The Fiancé Dilemma is the much-anticipated sequel to Elena Armas’ The Long Game steamy sports romantic comedy. The author shot to fame with her books The Spanish Love Deception and The American Roommate Deception. The heroine in The Fiancé Dilemma will remind readers of the Julia Roberts character in The Runaway Bride movie.

Josie Moore was introduced in The Long Game as Adalyn’s friend and newfound half-sister. She owns a coffee shop and is the Mayor of Green Oak, North Carolina. She has been engaged four times and even gone to the altar but has never actually gotten married. Her biological absentee father, Andrew, is writing his memoir and refers to her as “his misstep”. Josie wants to head off a public relations nightmare about her colorful romantic history before the media tags her as the Runaway Bride. When her father’s PR assistant, Bobbi, appears on her doorstep, Josie impulsively informs her that she’s engaged.

Matthew Flanagan was introduced in The Long Game as Adalyn’s best friend. Now he’s unemployed after being fired from his job, and his car is stuck in the mud outside of Green Oak, North Carolina. He grabs a duffel bag and hikes to town to get help. Then he encounters his best friend’s sister, Josie, greeting him as her fiancé. Matthew plays along, and soon the whole town believes that he is The One for Josie.

When Bobbi schedules the wedding for a date one month out, Josie assures Matthew that he really doesn’t have to marry her. But things keep snowballing and the couple get more and more committed to this fake relationship. They are attracted to each other, and there are steamy romantic scenes. Matthew has his reasons for helping Josie out. It’s unfortunate that while she’s a strong, successful businesswoman, she still acts like a doormat around her father, Andrew. Readers are held in suspense as the wedding day approaches and true love is on the horizon.

The Fiancé Dilemma should absolutely be read after The Long Game for optimum understanding of the characters and storyline. Readers will enjoy this well-written story about love, family, and loyalty. It’s longer and steamier than I prefer but will appeal to most readers.

I received an advance review copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Atria Books for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What!!! This was absolutely breathtaking !!! The gradual burn, the witty banter, the drama, the lies, the secrets, and then the explosion of truths & love.

Josie's anxiety truly got the best of her! Her people pleasing nature, her desire to *not be a problem*, and of course the fiancé dilemma.
4 Fiancé's, 0 Husbands
She's the epitome of a runaway bride, and it's made the gossip rags. I loved her tenacity & ability to look on the bright side.

Matthew was truly a Clark Kent. I loved how he could be so sweet & unassuming one moment, but then flip the script & be a naughty tease the next. He's confident without being truly cocky. He is self-assured in a good way. He's romantic as hell!!

I absolutely loved the idea that he wouldn't kiss her until she didn't question his reason behind the kiss. He knew he loved her, and he wanted HER to know that the kiss meant that he loved her. That is my absolute favorite microtrope.
Never knew that I needed that one in my life.

11 y/o Maria was such a good support character. I loved her advice to Matthew. How she broke down how Josie must be feeling at the loss of her mom. It was such a simple thought process that no one thought of.

Grandpa Moe was great. I really liked his grumpy old man persona and how he imposed himself into situations he thought would be difficult for Josie, just to support her & be there to stand up for her if she needed him too.

This was such a good story!!!

Started off slow.

I didn't really feel a good connection to the characters until about 40% in.

After that, it flowed well.
I LOVE Matthew 🫶🏼
He is so perfect.

At some parts I felt the story was dragging,
But good ole Matthew brough it back with his on air speech!

And that "just met your future wife" text!!!
I'm mother freaking swoon.

4 stars!

This was not my favorite Elena Armas book. I loved the Spanish Love Deception, but I haven't loved anything since. I enjoyed this, but it wasn't a favorite. I wanted to love this, and it just fell flat for me. I normally love the fake relationship trope, but the fact that she's trying to impress her father she just met with a relationship to help out this stragner's personal PR nightmare just seemed off. I wanted this independent woman to stand on her own and stand up for herself more.

Such a fun, funny, and delightful read! While I did think the pacing of the first half was a bit slow, once the story picked up, I really enjoyed it! Elena never ceases to deliver humor and heart in her stories.

A little too cheesy and convenient for me. It was all very rushed and yet followed the formulaic rom com / lifetime pitch. The female MC was a little too much and male MC fell Ch 1, literally.

In general a cute story, and it was a quick read I was able to see through. I wasn’t a fan of the Long Game so I’m not sure what I was expecting with this one. I’m assuming if there is a book 3 it’ll be Robbie and Bobbi Shark. Although this may be my last of Elena’s for a good while.

I liked "The Fiancé Dilemma" for its fun characters and the small-town feel. Josie and Matthew’s fake engagement provided some funny and sweet moments.

However, the slow burn romance was a bit too slow for my me, making some parts drag. Josie’s people-pleasing nature was frustrating, especially with her dad. Mathew was okay. I wish there had been more depth to their backstories and more chapters from Matthew’s perspective to better understand his motivations. Despite some pacing issues and an underwhelming ending, it's a cute, fun read. If you're into slow burns and small-town rom-coms, you might enjoy this one.

I loved absolutely everything about this book. I loved the main male character. I loved the female main character. I loved their story and how it progressed and the drama that you felt with her dad. I was so invested in this book and I could not stop screaming over everything this man said. My annotations are through the roof. And Matthew’s glasses Lord have mercy!!

Single POV, Spicy, Fake Engagement, Small Town, Golden Retriever MMC, People Pleaser FMC

The way Matthew goes to every length to prove to Josie her happiness has worth makes this one of the most heart felt romcoms I've read this year. Josie, a habitual people pleaser, is completely taken off guard by the Matthew focuses his attention on her and her feelings. Similarly Matthew is shocked when Josie comes to his aid and offers to help him with his job search. Emotional, familiar, and tender The Fiancé Dilemma is a romcom for all the people who find their match who makes them realize it's okay not to be perfect.

I struggled to compose this review. I liked the story, but it was not written well at all. Large pieces of information are missing that would help make the story make better sense. The writing is choppy and the dialogue is based on relationship that we don’t really see being built. There is a lot of build up in a scene and then the chapter ends and the scene fades to black and our next interaction is a day or two later.

It felt very disjointed, and not one that I would recommend or even think or rereading.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Read this if you like:
•fake engagement
•he falls first
•small town romance
•slow burn

Matthew ended up being such a great swoony boyfriend!!! The audiobook was done well too, thank you Simon & Schuster audio & NetGalley

Elana Armas does it again! I love all her books. The Spanish Love Deception was actually what got me back into reading. Ever since that book I’ve read all her releases. This was also on of my favorite reads of the month. Matthew is a top book boyfriend for me. I loved getting a little update on the characters from The Long Game. All the characters are so sweet. I also love reading about all the farm animals. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Elena!

From the first chapter, Elena Armas had me hooked. Josie is totally relatable and love her and her chaos. She is a people pleaser and gives her whole heart to everything she does. So much so she has been engaged 4 times! Matthew is so swoon-worthy and is written so well. I fell in love with the two of them and was head over heels for Matthew! The chemistry between the two grows and the story is a true romance story. A must read for 2024.

Tropes:
Fake Fiancé
Sisters Best Friend

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for my copy of this book!

I really enjoyed the humor throughout this book, it kept things light and entertaining while reading it. At times I felt like there was a lot going on, so it was hard to keep up with and felt a little choppy to me. Overall I enjoyed the book, but there were some little things I didn’t love. The chapters were longer, but when I was reading them they didn’t feel long because I was into the story. I loved the tension between Matthew and Josie, you could feel it in so many scenes and their connection was unmatched!

As a longtime Elena Armas fan, this was not the review I wanted to leave.

I did not enjoy this story. I found the characters to lack chemistry. I found Josie to be quite difficult to relate to or even understand with her impulsivity and single minded decisions where she never truly considered the impact on others. It felt like Josie was suddenly an entirely different character than the woman we met in The Long Game and it made this unpleasant to read.

4 Stars!!

After reading and loving The Long Game, I was so excited for this one. The Fiancé Dilemma didn't disappoint. I am obsessed with Matthew. I loved that they had a friendship with each other and not just a relationship. We can see the bond building between Josie and Matthew. Even when he was obsessed, he still let Josie show her feelings at her own pace. I would've loved for this to of been a dual Pov so we could've got Matthew's thoughts as well. I ended up loving the second half of the book more than the first. For me the first half was too slow paced. I also feel like there were some things left out that I would've liked to see more of. Like Josie's other engagements or what went wrong.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for giving me this ARC!

Josie Moore, the volunteer mayor and coffee shop owner in a small North Carolina town, is entangled in a series of romantic misadventures. With four failed engagements and the recent revelation of her millionaire father, Josie’s personal life is a PR nightmare. Known for collecting fiancés like Thanos collects Infinity Stones, Josie’s inability to say no and her tendency to babble when anxious make her a frustrating character. Her collection of rings and wedding dresses from past engagements hints at unresolved issues, and one can't help but think therapy might be a good step for her. I'd love to see this played out in the book and build character development and the storyline.

Matthew, her sister’s best friend, steps into the picture with surface-level development, marked mainly by his blonde hair, glasses, and nice body. The depth of his character and background remains largely unexplored, making their sudden romance feel unconvincing. Despite this, there are sweet moments, such as when Matthew gives Josie his grandma’s engagement ring, adding a touch of warmth to their relationship. The book has humorous scenes, like the bathtub incident and Josie's witty grandpa, but the rushed and shallow romantic development detracts from the overall experience. While "The Fiance Dilemma" offers light-hearted entertainment, it ultimately falls short of delivering a convincing love story.

Recommend (Yes/No/Maybe): Probably not.

Troupes & Warnings:
SLOOOOOOW BURN
Small town romance
One POV (the FMC)
Sister’s best friend
He falls first

Josie hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to love. She’s been engaged four times. Now, when her absentee father, who is well known, decides to announce his retirement, she realizes her failed engagements are not good for his PR. She convinces Matthew to act as her fake fiancé, to get the pushy PR lady her dad sent off her back. However, they now have set a date for the wedding. Will the fifth time be her lucky number?

Overall, this was a cute story. The tropes were some of my favorite and the tension between the main characters was perfect. It was a single point of view throughout the book with an epilogue in Matthew’s point of view. It was a slow burn and a little too slow for my liking. I would also have liked a little more history with Josie and previous engagements. Other than that, I liked it and Matthew was a great MMC!

This books released yesterday, July 30, 2024. If you like a small town vibe, fake engagement trope, and funny banter then check this one out! Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced readers copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

"Perfection might be subjective, like Matthew loved to say, but to me there wasn't a thing about this man that I didn't think was perfect."

Matthew is the new standard and Elena's best hero to date.

The engagement of convenience was spectacularly done. Going in, I thought it was going to feel more like High Fidelity or Andie Christopher's <i>Thank You, Next</i>. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a question of whether she should go back to any of her exes, but an exploration of the safety and magic of the relationship between Josie and Matthew.

Josie is so easy to connect to as a main character. Her insecurities and coping mechanisms felt all too relatable.

This is my favourite Elena Armas book out of the four she currently has published. I can't wait to read what comes next.

Mixed feelings for sure. There were definitely parts I really liked and enjoyed, but overall the pace was extremely slow and I felt like things just jumped from one event to the next with not a lot of explanation. There were many times I thought we were going to get a full scene and conversation with Cam and Adalyn and it always got cut off immediately and then jumped to the next chapter. I also realllyyyyy wanted Matthew’s pov throughout the book and not just the epilogue! I felt like I had no idea who he was as a person until the very end when all his backstory was thrown at us.