Elena Armas always finds a way of making readers fall in love with characters! I loved the characters in this book and it was really well done. It’s not easy to manage to get this trope to work and she did it!

I absolutely adored this book and never wanted it to end!!

The small town vibes were spot on, the characters were all unique and fun, and the relationships and dynamics were realistic and entertaining! I throughly enjoyed the trip back to Green Oak for Josie and Matthew’s story. They are so sweet and I love a good engagement of convenience story. I beg everyone to pick up this book and witness the absolute joy of Josie and Matthew being desperately in love with each other!


Thank you Netgalley, Atria, and Elena Armas for this arc <3

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALL THE CHARACTERS??!! This was such an anticipating read for me! A lot of people did not like this read because they think the Spanish love deception was better but I think they fail to realize that this book was beautiful and Mathew was beautiful!

Thank you Atria books and Netgalley for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!


This is my new favorite of Elena’s!! I loved it right away. The only thing I was mad about was not having dual pov!!!! Gah I just always want both sides!


We fell in love with this town in The Long Game, so I was excited to be back. This was such a fun, unique storyline that had you rooting for them the whole time. They had so much chemistry and build up throughout the book.

I AM SCREAMING!! My favorite author CONTINUES TO SLAYYY! I don’t have words to describe my actual love for Josie and Matthew 🥹 I mean they are so perfect and I would DIE for them. Matthew is utter perfection, like chefs kiss perfect! Josie is so incredibly brave, strong, capable, and I love how real she is. The way this story is written just feels so raw and real and beautiful, I just never wanted it to end. THANK YOU for creating magic 💞

Adored this book! Matthew had a good sense of humour and very loving! Josie has an independent nature and caring side. I love a good fake dating trope! I felt like this book was a bit slow at times but I know from the Long Game, Elena Armas's style is a good slow burn.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

What an absolute delight! This beauty follows Josie’s wild story after she accidentally tells her father’s PR person she got engaged to her sister’s best friend. (Did we mention that she just found out who her dad was and that he’s a billionaire?) Matthew agrees to go along for the ride, even when it’s revealed Josie has been engaged five times. Is she going to make it down the aisle for the fifth (and fake) engagement?

This book was a perfect lil romance with some of my favorites, including but not limited to dirty talk, fake engagement, weird grandpa character, caveman protective throw her over the shoulder moments. I adored it and even more so, adored Matthew. Josie’s story of trying to find herself and trust others to support her when she needs it had me tearing up. Elena Armas managed to take such beautiful, complicated character development and still make me smile and giggle through it. A perfect summer/early fall read!

Emojis to Describe This Book: 🐖(🧢🔄 )*🧁🥰👏
*this counts as one emoji bc ifykyk

This book was so so good. It is easily my favorite Elena Armas book to date. He read the longest ride. You already have a little test of Matthew and Josie, and they were easy to love in that book, but man, you fall head over heels with both of them in this book. Josie is sweet and has had a tough ride with love. Matthew comes in and he is strong and he is steady and he is caring and you just want to hug him. Watching Matthew mend Josie’s heart will have you giggling like a little schoolgirl. This book was perfect.

3.5*

I've really enjoyed Elena Armas' books in the past, but this one just didn't hit the mark for me. To start, I didn't think that Josie's character in this book matched her personality in The Long Game. The inciting incident at the beginning of this book is Josie convincing Matthew to be her fake fiancee to help her father out of a PR disaster. But I didn't think the Josie in the Long Game would let her life or anyone else's be decided by a father she just found out about. I also couldn't get past the quirkiness of Elena's writing. I thought it matched the characters of the first two books she wrote, but her writing style just doesn't match the last two FMC's of her books.

Overall though, this was a fun time, and I would still recommend it because I did enjoy the romance in this. Matthew and Josie had lots of chemistry, and Matthew was clearly a man written by a woman and smitten right from the start.

Elena Armas' "The Fiancé Dilemma" is a charming contemporary romance that navigates the complexities of love, friendship, and self-discovery with wit and heart. Set against the backdrop of New York City, the story follows Amelia, a spirited protagonist grappling with the unexpected return of her ex-fiancé, Ethan.

Armas' writing is engaging and relatable, capturing the nuances of relationships and personal growth. The chemistry between Amelia and Ethan is palpable, drawing readers into their journey of second chances and reconciliation. The novel's humor and heartfelt moments make it a delightful read for fans of modern romance.

"The Fiancé Dilemma" is a refreshing take on love and forgiveness, showcasing Armas' talent for crafting compelling characters and heartfelt narratives that resonate long after the final page.

🌸 arc review 🌸

The Fiancé Dilemma by @thebibliotheque
★★★★

✨ “Beautiful things shouldn’t be boxed, it eventually dims their light.” ✨

A swoon-worthy read that’ll make you laugh, blush, and wish you lived in the charming small-town of Green Oak, North Carolina. This is the spin-off book in The Long Game series — so even though it’s not totally necessary, I would start with The Long Game before jumping into this one. This book is about the supporting characters of the first one, Josie and Matthew.

Let’s start with small-town girl Josie — loved her since the first book! She’s such a ray of sunshine and is so quirky, charming, and funny. Totally would want to be friends with her irl 🫶🏼 and speaking of funny, Grandpa Moe is one of my favorite characters!! He’s too cute and absolutely hilarious. His humor was top notch.

Now onto Matthew 😮‍💨 this dude had me BLUSHING, I adore him!! Adding him to my list of book boyfriends 😂 but seriously, I love how he treats Josie. Let me tell you guys.. the chemistry was THERE AND IT WAS HOT ❤️‍🔥

When I first started the book, I was wishing I had Matthew’s POV as well, but as I continued to read it wasn’t something that I felt like I needed. Matthew was quick to speak his mind and say what he wanted anyways 😂

I truly loved Josie and Matthew’s story and it wrapped up beautifully by the end. 🩷 if you’re a fan of fake engagement, forced proximity, slow burn, and newfound family tropes like I am, then this one is definitely for you.

Mark your calendars — this book releases on July 30th and I cannot wait for you guys to get your hands on it! 💓

Thank you NetGalley, Elena, and Atria books for this arc! 🫶🏼

The Fiancé Dilemma was cute. It had all the fun things - fake dating, slow burn, and a happy ending.

However, I felt the burn was too slow and sometimes down right boring. It took me a while to really feel connected to the characters and at times I wanted to put it down altogether. There were parts that were so fun but majority of the book felt a little lacking. And the chemistry didn't seem all there for the characters.

The Fiancé Dilemma is a hilarious romantic comedy following Josie, and her sister’s best friend Matthew. In true Elena Armas fashion, you can expect hilariously awkward situations, and intensely swoony MMC, and incredibly hot spice.

I think I had very high expectations because I loved The Long Game. So for me, this story definitely gets off to a slow awkward start, but keep at it, because as Josie and Matthew get into the idea of their fake engagement, the awkwardness evolves into swoony hilarious hijinx. And did I mention the incredibly hot spice?

Despite the slow start, I really did fall in love with the story and zip through the rest of the book in no time. And I loved the little snippets of Cam and Adalyn that you get, though I do wish there was more! Here’s hoping for another book in this series!

ੈ♡˳ rating: 3/5
ੈ♡˳ thoughts:
i had not read the first book in this series, and i couldn’t get into the spanish love deception so because i thought it lagged a little bit but i decided to give this book a try anyway because i got the arc.

it also lagged.

which is crazy because it seemed as though the book was progressing so fast but also wasn’t progressing at all. the book is longer than it needs to be and i found myself flipping through many pages of unnecessary information and dialogue and descriptions just to get through the story quicker.

also the cover of this story. first i was giving off reverse haram. then i thought maybe her exes would come back and try to fight matthew for josie which also doesn’t happen. so all the men being on the cover is misleading and unnessary.

other than that, this is a very cute book. would buy for my collection of books but probably wouldn’t read again.


ੈ♡˳ tropes
ꕥ small town romance
ꕥ best friend’s sister
ꕥ fake dating

ੈ♡˳ fave quotes
“ೃ⁀➷ no favorite quotes because it’s an arc and everything is subject to change!

◡̈ ◡̈ ◡̈

Without reading The Long Game first, I did feel a bit lost throughout this book, which was disappointing. I’ve read a lot of interconnected standalone books out of order, but felt that this didn’t have enough background provided to really understand Josie/Matthew, their relationships to the side characters, and why their fake relationship mattered as much as it did.

Matthew is the definition of “a man written by a woman” (almost to a fault) and was really sweet to Josie, who had no idea what was going on for majority of the book. Seeing them fall for each other was a slow burn, but so rewarding in the end!!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for providing this in exchange for my honest review!

This was THE perfect rom com! Fake dating, friends to lovers, small town romance, found family. The MMC was swoon worthy and the FMC was the perfect combination of needing what the MMC had to offer but also being a strong, independent woman. All of the references had me hooked: Bridgerton, Disney, Twilight, The Hunger Games, Taylor Swift…this was written for millennials! A must read! This is a sequel to another book but the author states you don’t have to read it first. I didn’t, and I didn’t feel like I missed anything.

I fell in love with Elena Armas and her writing after reading The Long Game and it's beautiful Ted Lasso vibes. I couldn't wait to dive into Josie and Matthew's story after getting a peek of them in The Long Game. Although I love the Long Game more than this one, I still enjoyed it. Learning about Josie's past relationship woe's and how she became such an integral part of the town was so beautiful. I was completely shocked to learn how spicy Matthew could be and died for his absolute loyalty, love, and protectiveness of those he loves. This is definitely a book I can recommend to fellow romance readers with confidence they won't be disappointed. I look forward to what Elena produces next!

This book is absolutely hilarious! I love this author’s humor, and having read the first book in the series, I can confidently say that both had me laughing out loud.

I had such a fun time reading this one! I was staring at my shelves, trying to figure out what to read next, and found this gem sitting in my Kindle library after being approved for the ARC. I decided to give it a go until something else jumped out at me, and I’m SO happy I did!

This is such a cute small-town romance. Josie, our funny, quirky, and cute AF female main character, narrates the entire story, and thankfully, she’s never annoying. Her perspective keeps the story fresh and engaging.

The chemistry between Josie and Matthew is fantastic! They’re both a little nerdy but also hot (my favorite combination) and they meshed so well right from the start. Matthew always knew exactly what Josie needed and showed up for her in the best ways. His confidence perfectly complemented her quirky nature.

Matthew is climbing the ranks of book boyfriends for me—he was PERFECT! However, the circumstances for the fake fiancée trope felt a bit too unbelievable, especially since it came so early in the book when Josie and Matthew had just met in person for the first time.

Overall, while there were moments I absolutely enjoyed, I struggled to find the connections as a full story. Nonetheless, the humor, the characters, and the cute small-town setting made it a delightful read.

DNF @ 30%. A pet peeve of mine in books is when the dialogue is too modern, or there are references to pop-culture, because it dates the book. I liked The Long Game by this author and was looking forward to this one, but I couldn't get into it for that reason. It reads a bit too millenial for my taste unfornuately.

Omg I Loved This Book!! It made me cry so many times. There were a lot of funny moments, heartfelt moments, and moments where you wanted to punch some of the characters in the book lol. I would definitely recommend it. You will absolutely love it if you’re into cute and spicy romance.