This has been my favourite Elena Armas book so far, but I think I have to accept that her writing style just isn't for me. I think if you're a fan of hers, you'll love this book - she just doesn't work for me unfortunately. It's absolutely a me issue - nothing terrible about the book, it just doesn't work for me, so your mileage may vary.

Overall I thought this read was fine, it wasn’t superb for me but it also wasn’t the worst thing. I love a good fake dating/engagement/marriage trope, so I ate that up real quick here. I liked that this story continues with characters from the long game, but didn’t feel like you had to have read that one to understand what was happening here.

I think my biggest frustration with this book was the father daughter relationship. I didn’t like how Josie felt like she needed to do everything to help her father’s image when he hadn’t been around. I just think the story could’ve started a different and more effective way without that. Instant love isn’t my favorite trope either and here it didn’t really make sense. One day Matthew is against the fake engagement idea, but the next he’s all of a sudden in love with her. There wasn’t any build up. For two people who didn’t really spend much time together, that connection and chemistry wasn’t solid enough for me.

At the end, I’m glad the story didn’t force them to get married and the characters got to choose their own timeline but the story was just a EH for me.

I enjoyed this book so much! I became a fan of Elena Armas after reading The :Spanish Love Deception but The Long Game is what made her an auto buy for me so I couldn’t wait for The Fiancé Dilemma.

Since we got to know Josie in The Long Game, it was easy to dive in and immediately be invested. Matthew is everything in this book, such a great golden retriever MMC, he’s sweet, protective and funny. I loved the banter and the nicknames!

I bought a physical copy as soon as it was released, it was that good!

Cute but moved too fast. I like a little more time of the characters getting to know each other before falling in love. I would have found it more believable if the two had more of a background with each other. Fun and easy read. Good for the summer.

Following The Long Game, this story shifts focus to Josie, Adalyn’s sister. Josie is grappling with the shock of her father's identity when she discovers that her history as a serial runaway bride is tarnishing the family reputation.

Desperate to avoid further disappointment, Josie devises a scheme involving a fake engagement to her sister's exceptionally hot best friend. Her plan is to deflect attention from her, expecting the scandal to blow over quickly. She’s not THAT interesting, surely.

Enter Matthew, Adalyn’s recently unemployed best friend who inadvertently becomes Josie's saviour (even if at first he didn’t recognize her!). His presence serves as a perfect distraction from the mounting gossip and family drama.

As the wedding date draws near, Josie and Matthew find themselves getting deeper entangled in a web of deception, with only four weeks to unravel their charade before things spiral out of control.

This slow-burn romance offers a feel-good read that’s bound to leave readers smiling. Fans of Elena Almas will find much to enjoy here.

A Billie spinoff would be an amazing addition!

Almost rated this a 5⭐️ but some of the 🌶️ scenes had me rolling my eyes with how unlikely they are.

The Fiance Dilemma (The Long Game Book 2)
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Beautiful things shouldn't be boxed. It eventually dims their light."

"Go on Baby Blue. It's me you're running to."

.....................................................

As my first Elena Armas book, I couldn't be more pleasantly surprised. I love a good fake engagement/engagement of convenience story, and this really hit the mark for me. While the plots of this trope are usually quite similar, I felt that Armas found a way to make this one orginal. Losely based off of Runaway Bride, it gave off late 90's/00's rom-coms in the best way.

I loved the female main character, Josie. She was cute, quirky, and so fun! Obviously enduring various losses has left its mark on her, but I loved her development and growth over the course of the novel. She is resilience and defiance.

Matthew, the male MC, is now one of my new favorites! He was so loyal and reliable, but also protective and possessive. Let me just say, this man brought the flirting and dirty talk to a new level. I appreciated his approach, his smoothness and not-so-in your face style, but definitely blunt enough that Josie and the audience still got the point (IFYKYK). AND who knew wearing glasses could be a thing🔥.

I really felt the tension between the main characters as their relationship grew and developed. And while the burn was slow, I found it appropriate for the plot. Though, once the burn started burning, I was here for it 😉

This was my first Elena Armas book, but it won't be my last!

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book.

⚠️Warning⚠️
Language, low to medium spice, adult content, parent abandonment, death of a parent (off page)

✨𝐑 𝐄 𝐕 𝐈 𝐄 𝐖✨

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞́ 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐚 𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐬

What a fitting day to post this review, since our wedding day is officially one year from today!! I’m loving my fiancé era & luckily no dilemmas yet 😂😍

Despite owning all of these books, this was actually the first one by Elena Armas that I’ve read! I’m super curious how it would rank to the rest of them.

👍🏼: I loved the first 60% of the book I’d say, with a funny ridiculous plot, some PR relationship drama & the developing of the relationship between Josie & Matthew. After mistakenly identified as being engaged for the fifth time, Josie convinces Matthew, her sisters best friend to pretend to be engaged to her for PR purposes. This was an easy, fast-paced read with lots of great banter, family relationships & healing. I enjoyed a majority of this book. It was super wholesome 🫶🏼

👎🏼: Something about the chemistry & spicy scenes in this book didn’t work for me. I felt them to be a bit “cringe.” I also do wish I read “The Long Game” first as there felt like some missing pieces for me, even though this is a stand-alone read!

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite recent read but I’m definitely looking forward to reading the rest of these books to see how they compare! Thanks so much to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the gifted copy - this one is out now! 👏🏼

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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#thefiancedilemma #elenaarmas #atriabooks #summerbooks #summerbookreview

A huge THANK YOU to the author, Elena Armas, and the publisher, Atria Books, for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

I love it!!!!!!
Being able to delve right back in Elena's writing style was HEAVENLY.
(Did I mention how much I love this one? Well, if I didn't, here you go: I love it WITH ALL MY HEART! UNTIL I DIE!)
This might even be my most favorite book I've ever read.

I absolutely adored Josie and Matthews story. I thought it was a super cute take on a story done before (Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride). Matthews commitment to Josie was something fairytales are made of. I think I literally swooned at the Rehearsal Dinner speech (the text messages). Overall I loved Cam and Adalyns story, loved Josie and Matthews story and can't wait to read more about this sweet little town (Robert Vasquez and Bobbie Shark?).

3⭐️

Ok soooooo…

Let me preface this by saying that I’ve read every one of Elena Arma’s books. I liked the Spanish Love Deception and The American Roommate Experiment. I read The Long Game last year and I remember being very 50/50 about it. I wanted to love it but at the end, it just wasn’t the book for me. Now…. THIS BOOK.

I’m going to be honest, my expectations were low and unfortunately, it wasn’t much better than The Long Game. Like the first book, I SO WANTED to love this world Armas built because I loved the premise. Fake dating? Sister’s best friend? And slow burn?! I was excited!! I was also hoping to connect more to this small town and the characters she created but, they weren’t that memorable for me. I was excited to see if this book would bring back those butterfly feelings I got from her first two books, but it failed to do so.

Matthew was shy, cute and sweet but tell me why it was so hard to believe/ take him seriously during their spicy scenes? And Josie, was just a little too qUiRkY and the inner dialogue got overwhelming at some points. In true Elena Arma’s fashion, the slow burn, was slowwww and I felt like this book could’ve been wrapped up a lot sooner.

Overall, this book was hard to finish for me and sadly will be collecting dust in the corners of my brain. However, I don’t want to lose my faith for E.A. and we know she can write amazing books. This one just wasn’t for me. (If I’m being honest, I’m gonna continue to read everything she puts out anyways lol)

& thank you to NetGalley & Atria books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. 😊

- Small Town Romance
- Sister’s Best Friend
- Fake Engagement
- He Falls First
- Slow Burn
- Single POV

Rating: 3.5⭐️

I was anticipating this book and was beyond excited when I received an advance copy. I wanted to love it but this book has been my least favorite so far.

I struggled to get into the plot of this book and feel that it was pushed to make the story work. The idea of her estranged father and how the PR person carried the engagement just didn’t pull me in. I kept getting annoyed with the FMC. I just didn’t connect with her and felt the chemistry was falling flat. I did enjoy the MMC and felt he carried the story.

I felt the book had potential, it just fell flat in its execution and overall plot of the story.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC

I’m sorry to say that I did not enjoy this book. I DNFed @ 32%. This book may have been better if it was dual POV, but I feel like I didn’t know anything about Matthew. Josie has some daddy issues, and why she’d enter into a fake engagement to help her absentee father clean up his image, who knows. The story itself was boring and didn’t hold my interest and the chapters are very long. I loved The Long Game and loved both Josie and Matthew in that book as side characters, but this story fell so flat.

Oh my! Oh my! Mrs. Elena Armas. You have outdone yourself. I think this might be my favorite story and favorite book boyfriend. I loved this so much that it was hard to put it down.

I love fake dating, but this was also kind of friends to lovers, and small town romance. So many of my favorite tropes and I love that! (also something needs to be said for the mouth on this man and the way Armas writes tension and banter) This book was everything I wanted and more!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! I will read absolutely anything Elena writes. I ate this book up and then immediately wanted to reread it. I'm a sucker for any book with no third act breakup AND no miscommunication. I loved the pacing of the book and the entire plot, and I was able to enjoy it stress free which made it even better.

this is DEFINITELY my favorite elena armas book. it felt so different from her other work -- this still had all the fun of her other books but i think it also contained so much more depth than her previous work and the storyline/plot delivered so much more than her other books. i also loved the chemistry in these characters a lot more and appreciated them separately as well as together.

I really enjoyed Josie and Matthew's story! Where Josie is a sweet, big-hearted, small town mess with a runaway bride complex , Matthew is the protective, considerate, unwavering swoony MMC that we all love and need. I loved getting to know their characters while navigating a fake engagement. I related to Josie being a people pleaser that sometimes sacrificed her wants for the benefit of others. While it was a little miscommunication heavy at times and a slower burn, but I do think the ends justified the means quite well. I also loved the Ada and Cam cameos!

4.5 stars Rounding up to 5! Thank you Net Galley and Atria books for this opportunity!

“The Fiancé Dilemma” is another steamy, slow burn romance from Elena Armas! This book is for any one who loves Julia Robert’s “Runaway Bride” and the gossipy experience of small town living. It was reminiscent of “Gilmore Girls” with Josephine being the Lorelai Gilmore of Green Oaks. This was a cute rom-com, but in all honesty just like every other Elena Armas book the slow burn was a little too slow. And then once it happens it’s like a going down a rollercoaster. Fast pace and then it ends. I felt like Josie was so wishy washy when it was clear that Matthew was not. Slow burn is probably my least favorite trope especially with fake dating involved because there’s just room for too much miscommunication and fluff.

She's back! I was a little nervous after reading The Long Game as it wasn't my favorite by this author. But, loving The Spanish Love Deception, I had to read another Armas book and am so happy I did. This book was so sweet and funny and heartwarming. It had so many things I loved. We are back in small-town Green Oak, NC with Josie the town's mayor and notorious runaway bride. When a PR person from her father shows up on Josie's doorstep causing issues, Josie panics on the spot and identifies newly-arrived Matthew as her fiance. Matthew, best friend of Josie's sister, goes along with it and havoc ensues for the two of them.

I loved Matthew and Josie. Both are so sweet and, despite the fake engagement, good communicators. The quiet way they came together and worked with one another to handle their predicament made me smile. Green Oak still has all the quirky characters we love, including the farm goats, which only makes the book that much more delightful. While this isn't the same premise as the famed Julia Roberts movie, I loved the hints to Runaway Bride and honestly couldn't figure out until the very end whether Josie and Matthew would actually get married. They had banter, chemistry, and a friendship that just worked.

If you are a fan of Jill Shalvis I really think you will enjoy this book. The fake engagement, only one bed, small town, and sister's best friend tropes all add up to one enjoyable read!

Short: It made me smile, laugh, tear up, and swoon in that 'fill your heart breathlessness that makes your heart skip a beat' way the author was hoping to cause in her readers (according to her acknowledgments at the end).

Long: Absolute chaos demon with the tenderest heart, Josie, finds herself in an awkward situation and drags in her sister's best friend Matthew to play her fiancé. Even though this is the first time they've met in person. He is right up there at top tier hot blond nerd with glasses MMC status with Bo from Out On a Limb, though, so I don't blame her.

I enjoyed the first book in this series well enough, especially the latter half where things really picked up, including getting to know Josie more as a side character and Matthew a bit from afar. I remember seeing the tease about them and hoping they'd be book two, and I was not disappointed at all.

I'm sometimes too impatient for a slow burn but this time it didn't bug me as as much because there was so much happening with all the hijinks and the snooty invasive wedding planner (ok, fine, PR person) Bobbi throwing wrenches into the works all over the place. We also got more of the quirky small town vibes I love.

The only thing that bugged me was a few times when the characters would have something happen or arrive somewhere and then the chapter ended and we started at a new day or location in the next. I wanted more, I wanted to see what happened in those moments! So really, that isn't a bad thing aside from throwing me for a loop momentarily when it happened. Regardless, this is one I'll probably think about and want to read again in the future!

Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the ARC! The book was released July 30/24.

I AM NOW AN ELENA ARMAS FAN BECAUSE OMG THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE PUBLISHER FOR THIS ONE!!!!!