Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the ARC opportunity!

This book was cute and gave me a vibe like if Runaway Bride met What a Girl Wants. It's a slow burn (which felt VERY slow at some points) fake fiance romance. The part for me that was a little strange with the set up was that there was no real reason for them to even be fake fiances. There was no reason at all for Matthew, and for her, the reason was her father's reputation and being caught with her old ring on. She easily could have just said ANYTHING else to get out of that situation, but she saw Matthew, who she NEVER met, and started the lie. It just doesnt connect for me. If anything, i would think the 5th fiance would look worse.

With that being said, we never got a real look into her 4 previous fiances. I would have liked the back story on each one, even if it was just a chapter clarifying. She is only 30, so i feel like that timeline seems important with her being engaged 4 times by then. Why does she have all the rings? Why does she have all the dresses? Why does she never explain to Matthew?

Bobbi Shark has a ridiculous name and is equally as ridiculous. I could not stand her, and she was so unreasonably abrasive. Scenes with her did nothing but make me angry. And I never understood why she was so headstrong to help her dad's reputation. The same dad who literally was never there for her. And then it took her so long to realize he deserved none of her time. I didnt get it. He should have earned that, not just blindly given it because the tabloids caught wind.

Here are some random thoughts as well:
The animals have the best names. It always made me laugh and i loved it.
Thinking "Goodness me" in the middle of a spicy scene had me cracking up. Are we 80?
Finger Sucking is so weird, im sorry but it is.
The nickname Baby Blue is chef's kiss. I really loved that.
The phone scene? Absolutely. I ate it up.
No 3rd act breakup? YES THANK YOU.
Matthew is the golden retriever star of the show here. I wish we had gotten dual POV, because i loved him and wanted more of him.

This is the first Elena Armas book that I have absolutely loved. The main characters were so intriguing and I loved the plot line. I am a sucker for an fake engagement type of book and this one really did it well. I can not wait for other people to read this one!

I loved the author’s last book, The Long Game, and couldn’t wait to read this. While it wasn’t a five star read like the last one, it was still really enjoyable. I especially loved Matthew’s character. He was just so positive and treated Josie like a queen. I love when he stood up for Josie.

Josie doesn’t have a good track record with engagements. She has had four of them end. Now, when her absentee father decides to announce his retirement, she realizes her failed engagements are not good for his PR. She pulls in Matthew to act as her fake fiancé, but they end up setting a date because of a pushy PR rep. Will she finally make it to the altar on her fifth try?

I listened/read this book. I was a little bummed as it says narrated by Brittany Pressley and Zachary Webber. I love Brittany’s narration, but kept waiting for Zachary to show up. It’s not until the Epilogue, which saddened me.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio for an advanced listener copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book! Slow burn, Small town romance, fake engagement, sister’s best friend tropes. I was hooked from the very beginning and was kicking my feet giggling the whole book. I could not put it down. The MMC Matthew was everything I love in a romance book and the things he says *chefs kiss*! Very swoon worthy! The FMC Josie had so funny and silly I absolutely loved it. The tension between the main characters was perfect. The side characters had me giggling so much. This was just a perfect romcom and so easy to read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my review. My opinions are my own.

I need to preface this by saying I have an extreme ick for the estranged father reunification trope. I don’t think shitty dads should ever be given second chances (hi, daddy issues) A LOT of the plot is rooted in this. The resolution of the father/daughter issues is kind of open ended??? Fellow daddy issue baddies read at your own risk.

If you were charmed by the small town of Green Oak in The Long Game there are still a lot of quirky characters popping up in this one. At the beginning we find Josie in the middle of a dilemma (pun not intended). She’s on her front steps when her newly resurfaced famous dad’s publicist shows up. She is questioning her about how she has been engaged 4 times but never married. Josie happens to be still wearing one of her former engagement rings and insists she’s engaged again. To who? Oh…that guy on the street right there! Luckily it is mutual friend Matthew, but he’s not quite keen on this plan.

Matthew and Josie had great chemistry, but they spend a lot of time diddling each other instead of having conversations. I’m a smut lover but dang.

i was really excited to receive this ARC and dive into reading it but I just had a hard time pushing through. I almost DNF which would have been a first for me. I pushed myself to finish but the story did not get any better. The book was way longer than it needed to be and i and felt like just dragged on. I'm sure most people out there will like the book, but this just wasn't for me.

A handsome fake fiance? What a dilemma! I enjoyed reading the next in this "series" from Elena Armas! While it could be read alone, the correlation between setting and characters to her previous book, The Long Game, was so fun!

[3 Stars🙂] If Runaway Bride and 27 Dresses had a movie baby but starred Jessica Day from New Girl. The Fiancé Dilemma had all the makings of a great romantic comedy but didn’t quite make it there in my opinion. The story felt all over the place and chaotic, and I really struggled with Josie’s character. New Girl is one of my favorite tv shows of all time so I’m used to the “quirky, adorable girl” archetype, but Josie pushed my limits of likability, and sometimes crossed into straight-up cringey and painful. There were so many times throughout the book where I questioned what Matthew saw in her enough to want to fake an engagement with her.

However, I do think there were a couple of redeeming qualities in The Fiancé Dilemma, and they both had to do with Matthew. Unfortunately, he was a good character trapped in a mediocre story. I liked him a lot, and I think I would have liked this book more if it had been a dual-POV with Matthew to temper the moments of second-hand embarrassment from Josie. I thought he balanced her very well and helped her character growth, and there were some really sweet and endearing moments to show the depth of his feelings for her.

I also thought that Elena Armas did a great job with Matthew and Josie’s chemistry. There were so many moments where the romantic tension between them radiated off the page, but I feel like by the time Josie realized Matthew truly cared for her that she reciprocated those feelings, the story had progressed to far and I had lost interest and wasn’t as invested in their relationship.

Overall, I thought The Fiancé Dilemma was fine, but when I I think back on my read, unfortunately what I didn’t like about it outweighs what I did. I’ve read all of Elena Armas’s books to date and I might have to finally admit that she’s not the author for me.

+A HUGE thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC of The Fiancé Dilemma! All thoughts in this review are my own.
____________________________________
Details:
💘Contemporary romance
🎈Romantic comedy
🏡Small town romance
👀Single, first-person POV
🌹No third act breakup

Characters and Tropes:
🥸Fake dating/engagement
🪢Family ties (half sister’s best friend)
💙He falls first

Spice:
🧨Slow burn
🔥Explicit content (hot)
____________________________________
Emoji Ranking System:
🤩Excellent to Fantastic (4.75-5.00)
😍Very Good to Great (4.25-4.50)
😊Good to Really Good (3.50-4.00)
🙂Just OK to Decent (2.75-3.25)
😒It's A No (1.00-2.50)
🚫DNF

The Fiance Dilemma was such a fun and light romance that encompassed the "Fake Dating" trope without being too Trope-y.

The main characters Josie and Matthew have to convince not only their entire small town but the tabloids as well that their love is "real" until...well you know how fake dating goes. If you liked other books by Armas you will enjoy the character crossover "cameos" but this book can be read standalone and does not need to be read as part of a series.

Huge Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC of this fun romance. I can't wait to recommend it over and over again. All opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this one. After The Spanish Love Deception, I’ve found it challenging to connect with the rest of Elena Armas' novels. The Fiance Dilemma had its moments but left a bit to be desired. I enjoy rom-com with some unrealistic scenarios, but this one felt a bit too far-fetched. The engagement of the convenience plot wasn’t entirely convincing, and the situation with the dad felt a little off. Plus, the multiple engagements she’s already had added to the complexity. A lot was going on, and at times it felt like it dragged on with everything happening all at once.

That said, the audiobook lifted my experience. I was about to DNF it at 36%, but hearing that Zachary Webber was going to narrate it kept me going. Although he only narrates the last chapter, it ended up being the best chapter of the book. Brittany Pressley did a wonderful job; she saved the book, in my opinion. I think this story would have benefited from a dual POV to better understand the characters and believe in their chemistry.

Despite some of the issues, there were aspects of The Fiance Dilemma that I enjoyed. One thing Elena Armas consistently excels at is world-building. The feeling of a nosy, close-knit small town was wonderfully portrayed, and I always felt like I could jump into her little world.

All in all, it was an ok book. I highly recommend listening to The Fiance Dilemma rather than reading it.

Josie has had multiple engagements, but it’s never worked out. Her rich absent father comes back into the picture when he decides to retire and a magazine publishes information about Josie’s failed relationships. His PR rep meets with Josie to do damage control. She panics and sees Matthew, her best friend’s brother and introduces him as her fiancé. Will they go from fake dating to tying the knot?

Thanks Net Galley, Elena Armas, and Atria for the ARC! Pub date 7/30/24!

I'm sorry for what I'm about to do here, but it has to be done.

I find this book a little baffling. I enjoyed The Long Game and meeting both Josie and Matthew and the book that was clearly being set up between the two of them. The thing is, though, that if you are going to do a book with fake dating/fake fiance then there has to be a good reason for it. Josie seemingly feels the need to enter into this arrangement because she is worried about...checks notes...ruining the PR of her absent millionaire father who she just learned about. And Matthew? There is literally no reason given for him taking it as far as he does. It's sincerely baffling. I think this book would have benefited from being dual pov because even after finishing it, I have no idea who Matthew is. He wears glasses, he's hot and he is from Chicago.

And Josie. I'm not sure I've ever been acquainted with a more grating character. I think Armas means for her to come across as like...small town quirky? Instead she comes across as naive and silly. She is explicitly told, don't talk to the press. What does she do? immediately talk to the press. This isn't a book. This is a series of inexplicable story beats like, goat yoga and talking about a chicken because these are things people do in small towns I guess. There's no falling in love, there's just the inexplicable decision to enter into a fake engagement that escalates to literally a fake wedding with no one stopping at any point to question what is about to happen or put a stop to it all.

It is introduced that Josie has had four previous fiances. And you know what? This is never really talked about. Who are these people!? how does she have five fiances before she's 30? She also has kept the rings and dresses for all of them and in one scene, we are told she is going to tell Matthew about the dresses and then it like...FADES TO BLACK? This is important! Why would you withhold from the reader all this backstory? Isn't it important??

At multiple points in this book, it is pointed out that Josie perhaps is not only naive but also maybe has some root, daddy issues. This is never delved into meaningfully in any way despite the fact that it is glaring. Again...a BAFFLING choice.

This is a weirdly slow burn for a book that becomes borderline supernatural at the end with all this bs about soulmates.

I'm not trying to be mean. I wanted to like this book. I've enjoyed Armas' other offerings but this entire book from top (why would she think jam would work to get a ring off? Why was she trying on her rings anyway) to bottom made me so angry that it actively put me in a bad mood today. I should have dnf'd this book, but I was hoping I would get some clarity and instead I am leaving more confused.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a big fan of Elena Armas' other books, I was super excited when I found out that I was receiving an arc of this title! The Fiance Dilemma takes place shortly after The Long Game, which I had recently read.
Matthew, best friend of the previous female protagonist, moves to the same small town after getting laid off at work in Chicago. Upon stumbling into a fake engagement to his friend's half-sister, Josie, who is trying to avoid a major PR crisis, Matthew realizes that this might be the life he's been looking for. Josie, on the other hand, is ridden with anxiety over the arrangement. Her various past engagements have never ended with her walking down the aisle, and this one is about to be no different. Unless she and Matthew decide to stay together after all.
I really enjoyed getting to see Matthew and Josie have a happy ending. In The Long Game, it's revealed that Adalyn and Josie are half-sisters, but both have been treated poorly by their father in the past and are deserving of a fairytale romance of their own. The entire time I was rooting for Josie!
Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is that it does play into one of my least favorite romance book tropes: the third act breakup. Instead of having some unnecessary fight that has me arguing with the main character out loud about how silly they are being, Armas opts to skip the miscommunication and irritation.
All in all this feels like such a classic for romance lovers who are looking for their next read. As we transition out of the summer season, consider making this one of your last beach day pick ups.
Thanks Netgalley for this arc copy!

"The Fiance Dilemma" is companion to "The Long Game," which was about a sports heiress who finds love in a small North Carolina town. In "Dilemma," spunky mayor/diner owner Josie has to find a fake fiance in a hurry. She has a long lost father who is coming to town and her previous four broken engagements is making some truly bad press for him. She finds a faux fiance in relatively stranger Matthew. (Who is her long lost sister's best friend; admittedly, I love the soapy backstories to Armas's books.) "The Finace Dilemma" is much in the same vein as "The Long Game," and I do feel like by the end it's a very good romance. Much like in "Game," the early chemistry between the main couple struggles. The sparks don't really spark until midway. But the town is endearing and fun and everything works out in the end. Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy!

3.5
The Fiancé Dilemma is book 2 of the Long Game series, however it can be read as a standalone. I haven't read the first book and there was nothing lost as a reader that was related to the storyline, there could have been little Easter eggs that I missed but nothing important. It's a sweet romance book with small town vibes. Josie and Matthew get fake engaged chaotically and conveniently to help out her dad's PR team...after all she's been engaged 4 times previously.

This book is slooowwww burn and I did find myself bored at times while reading, but there were some funny parts too. Matthew was the perfect golden retriever man and I would have loved to get his POV in this book. That one element would've resulted in a higher rating from added depth of character and it would've built the romance. Josie was described as independent, but yet she felt as though she owed her father and wanted to please him and everyone else it seemed. The personality of the character was somewhat contradicted in that way and I didn't like that everyone just stepped all over her and she went with it. I wanted more romance, more believability in situations, and more relationship depth between the various characters. Overall it was an easy and quick read for the summer.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Elena Armas for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Josie is the mayor of a small town. Her father, who just appeared in her life after being absent for her entire existence is Andrew Underwood, a high profile businessman in Florida. He sends his PR rep Bobbie to the small town to make sure that Josie (and him) gets positive media attention. While meeting with Josie, Bobbie assumes she's engaged. In a panic, Josies does not deny the misunderstanding and makes it worse when she just happens to see Matthew, her sister's BFF as he rolls into town and ropes him into pretending to be her fiance. Matthew, exhausted from a long trip and in no condition to protest, plays along.

Instead of clearing the mess the next day, Josie doubles down and convinces Matthew to go along with it to not upset Bobbi and her father. As they pretend to be engaged and go through the motions of planning a wedding, they grow closer and Matthew becomes her calming presence and strong voice when she needs it. She also finds herself falling for him but with the fake wedding approaching, will they be able to walk away or go through with it and stop pretending.

Overall a cute story but I was missing something. The first part of the book, Josie was essentially bullied into an engagement from Bobbie. Bobbie was annoying and crass and Josie didn’t stand up for herself at all— I'm not a fan of books with weak characters who just sit there and or agree to things they don't really want. Just say no! Thank goodness for Matthew. He stood up for her and gave her a voice. I loved that he defended her and told Bobbie to back off at times. Matthew was so kind and supportive and just what she needed to get through this charade. I know Bobbie was supposed to be an annoying character but it was more annoying that Josie allowed her to walk all over her and get into this mess. She didn’t work for you, she worked for Andrew, your dad, who is trying to get a better image for himself. Just say NO! I did enjoy it when she finally started to put her foot down but it was a little too late for me.

Another plot that I thought could have been explained more was the fact that Josie is a runaway bride, with 4 failed engagements and zero trips down the aisle to show for it. I would have liked more background on what happened to each fiance to understand her more and give background as to what made her skittish instead of just chalking it up to “daddy Issues”. The podcast, which was clever, could have came into play more with them deep diving each engagement to explain what happened without her having to explain to Matthew herself.

Although I thought this book was just ok, I’d take Mathew as leading man any day of the week!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this book’s digital advanced review copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book through a digital ARC from NetGalley
Author: Elena Armas
Genre: Romance
Troupe: Fake Relationship/Engagement

The Fiancé Dilemma is the second novel in the Long Game series, although it can be read as a standalone. As I have not read the first novel, I read it as a standalone and was able to understand everything okay. There was a foundation between the characters that seemed to be missing, but without reading the other novel, it was difficult to tell if this would be fixed. This story follows Josie Moore, who is the sister of the main character from the first novel. They are the daughters of Andrew Underwood, who owns the Miami Heat soccer team. Now that Andrew is retiring, Josie’s past of being unlucky in love with multiple broken engagements may be coming back to haunt her. Due to a misunderstanding with Andrew’s PR strategist, Matthew Flannagan ends up posing as a fake fiancé to Josie.

This novel was a great take on the movie, The Runaway Bride, as you have a main character who believes in love but has difficulty following through with a walk down the aisle. Like the movie, the novel relies on the “spectacle” of getting engaged but not having follow-through. It does not get very deep into the reasons behind it except for a brief moment of clarity. When you mix that with Josie’s complicated relationship with her absentee father, the basis for her decision to have Matthew play the role of a fake fiancé, it seems there are some details missing. I understand the outline of the story to have events occur a certain way, but the reasoning for Josie to cooperate to help her father seemed flimsy to me. If you just take the novel at face value, you have a nice and enjoyable romance. Josie and Matthew share some great chemistry and I love the concept of a runaway bride-type scenario played out in a new way. Overall, I think this novel needed more details to make it feel complete, but it was still a good read.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Atria Books, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

⭐️: 5
🌶️: 4

💜 small town
💜 fake relationship
💜 he falls first
💜 slow burn

I knew from the first page that this would be a 5 star read for me because Elena Armas never lets me down. As usual, the characters were absolutely wonderfully written. I could hear Josie’s inner monologue in my head as if they were my own thoughts. Both Josie and Matthew were incredibly relatable and I never once questioned their intentions, I just simply couldn’t wait for the slow burn to set aflame (seriously, it was slow but oh so delicious).

This book was well worth the wait and I am sad that I devoured it as quickly as I did, because I didn’t want it to end.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️= open door, multiple scenes, descriptive

📚Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and Elena Armas for the ARC of The Fiancé Dilemma.

4.75 stars

Ok ok ok I love this one a lot! The slow burn was exquisite with the tension just building with teasing happening. Then you had the fun back and forth and the whole fake fiancé situation! I loved every second.

I completely fell in love with Matthew. He was funny, cute, sweet and gah the way he just adores Josie. Melted my heart. He was so protective too and had a wonderfully dirty mouth 😏
Josie is a people pleaser and definitely wanted to avoid confrontation and conflict, so when she starts to remember who she is and shows her backbone I was cheering! I loved her quirkiness and the way she starts falling for Matt. They were just so great together and had some amazing chemistry. Like I said it’s a slow burn, but there is still steam slowly unfurling the whole time. I loved it.

So many other wonderful characters that you get back from the last book! I just loved how this story flowed and the problems that came up and the resolution to everything!

✨The Fiancé Dilemma by @thebibliotheque

Blonde hair, glasses, great ass, and from Boston? Say less, Matthew, say less 😮‍💨

Elena Armas, the queen of the slow burn, killed it again with The Fiancé Dilemma. Matthew and Jodie have the sweetest love story that even Josie doesn’t fully know until the end when Matthew lets us all in on the first time Adalyn (The Long Game) told him about Josie.

Josie, the real life runaway bride, finds herself thrust into the public spotlight after finding out who her father is. After a surprise visitor shows up at her door, and another wanders by, she pulls Matthew into a fake engagement. One that starts to feel a little too real.

Read if you like:
💕 BDE but for his ass
💕 daddy issues
💕 steamy distractions
💕 meddling side characters


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️