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4⭐️

I read The Long Game right before this, I was so excited to jump into this ARC right after! I’ve read all of Elena’s books, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each of them. Her books always make me laugh, her MMC’s are always so swoon worthy as well 🫠

Josie finds herself in a predicament, a PR nightmare caused by her estranged father. In walks Matthew, fake fiancé extraordinaire to save the day. They come up with an agreement, however the lines get blurred. Boundaries are crossed, but hearts are healed ❤️

I absolutely adored these characters, Josie is quirky and so fun. Matt is such a sweetie, it’s hard not to fall for him. If you enjoy, fake relationships, small town rom coms, you’ll love this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the ARC, I was honored for the opportunity to early read this book.

I’ve read every Elena Armas novel and loved them all. She’s quickly becoming one of my most recommended authors. And Matthew is now a Top 5 romance hero. Swoon.

In all fairness, Josie took time to grow on me. She came off as immature and messy and the runaway bride thing… but seeing her growth and her relationship with Matthew made me love, love, love this one. (Also, always fun to see Adalyn, Cameron, and the goats!)

3.25 ⭐️
NetGalley ARC Review
Elena Armas is an automatic read author for me. I’ve enjoyed all of her books and was super excited for this one as fake dating/engagement is one of my favorite tropes. However, it fell a little flat for me at times. The overall plot was fun, but wasn’t explored to its full potential. Josie’s four failed engagements were a major plot point, yet they weren’t really fleshed out or explained to the extent I expected. I just never really felt connected or like I understood Josie. I did enjoy Matthew and would’ve loved more of him. This story was simultaneously a super slow burn while also not really having much on paper build up/development. It just didn’t feel like we really got to see their feelings/relationship develop, there was nothing and then everything all of a sudden. So while the story was fun and cute it was also lacking. So if you’re looking for a simple cute read, you will probably enjoy this book, just don’t go in expecting anything super deep.

Josie's reputation as a four-time runaway bride isn't great PR for her uber-rich and famous absentee father who has decided to make a splash of his retirement so she tries to rectify the blemish her reputation may have on her father's big news by faking an engagement to her sister's best friend, Matthew.

I really liked the premise of this book, it was something different from the usual fake-dating trope, but I had a hard time relating to Josie. I found her a bit immature and kind of annoying. But I liked Matthew and without giving any spoilers, I liked, and was surprised by, his reason for participating in Josie's scheme.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately was unable to finish this book. I just really did not enjoy the female main character. I’m sure there are readers who were able to relate to her, but I just found her very I relatable and a bit too over the top.

The second installment in The Long Game romance series was a delight. It is small town. It is slow burn. You have fake dating, he falls first (and harder), and sister’s best friend tropes. THERE IS NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP! That will always be a win in my book.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the arc of this book! Elena Armas does it again!!
I am absolutely obsessed with Matthew and Josie and the romance between them.
The slow-burn build-up of this relationship was perfect! Each chapter had me wanting MORE !! The banter was top tier and I cant wait to buy the physical copy.

We had fake dating, sister's best friend, where is she, small town romance, and a slow burn.
What more could you ask for!!

Perfect For….

Fans of fake engagement and sisters best friend trope.

Quick Synopsis

Josie has a romantic history with the opposite sex, which includes four failed engagements. However, when her father decides to release a magazine piece about their family, Josie realizes her love life is not good PR and intercepts Matthew to be her stunt fiance. They make an arrangement for the public eye, but soon realize there may be more to their PR stunt.

My Review

I gave this book four stars. I really liked the tropes in the book and thought the characters were having good chemistry. Matthew said some really swoon things in this book that I really liked. I didn’t give it four stars because I felt like their non sexual romance was put off until the last minute which is not something I prefer but it doesn’t take away from the book. I would definitely recommend this book to romance readers and especially those who like the fake engagement or marriage of convenience trope and sisters/brothers best friend trope. I really like Elena Armas and her writing so I am looking forward to what she comes out with next. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I didn't read book one but I definitely understood the romance between the two. The whole whirlwind, misunderstanding romance was really fun to read even though I've read this trope so many times.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!
Elena Armas promised cute romance and she delivered. I was in the mood for a cute no high stakes romance and that’s what I got. I was also quite glad that no beds were broken in this novel.

Three stars. I found this book overall to have some really great tropes and generally very sweet and a little funny. If you’re a fan of Elena Armas then I would say you would enjoy the book. I personally wouldn’t reach for it again regardless of enjoying it for just a couple reasons. It felt a bit slow for me and I simply had a difficult time relating to the way the FMC acted. I didn’t find her annoying per se but I did find myself frustrated with her at times primarily with her decided to keep certain things from past relationships as well as the way she acts with her father.

Overall not bad! Worth the read especially if you like a pretty formulaic romance. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

If Elena Armas writes it, I am going to read it! I was very excited for Josie and Matthew's story to come out. I could see it coming together in book one. While this is the second book in a duolgy, you can read this one as a stand-alone, but I recommend book one first! I don't know why in book 1 I thought Josie was older. She seemed to have her life together, solving everyone's problems, and was mayor of the town. She just gave off that mom without kids vibe. I also felt she needed to be aged up in order to have 4 failed engagements. It just seemed unrealistic at 29. Matthew seemed like such a wonderful golden retriever boyfriend. I would definitely classify this as a "He Falls First" type of romance. He was swoon-worthy in all the right ways. I enjoyed that there wasn't this dramatic third-act breakup. The secondary characters provided a lot of structure and comedic relief. Bobbi Shark was always throwing in a plot twist, and Grandpa Moe had that classic older person no-filter comedy. Lastly, I thought this book could have benefited from a bit of editing. It felt long and a bit repetitive.

Read if you like Fake Dating, Sisters Best Friend, Small Town Romances. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 7/30!

Absolutely loved this book and have fully fallen for this author. The best fake engagement I’ve read in quite a while. Definitely out this on your TBR.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read The Long Game in tandem to The Fiancé Dilemma. While The Long Game did not hit the spot for me, The Fiancé Dilemma did a better job at keeping me interested. I liked Josie a lot, but Matthew was swoon-worthy and the star of this story. I wanted more of Matthew which is the reason I kept reading. Overall, the book is entertaining, it's cute, funny, but a sloowwww-burn. I enjoyed it :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC! Meet Josie: a small-town girl that did not know that she was the daughter to a multimillionaire named Andrew, who lives in Miami. This leads her to being the talk of the town, and soon after, social media learns that she was engaged four times and that she ran away from each of her fiancé’s before the wedding. In order to save her reputation, she announces (lies) to Bobbi (PR person) that she is engaged to Matthew, who happens to be her sister Adalyn’s best friend. Matthew’s a trooper - playing along with the fake engagement just to save Josie’s reputation. Also, Andrew offers to pay for everything, hoping for some reconciliation with Josie. But when the time of the wedding comes, will they actually go through with it? And why does Josie start to have feelings for her fake fiancé?

This is my first time reading a book from Elena Armas, and it won’t be the last. Both of the main characters were written well and have good chemistry. I loved Matthew’s character a little bit more - he tries his best to make Josie a bit more…comfortable with the cameras following their every move. His endearing nicknames for her are adorable, and how he treats her in general was sweet too. I would label this as slow burn, but it gets spicy when it needs to!

I love a good slow burn, but this one was verrrrry slow. If you love a good fake engagement, this one is for you. The main character, Josie, is very awkward but endearing. The pace of the story is slow, and at times I found I enjoyed the side characters (I need a book with Grandpa Joe) way more than the mains. Enjoyable book, but slow.

This was painful. The main character acts like she’s 12. Seriously, it’s the most annoying part of this book. The circumstances and choices everyone makes are absolutely absurd. Literally the entire time anyone chose to do anything I thought “but why would you do that?!”. This read like an even more off brand romcom than a hallmark movie… like it was made for an obscure streaming service you’ve never heard of. But really the main reason I didn’t finish this was because I just could not make myself care about these characters. They gave me nothing to go on.

I have no doubt lots of people will love this because this author is pretty popular, but I am just not one of them. I thought her Spanish Love Deception was just ok but people seem to love her to I decided to give this one a try. Now I’m just accepting that this author isn’t for me.

** spoiler alert ** I was so excited for Josie and Matthew's love story - I loved The Long Game. Josie has been engaged 4x and is somehow become an interest to a podcast for it that was looking into her famous dad's life. When Matthew arrives at an awkward situation between Josie and her dad's PR person, she fakes Matthew as her fiance and he plays along with it. The story is cute but I thought it was kind of creepy that Matthew fell for Josie because his best friend says she had met his soulmate.

There were a lot of steamy moments but I cringed at the public sex in a dressing room when everyone was waiting outside.

I did enjoy seeing characters from The Long Game back in this story.

Thank you @atriabooks for copy of this.

3.5 stars rounded up - this book was good and left me feeling good about the HEA ending however, I didn’t love Bobbi’s character or the Duncan/Andrew weird story line thrown in. That being said Matthew is another great book boyfriend and Josephine did have some relatable characteristics. I will say I did read this book in 2 days and liked that it was a slow burn but the story moved along at a good pace.

Overall, The Fiancé Dilemma is a mixed bag. The writing is somewhat uneven (and repetitive) and the dialog is often cringeworthy. Josie and Matthew share some humorous moments, especially when a mini pig named Pedro Pigscal is involved. (In fact, I think Pedro was my favorite character in this novel!) The chemistry between Josie and Matthew is inconsistent and often unbelievable; sometimes all seems well . . . until it isn’t. I enjoyed Ms. Armas' first novel, The Spanish Love Deception, but this one didn’t measure up.