The follow-up to The Long Game, we’re now getting the story of Adalyn’s sister, Josie. Thrust into the spotlight when she learns the identity of her mystery father is an uppity millionaire, a team is already planning their pr strategy. But what no one accounts for is Josie pulling in her sister’s best friend Matthew into a last-minute arrangement: be her fiancé. Her fifth, in fact. And while it may be for show, the fifth time may just be the charm for the small town heroine.
This was a sweet romance filled a lot of charm and the occasional spice. However, much of it felt too over the top and unrealistic, falling flat to its predecessor. Still, a great novel for fans of romance and fake fiancé tropes.
Thank you to Atria Books for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Finance Dilemma by Elena Armas is book 2 in the Long Game series, but you don’t need to read them in order. I do, however, think that if you loved The Long Game then you’ll love this one too! Anyways, this is a fake engagement romance with all the cute mishaps that you come to associate with the trope. We all know lying will cause chaos in some form and you can see that in this one. I found it to be really stinking adorable. The characters are fantastic too and Matthew Flanagan is one of my new book boyfriends! I won’t go into big details about the plot because you can read the synopsis for that, but I will say that this book put a big smile on my face and made me feel warm and gooey inside which is just what I needed. Check out the tropes below to see if it’s something you may love too!

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗠𝗔 𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦

💍 Fake Engagement
💍 Slow Burn
💍 Small Town
💍 Sisters Best Friend

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Elena Armas's *The Fiancé Dilemma* expertly captures the slow-burn romance, with the tension leading up to the first kiss beautifully managed.

When Josie Moore’s estranged father reveals her existence, her love life becomes a PR disaster. To help, her sister’s friend Matthew Flanagan, recently stranded in town, pretends to be her fiancé. As their fake relationship deepens, Josie wishes it could become real.

Josie’s growth from naïve to confident is engaging, though I wanted more of Matthew’s perspective. Overall, I enjoyed Josie and Matthew’s story!

This book was a delightful blend of humor, romance, and heartfelt moments, making it a must-read for fans of fake relationship tropes. With well-drawn characters and a charming small-town setting, it’s a story that will leave you smiling long after you’ve turned the last page.

A sweet romance that explores how failed relationships and tricky family dynamics can inform our experience but don't have to define who we are.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer since I LOVED The Long Game.

This was a cute book and I really liked getting to know Matthew more after seeing a bit of him in the last book. I obviously love Josie as she is such a fun, bubbly character. Her and Matthew just fit well!

Small spoilers:
I loved the revelation of the text messages from Adalyn to Matthew… swoon! It also gave such an interesting background to his motivations.

My only complaint is that it moved a little slow for my liking and I didn’t love the wedding planning process. The last 1/4 of the book was definitely my favorite!

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Read this if you like:
💍 No 3rd act break up
💍 Public Relations clean ups
💍 Soulmates

I liked the first book in this series, but this one was so painful I almost couldn't read it. The second hand embarrassment had me cringing throughout the entire thing. I really feel like this shouldn't have passed the editing stage. Everything from the characterization, the premise, the plot - it's just bizarre.

I don't mind a "quirky" heroine. But this heroine is just cringey. Everything out of her mouth makes me wince, and trying to read the flirtation, or attempts at chemistry between her and the MMC, made me want to close my eyes. Her decisions make no sense. Her actions are a calamity of bad decision after bad decision. And we are supposed to believe that this woman is the MAYOR and runs a successful business that she is literally never at. She clams up when presented with even one minor inconvenience, you can't convince me she is capable of running a town.

If you hadn't read the first book in this series, I think you would be so confused by the characters and discussion around the town. There's no lead in to who anyone is and even having read the first book I found myself struggling to remember who people were or what their significance was. So much of the plot has to do with this awesome small town, yet I felt like the way it was portrayed didn't endear you to the town or its people at all.

The premise of the fake engagement is so bizarre and unbelievable. She has been engaged like 4 or 5 times and left all of them at the altar, and decides to get into another engagement with the plan to break it off at the altar so that she can save her celebrity dad from some embarrassment about his daughter having daddy issues. Keep in mind she has no relationship with this dad at all and no inclination to help him out. I'm sorry but does this make sense to anyone? Why is she putting herself on the line in the media and going through this charade so that she can break off the engagement again? Isn't that going to just make this all worse?

Then we get to the romance. This woman says something absolutely cringey, behaves bizarrely, and then this man who doesn't know her at all is like "aha you're so sexy." He honestly gave me creepy vibes because no one in their right mind was thinking this woman is hot.

I had to force myself to keep picking this up hoping it would get better, but it truly just kept getting worse with every page.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Elena Armas's *The Fiancé Dilemma* showcases her knack for slow-burn romances, with expertly managed tension leading up to the first kiss. Josie Moore, caught in a PR crisis after her estranged father reveals her existence, finds herself in a fake engagement with Matthew Flanagan, her sister’s best friend. As their pretend relationship develops, Josie’s feelings for Matthew deepen, making her wish it could become real. Josie is a relatable protagonist who grows throughout the story, though I wished we had more of Matthew’s perspective earlier on. I enjoyed Josie and Matthew’s story even more than Adalyn and Cameron’s in *The Long Game* and can’t wait for more from this small town!

While nothing can surpass my love for The Long Game, this one was a cute follow-up.

First of all, I loved the premise. The pure chaos of Josie addressing Matthew as her fiancé as she happens to see him walking by, to how adorable the pair were as they faked their engagement. Josie was an absolute mess, but still I absolutely adored her. Josie and Matthew were so cute together, and I was utterly obsessed with Matthew from start to finish.

My only gripe is that it was told solely from Josie's POV. While yes, I do understand why the story necessitated being told from one perspective (my boy was down bad for Josie, and we don't want to reveal too much of his feelings too soon), part of what I loved about The Long Game was being able to read both Cameron and Adalyn's perspective, and I would have liked to experience more of Matthew's inner dialogue outside of the epilogue.

Overall, was this my favorite Elena Armas book? No (see first paragraph). But all in all it was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

Usually third times the charm, but not when it comes to Josie and her previous 4 engagements…
A lighthearted and joyful story of finding love in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

I adored the previous book "The Long Game" and this one shines with our new couple, who were side characters in that book. Matthew is the best friend of Adalyn and Josie is her recently discovered half-sister. We have small town, fake engagement, slow burn. While Matthew signs on to the fake relationship quick, he fakes it well. I loved the banter and support between our lovebirds. Grandpa Mo is a hoot! I also wanted to BOO Andrew (grrrr!) and Bobbi whenever they crossed the page.

I am all for the sweet romance and watching our couple get real feelings...I honestly had to skim over most of the spice. I enjoy intimacy without having to "watch all the intimacy!"

It was nice to see both our couples together! Matthew was so supportive and patient with Josie.

4 stars

I have been trying to finish this book for weeks… I was going to try and finish it before it was released but I have struggled!

I don’t know what my expectations were but they were obviously too high. I can’t stand Josie. She might be my least favorite FMC that I have ever read. She interrupts her own thoughts and doesn’t ever answer questions. She will answer questions with a question. And then will proceed to have so many questions for MMC but never asks the important ones.

This wasn’t a true romance to me. There was no excitement or tension with their relationship. The MCs acted like middle schoolers and then talked dirty. It was jarring and made me more uncomfortable than anything else.

Also who would ever try to protect the absent rich father that you didn’t know about but still hasn’t treated you like a daughter, let alone a real person, since your existence was discovered by the world?!? And just decided to go along with whatever his PA says after she talks over you constantly? It is just so unrealistic, in my opinion, that this story shouldn’t even exist. It’s too far fetched. How does the MC believe that by picking a wedding date, she can avoid getting married?!?!

Josie doesn’t want to be seen as an idiot but honestly…. Her actions have not proved that she isn’t crazy. Her crazy doesn’t translate to quirky.

I also don’t think the cover is fitting. She talks about her previous love interests but only one appears in the book… why are they on the cover?

I should’ve just stopped reading this book but after it was released and received such positive reviews I continued reading, hoping to enjoy the book. Unfortunately it never really happened. I’m holding out hope that I will like Elena’s books in the future!

1.25 stars

She just discovered her dad is famous, but she doesn't want the limelight. She just wants to stay in her small home town with her small business and mayor duties. And that's precisely what she is doing when a Shark of a woman shows up on her doorstop and says that she needs to fix her image for her father's reputation. 
One of the problems is that Josie is a runaway bride. Yep, she's her small town's own Julia Roberts. Four engagements, four runaways. Due to a few perfectly times coincidences, Josie finds herself announcing her fifth engagement to none other than her new found sister's best friend, Matthew.
One small hiccup. She's actually not engaged to Matthew. Once she convinces him to play along the games really begin. Only problem is that her heart may be what she is gambling. 
This book was a bit slow to start, but once it hit it stride I was hooked. I loved everything about this book. From the quirky characters to the perfect ending. Speaking of perfect ending that last chapter... perfect. I loved how to showed another side of Matthew that made me love him even more. Definitely recommend.

Loved The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas. If you are a lover of a good throwback 90’s romcom you will love this updated and sexier nod to Runaway bride.
Highly recommend

Matthew is the epitome of "if he wanted to he would," which is one of my favorite micro tropes in romance novel men. I loved how he showed up for his woman and how true their love was. What started out as something fake, became something so pure. I enjoyed how the author wrote their love story. These characters will always hold a special place for me. Elena Armas writes such great banter, and this is something I enjoy about all of the books I have read by her. The only reason I rated this a 4 star and not 5 is some parts in the middle felt a little drawn out to me and I wish the ending was a little bit longer (less time with the middle and more time with the plot at the end). The ending didn't feel rushed, but there were a lot of ends to tie up and I wish there was a little bit more time spent on that part. Overall, I did really enjoy this book and plan to read more of Elena Armas' books.

I loved this book so much! I’ve loved all of the books by Elena Armas so far and this one was no different! They make such a cute couple and the way he supports her is so sweet!

Fantastic storyline. With a great audio production. I really liked this storyline. Of the author’s four books, this is my second favorite.

This was a fun and cute book. A bit predictable. It wasn’t anything special, but it was enjoyable, and a fun quick read.

I LOVED this story so much!

The Fiancé Dilemma follows Josie and Matthew. Josie has had four failed engagements and grew up with an absentee father, who just decided to announce her presence to the world and Josie becomes a PR issue. Josie panics when dealing with this new pressure and introduces Matthew as her fiancé. Matthew is staying in Green Oak, North Carolina for a while and after some hesitation agrees to go along with Josie, leading them to work together to get through PR events and convince everyone they are in love.

I adored The Long Game and was really excited for this story, and it did not disappoint. I loved Matthew so much! He was an amazing fiancé and was so supportive and attentive and simply perfect. I also loved his bromance with Cameron, it was so funny. I felt so bad for Josie when she had to suddenly deal with people commenting on her life because her dad dragged her into a PR mess. But despite all that she dealt with, she stayed strong, and I loved watching her stand up for herself. Josie and Matthew had an amazing slow-burn romance, and it was so enjoyable watching their feelings go from fake to real. Per usual, the small town setting was another highlight of the story, I loved all the side characters and their quirks. I do wish there were a bit more of Adalyn and Cameron in the story and that there was more of Matthew's POV, but other than that the story was great!

If you have not read any Elena Armas books yet, you definitely should. The Fiancé Dilemma was the perfect fake-dating romance and a wonderful read!

Although I LOVED Matthew *big heart eyes* and enjoyed the slow burn between him and Josie, there were a couple things that didn’t quite work for me. The beginning felt a bit rushed. I know we were introduced to Josie and Matthew in the previous book, but I would have liked a little more build up to their relationship. They just kind of seemed to be super into each other right off the bat and the fake dating trope starts literally a few pages in — it was a bit jarring. And the trope itself was a bit confusing; the whole time, I was just wondering what their plan was cause they never really established HOW they were going to get out of the fake engagement… That being said, Elena’s books are always fun to read and this one had some really snappy and witty writing.