"Beautiful things shouldn't be boxed in. It eventually dims their light."

This book is an example why I tend to shy away from single POV books. It wasn't objectively bad and the book was well written. However, only being in Josie's head for 98% of the book had me scratching my head at their romance. I also found it weird that we finally got Matthew's POV only for the epilogue. The chemistry felt odd and stilted at times. While their "romance" started quickly with a fake engagement, this one had a much slower start for me. It wasn't until about 50% into the book that I actually started believing the chemistry between the pair and that they could make a go of it. The steamy scenes were well done, but the first couple felt like they came out of nowhere.

Even though I did not enjoy this book as much as I have with Elena's previous books, I liked Matthew and Josie's characters as a whole. Because we only get in Josie's head, we see how much Matthew shows up for her, even when it might be difficult. I loved how protective he is of her and how he doesn't think she needs to change or fix herself in any way. And he's so vocal about it to Josie, which was endearing. You have to love a man in glasses and his sweet acts of love (the engagement ring!) totally melted my heart. Josie is super quirky and I loved how she said whatever she thought. It just flew out of her mouth, which was absolutely awkward and hilarious. However, I found her incredibly chaotic and all over the place with her emotions. At times, she was just too wishy washy for me and I got whiplash a couple times.

There were some fantastic lines, banter, and declarations of love that were absolutely beautiful. I also loved all the quirky side characters and the strong elements of found family. Moe is a damn hoot and Maria will forever have a place in my heart. There were many redeeming qualities of the book in the end and for fans of single POV, this is one you will enjoy.

First of all, I love Elena Armas’ writing style, her adorable book covers, and mostly her engaging characters! I also enjoyed revisiting the Long Game universe, where supporting characters Josie and Matthew earned their own book. That’s where we find ourselves taking a closer look at their romance story.

I know this sequel is not perfect. Some background details about Josie's past were not fully explored, and I wanted to read Matthew's perspective earlier in the book. I liked him in Long Game: he’s supportive, reasonable, and a goofy best friend. However, I wish I learned more about his thoughts and what makes him such a compelling character. That said, he’s caring, lovable, and charming as hell from the beginning, never disappointing the readers.

Josie, with her girl-next-door charm, already stole our hearts with her kindness, putting other people first, and a mix of naivety and intelligence to fight her own battles.

I loved both main characters. Grandpa Mo/Maurice is one of the greatest supporting characters in the romance world, and I laughed every time he appeared.

The chemistry between Josie and Matthew is off the charts, making each chapter intense, passionate, and incredibly hot.

In the opening of the book, Josie finds herself in an awkward situation involving an old engagement ring and a PR crisis. Matthew, covered in mud and fresh from a car mishap, gets dragged into the chaos. They end up pretending to be engaged, leading to a series of hilarious and heartwarming events.

The plot is filled with palpable chemistry, and the line between pretending and reality gets delightfully blurred. Josie and Matthew’s bond grows stronger, and their dynamics are a joy to read.

Overall, I’m rounding up 4.5 stars to 5. Despite wanting more from Matthew's POV, the main characters and their chemistry were so compelling that I couldn’t help but rate it higher. I loved Josie and Matthew’s dynamics even more than Adalyn and Cameron's.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this highly anticipated romance novel’s digital reviewer copy with me. I highly appreciate it.

So I haven’t read the long game but this book was sooo good. It started off a bit slow but it get’s better! I loved the relationship between Josie & Matthew & the banter was A1. If you love a fake dating trope then definitely pick this one up!

Alsoooo, Matthew’s little quotes had me falling in love with him myself. My favorite was beautiful things shouldn’t be boxed. It eventually dims their light.” And Grandpa Moe had me cracking up!

I have so many other quotes annotated in my kindle & can’t wait to get a physical copy for my bookshelf.

Thank you netgalley for an ARC of this book!

💜💍 The Fiancé Dilemma - ARC 💍💜
The Long Game #2
By Elena Armas
✨ Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Atria Books and NetGalley for this eARC! - which releases July 30th! ✨

💜 Josie and her newly acquainted father find themselves in a pickle. A PR nightmare.
In order to smooth things over in the eyes of the media, extreme measures must be taken.

💍 Fake engagement
💜 Sisters best friend
💍 Slow burn
💜 Single POV

✨ From the dedication page I was already hooked.
💜 Hilarious, quirky, fun.
💍 These characters are something else. I adore the relationship between Josie and her grumpy Grandpa Moe - he reminds me of another stubborn grandpa I know, mine 🥰
Matthew is a bit mysterious - mainly because this is told solely in Josie’s POV and she’s a little clueless when it comes to him. I was DYINGGG to see what his thoughts were while all of this was unfolding - because like I said - clueless narrator (which I found quite fun in this case!)
💜 Matthew is the calm to Josie’s storm. I adored that he didn’t change her, but instead embraced her chaotic mind and was fiercely protective.
💍 Josie and Matthew worked so effortlessly, I cannot stress this enough. The way their relationship is written was unique and heartfelt right up until the very end.
And hoooo boy there was some ✨tension✨ going on there!

💜 I don’t usually have much reaction while reading in the case of facial expression, feet kicking, laughter, and 😍- but this book had me doing all the things.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

This was a super cute & fun read and I’m so glad that I started with The Long Game. This book focuses on two side characters that we met in the first book ☺️ the design of the ring as the page dividers was such a lovely idea as well 🤍

Let’s start with Matthew. Though we know more about him from the first book, the reason he lost his job & comes back into town is not revealed until later. I really wanted his perspective for the story as well because I had so many questions and I definitely wanted to see where his head was with Josie from the beginning - definitely he-fell-first. Matthew didn’t just “play” the part of fiancé. He fully stepped into the role. The last chapter was EVERYTHING 🥰 I loved the nicknames he kept trying to give Josie as a joke (one of many examples is Sweetcheeks) & what he finally settled on - Baby Blue 🥹💙

Now for Josie - Josie has one of the biggest hearts. She has gone through a lot in life and built a place for herself in Green Oaks on her own with the support of her chosen family, her community. The main conflict in the story is that her estranged father she recently learned about is retiring. Now that their history is revealed alongside the fact that she’s had 4 failed engagements, Josie is seen as a “PR nightmare” or something that needs to be cleaned up. I get that Josie is the sweetest and aims to please everyone, but I just felt that the reason behind the fake engagement for her father’s sake just wasn’t justified enough, especially considering that they had never met and he had not ever been involved in her life previously.

With all of that being said, I still loved this book and I think the way things played out made sense. I’m always a sucker for a HEA and I’m low key in love with cinnamon-roll Matthew Flanagan 😍

Shoutout to our amazing side characters - Grandpa Moe (Maurice) stole the show for a lot of scenes. Between fighting with the neighbors, his side comments/threats, and refusing to open the door after pretending not to hear it - all had me cracking up. I loved having some of the Green Warriors, Adalyn & Cam present in this book as well, it really brought together the feeling of the community and gave me all of the feels from book 1 💞

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing a copy of the e-book in exchange for my honest review.

Matthew might be my new favorite blond bespectacled cinnamon roll MMC. The slow burn in this book was delicious and there are so many quotable moments that I can’t wait to share once the book is released. We follow Josie who we met in The Long Game- mayor, coffee shop owner, goat yoga leader, and all around joyous human who has been engaged four times before, never making it to I Do. Thrust into the spotlight because of her father, her Julia Roberts-ing becomes fodder for a podcast that is more obsessed with the men she hasn’t married than with the woman herself. Despite all of that, she builds a real connection with Matthew who quickly realizes there will be no running this time.

This was a great book by Elena Armas! I love her writing and this was not any different! I love the banter and spicyness. This story made me feel for Josie through her happiness, sadness and insecurities. Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC!

I enjoyed this book! One of my biggest annoyances with romance novels is where there is a big fight due to miscommunication or misunderstanding. There was none of that! Even though the relationship was fake, there was never a moment where they decided that things were going badly for whatever reason or misheard something and felt great offense. I even enjoyed the glimmers of redemption it seemed that the father might be receiving. Overall, this was a happily ever after for EVERYONE.

Josie deserves all the love in the world and someone who truly understands her. In comes Matthew, sweet, funny, and wears glasses! I was instantly charmed and surprised at how much I loved this blond man! Grandpa Moe was my absolute favorite!

It pains me to rate The Fiance Dilemma three stars because I LOVED The American Roommate Experiment. So much so that it made my top books of 2022. Unfortunately, The Fiance Dilemma missed the mark with its over the top main character and lack of chemistry between the characters.

Josie was a difficult character to like. I found her quirkiness to be over the top and outright annoying at times. Let’s just say that Josie would not make it as an actor since she was not able to interact with Matthew in a believable way to save her life.

There was little to no angst or tension between Josie and Matthew. This was mostly due to Josie’s behavior. Their interactions were awkward and not at all believable. Any moment with the glimmer of angst or tension was immediately undercut by Josie’s quirkiness.

Despite this lack of tension, there were a few spice scenes that were fire hot. For this reason, I decided to rate it three stars instead of four.

Overall, The Fiance Dilemma was disappointing. I had a hard time enjoying Josie as a character, let alone connect with her. I wasn’t a fan of the daddy issues. The lack of chemistry between the characters made reading a slog to get through at times.

That's just something about fictional blonde men that I can’t seem to stay away from.
Like, every man written by a woman is perfect, but they have something more that I can't quite grasp, so now I'm apparently attracted to men with glasses. Why, I couldn't say.

Is this the best piece of contemporary romance I've read this year? Nope.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I’ve noticed that more than one of Elena Armas's books is so close to just being ridiculous, and that's probably one of the few things I really can't stand.
In my modest (and critical) opinion, “The Financé Dilemma” is just on another level in comparison to the first book, “The Long Game”, for a series of motives that I've already explained. Well, nothing to worry about here because, even if Josie is way more optimistic than she has reasons to be, and there's one character that was clearly created to just be the villain, at least we’re back at acting like normal people - and not characters from a sitcom.

And there are so many topics I could talk about - from the not-so-subtle come and go of the two main protagonists of the previous book to the lack of talk about Josie’s past, and so much more.
BUT I just love that, for once, there's no big issue for which they have to break up with some big speech about why they should definitely be together and all that. I keep thinking about it, and I can't remember if I've ever read a book where the two don't argue over something or someone, where there's no betrayal of some sort or whatever you may think.

Also yes, I haven't really talked about my love, Matthew-without-a-surname-but-who-cares, and it’s because it’s difficult to explain magic with words.
As per Elena’s words, “ Your expectations are not impossibly high. Never let anyone make you believe you're asking for too much. And that, my friends, is the beginning of a perfect love story.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

3.5 out of 5. I love Elena Armas books, The American Roommate Experiment is spectacular so any new book by her will be an automated read for me. It was also great that it was a direct continuation of the Long Game and both Adelyn and Cam feature prominently in the book. The book was a bit slow to start, but it sped itself up and the cute ending was adorable so it went up in stars and my appreciation. I think my main issue with this book and why its not ranked higher even though I enjoyed it and its a super cute romance is that throughout it it just felt too much like a copy of runaway bride. Not just inspired by but very much a retelling of the story. Its a fabulous story to use, but then the originality factor is not there. I do love the added family dynamics and that gave it a little bit of a spin.

This was a cute story that I enjoyed a lot! The characters and plot were written well and I throughly enjoyed the ending.

I loved this book! The protagonist, Josie, is literally ME! i laughed out loud, swooned and awwwed throughout the book!
——
After a really long time I enjoyed a contemporary romance book! If you love a messy protagonist, fake engagement and slow burn romance then YOU HAVE TO PICK THIS ONE !!
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This book comes out on July 30th 2024! Add it to to your TBR!

Sadly I had to DNF this book nearly halfway.
The beginning of the story was so hard to get through. Josie is quirky to the point of obnoxious and I don’t think I could get through the rest of the book with her.

I also had some issues with the plot set up. It didn’t make any sense why Josie would feel pressured into fixing her father’s public image when he has nothing to do with her. Not to mention, I don’t see how it would be beneficial to end a FIFTH engagement.
The way that she pulled Matthew into her scheme felt very inorganic to me. And pushing him into it after repeatedly being told no was not cool. I don’t think this author is for me unfortunately.

This was an insanely strong 4.5 ⭐️

I am in love with Matthew Flanagan and that man is FILTHY ❤️‍🔥🤭

This book really suffered from not being dual POV. Matthew always loved Josie and went along with this insane harebrained scheme to get MARRIED and it made no sense!

The fake dating trope is one of my faves and I’ve been so excited for this story since we met these two in the previous book. ❤️ I loved Matthew and Josie so much and just seeing them fall for one another. This was sexy, swoony, and probably my favorite by Elena Armas (yet)!
Thank you to Atria Books for an e-galley of this book. All opinions are my own.

tbh i feel like 3⭐️ is acceptable for this one.
sloooooooooooow to start. a lot could have been avoided with you know- COMMUNICATION.
the ending was the best part tbh.

THANK YOU TO THE ABSOLUTES BABES AT ATRIA FOR APPROVING MY NETGALLEY REQUEST FOR THIS BOOK!!!

Just when I thought NOTHING could top The Long Game, this book SWOOPS in and just blows me away.

I don’t even think I can properly express how much I love this book. The entire thing was PERFECTION!

Our characters are messy and real and genuine. Their stories flow beautifully, and I loved watching their growth. I really really really love Josie and Matthew. (I also really enjoyed that no one ever seemed to call him Matt LOL.) The way that these two connected and interacted had me GIGGLING AND KICKING MY FEET!! I AM A BLOND MMC DEFENDER OKAY!! People say that they don’t like blond men in books, but I DO! Matthew literally made me so angry that he doesn’t exist irl.

Josie is an angel, and being in her head was a joy to experience. I really felt everything she did, and it really enhanced the story for me. I also loved that it was singular POV. As much as I would’ve loved being in Matthew’s head a little more than just that one chapter at the end, I really to appreciate a book that is able to make me feel like I’m in the love interest’s head without actually ever being in their POV.

I loooooved seeing Adalyn and Cameron again too. Those two are probably in my top favorite book couples of all time, and knowing that they really do live happily ever after made it so much more special.

I do honestly feel like this book and The Long Game were written by a different author than TSLD and TARE. Elena has improved so much as a writer, and I cannot wait to see how else she wows me.