read!

*this ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!*

“Perhaps to love was to leave a mark."
•

cutesy with a punch, The Fiancé Dilemma delivers with charm, heart, and sizzling chemistry. you’re sure to fall in love with josie, matthew, and their hilarious community.
•

this and that:
♡ always the bride, never the wife
♡ boss women
♡ boston boys
♡ chosen family
♡ city boy / small town girl
♡ engagement of convenience
♡ entrepreneurs
♡ fitting room rendezvous
♡ flirting with your fake fiancé
♡ goat yoga
♡ good girl
♡ grumpy grandpas
♡ he falls first and he’s obsessed
♡ jaw kisses
♡ lap sitting
♡ men in glasses
♡ newfound family member
♡ nicknames
♡ nightmare PR reps
♡ open door spice
♡ phone play
♡ runaway bride
♡ sister’s best friend
♡ slow burn
♡ small town
♡ smiles & smirks
♡ SOS messages
♡ sunshine / sunshine
♡ teacup pigs and other farm animals
♡ tottenham hotspur shoutouts (COYS!) ⚽️
♡ wildflowers
•

triggers:
☞ abandonment issues
☞ loss of a loved one
•

notable quotes:[
・“Those are the best things to fall in love with…The ones we find accidentally.”

・“You underestimate how much I love a good mess.”

・“Only a fool would wait when there’s something so precious to be claimed.”

・“There’s a ring on your finger. I don’t care about the specifics, for all practical purposes, it means we’re a team. We handle shit together. I don’t care if you can do it on your own. You shouldn’t have to.”

・“Do you have me wrapped around your pinky, Josie?”

・“We’ll hide behind your rules. I won’t break any until you ask me.”

・“Beautiful things shouldn’t be boxed. It eventually dims their light.”

・“Perfection is subjective.”

・"There’s nothing about you that needs fixing.”

・“The things I’ll do if you ask.”

・“Once I decide something’s mine, there’s no stopping me.”

・“No one could ever be mad at someone holding a pig that tiny.”

・“I knew this would happen. That I’d taste an inch of you and I’d want more. Everything.”

・“Do you trust me to keep you safe?”

・“It’s what makes it so beautiful. So unique. She’s brave and resilient and can overcome anything.”

・“What if I can’t give you any fucking firsts, so I want to make sure I get a chance at being your last?”

・“I’m perfect for you.”

・“I can’t decide…I can’t decide how I want to have you.”

・“Smug looks pretty on you.”

・“I got you, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

・“Mine, Josie. You’re mine. Say you’ll have me.”

・“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have anyone else but you”

・“So what if it hurts a little? I’ll hurt if it makes you better.”

・“I only ever wanted you”

・“You want me to show you how much I fucking love you, then all you need to do is ask.”

・Perhaps, I love yous were meant to feel this big. To make you feel this naked. This exposed. So big you were terrified to hurt. So safe no one could touch you.

・Perhaps to love was to leave a mark.

・"maybe we don’t need to be whole to function, you know? Maybe we just need to learn to love who we are and let people around us love us for that, too.”

・Josie had always been Technicolor in my head. (hide spoiler)]
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thank you to atria books for an early copy of The Fiancé Dilemma!
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2.5/5 ⭐️
Spiciness: 3/5

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

General tropes/themes:
- First-person with a single point of view
- Fake dating/relationship
- Family drama

This book had me smiling and giddy a few times. I have not read The Long Game yet, and I will vouch that I would recommend reading that one first. This book references multiple events in the prior book, more than some romance series I have read previously. Matthew is a sweet guy and I liked his development throughout the book. It felt like a Hallmark movie.

If I am honest, I wanted to like the female main character (Josephine) more. She felt so entitled, basically demanding that someone acts as her fake fiancé within the first couple chapters. I had trouble getting into this book at first because of how Josephine approached this. I also could not really follow her thought process on a few decisions, so I really struggled to connect to this character, which was a bummer because I absolutely adored Matthew. He is one of those characters you know if totally fictional because he is just perfect and sweet and amazing. I think one of the other things I struggled with is that something would happen, and then the next chapter would immediately cut to a few days later, so there were multiple events I did not get closure on! I felt left wanting more.

Overall, there were elements of the book that I liked and I liked the overall writing style, but some of the plot just did not grab me.

"Runaway Bride" meets "27 Dresses" in this witty and delightful story, The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas. This contains weddings (of course), engagement of convenience/fake fiancé, he falls first, and a very intense complicated slowburn that will have you screaming “finally” yet blushing profusely! A perfect rom-com for the summer or autumn.

Ultimately, I loved this story and so many of its elements; I just didn’t love it as much as I’d have liked. But I hope they turn this into a film.

When I think of the fake dating trope, I will always think of “The Spanish Love Deception”. I would say this is Elena’s specialty, where she shines the brightest. I would say the same about this, but I felt the slowburn was really slow, perhaps too slow for my liking. he writing is as expected from Elena: very amusing, very cheesy, very spicy too! There was not a dull moment, I certainly was able to race through this one, and only set it down due to other commitments. The spice was chef’s kiss for all sessions in this book. The ending was so beautiful – and I cannot emphasise that enough (I will say no more, only that it was so tender and meaningful)!

I like that the page divider is the design on the ring. A Claddagh ring, Irish, with hands surrounding a heart with a crown on top. I like the symbolism behind Josie wearing it the wrong way: her life is, quite literally, turned upside down because of all this, and also they are “backwards” as they are not following the usual path of an engaged couple. Cue “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” by Tame Impala.
The writing style itself was interesting when it changed for the scenes with Sam and Nicks’ Filthy Reali-tea podcast (I love the name just as much as I love puns). This is laid out in the form of a script which adds an interesting layer to the narrative having the POV of two strangers on the internet. It also is rather fitting as, of course, these podcasters or any news agency follow scripts of their own.

Funny, goofy, awkward, a people-pleaser, I relate to Josie. Some of her character was annoying but it made sense from her abandonment and daddy issues. "being delusional enough to think I could manifest things was something I loved to do" – I feel extremely called out! Checking if Venus was in retrograde IS SO ME! Elena, please stop.
And Oh my goodness, Mattsie-Boo. Oh MY. It’s also the glasses for me, Josie, hehe. It reminds me of that Marilyn Monroe quote from Some Like It Hot: “men who wear glasses are so much more gentle and sweet and helpless” – but helpless this man sure is not! He has to be one of my favourite fictional men: he is so kind, patient, asks for nothing but gives everything, “funny, clever, often playful, brutally honest” (and brutal honesty is the best quality a man can have).

This only applies to the US version of the book cover (frankly, I love the style, the flowers and Josie’s purple dress but the UK version matches the other book covers so I am quite torn). The lineup of men on the front is misleading . It gives the wrong impression about the story because it implies:
ㅤ• all her exes would appear at some point (only one of them actually does, the rest are mentioned)
ㅤ• some of them would potentially want her back/become rivals for Matthew to fend off (this does not happen and is definitely a wasted opportunity, our man was doing everything else)

I thought this novel was absolutely adorable! It was such a fun easy read. I love the fake dating trope and this book delivered it perfectly! Definitely a must read

Cute sequel to The Long Game - MMC falls first, quirky FMC needs a fake fiance... you know what happens next :)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Such a good book! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

I've read every book by Elena Armas and I've loved each one of them but I'm a bit disappointed with this one, honestly.

I have loved The long Game, Cameron and Adalyn were perfect. I've said it once and I'll say it again, Cameron seemed a lot like Roy Kent from Ted Lasso and I've loved it some much. I needed more of them in The Fiancé Dilemma, honestly.

From the looks I got on both Josie and Matthew in the Long Game, I was really looking forward to this, but it kinda fell flat.

Fake dating and fake engagement is one my favourite trope, so when I got approved for reading this arch I was over the moon. But I don't know, the reason why they started this fake engagement was non-existant? I mean, there are many other books with many other better reasons to start a fake relationship. Saving your dad from a PR nightmare is not one of those. Especially since Josie just found out about his existance. Also, Matthew accepting it was a bit off? He didn't even know Josie. And, we don't have his POV so we don't really know what his thought process is.

I liked Matthew but his character was one dimensional and boring at first. Then he suddenly became possessive - which I didn't mind though - but again, without his POV was a bit weird to see him switch gear like that.

Josie's character kept talking about having daddy issues and four failed engagements/wedding, but there was no explanation on that, nothing. Still don't know why most of her engagements failed. Then she realises the problem was that she doesn't want to get married? I don't know, feels rushed, like there was no thought process here. No idea what brought her previous engagements to fail, it cannot just be because she didn't want to get married, or the engagements were broken before. Why did they? Why?!?!

The ending really saved this book for me. I found the initial pacing to be odd at times and scenes are somewhat skipped over, which I didn't really enjoy. Overall, I enjoyed the relationship development. I enjoyed the MMC to be more enjoyable the FMC, but that tends to happen sometimes. Their lack of communication together was pretty frustrating. It felt like MMC was already in love with her to begin with, which we always enjoy, but without his POV most of the book, it was hard to tell for sure where they stood. Grandpa Moe was probably my favorite character.

If you love a good love story with lots of laughs and a bit of messiness, then you'll want to check out "The Fiancé Dilemma" by Elena Armas. This book has it all: fake engagements, second chances, and some unexpected family drama.

Meet Josie Moore, who's had her fair share of failed relationships—four failed engagements to be exact. Just as she's dealing with her distant father's sudden interest in her life, she runs into Matthew Flanagan. Matthew's just lost his job and arrives in town, muddy and a bit lost, only to find himself mistakenly playing the role of Josie's fiancé.

Matthew is the kind of guy you'd want on your side. He's sweet, always there for Josie, and just gets how to make her feel special. Despite their engagement being just for show, their connection feels real. Matthew shows up just when Josie needs him, proving that sometimes, the right person might just be where you least expect them.

The story doesn't just focus on their romance. The small town of Green Oak feels like a character itself, filled with interesting people and cozy spots that add to the charm of Josie and Matthew's growing relationship. They banter, they care, and you can't help but root for them.

Elena Armas really knows how to keep things fun and engaging. "The Fiancé Dilemma" mixes humor with heart in a way that keeps you hooked from start to finish. It’s perfect for anyone who loves a feel-good romance that’s easy to get into.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of Elena Armas or just looking for a fun romance to dive into, this book is a great pick. It's all about finding love where you least expect it and the joy that comes from giving love one more chance.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Elena Armas for granting me this advanced review copy.

You can see a full review on my blog here: https://leylaslibrary.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/the-fiance-dilemma/

I absolutely loved getting read more about Josie and Matthew and their backwards love story! The silly banter, nicknames and all around drama thrown in with hot blondie and I’m sold.

This book is super cute!! I love a good fake dating, he falls first scenario. Matthew is absolutely book boyfriend goals! He is super protective of Josie and hilarious. Grandpa Moe is a trip! Definitely a must read!

I wanted to love this book the way I loved the rest of Elena's stories. Sadly, while I grew to like it, I never fell in love with it as I hoped. While the characters had great chemistry, it was so disjointed and all over the place. The story never really clicked, made sense, or brought things full circle. Every time the story started to lead somewhere, it got interrupted, or something happened to detract from the development. There were definitely cute, fun, spicy moments, but overall, the story didn't land with me in the same way her previous books had.

I knew Josie would be my girly. I enjoyed the Long Game, but I hope those that didn’t love it can be convinced to continue the series because this sequel is honestly SO much better! I knew Josie’s story would deliver but I’m literally obsessed. I couldn’t be stopped the last 48 hours.

Josie’s character is so quirky and lovable. The book made me laugh out loud. And I’m PRAISING Elena for showing the world of romance lovers that a third act breakup is not necessary 🙌🏻 Sometimes when you read romcom after romcom the spice can feel a little bland or get repetitive but Elena stepped it up with some freakin’ creativity and I was all about it. The Fiancé Dilemma gave me the tension, chemistry and pining from the first chapters that I felt like I was missing a bit from the Long Game.

The only thing I felt ‘meh’ about through this whole book was Andrew’s development and not having a full understanding of how that took place, but I still don’t really care about him so I can move past that 😂

LOVE. OBSESSED. PRAISE ELENA.

This is the kind of romcom I need in my TBR 24/7.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was so happy to receive an early copy of this book! I will read anything Elena Armas reads and this latest book doesn’t disappoint! It’s full of heart, laughter, and two main characters you can’t help but root for and fall in love with.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC!!

Ever since I read The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas, she has become one of my auto-read authors. It became one of my favorite books so I was excited that she was releasing a new book, The Fiancé Dilemma. Even though it is listed as a sequel to The Long Game, it can be read as a standalone. It just takes place in the same location. Also, the main characters from the first book are side characters in the sequel and vice versa.

The Fiancé Dilemma was exactly what I needed right now: a rom-com with loveable characters and some spice (actually more than I expected). The main characters, Josie and Matthew, have major chemistry from their first meeting. They have such a connection with one another physically and emotionally. I especially love their fun and joking manner to one another which made me smile and laugh so much throughout the book. I enjoyed how their relationship developed and the characters within the story. Many characters from the first book, The Long Game, also appear in this one. It was fun revisiting some of these amusing characters.

I also really liked how the story flowed and was formatted. We start right into the action right away. There are a few recallings of the past but most of the time it stays in the present. There is also an ongoing podcast throughout the story, and we get to read the transcript of it all. The only thing I wish about this book is that it was a dual POV so that we could get more of Matthew's perspective of the story rather than just one chapter.

Overall I think Elena Armas hit it out of the park again with The Fiancé Dilemma. She is just so great at making loveable characters with great chemistry and developing a fun rom-com with plenty of spice throughout.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

This was such a charming and fun story, where instead of the usual trope of a 'marriage of convenience' we got to enjoy an 'engagement of convenience', and I enjoyed every second of it. The pace stayed fast throughout and made it really hard for me to find stopping points to put my kindle down! Josie and Matthew's banter throughout the book had me rooting for them from the very start, and the tension was incredible. I will say I would have wanted more depth into the relationship between Josie and Adalyn-- however I can let it slide since I haven't read "The Long Game' (yet!!)