As a fan of Elena Armas’ other books, this book lived up to the hype and storytelling that was set up in The Long Game. I loved the small town romance, fake fiancé, and obsessed mmc tropes that made this book so fun to read. Genuinely made me tear up from happiness at the end, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

Another winner by Elena Armas! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read this fun, romantic, and charming book!
I loved the small town charm and characters of Green Oak, North Carolina, from the book The Long Game, so it was wonderful to visit this world again. The book centers on Josie, Adalyn's sister. After some entertaining hijinks Josie ends up asking Adalyn's best friend Matthew to pretend to be in a relationship and engaged to her, in order to help with PR with their famous father. Matthew willingly agrees and the two start a pretend engagement that leads to a real romance.
The book had heart, humor, and depth. Fake relationships are one of my favorite tropes. The book was a great slow-burn that was entertaining and enjoyable. Elena Armas' books always bring me joy to read. She's an author I always can't wait to read and never disappoints! I highly recommend this touching and cozy book!

So this is book two in the Green Oak series with the focus now being on Josie and Matthew. I really enjoyed The Long Game, so I looked forward to reading this one. I hate to say that it was a bit of a letdown for me. I felt like the fake engagement was SO rushed. It started immediately after they met for the first time, and it just didn’t land with me. I also wished we could’ve had more scenes with Josie and Adalyn since we didn’t really get anything with them after they found out they were sisters in the previous book.

Thanks as always to NetGalley for the ARC.

ARC review *book releases July 30th*

Elena Armas did it again... Matthew and Josie have such a good love story! I can't give away the ending, so I can't really say why I loved it so much, but just know that I love a man who is obsessed and unwavering,

Matthew is book boyfriend goals, The way he loved Josie was so beautiful. He saw her for who she really was and honored it, respected it, and supported it (when no one else in her life ever did). He unabashedly flirted and drew her in and I ate it up. The tension between him and Josie was such a slow burn, but my god it paid off,. I've never been more desperate for a kiss!!!! And don't hold it against Matthew that he's blonde okay? (Why do we hate on blonde guys anyway),

Josie has gotten to the altar 4 times in her life, but couldn't go through with any of them. And the famous father she never knew has resurfaced recently, giving her a spot in the limelight she never asked for. Now everyone is too interested in the runaway bride, and it's not a good image for her father. Too bad the PR person assumed Josie was engaged and decides its the perfect way to fix their predicament. But before Josie can correct her, Matthew happens to show up on her doorstep and Josie sees an opportunity. Through their fake engagement Josie ends up learning so much about what she wants and seeing what she deserves, mainly thanks to Matthew. She also can't resist him in his glasses,

Of course we got more of Adalyn and Cameron in this book too! If you loved their book, The Long Game, you will be super happy with their story line...

I usually prefer dual POV books, HOWEVER, Elena Armas does such a great job at making me feel the tension from the MMC still, and the single POV gave me everything I still craved.

Lastly, as a hopeless romantic, the ending was perfection for their story,

I loved the characters in The Fiancé Dilemma. Elena writes the greatest most lovable characters. Matthew and Josie are great. Love seeing a blonde MMC, I didn’t realize how much I missed Josie and her antics.

My biggest complaint is how choppy some parts of the book are.

Overall I loved the book. 4.5 stars from me!

Matthew and Josie are wonderful. Fake fiancé trope was on point. I liked we got to see Josie acknowledge and confront her fears, even though they were just meeting face to face the trust was already there.

I loved how Matthew stood up for her and gave her the bandwidth to deal with everything making sure he was always there.

Excellent read! Also it was great to read a snippet of Adalyn and Cameron’s future!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of The Fiancé Dilemma.

I loved this book so much! It has definitely become my favorite from Elena Armas.

Matthew and Josie were both such great characters. I loved the side drama from her dad but also the tiny teacup pig.

This is such a fun book, highly recommend!

Ahhhhh god, I loved this. I live for fake engagements. Matthew was an actual dreamboat. I can’t wait until this comes out so I can talk about it with everyone!!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really like this one. A bit slower of a start, but once I got invested, I really enjoyed it. Matthew was amazing! 4 out of 5! Thank you for letting me read it. I really appreciate it.

ELENA ARMAS NEVER MISSES!!! i so so so love armas's books so i was absolutely HONORED to receive an arc for her newest release! this story was unique with all my favorite cliches woven into that quintessential romcom feel, and armas's writing style is both the perfect blend of romance and comedy and is also so familiar and wonderful. i was obsessed with the characters and found myself rooting for them (or praying on their downfall) and the book itself was fast-paced and simply a FUN book. i loved seeing the character development/growth and i thought the way armas handled their conflicts was realistic and nice. so so so good and so excited to get my hands on a physical copy. this is by far my fave elena armas book! literally love her sm!!

fake dating trope. small town with the most eclectic cast of characters. he falls first.

for me, this was cheesiness overload. i enjoyed reading this over a few days, but nothing about the characters or the plot had me glued to the pages. the characters were likable and I especially liked the MMC Matthew, but I wanted to see more character development and the FMC Josie’s internal reckoning of her running/abandonment issues feel more satisfying.

Overall, a little cheesy, a little spicy and a little underwhelming, but a quick breezy read!

*this ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!*

“Perhaps to love was to leave a mark."
•

cutesy with a punch, The Fiancé Dilemma delivers with charm, heart, and sizzling chemistry. you’re sure to fall in love with josie, matthew, and their hilarious community.
•

this and that:
♡ always the bride, never the wife
♡ boss women
♡ boston boys
♡ chosen family
♡ city boy / small town girl
♡ engagement of convenience
♡ entrepreneurs
♡ fitting room rendezvous
♡ flirting with your fake fiancé
♡ goat yoga
♡ good girl
♡ grumpy grandpas
♡ he falls first and he’s obsessed
♡ jaw kisses
♡ lap sitting
♡ men in glasses
♡ newfound family member
♡ nicknames
♡ nightmare PR reps
♡ open door spice
♡ phone play
♡ runaway bride
♡ sister’s best friend
♡ slow burn
♡ small town
♡ smiles & smirks
♡ SOS messages
♡ sunshine / sunshine
♡ teacup pigs and other farm animals
♡ tottenham hotspur shoutouts (COYS!) ⚽️
♡ wildflowers
•

triggers:
☞ abandonment issues
☞ loss of a loved one
•

notable quotes:[
・“Those are the best things to fall in love with…The ones we find accidentally.”

・“You underestimate how much I love a good mess.”

・“Only a fool would wait when there’s something so precious to be claimed.”

・“There’s a ring on your finger. I don’t care about the specifics, for all practical purposes, it means we’re a team. We handle shit together. I don’t care if you can do it on your own. You shouldn’t have to.”

・“Do you have me wrapped around your pinky, Josie?”

・“We’ll hide behind your rules. I won’t break any until you ask me.”

・“Beautiful things shouldn’t be boxed. It eventually dims their light.”

・“Perfection is subjective.”

・"There’s nothing about you that needs fixing.”

・“The things I’ll do if you ask.”

・“Once I decide something’s mine, there’s no stopping me.”

・“No one could ever be mad at someone holding a pig that tiny.”

・“I knew this would happen. That I’d taste an inch of you and I’d want more. Everything.”

・“Do you trust me to keep you safe?”

・“It’s what makes it so beautiful. So unique. 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?”

・“I’m perfect for you.”

・“I can’t decide…I can’t decide how I want to have you.”

・“Smug looks pretty on you.”

・“I got you, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

・“Mine, Josie. You’re mine. Say you’ll have me.”

・“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have anyone else but you”

・“So what if it hurts a little? I’ll hurt if it makes you better.”

・“I only ever wanted you”

・“You want me to show you how much I fucking love you, then all you need to do is ask.”

・Perhaps, I love yous were meant to feel this big. To make you feel this naked. This exposed. So big you were terrified to hurt. So safe no one could touch you.

・Perhaps to love was to leave a mark.

・"maybe we don’t need to be whole to function, you know? Maybe we just need to learn to love who we are and let people around us love us for that, too.”

・Josie had always been Technicolor in my head. (hide spoiler)]
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thank you to atria books for an early copy of The Fiancé Dilemma!
—

2.5/5 ⭐️
Spiciness: 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to review this ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

General tropes/themes:
- First-person with a single point of view
- Fake dating/relationship
- Family drama

This book had me smiling and giddy a few times. I have not read The Long Game yet, and I will vouch that I would recommend reading that one first. This book references multiple events in the prior book, more than some romance series I have read previously. Matthew is a sweet guy and I liked his development throughout the book. It felt like a Hallmark movie.

If I am honest, I wanted to like the female main character (Josephine) more. She felt so entitled, basically demanding that someone acts as her fake fiancé within the first couple chapters. I had trouble getting into this book at first because of how Josephine approached this. I also could not really follow her thought process on a few decisions, so I really struggled to connect to this character, which was a bummer because I absolutely adored Matthew. He is one of those characters you know if totally fictional because he is just perfect and sweet and amazing. I think one of the other things I struggled with is that something would happen, and then the next chapter would immediately cut to a few days later, so there were multiple events I did not get closure on! I felt left wanting more.

Overall, there were elements of the book that I liked and I liked the overall writing style, but some of the plot just did not grab me.

"Runaway Bride" meets "27 Dresses" in this witty and delightful story, The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas. This contains weddings (of course), engagement of convenience/fake fiancé, he falls first, and a very intense complicated slowburn that will have you screaming “finally” yet blushing profusely! A perfect rom-com for the summer or autumn.

Ultimately, I loved this story and so many of its elements; I just didn’t love it as much as I’d have liked. But I hope they turn this into a film.

When I think of the fake dating trope, I will always think of “The Spanish Love Deception”. I would say this is Elena’s specialty, where she shines the brightest. I would say the same about this, but I felt the slowburn was really slow, perhaps too slow for my liking. he writing is as expected from Elena: very amusing, very cheesy, very spicy too! There was not a dull moment, I certainly was able to race through this one, and only set it down due to other commitments. The spice was chef’s kiss for all sessions in this book. The ending was so beautiful – and I cannot emphasise that enough (I will say no more, only that it was so tender and meaningful)!

I like that the page divider is the design on the ring. A Claddagh ring, Irish, with hands surrounding a heart with a crown on top. I like the symbolism behind Josie wearing it the wrong way: her life is, quite literally, turned upside down because of all this, and also they are “backwards” as they are not following the usual path of an engaged couple. Cue “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” by Tame Impala.
The writing style itself was interesting when it changed for the scenes with Sam and Nicks’ Filthy Reali-tea podcast (I love the name just as much as I love puns). This is laid out in the form of a script which adds an interesting layer to the narrative having the POV of two strangers on the internet. It also is rather fitting as, of course, these podcasters or any news agency follow scripts of their own.

Funny, goofy, awkward, a people-pleaser, I relate to Josie. Some of her character was annoying but it made sense from her abandonment and daddy issues. "being delusional enough to think I could manifest things was something I loved to do" – I feel extremely called out! Checking if Venus was in retrograde IS SO ME! Elena, please stop.
And Oh my goodness, Mattsie-Boo. Oh MY. It’s also the glasses for me, Josie, hehe. It reminds me of that Marilyn Monroe quote from Some Like It Hot: “men who wear glasses are so much more gentle and sweet and helpless” – but helpless this man sure is not! He has to be one of my favourite fictional men: he is so kind, patient, asks for nothing but gives everything, “funny, clever, often playful, brutally honest” (and brutal honesty is the best quality a man can have).

This only applies to the US version of the book cover (frankly, I love the style, the flowers and Josie’s purple dress but the UK version matches the other book covers so I am quite torn). The lineup of men on the front is misleading . It gives the wrong impression about the story because it implies:
ㅤ• all her exes would appear at some point (only one of them actually does, the rest are mentioned)
ㅤ• some of them would potentially want her back/become rivals for Matthew to fend off (this does not happen and is definitely a wasted opportunity, our man was doing everything else)

I thought this novel was absolutely adorable! It was such a fun easy read. I love the fake dating trope and this book delivered it perfectly! Definitely a must read

Cute sequel to The Long Game - MMC falls first, quirky FMC needs a fake fiance... you know what happens next :)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Such a good book! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

I've read every book by Elena Armas and I've loved each one of them but I'm a bit disappointed with this one, honestly.

I have loved The long Game, Cameron and Adalyn were perfect. I've said it once and I'll say it again, Cameron seemed a lot like Roy Kent from Ted Lasso and I've loved it some much. I needed more of them in The Fiancé Dilemma, honestly.

From the looks I got on both Josie and Matthew in the Long Game, I was really looking forward to this, but it kinda fell flat.

Fake dating and fake engagement is one my favourite trope, so when I got approved for reading this arch I was over the moon. But I don't know, the reason why they started this fake engagement was non-existant? I mean, there are many other books with many other better reasons to start a fake relationship. Saving your dad from a PR nightmare is not one of those. Especially since Josie just found out about his existance. Also, Matthew accepting it was a bit off? He didn't even know Josie. And, we don't have his POV so we don't really know what his thought process is.

I liked Matthew but his character was one dimensional and boring at first. Then he suddenly became possessive - which I didn't mind though - but again, without his POV was a bit weird to see him switch gear like that.

Josie's character kept talking about having daddy issues and four failed engagements/wedding, but there was no explanation on that, nothing. Still don't know why most of her engagements failed. Then she realises the problem was that she doesn't want to get married? I don't know, feels rushed, like there was no thought process here. No idea what brought her previous engagements to fail, it cannot just be because she didn't want to get married, or the engagements were broken before. Why did they? Why?!?!

The ending really saved this book for me. I found the initial pacing to be odd at times and scenes are somewhat skipped over, which I didn't really enjoy. Overall, I enjoyed the relationship development. I enjoyed the MMC to be more enjoyable the FMC, but that tends to happen sometimes. Their lack of communication together was pretty frustrating. It felt like MMC was already in love with her to begin with, which we always enjoy, but without his POV most of the book, it was hard to tell for sure where they stood. Grandpa Moe was probably my favorite character.

If you love a good love story with lots of laughs and a bit of messiness, then you'll want to check out "The Fiancé Dilemma" by Elena Armas. This book has it all: fake engagements, second chances, and some unexpected family drama.

Meet Josie Moore, who's had her fair share of failed relationships—four failed engagements to be exact. Just as she's dealing with her distant father's sudden interest in her life, she runs into Matthew Flanagan. Matthew's just lost his job and arrives in town, muddy and a bit lost, only to find himself mistakenly playing the role of Josie's fiancé.

Matthew is the kind of guy you'd want on your side. He's sweet, always there for Josie, and just gets how to make her feel special. Despite their engagement being just for show, their connection feels real. Matthew shows up just when Josie needs him, proving that sometimes, the right person might just be where you least expect them.

The story doesn't just focus on their romance. The small town of Green Oak feels like a character itself, filled with interesting people and cozy spots that add to the charm of Josie and Matthew's growing relationship. They banter, they care, and you can't help but root for them.

Elena Armas really knows how to keep things fun and engaging. "The Fiancé Dilemma" mixes humor with heart in a way that keeps you hooked from start to finish. It’s perfect for anyone who loves a feel-good romance that’s easy to get into.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of Elena Armas or just looking for a fun romance to dive into, this book is a great pick. It's all about finding love where you least expect it and the joy that comes from giving love one more chance.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Elena Armas for granting me this advanced review copy.

You can see a full review on my blog here: https://leylaslibrary.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/the-fiance-dilemma/