I loved long game and the story of Adalyn and Cam so was excited for this story to continue. I usually love the trope of fake relationship, but it didn’t always feel fluid. Josie is adorable and Matthew is a swoon MMC but their chemistry sometimes felt rushed. I enjoyed it but not as much as the first book in the series.

3.5 🌟
I found this book cute but also so frustrating.
Josie finds herself in a marriage of convenience with the best friend of her recently discovered half sister. I love a marriage of convenience, but this really wasn't that. It was super inconvenient and not necessary in any way. They also never have a full conversation to iron anything out, basically just one miscommunication after another. The wedding is supposed to be fake, yet it gets planned with no discussion of how it would get canceled canceled.

I would have loved a dual POV! Matthew was very "yes and" and saved the book in my opinion. He wanted to protect Josie at all cost and falls hard.

Like I said, the book was still super cute and I enjoyed it, but the miscommunication really brought the rating down for me.

Thank you Net Galley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book in advance in exchange for my honest review.

The Fiance Dilemma, by Elena Armas, begins when Matthew Flanagan gets his car stuck and after a misunderstanding, becomes part of a fake engagement. This one is a good summer read, not too heavy, and easy to follow.
Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this read- however I compare everything she writes to the Spanish Love Deception, and this book just didn’t hit the mark for me. I didn’t feel as connected to the characters on a personal emotional level. This was not a bad book by any means, it just wasn't the one for me! If you are a diehard Elena Armas fan, this is definitely for you. If you are exclusively a Spanish Love Deception fan…this may not live up to your hype. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Was an absolute privilege to read this ARC! Elena Armas has knocked it out of the park again. Loved Matthew and Josie. The story was so adorable. Matthew is definitely book husband material. He is so kind, generous, understanding and the perfect hype man! Highly recommend picking up this book.

Elena Armas does it again! I love every single book that I've read by her and this is no different!

Josie and Matthew's relationship from beginning to end was truly swoon-worthy. I found myself stopping just because I had to put my Kindle down and squeal. The fake relationship (engagement) was, at first, hard to believe because things were moving SO quick. But I can see that the build up of their relationship was perfect and grew at such a steady pace.

Romance novel that showcases Elana Armas's talent for storytelling and character development. With its relatable characters, engaging plot, and thoughtful exploration of love and commitment, the novel is a standout in the romance genre. It offers a heartfelt and satisfying read that will resonate with anyone who has ever faced the complexities of choosing between love and personal fulfillment.

I actually really enjoyed this book. I read the previous one a while ago: and had forgotten a bit about it, but it didn’t detract from the cuteness of the story.

Elena Armas is really one of my favorite go-to authors. But this one kind of hurt. The main character turned me off of this one within the first couple of chapters. I couldn't handle her teenage-doormat vibe. It gave me some SEVERE second-hand embarrassment. So much so, that I, honestly, couldn't read the whole book.
I really believe, had Armas gone a different direction with the heroine, that I would've immensely enjoyed this one. What a bummer.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

The Fiance Dilemma is so good!! The characters are so relatable and funny. the banter between the characters are hilarious

Couldn't get enough of the story

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an early copy of this book! And thanks to Elena Armas for writing it.

In the past I have enjoyed but not loved Elena's books, so I went into this one with the expectation of having a similar experience to the other books. And I wasn't wrong. While I do find Elena's humor to be right on par with mine, I wish there had been more character development. There was absolutely no palpable chemistry between Josie and Matthew for me, which makes it really hard to believe in their relationship. And yes, I know it's a fake relationship at the onset, but at a certain point we the readers need to believe in them. It just didn't work for me.

This book was very similar to the movie Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Just like Julia's character in the movie, Josie the FMC has a history of getting engaged and then leaving her grooms sometimes at the alter. She gets a reputation that ends up causing PR issues for her estranged father Andrew. Feeling the pressure from her father's PR assistant, Josie decides to pretend she is once again engaged and to no other than her sister's best friend, Matthew. Matthew the good guy that he is, goes along with her crazy plan and agrees to pretend to be her fiancé. I found Matthew to be so cute and charming and loved his flirting. The author made me wish I was Josie. Loved the banter between the two of them and the slow burn. If you love fake dating and was a fan of the movie Runaway Bride, you will like this book.

I'll be honest, I have a very on-and-off-again relationship with Armas' writing. I thought The Spanish Love Deception was fine and absolutely adored The American Roommate Experiment. I DNFed The Long Game not once, but twice! So, I wasn't sure where I was going to land when I started The Fiancé Dilemma. Ultimately, I think this book lands as my second favorite of hers, behind the American Roommate Experiment.

The book follows the story of Josie, a runaway bride who has been engaged four times, and Matthew, her surprise fifth fiancé. The two are thrown into a fake relationship to help alleviate the PR nightmare her newly discovered father, Andrew, is facing. Like every great fake relationship story, however, they soon find that they like each other a lot more than they expected.

The characters are all from The Long Game, though you don't need to have read that one to enjoy this book (so, if you are like me, and couldn't get through it, you are fine). The book is a (largely) single POV, slow burn, and that really requires that the author build up anticipation and longing, and make you believe that both characters are falling for each other. I think Armas does that, you get an inkling of how much Matthew likes Josie, and how the like pre-dated their convenient arrangement.

There's a lot going on though, lots of side characters and side stories, and quirky small town shenanigans. Ultimately, I think all of Armas books are under-edited. They are just too damn long and that's on the editing team to curb the author's impulse to over-explain and expand the character's world. A tighter story would have been a better story, moving this from good not great.

* Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! *

I should have read the synopsis better. I'm not a big fan of the fake dating or fake engaged trope. Oy. But the ending of this book redeems itself. It also would have been better if I read the first in the series. But I'm not one to follow all the rules. The writing and premise were well done. I love the cover. Overall, a fantastic love story.

I've read two of Elena Armas's other books, and while I didn't love them, I didn't have overly negative feelings about this. I wish this was the case for this book, but unfortunately, I found myself forcing myself to read this book rather than enjoying it. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't read The Long Game so I didn't have all the background information, but Josie and Matthew were the definition of insta-love to me, which I didn't like and I found the whole Andrew storyline to be very unnecessary for the storyline and I just didn't really care for it.

But my main problem with this book is the same problem that I have with a lot of romance books - as someone who works in PR, I'm convinced that romance writers have no idea what a PR strategist actually does. Bobbi was a fun character, but why was she planning their wedding as a PR strategist? And why was she leaving them alone to talk to journalists without actually prepping them? And why was she not doing her job for the most part and working with the media? Maybe this is a very personal and biased experience to me since I work in the industry, but oh man did that take me out of the book. And this is a genre-wide issue - PR people are always so present in romance books but I feel like the authors do little to no research on what a PR strategist actually does.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Amazing! I loved Josie and Matthew’s story more than Adalyn and Cams.
All the same lovable characters from the Long Game, come back in this sequel of a fake engagement story.

This PR whirlwind, puts these two into planning a wedding and dealing with Josie’s failed four previous times at the alter. Will the 5th time be the charm?

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this book.

3.40

This is a cute story overall, but also a bit of a dilemma on its own. It’s my own fault, in part, because the whole concept of a fake engagement, is frustrating to me. Add to that, how naïve, and often weak Josie can be. That said, I don’t know how much more assertive I would be, at least outside of my head.

I had forgotten about “The Long Game“ and didn’t realize ahead of time that this was a continuation. I think this is the last one. I can’t think of who else could have their own love story and book, except maybe Andrew Underwood, but that would be kind of odd and not as appealing to the masses… and not just because he’s older. I do like Josie and Matthew and they were cute together, though their dynamic becomes a little more submissive to dominant as things steam up (not quite that kind of submissive and dominant).

I’ll say it without saying it: I don’t love the ending and I could have used hearing more of the back story. I had two possible resolutions in mind as I read and neither was what eventually took place. I also could’ve used a bit more Adalyn and Cam, though there are reasons why that wouldn’t have worked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

This book was EVERYTHING!!! Matthew was the best book boyfriend ever! He was sweet, understanding, caring and had a filthy mouth in the bedroom. Josie needed him in the best possible way! Elena your writing is AMAZING!!! This book had every aspect I want in a book! It was excellent writing, wonderful plot, plus like 3 different tropes all in one! I cried, I laughed and I swooned hard!! Thank you for this ARC! I wrote a very detailed review on goodreads!! This book got me out of a book slump! This book brought joy to my life! That is what an AMAZING book should do!!

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

- Small Town
- Fake Engagement
- Sister's Best Friend
- No 3rd Act Breakup

I'm not sure what Elena Armas put in this book, but sweetheart I was in love with Matthew Flanagan from the first scene. He was everything Josie needed.

I enjoyed getting to see a lot of the characters from The Long Game!

It certainly a slow burn but once it starts, it starts.

I enjoyed it even though it's primarily Josie's POV, we are treated to some insight from Matthew.

And come on with Pedro Pigscal!!!!

4.5 stars

Josie is bright and beautiful. She grew up as the only child of a single mom who died when she was young, and she made a name for herself in her small hometown as the volunteer mayor and coffee shop owner. Yet as successful as she has been in her career, her love life has been quite the opposite. She’s been engaged 4 times but she never quite made it down the aisle. And sometimes she reminisces, and tries on her old engagement rings….but this time one got stuck at the worst possible moment.

Enter Matthew, the best friend of Josie’s sister, who is having a bad day. He just got fired from his job and his car got stuck in the road on the way to his best friend’s place where he was going to crash until he got his life back together. While walking for help, he runs into woman in a robe with a face mask and strawberry jam all over calling him her fiance. He then realizes that it’s Josie and he quickly becomes her fifth, albeit fake, fiance.

Armas’ writing is the perfect combination of humor, romance, and drama with all your favorite tropes. And she will make you root for Josie and Matthew until they get their HEA.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.