I liked The Long Game, but I loved The Fiance Dilemma! The FMC and MMC are both likeable. I enjoyed the story conflict, it wasn't necessarily typical and the characters were mature about their communication.

I've now read everything Elena Armas has written and she's one of my favourite authors.

Also can we talk about a MMC in glasses? I appreciate the hot man in glasses love in this book.

I would definitely recommend this book to any of my girlfriends or book club members.

I wanted to rate this higher because I loved the last three of Elena’s books. Like I picked them up and couldn’t stop reading this one. But this one just couldn’t grab my interest and I struggled to get through it. My main issue is that we had so much interaction with Josie and adalyn in the last book and for that character to be so minimal and sporadic was a huge disappointment.
Giving 4 stars because I am hoping her next book will be back up to her normal standards.

Fun and entertaining read! Loved MMC and how he fell hard for the FMC. Fake relationship/engagement will always be a top trope for me and Armas does it so well!

I was excited to read this book as i had read the spanish love deception and had enjoyed it. that being said i thought this was a standalone and i think because i hadnt read the previous book i didnt enjoyt it as much. To me it was a little all over the place unfortunately.

4.25 ⭐️

I was a big fan of The Spanish Love Deception and now I’m a big fan of The Fiancé Dilemma!

This book is #2 in “The Long Game” series, but can easily be read as a standalone (though probably a good idea to read it second unlike myself!)

The overall chemistry of Josie and Mathew was incredible, and I loved the literal laugh out loud moments in this book. I have to say that I was SHOCKED at the mouth on Matthew, who I unintentionally assumed was a glasses-wearing nerd (....whoops) And the ending (swoon). I was preparing myself for the usual flow of a romance book, but was very very pleasantly surprised!

The Fiancé Dilemma is releasing July 30, and I strongly recommend checking it out!! I can’t want to see what’s next from Elena Armas!

Read this book if you enjoy:
💍 Fake engagement
💍 Friends (?) to lovers
💍 He falls first
💍 Slooooow burn
💍 Small town
💍 No third act breakup
💍 Single POV

Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Elena Armas for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved it! Really that's all the words you need to hear, but I'll continue. The pull was so strong. You could feel the attraction the intense love. The sweetness and the unconditional love. If ever there were two characters who nestled together like two perfect puzzle pieces, Josie and Matthew are it. The aren't perfect. In fact they both need growth and self love and to journey on their joint paths to find themselves together and separately, but I loved every minute of it and I want more for and from the two of them.

This book really wasn't for me! I wanted it to be so badly as I love the marriage of convenience trope. I just felt like things were too all over the place for me to get an idea of what was happening. There was some humor and some fun moments already happening between Josie and Matthew but it just didn't hit like I was hoping. Maybe I need to read the Long Game first, but things just felt unfinished and rushed. This was a DNF for me, unfortunately.

I was excited to receive approval on this but have to say was a little disappointed. I thought it was a standalone book and after I read it learned it was the second with a group of characters and had I read that first, I probably would have enjoyed this more. It felt very abrupt as it started with no build up as to how these two main characters knew each other at all. Throughout, I felt the character development wasn't great. And the relationships between father-daughter and both main characters were very disjointed. I'm assuming I would have liked it better after reading the first book but for me it was just okay.

I could not get into this book, unfortunately. The plot was unbelievable, even for a romance novel, and the characters were unremarkable. Matthew didn't have much of a personality and Josie's personality seems to just be "quirky." Some of the dialogue didn't make sense and it just overall did not work for me.

Josie Moore has not had the best of luck with her past four engagements, she can never seem to make it down the aisle. This may have something to do with the fifth man in her life that has not been there for her, the man whose name she didn’t even know until recently, her estranged father, Andrew.

Matthew Flanagan has been fired from his job and has zero idea what he is going to do next. He decides to make the move to where his best friend , Adalyn, who also happens to be Josie’s stepsister, lives and figure it out from there. The last thing he expects is to be greeted by a disheveled Josie, with her clothes covered in strawberry jam and sporting a face mask, claiming to Andrew’s PR manager that he is her fiancé.

As Josie and Matthew plan to fool everyone with their fake engagement to redeem her reputation for her father’s sake, she begins to understand why engagements 1-4 didn’t stick. Could engagement #5 be with the one that makes Josie actually want to make the walk down the aisle?

This was such a sweet story. The only thing I would have enjoyed more is seeing a little more of the development of Josie and Matthew’s relationship. I feel like that part was kind of rushed, it just happened without a whole lot of detail.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this advanced digital reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book was a little slower than her others for me. Definitely a slow burn book. Matthew’s speech at the end was fire!! Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!

Super cute next installment by #ElenaArmas following the Spanish Love Deception. We love a messy romance that starts with an over-the-top meet cute. I love the way this book progresses. I felt that as main character, Mayor Josie, self-diagnosed people-pleaser grows, so does the romance. Love interest, sexy nerd with glasses and sweatpants Matthew can literally do no wrong. One is the biggest romances tropes is the female protagonist finally getting a shot at the man of her dreams, but this book flips the script. Definitely many messy and awkward scenes, a little too many quirks for my taste, as these two work out their romance. Super steamy scenes make it a win and love a good man who can take the lead while letting his lady stay in control. And love seeing the evolution of characters from past books, even though this can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Perfect summer romance and pleasantly surprised about getting to see the progression of the romance through a focus on self-awareness. Too many times it’s a this-man-completes me story, but I felt this book, and author, does a great job of making her main characters really stand alone and evolve…and THEN allowing time for the spicy romance.

This honest review was given in exchange for a #ARC courtesy of #atriabooks and #netgalley

This was a 3.5 stars read for me. This book was enjoyable and had some laugh out loud moments, but the beginning was a bit slow. I think the impulsiveness of Josie was a bit hard to believe in the beginning as well as the chemistry. The way they jumped into the fake engagement and Matthew liking her was a bit hard to believe to begin with and I know this is fictional but it just missed something for me.
I did enjoy how the ending came together and take it for the fun, casual read that it is.

2 🌶️
I did not expect to be so emotional after reading this book. Wow. I went through a full tissue box while reading this eARC, and I just….wow.

This book follows Jose and Matthew, as they fall into a fake engagement that ends up being so much more than that. Josie just wants to get her father to leave her alone, but that can’t happen after it comes out that not only is she his illegitimate daughter, but that she has been engaged 4 separate times….and that she was the one to end them all. After a podcast reveals this news, putting her father in a bad light, Bobbi Shark (his PR manager) makes the trip to Green Oaks to confront Josie about how this is all her fault. After being cornered by this woman with one of her old engagement rings on, Josie does the only thing she could think of - saying that she is once again engaged, this time to a random man on the street. However, this man is not so random, and happens to be her sister’s best friend. Their relationship keeps getting more and more convoluted, with rules and secrets being forged in order to keep the charade up…at least thats what it starts out as. This is a story about finding true love, the kind that won’t leave when things get hard. This story is about accepting who you truly are, and knowing your limits, whilst allowing someone to take those barriers you’ve constructed around yourself down.

I absolutely LOVED this book. I had not read any of Elena Armas’ other books, so I was super excited to get to read this! The spice honestly was unexpected, but I still loved it all the way. This book really took the time to break my heart and teach me valuable lessons, and I am so happy that I did read it! Highly recommend!

Favorite quotes:
“Normal is what you make of the cards fate hands you”
“Beautiful things shouldn’t be boxed. It eventually dims their light”
“She’s brave and resilient and can overcome anything”
“What if I can’t give you any fucking firsts, so I want to make sure I get a chance at being your last” 🥵
“The truth is scary sometimes, but it doesn’t make it any less real”
“Perhaps that was fine. Perhaps, I love your were meant to feel this big. To make you feel this makes. This exposed. So big you were terrified to hurt. So safe no one could touch you. Perhaps to love was to leave a mark. And perhaps I no longer wanted to run from that”
“It’s me you’re running to”😭

Elena Armas has done it again--this book went straight to the top of my favorite books of this year. It has all the classic rom com traits you could want: fake dating, sister's best friend, flirty banter, cute nicknames, and a love interest to salivate over.

In this sequel to "The Long Game," "The Fiance Dilemma" follows Josie and Matthew as they fake an engagement in response to a press scandal about her four failed engagements (yes, runaway bride style). Obviously, this is a rom com so it's a sexy love story, but it's also a story about self-love, friendship, and realizing what you deserve.

Honestly run, don't walk to get this book. The characters are lovable, the small-town vibes are cozy, and there's a teacup pig named Pedro Pigscal who is definitely an OG "Mosie" shipper. Need I say more?

I really wanted to love this book. I even preordered it as soon as it came out & received the ARC in May.

I usually breeze through romance novels. I put this one down so many times. It took me 5 days to finish. Everything that is important to the plot is rushed. Everything that's not drags on.

There's no character development for Josie. She is a clutz and pushover in an unbelievable way. This is basically the theme of the whole book. We don't get any insight or real explanation on why she ran 4 times from fiancés.

There's no build-up into the fake engagement plot. They just become fake engaged on the spot. And Matthew just goes with it? They barely know each other.

It would have made more sense if we understood their minds a little better. But the book was one terrible forced action after another.

It was so hard to finish. I love Elena's other books. The only part I liked here was the ending. Even if it made no sense how they go from virtual strangers to genuine lovers in 2 months with barely ANY real deep conversations aside from Matthew stepping in and protecting her because she couldn't do it herself.

Thank you, Atria Books and NetGalley, for providing me a copy for my honest opinion.

I'm a huge fan of Elena Armas's books, and I was unfortunately disappointed in this one. It took me quite a while to get into, and I wasn't left feeling as if my time spent getting there was worth it.

As much as I loved Josie (I highly identify with her quirks!), and the "Runaway Bride" vibe, I had a difficult time suspending my disbelief as to why Matthew would help Josie out the the blue. Regardless of his reasonings in the end, there was no clear, plausible reason for him wanting to go along with her plan for a good portion of the book. This made it very difficult for me to enjoy the other aspects.

I am sure other fans of Elena Armas will find this book lovely, but this was her first miss for me.

I really loved Armas’s first book and was tepid on the next two, but this one was really not for me.

The plot is..fine. I’ve seen better, I’ve seen worse.

The FMC is a frantic mess of a human who we’re expected to believe runs a town. And it takes way too long to learn anything of substance about the MMC. This book really would have benefited from dual POV as the couple’s chemistry was truly its best quality.

It could be that I just didn’t like the main character enough to understand her voice, but even the basic sentence structure was off-putting at times.

'The fiance Dilemma' follows Matthew and Josie as they navigate a pretend relationship that unexpectedly leads to genuine emotions. The story takes readers on a journey of discovering new family members and the complexities that come with it. While the plot is quite spicy, it keeps you hooked. However, the book could have been a bit shorter to maintain its pace. Overall, it's an engaging read with strong chemistry between the main characters.

“The Fiance Dilemma” by Elena Armas is an amusing and cute read that kept me thoroughly entertained from start to finish. With not a dull moment in sight, I breezed through this delightful story, appreciating the spice and the undeniable chemistry between the main characters.

Josie, a fun and quirky character, brought a lot of charm and humor to the narrative. Her dynamic personality made her a joy to follow, and her journey felt relatable and genuine. On the other hand, Matthew was an absolute delight, presenting green flags all around. His character was supportive, caring, and the perfect match for Josie, creating an amazing chemistry that was palpable throughout the book.

The plot centers around a fake engagement, a trope that I thoroughly enjoy. While the slow burn aspect of their relationship almost dragged at times, it ultimately made their connection feel more authentic and rewarding. The ending was particularly satisfying, creatively resolving the central conflict and bringing a smile to my face.

One of my favorite aspects of the story was the strained father-daughter relationship between Josie and her father. Josie’s realization that her father needs to work harder on their relationship was a poignant reminder that familial bonds, even those of blood, require effort and mutual respect. This theme adds depth to the story and resonates well with readers who may have similar experiences.

Additionally, the film references sprinkled throughout the book were a delightful touch, adding another layer of enjoyment for movie buffs.

Overall, “The Fiance Dilemma” is a heartwarming and engaging read, perfect for fans of romantic comedies and fake engagement stories. Elena Armas has crafted a charming tale with memorable characters and a meaningful message about family and relationships.