Josie has had multiple engagements, but it’s never worked out. Her rich absent father comes back into the picture when he decides to retire and a magazine publishes information about Josie’s failed relationships. His PR rep meets with Josie to do damage control. She panics and sees Matthew, her best friend’s brother and introduces him as her fiancé. Will they go from fake dating to tying the knot?

Thanks Net Galley, Elena Armas, and Atria for the ARC! Pub date 7/30/24!

I'm sorry for what I'm about to do here, but it has to be done.

I find this book a little baffling. I enjoyed The Long Game and meeting both Josie and Matthew and the book that was clearly being set up between the two of them. The thing is, though, that if you are going to do a book with fake dating/fake fiance then there has to be a good reason for it. Josie seemingly feels the need to enter into this arrangement because she is worried about...checks notes...ruining the PR of her absent millionaire father who she just learned about. And Matthew? There is literally no reason given for him taking it as far as he does. It's sincerely baffling. I think this book would have benefited from being dual pov because even after finishing it, I have no idea who Matthew is. He wears glasses, he's hot and he is from Chicago.

And Josie. I'm not sure I've ever been acquainted with a more grating character. I think Armas means for her to come across as like...small town quirky? Instead she comes across as naive and silly. She is explicitly told, don't talk to the press. What does she do? immediately talk to the press. This isn't a book. This is a series of inexplicable story beats like, goat yoga and talking about a chicken because these are things people do in small towns I guess. There's no falling in love, there's just the inexplicable decision to enter into a fake engagement that escalates to literally a fake wedding with no one stopping at any point to question what is about to happen or put a stop to it all.

It is introduced that Josie has had four previous fiances. And you know what? This is never really talked about. Who are these people!? how does she have five fiances before she's 30? She also has kept the rings and dresses for all of them and in one scene, we are told she is going to tell Matthew about the dresses and then it like...FADES TO BLACK? This is important! Why would you withhold from the reader all this backstory? Isn't it important??

At multiple points in this book, it is pointed out that Josie perhaps is not only naive but also maybe has some root, daddy issues. This is never delved into meaningfully in any way despite the fact that it is glaring. Again...a BAFFLING choice.

This is a weirdly slow burn for a book that becomes borderline supernatural at the end with all this bs about soulmates.

I'm not trying to be mean. I wanted to like this book. I've enjoyed Armas' other offerings but this entire book from top (why would she think jam would work to get a ring off? Why was she trying on her rings anyway) to bottom made me so angry that it actively put me in a bad mood today. I should have dnf'd this book, but I was hoping I would get some clarity and instead I am leaving more confused.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a big fan of Elena Armas' other books, I was super excited when I found out that I was receiving an arc of this title! The Fiance Dilemma takes place shortly after The Long Game, which I had recently read.
Matthew, best friend of the previous female protagonist, moves to the same small town after getting laid off at work in Chicago. Upon stumbling into a fake engagement to his friend's half-sister, Josie, who is trying to avoid a major PR crisis, Matthew realizes that this might be the life he's been looking for. Josie, on the other hand, is ridden with anxiety over the arrangement. Her various past engagements have never ended with her walking down the aisle, and this one is about to be no different. Unless she and Matthew decide to stay together after all.
I really enjoyed getting to see Matthew and Josie have a happy ending. In The Long Game, it's revealed that Adalyn and Josie are half-sisters, but both have been treated poorly by their father in the past and are deserving of a fairytale romance of their own. The entire time I was rooting for Josie!
Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is that it does play into one of my least favorite romance book tropes: the third act breakup. Instead of having some unnecessary fight that has me arguing with the main character out loud about how silly they are being, Armas opts to skip the miscommunication and irritation.
All in all this feels like such a classic for romance lovers who are looking for their next read. As we transition out of the summer season, consider making this one of your last beach day pick ups.
Thanks Netgalley for this arc copy!

"The Fiance Dilemma" is companion to "The Long Game," which was about a sports heiress who finds love in a small North Carolina town. In "Dilemma," spunky mayor/diner owner Josie has to find a fake fiance in a hurry. She has a long lost father who is coming to town and her previous four broken engagements is making some truly bad press for him. She finds a faux fiance in relatively stranger Matthew. (Who is her long lost sister's best friend; admittedly, I love the soapy backstories to Armas's books.) "The Finace Dilemma" is much in the same vein as "The Long Game," and I do feel like by the end it's a very good romance. Much like in "Game," the early chemistry between the main couple struggles. The sparks don't really spark until midway. But the town is endearing and fun and everything works out in the end. Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy!

3.5
The Fiancé Dilemma is book 2 of the Long Game series, however it can be read as a standalone. I haven't read the first book and there was nothing lost as a reader that was related to the storyline, there could have been little Easter eggs that I missed but nothing important. It's a sweet romance book with small town vibes. Josie and Matthew get fake engaged chaotically and conveniently to help out her dad's PR team...after all she's been engaged 4 times previously.

This book is slooowwww burn and I did find myself bored at times while reading, but there were some funny parts too. Matthew was the perfect golden retriever man and I would have loved to get his POV in this book. That one element would've resulted in a higher rating from added depth of character and it would've built the romance. Josie was described as independent, but yet she felt as though she owed her father and wanted to please him and everyone else it seemed. The personality of the character was somewhat contradicted in that way and I didn't like that everyone just stepped all over her and she went with it. I wanted more romance, more believability in situations, and more relationship depth between the various characters. Overall it was an easy and quick read for the summer.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Elena Armas for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Josie is the mayor of a small town. Her father, who just appeared in her life after being absent for her entire existence is Andrew Underwood, a high profile businessman in Florida. He sends his PR rep Bobbie to the small town to make sure that Josie (and him) gets positive media attention. While meeting with Josie, Bobbie assumes she's engaged. In a panic, Josies does not deny the misunderstanding and makes it worse when she just happens to see Matthew, her sister's BFF as he rolls into town and ropes him into pretending to be her fiance. Matthew, exhausted from a long trip and in no condition to protest, plays along.

Instead of clearing the mess the next day, Josie doubles down and convinces Matthew to go along with it to not upset Bobbi and her father. As they pretend to be engaged and go through the motions of planning a wedding, they grow closer and Matthew becomes her calming presence and strong voice when she needs it. She also finds herself falling for him but with the fake wedding approaching, will they be able to walk away or go through with it and stop pretending.

Overall a cute story but I was missing something. The first part of the book, Josie was essentially bullied into an engagement from Bobbie. Bobbie was annoying and crass and Josie didn’t stand up for herself at all— I'm not a fan of books with weak characters who just sit there and or agree to things they don't really want. Just say no! Thank goodness for Matthew. He stood up for her and gave her a voice. I loved that he defended her and told Bobbie to back off at times. Matthew was so kind and supportive and just what she needed to get through this charade. I know Bobbie was supposed to be an annoying character but it was more annoying that Josie allowed her to walk all over her and get into this mess. She didn’t work for you, she worked for Andrew, your dad, who is trying to get a better image for himself. Just say NO! I did enjoy it when she finally started to put her foot down but it was a little too late for me.

Another plot that I thought could have been explained more was the fact that Josie is a runaway bride, with 4 failed engagements and zero trips down the aisle to show for it. I would have liked more background on what happened to each fiance to understand her more and give background as to what made her skittish instead of just chalking it up to “daddy Issues”. The podcast, which was clever, could have came into play more with them deep diving each engagement to explain what happened without her having to explain to Matthew herself.

Although I thought this book was just ok, I’d take Mathew as leading man any day of the week!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this book’s digital advanced review copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book through a digital ARC from NetGalley
Author: Elena Armas
Genre: Romance
Troupe: Fake Relationship/Engagement

The Fiancé Dilemma is the second novel in the Long Game series, although it can be read as a standalone. As I have not read the first novel, I read it as a standalone and was able to understand everything okay. There was a foundation between the characters that seemed to be missing, but without reading the other novel, it was difficult to tell if this would be fixed. This story follows Josie Moore, who is the sister of the main character from the first novel. They are the daughters of Andrew Underwood, who owns the Miami Heat soccer team. Now that Andrew is retiring, Josie’s past of being unlucky in love with multiple broken engagements may be coming back to haunt her. Due to a misunderstanding with Andrew’s PR strategist, Matthew Flannagan ends up posing as a fake fiancé to Josie.

This novel was a great take on the movie, The Runaway Bride, as you have a main character who believes in love but has difficulty following through with a walk down the aisle. Like the movie, the novel relies on the “spectacle” of getting engaged but not having follow-through. It does not get very deep into the reasons behind it except for a brief moment of clarity. When you mix that with Josie’s complicated relationship with her absentee father, the basis for her decision to have Matthew play the role of a fake fiancé, it seems there are some details missing. I understand the outline of the story to have events occur a certain way, but the reasoning for Josie to cooperate to help her father seemed flimsy to me. If you just take the novel at face value, you have a nice and enjoyable romance. Josie and Matthew share some great chemistry and I love the concept of a runaway bride-type scenario played out in a new way. Overall, I think this novel needed more details to make it feel complete, but it was still a good read.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Atria Books, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

⭐️: 5
🌶️: 4

💜 small town
💜 fake relationship
💜 he falls first
💜 slow burn

I knew from the first page that this would be a 5 star read for me because Elena Armas never lets me down. As usual, the characters were absolutely wonderfully written. I could hear Josie’s inner monologue in my head as if they were my own thoughts. Both Josie and Matthew were incredibly relatable and I never once questioned their intentions, I just simply couldn’t wait for the slow burn to set aflame (seriously, it was slow but oh so delicious).

This book was well worth the wait and I am sad that I devoured it as quickly as I did, because I didn’t want it to end.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️= open door, multiple scenes, descriptive

📚Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and Elena Armas for the ARC of The Fiancé Dilemma.

4.75 stars

Ok ok ok I love this one a lot! The slow burn was exquisite with the tension just building with teasing happening. Then you had the fun back and forth and the whole fake fiancé situation! I loved every second.

I completely fell in love with Matthew. He was funny, cute, sweet and gah the way he just adores Josie. Melted my heart. He was so protective too and had a wonderfully dirty mouth 😏
Josie is a people pleaser and definitely wanted to avoid confrontation and conflict, so when she starts to remember who she is and shows her backbone I was cheering! I loved her quirkiness and the way she starts falling for Matt. They were just so great together and had some amazing chemistry. Like I said it’s a slow burn, but there is still steam slowly unfurling the whole time. I loved it.

So many other wonderful characters that you get back from the last book! I just loved how this story flowed and the problems that came up and the resolution to everything!

✨The Fiancé Dilemma by @thebibliotheque

Blonde hair, glasses, great ass, and from Boston? Say less, Matthew, say less 😮‍💨

Elena Armas, the queen of the slow burn, killed it again with The Fiancé Dilemma. Matthew and Jodie have the sweetest love story that even Josie doesn’t fully know until the end when Matthew lets us all in on the first time Adalyn (The Long Game) told him about Josie.

Josie, the real life runaway bride, finds herself thrust into the public spotlight after finding out who her father is. After a surprise visitor shows up at her door, and another wanders by, she pulls Matthew into a fake engagement. One that starts to feel a little too real.

Read if you like:
💕 BDE but for his ass
💕 daddy issues
💕 steamy distractions
💕 meddling side characters


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️

Josie falls for Matthew after they engage in a a fake dating relationship and are fake engaged. It was funny and such a great read. I loved it.

"The Fiancé Dilemma" by Elena Armas is a fun and sweet small-town romance, though it didn't fully connect with me. The story revolves around Josie and Matthew, who enter a fake engagement to help Josie's family's PR. While I enjoyed the characters' dynamics and the slow-burn romance, the plot felt a bit far-fetched.
Matthew's character was well-developed, and his evolving relationship with Josie was engaging. The podcast subplot was a distraction and i didn’t think it was so important for the overall story.
Overall, it's a light and enjoyable read, especially if you love the fake engagement trope and small-town settings. While it wasn't my favorite, fans of the author’s work might still enjoy this charming, albeit unrealistic, romance.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy, opinions are my own

If you’re already an Elena Armas fan, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re new to Elena Armas and love a good rom-com? You also won’t be disappointed!

Is it appropriate to just scream as a review because that’s all I want to do. Truly enjoyed this book and all the quirks that the FMC had (don’t we all? She was too relatable for me not to love her!). And the MMC!?! No words. He’s definitely on my list of “fictional men who could totally pass as realistic and I wish he was real”. You know how some MMC are just WAY over fantasized and you’re like “he could never be real, but I love him anyway”. Not this one :)

**Thank you to Atria Books for giving me an arc of this book**

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This was a delightfully funny and sexy novel. I think it may be Elena Armas's best book yet!! I loved the chemistry between Josie and Matthew and I loved the twist on the fake dating trope that this book employs.

This book is a sequel to the Long Game but you don't necessarily need to read that book in order to enjoy this book. It is semi-standalone.

This book is most definitely going on my list of favorite books of 2024. I also highly recommend the audiobook version of this book!

This book is a laugh out loud funny and sexy novel that will be sure to brighten your day!

—


Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

********


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I really enjoyed this story. There is humor throughout even through some of the more difficult moments. These characters draw you in and make you want to know more. The family trauma bits and dealing with grief was super relatable.

I love a good fake dating storyline and this one was amazing. The sister best friend bit was also fun. I was happy with most of the ending even though some of it was predictable.

Thank you to netgalley for my eARC copy of this book.

Happy pub day 😻 thank you to Atria Books and Elena Armas for the ARC!

“Beautiful things shouldn’t be boxed. It eventually dims their light.”
3.5-4 stars (for now) which is no easy feat!! Of course there were a few times I cringed, of course the characters had weird qualities, and I had to read TikTok brainrot, buttt the romance was overall cute & sweet. The tension carriedddd I loved it. I really enjoyed this lovely book and can’t wait to reread!

Book Synopsis: High-profile family drama leads to a fake engagement between Josie and her sister’s best friend, Matthew. Sweet and steamy rom com joy ensues.

🥰 My Take: The characters in this book are such a delight. Especially Matthew. Wow, he is such an amazing character. Both his persistence and his words are so memorable and so beautiful. And, Josie, well, she is such a wonderfully relatable mess. This is a quick read and a standalone novel, though it does feature character cameos from THE LONG GAME.

Read THE FIANCÉ DILEMMA for
🥸 Fake dating shenanigans
💗 Cinnamon roll hero
🕵️‍♀️ Soul-searching heroine
🏘️ Small town community
🎭 Family drama

😘 Happy pub day to one of my favorite authors, @thebibliotheque ! Still pinching myself that I was approved to read this gem early. Thank you @AtriaBooks and @NetGalley for the advance ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Another great Elena Armas book! It has a cute rom-com feel, love the chemistry between the two main characters. Josie has bad luck in the dating department, she’s been engaged 4 times. Unfortunately this doesn’t help with her new information that she shares a father with her newfound friend Adalyn. Her father owns a soccer team in Miami, however press has gotten wind of this new found relationship. Suddenly, Josie finds herself in the middle of drama and what does she do to try to fix it? Well here comes Mathew, Adalyn’s best friend who’s in town after leaving his job. Josie lies about being in engaged to Mathew to try to help her image. Mathew is reluctant to go along but is given no choice once the entire town and the press finds out.

I would definitely recommend reading this book if you’ve read the first one about Josie’s sister Adalyn.

I received this book from NetGalley and gave my honest review.

Josie Moore is living her best life in Green Oak, North Carolina. She is the town mayor and runs a local coffee shop. She is beloved by everyone in the town. She is strong and independent. And everyone knows that she’s engaged to be married.

Josie isn’t, really. Not this time. This time her engagement is fake. It was a impulse based on the fact that her father’s PR rep appeared suddenly on her doorstep, needing some good news to counteract how Josie had become a media liability to her father. Andrew hadn’t been a part of her life, but he’d had a short relationship with her mother. He is an important, wealthy businessman in Florida, and a year ago he had admitted to Josie that he was, indeed, her father.

Just like that, Josie was a part of her father’s world (although not too closely, since he didn’t take the time to go back to North Carolina to see her in person). That meant she also had a sister, Adalyn, who had come to Green Oak on a assignment from her father. And it meant Josie had also became a part of the news stories about him, the paparazzi digging into her background without any consent from her. That’s how it became part of the story that Josie had been engaged four times, and never been married. She just kept leaving them at the altar.

That article brought Bobbi to her front porch, to fix the PR problem that is Josie. Josie looked up from that conversation to see Matthew Flanagan walking towards her. She knew who he was because he was Adalyn’s best friend. Josie panicked and told Bobbi that Matthew was her new fiancé. Matthew had come to Green Oak after being fired from his job. He had gotten his car stuck in the mud and was looking for someone to help him. What he found was Josie announcing that they were engaged. It took him only a second to decide to play along.

After Bobbi leaves, Josie apologizes to Matthew about dragging him into her mess, and she promises she wouldn’t make him get married. She helps him get to his house and get his car out of the mud. And when she goes into her coffee shop to offer up pastries and tasty coffee drinks for the town, she finds out that word has gotten out. Everyone in the town already knows that she’s engaged.

Josie decides to keep up the façade for a little while longer, and Matthew agrees to help her. But then Bobbi comes back with a plan for them to get married in about a month. She will work as their wedding planner, and Andrew will pay for everything. Josie keeps trying to stop this wedding train that seems to be coming for her, but she can’t figure out how to make it stop. And Matthew is there for her, asking what he can do to help and protecting her from the media. Josie feels safe when he’s around, and she can’t deny that he’s really hot. But she still has to find a way out of the wedding. Right?

The Fiancé Dilemma is the latest spicy rom com from beloved author Elena Armas. It’s set in the world of her last book, The Long Game (which I loved, so I will say to read that one too if you haven’t already), but you don’t need to read The Long Game to understand what’s happening here. The characters overlap a little, but the two stories are completely independent and wonderfully human. Josie and Matthew are a match made in heaven, and watching them come together and be strong against a world of gossip mongers and preening rich men is one I will read over and over. I fell in love with Josie when I first met her, and she just gets better the more you get to know her.

I am a big fan of the film The Runaway Bride, and it’s easy to make comparisons to this book because of Josie’s four previous engagements. There is some of the same feeling in this book, like Josie has finally met someone who sees her for herself, but paparazzi aside, there is less of the shaming and mean-spirited comments in this story, and I think that is an excellent storytelling choice. I was surprised at how readily Matthew went along with Josie’s idea of a fake engagement, but his reasons become more clear as the story goes along. I loved The Fiancé Dilemma, and I cannot wait to see what Armas comes up with next. I am all in on Elena Armas!

Egalleys for The Fiancé Dilemma were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I enjoyed reading The Fiance Dilemma by Elena Armas. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!