2.5 stars

ever since the spanish love deception ive been extremely reluctant to pick up another book by elena and that was for good reason! her writing style and plots are never for me! this could've been shorter, plus what is the obsession with making the fmc's so quirky and awkward! i definitely think this was better than sid by a landslide but it wasn't good enough to become a favorite of mine sadly. it was mediocre at best.

this is definitely for people in search of small town's, take dating/engagement, no third act (thankfully), and a very sunshine/sunshine couple. this was marketed as a standalone but i definitely think i should've read the long game prior to this since the characters overlap heavily and it did have me confused at first but this overall wasn't for me sadly.

thank you to netgalley and atria books for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

ok, so this was incredible! i pretty much highlighted everything matthew said and did because wowza!!! i didn't think elena armas could top her previous heros but i think she might have with this one; the angst, pining, and flirting made me squeal. do yourself a favor and read this when it comes out!!!

In this Fake engagement romance we follow Josie, our very quirky, outspoken, and wild female lead as she navigates her fifth engagement but this time to a man she’s never met in person. Her new sister’s best friend, Matthew. I absolutely loved everything about this. It was a little messy at the start but once he starts flirting boy does the romance heat up. The banter is funny and playful. I enjoyed how relatable Josie and Matthew are. Struggles with anxiety and disorder and opening up. What I loved most was there’s no miscommunication trope! Just honest thoughts and feelings about the anxieties they have. It was such a refreshing read! I can’t wait for everyone else to get to fall in love with Josie and Matthew’s story!

I know I am in the minority, but I just can't get into Elena Armas' writing. This is the second book I've attempted by her, and the second one I DNF'd. There's something about her writing that seems too gimmicky to me, even though the plot for this book--a fake engagement with the brother's best friend--sounds like it would be right up my alley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

MATTHEW!!! He may have jumped to the top of the list!!! What can I say he treated Josie right from start to finish. I loved the evolution of their relationship it was the perfect amount of waiting. I loveee Josie and she is honestly so relatable. Love love loved this read and so happy I was blessed with an arc!!

Miss Armas cranked up the humor even more in this novel. The family drama and tension reminds me of the Spanish Love Deception, which is my other favorite book by her.

Matthew and Josie's love story is tantalizing from beginning to end. From their humorous meeting to their happy ending, I didn't want to miss a beat. A lot of the same characters from The Long Game added a level of depth and enjoyment to this couples love story. From Grandpa Mo to Adalyn and Cameron, the community and family is heart touching through this couples ups and downs and all arounds.

Ultimately, I loved the little extra dirty spice added to this couples' relationship, which made it stand out from the rest. As I have come to realize, I can't wait to preorder Elena's next love story.

As a resident of small-town North Carolina, I was hoping to find a charming and relatable story in "The Fiance Dilemma." Unfortunately, this book missed the mark on multiple fronts, leading me to DNF.

First, the portrayal of the location was utterly unconvincing. The setting, the people, and even the distances between places felt completely fabricated. It's evident that the author did not have a firm grasp on the place she was trying to depict.

The premise of a fake engagement, while a popular trope in romance novels, felt particularly tired and uninspired in this context. Josie's character, with her quirky persona, failed to elicit any real sympathy or interest. Her motivations seemed shallow, and her actions often made no sense. Matthew, the fake fiance, was equally disappointing. His sudden willingness to go along with Josie's outlandish plan lacked credibility and made it hard to root for their relationship on its meager chemistry alone.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Rating: 4 stars

First, I would like to discuss this cover which is absolutely fantastic. If I had seen this on a shelf at the bookstore it would 100% be coming home with me. I love that the four ex-fiances are cast aside to the back because Mr. Matthew has entered the novel and they are no longer relevant.

For a quick summary, Josie (the sister of Adalyn who we meet in book one) has been engaged to be married a total of 4 times. As the newly revealed daughter of someone well known by the media, this track record of leaving men at the alter apparently reflects bad on daddy-dearest. So, when a PR specialist shows up on Josie’s doorstep, being pretty damn insulting about her “reputation,” Josie makes a split decision that changes her future and that of Matthew (Adalyn’s best friend) who happened to be walking by looking for his lodging, by introducing him as her fiancé. At first Matthew is opposed to the plan, but is pretty quickly on board and the two spend the duration of the book being “fake” engaged before realizing their true feelings for each other.

I found this to be a very fun read, but be warned it is a VERY SLOOOOOW burn. I liked the two characters on their own and together. I felt like we did get to see more of Josie than Matthew on a personal level but we are also in Josie’s head so that makes sense. But Matthew’s past was hidden for a lot of the story so I felt like I was missing a little bit of connection there. But regardless, I loved this glasses wearing man.

A major pro or me was the communication between the characters. I mean, it is to be expected if you are going to be pretending to be in a relationship. But I felt like they were comfortable with each other even though they had never met before, but they had learned about the other through Adalyn.

On the topic of Adalyn, she was basically absentee the entire book. That took away some points for me because I liked her and Cameron’s characters a lot. I didn’t expect them to be in every scene, but I definitely expected to see more of them based on their interactions in the last book. I think that is something major I would change about this plot which made their connection feel a little off. Josie is Adalyn’s friend and sister, and Matthew is her best friend and both are friend’s of Cameron’s, so how did they almost never talk (and I know there is a reason mentioned in the book but it is not enough for it to make sense to me). This may have also added to Matthew’s character more if we were able to learn about him through Adalyn or see their interations more.

Overall, definitely a fun read and I would recommend if you like small town romance, fake dating/relationship, slowburns and/or men in glasses :)


Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review!

Before I get into this book, can we just take a minute to appreciate this cover!!!! The purple is stunning and with the flowers, it just looks so beautiful!! I would say that this is my favourite Elena Armas book cover.🫶🏼

Josie, who is the sister of Adalyn from The Long Game, is the daughter of Andrew Underwood, a very rich and famous man. While Josie has been living her entire life in a smalltown, her father, who she did not know of, was enjoying a luxurious life in Miami. She’s been living a quiet life, until the press suddenly finds out all about her and her past. Now everyone in the media is scrutinizing her, including the fact that she’s been engaged four times. The press have dubbed her “the runner” because each engagement ended before the weddings even happened. Since her father is a famous man, all of Josies secrets coming out is harming his reputation. In order to solve this PR crisis, Joise pretends to be engaged once again, but this time to her sisters best friend, Matthew. With the lie spiraling out of control, Matthew reluctantly agrees to play along with the charade.

I enjoyed this book! It was such a fun read. I was laughing so much while reading this especially during the first few chapters. I got to say, my favourite character is Grandpa Moe. I wish he was real, because that man has the grumpiest and funniest personality and I love it! There were so many cute moments throughout this book and I have so many favourite scenes (which I will keep to myself because they will spoil the book for you if you haven’t read it). I really like Matthews and Josies characters. Matthew is such a sweet talker and the perfect man. That man makes Josie feel so special and some of the things he said... SWOON WORTHY! We also got some Josie and Matthews scenes that were HOT! Overall, such a cute and hilarious story which just felt so refreshing for me.

Honestly I just had a great time reading this book! It felt so nice to be reading an Elena Armas book again! :)

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an early copy!🫶🏼

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!