Josie already had four weddings before she met Matthew. Well, sort of. Every time Josie gets close to walking down the aisle, she bolts. And when her long-lost father suddenly faces a PR firestorm, Josie needs a way out and quickly. Enter Matthew (literally) who gets roped up in pretending to be Josie’s fiance. But as the wedding day approaches, feelings start to get a little too real.

Nobody does fake dating quite as well as Elena Armas. From the banter to the situations to the side characters, everything is done to perfection. I loved the hilarious situations Matthew and Josie managed to find themselves in and how the rest of the town reacted to them. Matthew and Josie have incredible chemistry and consent was always clear. Matthew understood Josie in a way no one else seemed to, and I adored watching their connection blossom.

The major issue with this novel is the lack of real conflict. Josie has to reason to help her father since he’s never interacted with her. Matthew doesn’t have a reason to agree to be Josie’s fake fiance. They had no reason to lie to Cam and Adalyn. The whole story could’ve been solved in the first ten pages if Josie simply told her father no, though I am rather glad that she didn’t since I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the novel.

What the story lacked in conflict, it made up for in heart. Like every Elena Armas book, <i>The Fiance Dilemma</i> will have you squealing and turning red within the span of a few pages. I laughed constantly, cried a little, and fell in love with the characters each time I picked up the novel. Armas captures the perfect combination of swoon-worthy and serious, creating romances that feel grounded in the real world and yet effortlessly dreamy. Matthew and Josie have sizzling chemistry that is sure to draw readers in until the very last page.

Josie has recently discovered she is the daughter of an american soccer mogul, and like all of us, she has her past. She has been engaged 4 times - and ran from the altar every time. When the press finds out about her very public engagements, it becomes a PR crisis to be dealt with by her father’s team. The solution? Enters sweet dreamy steamy Matthew. On a roundabout way, she pretends to be engaged to her sister’s best friend to make the crisis go away.

Now onto my opinions on yet another Armas soon-to-be favorite: The Fiancé Dilemma is on the same universe as Armas’ last novel, The Long Game. Though I loved the characters on this new universe (Josie, Grampa Moe and Matthew are the sweetest!), I’m not sure it was the version I got, but from mid-end the development of the story and relationship felt a bit rushed. I don’t love this new universe as much as I loved TSLD and TARE, her previous characters. The steam in this second “series” is not for me. Overall liked it very much - it is still Elena de Armas and very worth the end of summer read - I’d give this one a 4/5 stars. If you’re a fan, definitely pick it up!

This friends-to-lovers, fake-engagement novel will likely delight fans of Armas’ other novels, especially The Long Game, but ultimately missed the mark for me. While overall it felt a bit kitschy and Josie’s personality was too chaotic for me, there were moments of true romance, pure sweetness, and serious spice that did help to redeem the story.

Matthewwwww omg. 😫🥹 What a perfect man. I cannot even count how many times I found myself saying to anyone and everyone around me, “omgggg this man!” “Omggggg stoppppp”. At one point I put down my kindle and explained the whole story and how much I love a good fake fiancé trope, to my nine year old. She looked at me like I was nuts, but one day she will understand… 😆 He was such a cinnamon roll but in such “take charge” manly kind of way. Swooooooon 🥰

The book was charming and cute and definitely gave 90’s rom-com vibes, but in the best possible way. However, believe me when I say, this is the slowest of slowwwwww burns. I was dyingggg to get to the… good stuff, if ya know what I mean. 😉 As much as I was “oooo-ing” and “awww-ing” I was also yelling “Just kiss her, already!!!!!” …. That’s right my friends, kiss her! I was at about 60%+ before even a KISS! I was starting to worry, but eventually there was spice. 😮‍💨

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Romance 🩷🩷🩷
Spice 🌶️.5

Another fun read from Elena Armas. While you don't have to read the Long Game (first book in this series) to understand whats going on, I did appreciate knowing who these characters are and the history behind them. Armas builds character dynamics so well, she really pulls you in and wanting more. The chemistry between the main characters as great, and I always love when one of the main characters is so awkward, but you cannot picture them any other way. Even with the far fetched scenarios, I enjoyed the book very much. While we see so much of Josie's perspective in this book, it would have been interesting to see what Matthew would have "said" or "viewed" the situation - I feel like this would have made for an interesting dual POV. Great beach read.
Thanks to NetGalley, Elena Armas for the arc! (4.5 stars)

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the premise and was immediately hooked within a few pages. The cuteness was too good not to like. This was a fun, easy read, that catches you by the feels. I’ve already recommended this to half of my coworkers. I look forward to reading more titles by this author!

I'd like to start off by saying this is my first read from Elena Armas. I didn't read the first book in the Long Game series, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary for this story to make sense.

From the very first chapter, it's pure chaos, and it's seems to follow that theme throughout the book. When a pushy new PR rep shows up, Josie starts off the story with a HUGE lie about her "new engagement" to her sister's best friend, Matthew. This news also throws Matthew completely off-guard during his first ever meeting with Josie. As I said before - pure chaos.

From a fake engagement to daddy issues, there's all kinds of drama going on in Josie's life. All eyes are on her as she navigates a new relationship with her dad while also jugging the public's opinion regarding her "new engagement" after 4 previously failed engagements. All I have to say is that I LOVE MATTHEW! He is an absolutely dream and so patient with Josie's ever growing scheme. Grandpa Moe also adds some excellent humor and fun to this story.

While I did very much love Elena's writing style, I don't think this book is perfect. There are a lot of far fetched scenarios, which I normally wouldn't mind, but it just seemed that Josie was digging her hole deeper and deeper without an actual resolution in sight. Everything she did only contributed more to the problem she was trying to get out of. While I did enjoy the end of the story, the middle seemed to be quite repetitive and lacked substance. However, I do think it was a fun read and I'd definitely pick up another book by this author in the future!

Overall, I really enjoyed the book, but it didn’t seem to drag out. The story was cute and the characters were enjoyable and connectable, but felt the story dragged out and I found myself skimming some of the pages.

I am hereby declaring Elena Armas to be my favorite romance author! As with all of her other novels, I devoured The Fiance Dilemma. I was so happy to be back in the world of The Long Game - I want to be part of this friend/family group (we all need a Grandpa Mo in our lives!). I loved the main characters and their chemistry - Elena Armas is a master of funny dialog and relationship building. I think readers are going to fall in love with Matthew; he is completely charming and lovable. Josie is goofy and awkward, and I love that in an FMC. Their relationship is a very slow burn, but it's definitely worth the wait.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I was so excited to read Josie and Matthew's love story! I knew from reading "The Long Game" that they would make the perfect couple, but I didn't expect the "fake relationship" trope to be the mechanism for their falling in love.

They became fake fiances then real friends before eventually settling for their happy ever after as a couple. I love that their foundation was built on trust and wanting the best for each other.

I also appreciated the *tiny* redemption arc for Andrew. I still don't like him by any means, but I appreciate that it was shown that he is at least trying to mend his relationship with his daughters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

cute, light beach read
another one of Armas (the other being the first in this romance series) that I felt the relationship was rushed with not enough build-up.
I also would have appreciated Matthew's PoV.

✨ARC Review✨
There is so much I want to say about this book. First off, I had a really shitty few days and The Fiancé Dilemma was the first book I picked up afterward. It was exactly what I needed to laugh and swoon and forget my troubles for a few hours.

Josie is sweet and a people-pleaser x 1000. Honestly, that made me a little nuts. Like, just say no! But I get it- some people aren’t like me and the “no”s are harder to come by. Also, if she had the ability to say no from the get-go, we wouldn’t have this book which I mostly adored.

Matthew is…he’s actually perfect, I think. He’s hot af, smart, kind, and a mix of a dirty-talking cinnamon roll/golden retriever/kinda possessive type. It all worked really well.

Look, I’ll be honest- there’s not much Elena Armas writes that I don’t love. The extra people-pleaser in Josie is one of those things, but I think that’s a “me” issue. This book ultimately made me so happy during one of the bleakest times in my life and for that, I am eternally grateful.

#romance #contemporaryromance #smalltownromance #friendstolovers #cinnamonrolls #josieandmatthew #elenaarmas #thefiancedilemma #netgalley #atriabooks #arc

I literally read this book in the span of 24 hours because it was THAT GOOD!!

Elena Aramas has done it again.

I am actually obsessed with Matthew Flanagan. I don’t usually laugh out loud at books but between him and Grandpa Moe I was actually cackling at certain points. Not to mention he’s just swoon-worthy? And….👓

Josie is such a relatable character (at least to me) and I really connected with her. She moves through life with the best of intentions even though it backfires regularly and all she wants is to make everyone around her as happy as possible. Watching her growth throughout the book was really incredible and I love her dynamic with Matthew sooooo much. Also the spice was a 9/10.

Loved it. Loved them. Loved Pedro Pigscal. Loved it.

Thanks to Atria Books for giving me the chance to read this ARC!

Wholesome. Read this book with a smile on my face for 90% of it. A great romance, feel good book. Another home run for Elena!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC!

I enjoyed this sequel to the Long Game. I might even like it more than the first. You can read it without having read the first book, but the context in the family dynamics would definitely help navigate this one.

It has the slow burn and fake dating shenanigans you can expect from Elena Armas but I enjoyed the PR dating twist. The ending was unexpected but really sweet. And Matthew was so endearing and I appreciated how steadfast he was throughout!

I have a few questions left over particularly around Josie’s relationship with her dad but maybe they’ll be answered later? Or maybe it’s supposed to be open ended?

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my god. I was not ready for Matthew and Josie. We met them in Armas' last book but I still was not ready for their story. I have SO many highlighted passages. When I wasn't smiling I was just thinking "oh my god" (seriously, my first thought when writing this was to just write "oh my god" and leave it at that because I was at a loss about how to put how much I loved it into words). 

Josie and Matthew are both unapologetically themselves so it makes sense that their story would be chaos in the best way possible. In an attempt to solve a PR problem for her dad, Josie ropes Matthew (her newfound sister's best friend) into being her fake fiance (her 5th fiance if you want to get into the details). Things quickly get messy as they tend to do when it comes to fake dating. 

Matthew is sort of the ideal book boyfriend. He embraces Josie for who she is. He's sweet but can be spicy. He's protective without being too smothering. I don't want to spoil anything but he’s pretty great.

I really love Armas's writing style and now I'm stuck trying to figure out if this is now my favorite book of hers (or The Spanish Love Deception).

Bonuses: Adalyn and Cam make an appearance! Plus, there's a mini pig named Pedro Pigscal!

Thank you so much to Net Galley for this ARC! I recently read the first book in the series, “The Long Game,” and while it wasn’t a major favorite, I was curious as to how the second book would go down.

After much consideration, I have decided to rate it a 3.5/5 or upgrade to a 4/5 depending on how sites let me review books. I preferred this one over the first in the series. I feel like I could relate to Josie and some of the struggles she has faced.

In regard to why I’m not ranking it any higher, I guess I just kind of hoped for something more. It was definitely a cute story, but there are still some things I feel like were left unsaid and some things I think could have been left behind. While I cannot think of everything that happened at the top of my head, I do think this book could become (I apologize if this becomes offensive) forgettable. And by that, I mean that I read over 100 books in a year, and frankly, only the best of the best really stand out. This book had quite a bit of cliches and a little too much spice (in my opinion, I’m more of a fade to black girlie). Ultimately, it’s hard to remember books like this. However, I do think a lot of people will enjoy this book. I certainly did, it just isn’t a major favorite of mine.

Thanks again Net Galley!

3.5 stars. I really wanted to absolutely love this book and there were parts that were so amazing but overall it was lacking. I needed more depth, more history it just seemed unfinished! Honestly though Matthew 1000/10 love him so much. His character was so perfect! Overall if you read the long game then you should totally read this book! Fake engagement, forced proximity, he falls first, small town romance, sister’s best friend.

This was an adorable small town romcom with an obsessed MMC. Matthew is such a dreamboat and I loved the dynamite between him and Josie. I had to suspend my disbelief a bit for the premise of the fake engagement, but all in all I really enjoyed the story.

Tbh this lives at a 3-3.5 for me but I don’t typically like fake engagement/marriage so I’m rounding up because I know that plays a huge bias.

Mostly I feel like Josie’s personality just swallowed everything. I loved her, don’t get me wrong, but her light seemed to dim Matthew’s instead of shining together. I got hints of his personality through Adalyn talking about him but that’s…it. No indirect characterization for me to see him come to life until the last few chapters when he finally found his inappropriate jokes and filthy mouth that Adalyn jokes about.

I had to go back to read to see if I missed a chapter or parts because it had me in whiplash of how they fell so fast and how Matthew just got roped into everything.

It’s a cute story and I like how it ended…that marriage shouldn’t be a box you just check off. Although kind of weird and doesn’t track since Josie is supposedly all into “magic” and things like that and yet ??

I would have LOVED this as a dual POV novel. I think that gives more depth and complexity to fake engagement tropes.