₊ ⊹”because i only ever wanted you, josie.”₊ ⊹

*:･ﾟmy thoughts┊well, i was a little distracted with this one. it wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t for me, sadly.

i thought the writing in the previous book had been a good improvement, and i was excited to see it (hopefully) progress with this one. however, this one felt like a backslide writing wise. very reminiscent of ‘the american roommate experience’ which wasn’t a favorite of mine, either. it just felt really underdeveloped and filled with questionable humor.

i sort of liked josie’s character in the first book, but i honestly didn’t see her as being worthy of her own book. and then i found out matthew was her love interest, and it just felt like a really weird pairing to me, ngl. they did have a lot of cute moments, but i didn’t really buy into the romance i guess.

i’m personally not a fan of the fake engagement trope, i think. fake dating is fine, but i feel like a whole ass engagement and wedding planning is a little too far. it’s hard for me to imagine a scenario in which that’s not an insane thing to fake, and this book definitely didn’t hit that. there was really no reason for that, especially when you could just tell it wasn’t going to actually happen? like it was kind of crazy to me that they made it all the way to the rehearsal dinner before stopping it lmao i feel like at the very least they should have told adalyn.

i just wasn’t a fan of how josie presented it to matthew, and thought it was weird that matthew agreed. we didn’t get his perspective in this book, which i think could’ve helped, but it was just odd to me how quickly he seemed to love josie. then he claims he’s felt that way since they first started “talking,” which i use lightly because josie mentions in the beginning how they never texted outside of a groupchat. so that just felt… really unbelievable to me

overall, i was pretty sad with this book. i really enjoyed ‘the long game’ and was hoping this would follow in its footsteps. unfortunately, it was a bit of a miss for me, but i do think this book encompasses a lot that other people will really enjoy. ultimately it just wasn’t for me!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an arc of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh my goodness, this book made me so happy. I adored Josie, Matthew and their journey. Yes, this was a fake dating romance. Yes, sister’s best friend to lovers. Yes, runaway bride. Yes, absentee father. But … it was so much more. It was about love, growth, acceptance, and hope. This book really is something special.

Josie is the mayor of Green Oak and Adalyn’s sister (who we met in The Long Game. No need to read that one first, but I highly recommend doing so.) She has been engaged four times, and now her rich father has caused some … drama. People know about Josie and her past now. So, enter fake dating scheme.

Matthew is Adalyn’s best friend and needed a change in his life. After some shenanigans, he is now Josie’s fifth fiancé.

These two were such an amazing couple to get to know, root for, and hope for a happily ever after. Josie is kind, thoughtful, and outstanding member of her community, but is lonely. Matthew is dealing with <stuff I won’t mention but is hinted at in The Long Game>. The more Matthew is on the page, the more I liked him. Green flag energy. He is smart, caring, and puts Josie and her feelings first.

The secondary characters in this one were a laugh riot. Grandpa Moe was ridiculous and fun. Bobbi … literal shark. Plus, we got to catch up with characters we already know. And … Maria has a new pet. Super adorable.

If you want a book that will leave you feeling hopeful, this is the one for you. Solid five stars.

Elena Armas never misses! The Fiance Dilemma is further proof of that! She has written hit after hit after hit.

Elena Armas does it again! Her books are cancel-all-plans-and-read affairs for me. If you’ve read The Long Game, you’ll love this book also set in the charming town of Greek Oak, NC.

Green Oak’s mayor/coffee shop owner/friendly personality Josie becomes a PR problem for her millionaire father when reporters dig up her romantic history. Podcasters can’t get enough of her four (yup, FOUR) previous broken engagements and the fear is they’ll use her commitment issues to drag good ol’ dad the mud. The solution to fix her image? Fake an engagement with her sister’s bestie, Matthew. Bobbi Shark is the cold, no BS PR expert shipped in by Josie’s dad.

This book (first 10%) was a bit hard for me to get into because it all revved up very quickly so this would realistically be a 4.5 ⭐️. BUT I was totally hooked after that. Josie and Matthew’s relationship is simultaneously gentle and steamy. I love rooting for two characters who are so different but bring out the best in each other.

Josie’s the sweet, small-town girl next door who chatters when she’s nervous. Matthew is a glasses-clad goofball who tells it like it is. They have distinct personalities and a ton of chemistry. Add in grumpy Grandpa Moe as a supporting character and I was sold.

I also enjoyed when the temperature ramped up and we got several very spicy chapters that proved just how perfect a fit these two characters are together 🌶️

I loved watching all the characters (even starchy Bobbi) melt a bit because of Josie’s enthusiasm and kindness. By the end, I was rooting so hard for Josie and Matthew that I stayed awake until 2 a.m. to find out how it ends.

Thanks to Atria Books, Elena Armas & NetGalley for this ARC!

It was a pleasure to return back to Green Oak, NC for this book! Josie learned of her father's identity a year prior to to the start of the book. Josie is the fun loving town mayor, Batista, community advocate that she was in The Long Game, but we get to delve deeper into her past and her four previous engagements. When a PR executive representing her father shows up on her front porch. In an effort not to be a "misstep" of her father's, she concocts plan consisting of a fake engagement to Matthew who is her sister Adalyn's best friend. Matthew and Josie get to know one another through planning a wedding and pre wedding events. Will Matthew finally be the fiancé that Josie makes it to the end of the aisle for?

This book was very enjoyable! I loved Matthew as an MMC. I thought after seeing his silly, quirky best friend side in The Long Game that it was nice to see his loyalty and sincerity in The Fiancé Dilemma. Josie was a fun character, but at times hard to keep up with everything going on in her head, which is also ironically part of her charm! I loved returning to Green Oak and revisiting characters from TLG. It was also great to see Adalyn and Cam and what they have been up to! Highly recommend!

A thank you to Atria Books for the ARC!

I’m already calling it: this is my favorite read of 2024. There is not beating this one. 10million stars!⭐️

I’ve loved Elena Armas since I picked up her novel The American Roommate Experiment. I loved Matthew since his appearance in The Long Game. I just knew this book was going to be a hit!

It would be easier to list the things I didn’t like in this novel: Bobbi and Andrew Underwood. However, We are supposed to hate these two people. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the podcast script sections. I know they added to the story, but Nick and Sam were irritating (probably because they were bashing my girl Josie).

Now, on to the things I loved: everything. This book was sheer perfection. I didn’t think this could beat Adalyn and Cam’s love story, but oh my it did!! It was sheer perfection. I cried, laughed, fanned my face from all the heat, and said “aw” more times than I can count.

Matthew is 100% book boyfriend material. I don’t know how no one scooped him up before Josie did. Lucky girl. Not only does he go along with the crazy fiancé story, but he becomes Josie’s friend. In chapter nine when she texts him SOS and he literally runs (half naked) all the way to town to make sure she is okay, that is when I knew he was perfection. Where can I find myself a Matthew?

This novel is filed with Hero Matthew moments, but I also loved how Josie was a mother hen to everyone in town. She was constantly bringing people muffins baskets to say thanks or if they were having a rough day. It’s the little things people remember, and Josie is always there.

I do admit that I would have liked Matthew’s POV like we had with Cam in The Long Game. I wanted into the adorable head.

You NEED to add this book to your TBR. Even if you’ve never touched an Armas novel before, DO IT!

*An ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publishing company in exchange for an honest review.

elena armas never dies me wrong i swear. i loved this book so much. i knew i would and i cannot wait i make everyone read this

Small town girl has been engaged and run at the altar four times before. To save her famous biological father from a PR disaster, she fakes another engagement. Nonsense ensues.

I have enjoyed Elena Aramas's other books, but this one couldn't be saved. Not even starting to skim it could keep me invested.

To quote the main character, "on a scale from zero being a golden retriever to ten being a rabid raccoon with a taste for pie," this book started out like the rabid raccoon. It was a zero-to-sixty immediate hot mess. It felt chaotic and cluttered to read. The premise was incredibly flimsy and far-fetched, and unfortunately the plot after that and the scant characterizations didn't make up for it. No one was likeable, and their decisions didn't feel realistic in any situation. I think the book was trying to pull off "quirky," but it felt spastic instead.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this advanced manuscript.

Matthew’s one and only POV at the end was equivalent to a grand gesture, I’ll forgive the lack of Matthew POVs at the beginning. Josie was an anxiety energy ball, I do not know how she does it. Matthew was always there flirting to help her not spiral and standing up for her when she froze.

This was super cute! I was curious about Josie's story after reading The Long Game, and this didn't disappoint. I love fake dating/fake engagement/marriage of convenience tropes, so this was right down my alley. Not to mention, Elena Armas always writes good spice!

Having heard so much about Elena Armas’ work and how amazing it is, I decided to request an ARC and dive right in. This is marketed as a stand alone, however after reading this and then its predecessor, I do feel like you’ll get a little more backstory that makes things clearer!
Onto the book itself though. Small town, engagement of convenience, with an heavy dash of the 90’s Runaway Bride vibes. All things I adore!
Elena’s MC’s Josie and Matthew are engaging and interesting to read and I loved their banter. It was nice to read Josie’s character arc, as I really felt she was really guided along by Matthew and turned former insecurities into confidence.
Matthew was just *chef’s kiss*. Sexy, incredibly sweet and supportive. Everything that you’d want in a book boyfriend!
The only thing I wished for was Matthew’s POV as I felt that could have really solidified and given more context to how and why this great guy was going along with the engagement. Still a great read and one I’d recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

Smitten with Josie and Matthew! Elena Armas takes us back to Green Oak in this novel, focusing on a fake engagement between the town mayor, Josie, and her sister’s best friend, Matthew. Josie has been engaged four times, a real PR disaster now that her once absentee (and influential) father has decided to show up in her life again. Wanting to rid herself of the drama and hoping to put to rest the speculation on her previous failed engagements, Josie ropes Matthew into pretending to be her fiancé. Matthew and Josie’s chemistry begins to swell, and the two quickly blur the lines between real and fake in this chaotic, whirlwind of a story!

I really enjoyed this one! Josie and Matthew were extremely likable, both of them coming through the page as kind and dedicated people. I loved Josie’s personal journey revisiting her past engagements and reframing her narrative around it. Although the story relied on her father’s fame as a catalyst for the fake engagement, I felt we did not get to see a lot of development or interaction between Josie and her father. I think more scenes with Josie and her father could have deepened that plotline, however; I took the lack of interaction as a show of their strained (and barely there) relationship.

If you like fake dating, a cheeky male main character, and some seriously nosy townspeople, you will probably enjoy this book! I loved that there was no third act breakup, only a dedicated man who knows what he wants! Matthew Flanagan, I love you!

Thanks, again, Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

SWOON! That is the best word to describe how I felt this ENTIRE book. Elena Armas knows how to write the most swoon-worthy of men!
I loved the emotional journey Josie and Matthew went through and it made everything so much more impactful. Not to mention the amount of times I giggled out loud while reading.
The care Matthew shows Josie from beginning to end is just *chefs kiss!*
CANNOT recommend this book more. It is for sure a contender for one of my top reads of the year! 🫶🏼

I liked this book better than the Long Game. It can be read without reading the Long Game, but you understand more of the back story having read the first book. The characters had me hooked. I wish we knew more about her abandoning father, but other than that I enjoyed the Runaway bride book.

3.75 Stars 🌟 initally but really in hindsight a 4 star read! Let me explain!!

But First, thank you to Elena Armas, Atria Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this Arc.

First I will start off by saying, it is my own fault that I have knocked this down from a 4 star read was because I myself when I began this book did not realize that this was seemingly an interconnected series. If I had read “The Long Game” prior to reading “The Fiancé Dilemma” I would have totally had a different experience reading this book than I did especially when the couple / character from the first book enter this book.

BUT that being said I throughly enjoyed “The Fiancé Dilemma”, I thought it was a great spring / summer read that I finished in like 3 days. I loved all the characters, Josie and Matthew were some of the most fun characters to see their POVs from. Having the premise surround the fact that they were fake engaged after Josie’s already been engaged 4 times to then end up in a 5th engagment that was fake in the beginning was so funny. The banter between Josie and Matthew was so giggle worthy at points, especially when they realized they were actually falling in love with each other was one of the sweetest parts. The spice I would say is like a solid 2 🌶️, like there isn’t a ton of spice as it’s a slow-burn but when it happens it’s there!!

The Fiancé Dilemma drew me back into Armas’ fan club. Armas won me over with her first book, disappointed me with her second book, but started to pick up favor again with her third. This fourth book is worth recommending.

The Fiancé Dilemma captured and kept my interest from the first page. The character development is a little light for the main characters and the extended cast of characters isn’t as deep as in the first in this series, The Long Game, but some are present at the periphery here and there.

The main characters’ connection begins to sizzle and more about their backgrounds emerges about halfway through the story and I would have introduced both much earlier, which would have allowed for more character development, because in the beginning, the premise lacks believability.

Overall, this is a strong runner-up to the talent Armas showed in her debut novel. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was cute but it just didn’t stand out. Josie has been engaged 4 times!! Her father (whom she doesn’t know) declares it a PR problem. How they fix the problem is deciding she needs to get engaged again!

3.5 stars

Fake engagement
4 fiancés
Sloooooow burn
He falls first and hard
Soulmates
Baby pigs

This book was as slow burn as slow burn can be. I kept checking to see how far I was into it because I was rooting for Matthew and Josie to be real engaged. This book was cute. I wish there was more of Cam and Adalyn and also María but I loved been back in this small town.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

I just can't get enough Elena Armas. After reading The Long Game I was desperately waiting for this book! So lucky to have gotten an advanced copy and I devoured it in record time.
Hilarious.
Steamy.
Romantic.
Fun.
I already adored these main characters but they were both beautifully written and the story was so much better than I predicted.
I'm going back to read TLG and then will read this one again. I do think this book is a stand alone however.

The Finance Dilemma is Elena Armas' best book yet!

There's something amazing about Elena's brain that makes her books alter your brain chemistry, swoon, blush and wish that the fictional men writes are real and Matthew Flanagan is officially my absolute favorite book boyfriend from the Elena Armas-multiverse.

After finishing the long game and finding out that Josie and Matthew would be the next book with a fake dating trope, I knew that this book would be an instant hit and I was correct. This book was the easiest 5 stars and one of my absolute favorite books this year. There's something about a blonde man with glasses thats a little bit nerdy, can banter, witty and he's down so bad-boy obsessed with his love interest that made Matthew the perfect man. One thing I loved is that with every book by Elena we always get some hilarity and light hearted moments that just snowball and turn into something fun. Josie is such a fun and quintessential Elena Armas female main character. She's a bit silly, awkward and funny but she has such a big heart and I loved how complex Josie is. Behind the easy going facade is a girl that will do everything to help someone but who helps her? I loved how Matthew advocates for her, to voice her needs and protective of her. Matthew is just so perfect. The way you can see gone is for her, protective, caring, sweet but this man had me blushing, sliding down a wall. He is the definition of cinnamon roll with a filthy mouth. I loved that we see Josie and Adalyn develop a sister relationship and lean on each other, become each others family and how funny the small town is and every character being such a key part of the story. The Finance Dilemma is a swoon romantic comedy that is a bit emotional, angsty, tackles on topics that are a bit serious but Elena Armas will always deliver. If you love fun and swoony romance and two dorks falling in love, This book is a must read! I promise that this book will have you in love!