Matthew + Josie


I read The Long Game prior to this to give this novel full benefit of the doubt--I will say The Fiancé Dilemma was definitely better... however:

This story is about Josie (secret love child of the father from our FMC from The Long Game) and she is a serial fiancé--she has always been a bride, and never a wife (4 times!). She then finds herself accidentally signing up her sister's BFF (Matthew) to be her next fiancé (number 5!) when she is caught of guard by her father's PR rep (who is in town to try to smooth our her father's reputation).

Long story short--I thought the idea of this novel was a fun way for the fake-dating trope to commence, however I did not feel like it was well executed. The drama was ridiculous and unbelievable and I don't know how Josie thought she would get out of a wedding without just proving the press right by ending up with 5 failed engagements?!

The saving grace of this novel was Matthew Flanagan. Armas was able to write a BLONDE MMC that any reader could fall for! This story doesn't give a lot of chances for depth for him, but the way he is there for Josie throughout this whole story and how much he wants her is SWOON-worthy.

Read this book if you want:
+He falls first
+fake-dating
+small town vibes
+funny barnyard animals
+coffee shops and pies

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advanced copy of this book for review purposes, curtesy of NetGalley and Simon & Schuster. Much like Armas’ other books, this story is swoony and funny. It helped get me out of a reading slump and is a solid ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

The slow burn…the spice…this book was everything!! It took me a while to get into and finish, but I’m so glad I stuck with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Atria Books for this advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. I own her other three in paperback so I was super excited be choose to read this book early!!! Fake engagement turns into love. 💕 coming from a small town I always love the small town everyone knows everyone romance which makes the story even more fun!!

Josie is a vibrant character and loved her in The Long Game but even more so in The Fiance Dilemma. Matthew is a man after my own heart. Elena Armas is so good at creating characters that compliment each other

3.5/5 - I really really wanted to love it but something just never clicked for me. Josie and Matthew’s banter was fun and I enjoyed their nicknames for each other, and of course I loved having Adalyn and Cameron make appearances. It just felt like something was missing the whole time and I never fell in love with the story or characters.

“I fell in the love the minute I saw you… “

Josie is your favorite small town girl. Lovable, runs a coffee shop, and also happens to be the town Mayor. But she’s got a reputation…. For always being the bride.

Josie has been engaged not once, not twice, but FOUR times. Each time ending in a happily never-after… until Matthew.

Now wrapped in a PR stunt and a fake engagement, Josie must tackle not only her newly discovered daddy issues, but also her commitment issues as well.

Will she or will she not marry fiancé number five??

Review - I thoroughly loved this book! The back and forth of “will she marry him or not?”, kept you hooked! The development of Josie and Matthew’s relationship was done so well and kept you reading and wanting more. And the smut!!! Definitely worth a read and if it’s not on your TBR list, it is now!

In Book 2 of The Long Game series, Josie fakes an engagement to her sister’s best friend to avoid PR issues with her father who has recently come into her life. Josie is great at engagements…in fact she’s had 4 previous engagements which when uncovered on a podcast, becomes a new PR nightmare for all involved.

Characters are funny and like-able, especially Grandpa Mo (Maurice) but I think my new favorite rom-com leading man might just be Mathew Flanagan. He was so intuitive to Josie’s needs, said the right things, and of course had the sexy glasses vibe going on.

There were some emotional scenes that had me teary and the intimate scenes were pretty darn hot!

Looking forward to book #3. Will Robbie Vasquez find true love or maybe Grandpa Mo…Golden Bachelor season!

I got the ARC and couldn’t be more thrilled because this is one of my fave authors. I love her FMC’s, always, and this is no exception. While you can technically read as a standalone I’d highly recommend reading The Long Game first. Josie is too lovable a character to not have all that back story. The MMC is the epitome of “if he wanted to, he would”. If I had a complaint it would be that I wanted more. More love scenes and an epilogue

Elena Armas, the Queen of Slow Burn, has done it again! Matthew Flanagan is the ULTIMATE golden retriever book boyfriend. Returning to Green Oak was an absolute blast and I fell in love with Josie and Matthew. I was laughing out loud at the precarious situations they often found themselves. I was SWOONING many many many times over the things coming out of Matthew's mouth. The only thing I wanted, was more! More Matthew!!! The nods to Tangled, the subtle Taylor Swift references, and Josie's people pleasing tendencies made me think Elena used a crystal ball to look into my childhood and turn those things into a romcom!

I thought Josie & Matthew's story was predictable but SO cute! I enjoyed the backstory of her estranged father, her hilarious grandpa, and the podcast/radio show element. I enjoyed the author's writing, and this is the 2nd book I have read of hers. I also really loved the MCs connection and the spicy scenes. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I am getting this book 4 ⭐️’s I really thought that it would be a five star read, but unfortunately the third act brake up in the second to last chapter was not it for me. All and all aside from that I really enjoyed the book. I would like to thank atria paperback and ELENA ARMAS for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Let’s just get this out of the way: the premise is terribly unrealistic. All fake relationship tropes are. It is in the title of the book, so like, you can’t complain about that if it bothers you.

Now…let’s chat. I am new to the Elena Armas group. In the first book I read, my complaint was about the FMC and how she wasn’t super likeable. This book does not have that issue. Josie is adorable. She is hardworking, funny, embarassable, and so loving. I really enjoyed reading her story. She had a wild life even before the start of this book, and it was just really heartbreaking and entertaining and relatable. She is the uncringey definition of quirky, and I was here for it. And Matthew?!? Woah. I cannot appropriately convey how much I enjoyed reading a character like this. First of all, his love of food is so cute. I cannot get over him eating everything in her pantry and being jealous of some guy for getting muffins. Characters who like food seem 100x more real. Secondly, he is a goof in a good way. Seriously…twerking while setting up an event, having a man crush on his best friend’s man? Perfection. Thirdly, dude is sexy AF. Glasses and buff? Stahp. Fourthly, confident and open?!? Someone get me a fainting couch because I cannot trust my knees.
This story was so enjoyable and the ending?!? Ooof. It is without fail that there is a miscommunication or misunderstanding or failure to express feelings in books like these. It is the three-quarters break up or some rom com formula thing. This book?!?!? The three-quarters moment was FLAWLESS. I am in love with how that scene was written. I will think about it forever.

Anyway, I highly recommend. OBVIOUSLY.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me have an electronic advanced reader copy of this book. I am forever grateful.

Josie, having just learned her father’s identity, is now subject to a PR nightmare. Her love life has been rather “robust” - four engagements and no marriages. Now, with her new found father’s publicist on damage control. Josie claims a fake engagement to the nearest man - Matthew (the best friend of her newly found sister). Can Josie manage to put her past behind her and end this fake engagement without causing more damage?
I absolutely love “marriage of convenience” so I was excited to pick this up. Overall this was an enjoyable quick read. Josie’s character was a delight. However the pacing felt off to me for this one. Additionally, while Matthew is “attractive,” I felt there was missing character development. I wish this has been dual POV.

Absolutely adored this book! The character of Matthew was perfection and I loved his and Josie’s relationship.

This was pretty cute. I really liked Matthew and I wish we could have gotten more from him. Josie was ok but she seemed a little underwritten. I deeply hate surprise pregnancies in romance novels and I saw that plot point coming from a mile away but I'm just glad it was not the main point of the books. All in all, a fun read.

Synopsis 📚
When her long lost father contacts her for the first time ever, Josie Moore isn’t quite sure how to feel. She’s gone from small town mayor to the daughter of a millionaire in a matter of days. To make matters worse, the press and people on social media have started digging into Josie’s personal life. Soon enough, the whole country knows about Josie’s disastrous romantic history, her four failed engagements, and how she left each of her ex-fiancés at the altar. Safe to say that this newfound discovery is not doing wonders for Josie’s reputation or her father’s and things are going downhill… fast.

Which is why when Josie sees her sister’s best friend Matthew Flannagan standing in her front yard, her mouth works faster than her brain and Josie finds herself calling him her fiancé. Of course, Josie is mortified and is about to admit that she lied when she learns that this could be great for PR for her family. And it’s too late to back out of this lie so Josie and Matthew pretend to be engaged. They act like a love-struck couple for the cameras, participating in romantic photoshoots and interviews, and they play the role of a loving couple well. Perhaps a little too well… because Josie and Matthew step into the role even when they’re not on camera. As the days tick down to the wedding date, Josie and Matthew find themselves getting closer and closer… and maybe even falling in love?

Personal Thoughts 💭
This book was a literal gem. Comedy, romance, annoying reporters, it had it all! Matthew is probably my favorite character. He’s so iconic and hilarious. He’s a literal and figurative golden retriever and I loved his character immediately. He’s so supportive of Josie which I absolutely L.O.V.E! I will have to say though… it felt like the buildup to the romance was slow and then it went from 0 to 100 very quickly. It was a slow burn but a very enjoyable read. Would definitely recommend to any romance lover and anyone who loves the fake dating (in this case fake engaged) trope!!

I thought this read was a good romance! I think the characters were at times a little hard for me to be really interested in but I did enjoy the read.

This was a sweet single POV contemporary romance. There were times at the start it was a little slow, but it picked up well. I would've liked a bit more groveling from Andrew because he never suffered enough in either book, but that may just be that I'm out for revenge for Adalyn and Josie. Matthew was so sweet and I loved Grandpa Moe.

Oh my god Matthew Flanagan is LIFE. This is my new favorite book from Elena. I love a chaotic FMC with a golden retriever MMC to keep her grounded.