Alright alright alright let’s get into this one. First of all. I really loved the plot. While some things were convenient, I still enjoyed it anyway. It reminded me of a 90s Romcom for sure. Even referenced Runaway Bride. But the fake finance part was gold. Listen, when you read these books you know how it’s going to end. You just don’t know the journey which hello, is why we read it in the first place. I liked the MMC and FMC. Here and there I felt like their conversations were slightly inorganic but I’ve read way worse so I brushed it off. HOWEVER. I almost wanted to rate this lower because of the spicy scenes. I legit had to read them to my husband to make sure I wasn’t crazy but the dialogue was SO cringey. Every spicy scene was cringey. And the fact that their first kiss happened so late in the game while other things had happened was so weird to me. Which I’m glad the MMC at least admitted haha but still… weird. But the convos just seemed like nothing that would ever actually happen during a romantic moment between two real people. I get that this is really more someone’s fantasy or what they think people want to read, but I can assure you the way their first real love scene ends…. That would NOT make my fantasy list and I refuse to believe any woman wants that… mess. Hahahaha see I can’t even type without laughing uncomfortably about it. ANYWAYS the spice just wasn’t for me. And unfortunately while you can skip, there are some things said that you miss if you do. Just skim my friends. Trust. Also. Words that do not ever belong in ANY love scene: folds. Poking. Please. Never again.

Another thing I had a hard time with? Her repeating what people said immediately after CONSTANTLY. I heard what they said, I do not need the FMC to rethink it on the next line in italics. Here and there sure. BUT NOT EVERY TIME SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING SWEET OR MOVING. And I feel like the author repeated some phrases a lot in this book. I can’t remember what but.. WAIT OMG HOW DID I ALMOST FORGET.

Baby blue. No. Absolutely not. Not sexy. Maybe cute the first time he said it. But to default to that as what he called her? Dry heave. And calling someone “my sweet f@$;@ girl” during an intimate scene… maybe it’s because I have kids but it gave me the ICK. Don’t call me your sweet girl. Please. Okay okay I’m sorry I’m done.

Side note, I did NOT read the first book and felt like I was able to get enough of a read on everything through details given in the book that I wasn’t totally lost.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for providing me with an ARC read in exchange for my honest review!

No third act breakup!!!! That alone had me jazzed, but Elena Armas had to go and write some of the loveliest MCs too. Her newest work is a tour de force of the romance genre. I can't wait to read what she writes next.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

The Fiancé Dilemma
4.5 ⭐️
🌶️🌶️

I thought this was great! Loved the banter and tension between the characters. I loved Josie’s POV and appreciated how the story went throughout the book. The last chapter was in Matthew’s POV and I so wish I could have seen more of his chapters. His feelings are easily expressed in Josie’s POV, but I still would have loved his. 😂
I really enjoyed that Adalyn and Cameron were major side characters in this book - they were in it just the right amount.
I thought the podcast was an interesting storyline, and loved how that was entwined and then the twist I did not see coming! 😱

Read if you like:
Fake fiancé 💍
Runway Bride Vibes
Small town romance
Slow burn 🔥
Sister’s best friend
Teacup pig 🫠
Single POV

The Fiancé Dilemma is in the same universe as The Long Game (she is the town’s mayor/coffee shop owner, he is Adalyn’s best friend), but can be read as a standalone.

This book was missing some things for me, but it was still worth the read. I enjoyed all of the characters and the friend relationships the story portrays. I wanted some back story about Josie and her previous relationships because it was hard to feel sympathetic for her 4 failed engagements. She was described as an independent woman, but let herself be easily manipulated by her father and the PR scandal.

Josie and Matthew were adorable together, but it was a little instant-love for my taste. Some of their history was touched on, but not fully explored to understand how their connection built so fast. I appreciated Matthew’s patience with Josie’s hesitation about a relationship, and I thought they were really sweet to each other. I just fully didn’t buy in to the fast timeline. Overall, it was a cute story and a fun read, just not one that will stick out in my memory.

Thank you to Atria, Elena Armas, and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

ELENA FREAKING ARMAS!
You did it again.
You created the most delectable MMC, who is undeniably perfect for the FMC.
Witty banter, nicknames, S P I C E, tension… I’m obsessed. I’ll be thinking about this for a long time.
4.5 ⭐️

“You’re too honorable, Josie girl. A true unicorn.”

“Oversharing was one of my love languages.”

“I always liked this part of a relationship. It’s what I miss the most.”
“That’s a dangerous green light you’re giving me.”

“I didn’t think I’d ever date a blond. Not that I was dating one now. I- I was probably ovulating.”

“I was in an obvious rush to see my… Josie. My fiancée, Josie.”

“You didn’t leave me on read?”

“My face was flaming. I didn’t even know why, just that apparently I wasn’t in control of simple bodily functions when this man called me beautiful.”

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

“Matthew. Are you the jealous, possessive type?”
“Yes. I can be. But I’m easily swayed to be nice and proper.”

“Maybe I would help any stranger. But it’s you I’m going this far for, Josie.”

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

“He was all growly and grouchy over me being up here. Over something I could do with my eyes closed, I’d done it so many times.”

“You’re important. You have me. And there’s nothing about you I want to fix. There’s nothing about you that needs fixing.”

“It was truly unfair how much he loved to eat and how happy it made me to watch him.”

“His dream should have been getting married to you.”

“I’m needy, I guess. I’m not cool enough to act like I don’t care, when I’ve been moping around.”

“Nah, Blue. It makes you the strongest woman I’ve ever met.”

“Your fiancé is a hands man. What’s anyone going to say? I’m yours to do as you want.”

“Give me what I want. Let me have you all to myself.”

“What if I can’t give you any f*$%ing firsts, so I want to make sure I get a chance at being your last?”

“You’re perfect.”
“Wrong. I’m perfect for you.”

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

“You don’t have a reputation. You have a heart that chose to believe in love.”

“Josie, baby.” A sob exploded out of me. As if yanked by those two words. Him, being with me.

“My heart is not broken. And I’m not leaving you. Hear me?”

“You good? That was a lot, and you were so brave.”

“It had always been difficult not to come off too strong around Josie.”

“Go on, Baby Blue. It’s me you’re running to.”

I don’t know what it about wild and chaotic characters in books but I love them so much… maybe I’m wild at heart and just don’t know yet? 😏

But Josephine was a whole vibe that had be laughing from the very beginning. I just loved her free spirit! When she loves , she loves and when she hurts, she hurts- and you can’t help but to just feel all of those emotions right there with her.

And Matthew??? Oh Matthew… a pretty boy with a mouth that will bring you to your knees 🥵. He was something else, and i absolutely loved him! He’s not scared to give it to you straight and he will love you like there’s no tomorrow.

The Fiancé Dilemma by @thebibliotheque was such a fun, heartwarming, sexy and emotional story. Towards the end I definitely shed a couple of tears. The chemistry between the characters, the slow burn, the tension was perfection 🤌🏽. Oh, and Grandpa Moe- I loved him so much!! 🥹

My girlies who are in their romance era who loves a good heartfelt and sexy story- this one is for you! 🫶🏽

Tropes:

🌼 Small Town
💜 Fake Dating
🌼 Sister’s Best Friend
💜 He Falls First
🌼 No Third Act Breakup
💜 Slow burn
🌼 Spice

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

Available now at your favorite bookstore.

Thank you so much @thebibliotheque and @netgalley for an e-arc of The Fiancé Dilemma. I now need to go read The Long Game because I need to know all about Cam, Adalyn and Josie 🥹.

Ask yourself: Do you love a good fake dating trope? Are you a fan of quaint small-town drama, zero third-act breakups, and a slow-burn romance that takes its sweet time? If you answered yes, then you might want to pick this book up asap!

Meet Josie Moore, whose love life reads like a rom-com blooper reel: four failed engagements and an absentee dad making a dramatic comeback. When her father decides to drop a retirement announcement in a magazine (because that’s a totally normal way to retire), Josie’s love life is not exactly the PR win she hoped for. Enter her brilliant idea: a fake fiancé! Matthew Flanagan is basically a walking disaster. He’s been fired, stranded, and is currently playing hide-and-seek with a muddy ditch on his way to Green Oak, North Carolina. He accidentally stumbles into his best friend’s sister, Josie, who seizes the opportunity to introduce him as her "fiancé."

What starts as a comedy of errors quickly becomes a fake engagement fiasco, with Matthew playing the clueless but charming fiancé amidst a whirlwind of small-town gossip. Despite their rule of no real “I dos,” the lines between fake and real start to blur, and the town starts to believe that maybe, just maybe, the fifth fiancé is the real deal.

In my opinion, The Fiance Dilemma is Elena’s best work! It’s got all the swoon-worthy moments and steamy goodness that’ll have you grinning from ear to ear and sighing deep long sighs. This continuation to The Long Game continues to charm with its delightful small-town setting and endearing characters, especially Matthew and Josie. Definitely worth your time!

Huge thanks to Atria and NetGalley for the eARC!

Matthew & Josie
ARC Review

Here’s the thing- I really liked Matthew. He was hands down one of the most underrated, understanding men written. Next to a green flag is a picture of this man.
Josie- listen I liked her ok. She had baggage and self doubt and was a people pleaser. Matthew was really good for her.

Much like book one this story went on forever with weird drama. It was the slowest of slow burns and in my opinion without the ending I thought it should have. It was so slow to start and had lots of moments where it just dragged. It took me 3x as long to read this compared to others. Finally at the 60-70% it picked up, but then the ending was just not it.

Unfortunately this is where the series ends for me if there’s another. It was ok and entertaining at times, but just not for me.

Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to voluntarily read and review. Best wishes to the author on release and beyond.

Book Rating: 3.5
A continuation from A Long Game, but focusing on Adalyn’s half-sister and best friend.
This small-town romance will have you invested once you learn more about Josie’s past and how her father’s PR team intends to “fix” it. She radiates positivity and quirkiness and will have you laughing out loud. Next to Matt, the banter and slow burn make them a well-matched couple.
Overall, a good & entertaining storyline full of emotion. A fake-dating trope is always worth the read!

Runaway bride, daddy issues, a swoon worthy MMC, and a Grandpa Moe. What more could you ask for? This was funny, cute, romantic, and a little bit cheesy at times, but I loved all of it. The ending wasn’t what I expected, but in a good way.

Read if you like:
• small town
• fake dating
• slow burn
• no third act breakup

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC!

"𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙭𝙚𝙙. 𝙄𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩."

UMM probably my fav Elena Armas book!!

To say I was swooning over Matthew is an understatement! This man was so incredibly down bad for this woman. The way he stood by her side & always made sure she was okay was adorable! Was expecting this cute lil shy man, but he was absolutely not that!! The mouth on that man?! ✋🏼 I actually can’t. He was perfect & I love him.

Josie was just everything! Between being her town’s mayor & having her own coffee shop, this girl was doing it all. Even though she’s gone through so much heartbreak & life changing events, she still managed to keep a smile on her face & moved forward. I love how much she loves her town. & her relationship with Grandpa Moe had me laughing so much.

The communication between these two?! I LOVED! This whole situation could’ve been a whole miscommunication moment, but they worked through it! Matthew was so patient with Josie, & Josie was so good at expressing her thoughts & feelings.

& the spice?! 🤭 yeah I was living for it!

tropes:
ꨄ small town romance
ꨄ he falls first & harder
ꨄ fake dating
ꨄ sister’s bestfriend
ꨄ slow burn
ꨄ no third act breakup

thank you to NetGalley and the author, publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was surprised by how much this book grabbed me from the very beginning. Typically the "oh, she's so clumsy" kinda characters are not my style, but I did very quickly connect with the fmc. There's a wonderful meet cute moment right at the get go that had me routing for this couple from chapter one.

Now here's your warning. This is a SLOW, slow burn. It builds well over the course of the book, but yeah you gotta wait for the big moment. I love that, but I know it's not in everyone's taste. There is a small conflict that, in my opinion, could have been avoided with some solid communication... but that said, I didn't mind the conflict much. This story has a very golden retriever mmc, but don't worry he's got some really good, swoony moments. I so wish we had dual POV for this story to get to know his character a bit more.

I appreciated the ending, I felt it fit the story and the characters well. This is technically the second in the series, but can totally be read as a standalone. Highly recommend!

i thought this book was cute, however, i was a little annoyed with the fmc. she just seems like she is super annoying. well written and a good way to pass time.

Thank you Netgalley, Elena Armas and Atria Books for the ebook! I loved this funny and all the feels romcom! This is everything that romcoms are made of and I really could just picture it as a movie while reading! I would love more of Matthew's story and perspective and even Adalyn and Bobbi. The characters were great and I really hope it's not the end!

💍 Book Review 💍

The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas
💍
This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year…and it did not disappoint! It was amazing! If you want the cutest, sweetest book with Runaway bride vibes, go read it immediately. Matthew is the new standard for book boyfriends. He wears glasses, faints at the sight of blood, has an SOS protocol with his younger sisters when they go out without him, is fiercely loyal, believes in magic and soul mates, and is an unapologetic romantic. He’s a little shy, but will do anything for his girl, and he has a surprisingly filthy mouth. I adore him. This book has everything you could ever want in a romance. The tension and chemistry are immaculate. Elena really makes you wait for the first kiss, but boy is it worth it. Parts of the book are cute and silly and funny; the witty banter is on point. Other parts are serious and a little deeper and deal with family relationships and ethics in the workplace. I loved every second of this book and I think it’s her best book yet!
💍
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
💍
Read if you like:
▫️best friend’s sister
▫️fake engagement
▫️small town
▫️he falls first and harder
▫️slow burn
▫️forced proximity
▫️found family
💍
Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Elena Armas for the ARC. I received an advanced copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Slow burn romance featuring the fake engagement trope. We met Josie and Matthew in the last book and they were fantastic side characters. Them being soulmates was fantastic. Matthew is very swoony with his words and big ending show of affection. Having to deal w/ Andrew Underwood and his PR agent Bobbi not so much. These two knocked a star off b/c of how they treated the FMC like a doormat and they never really got the punishment they deserved in my opinion.

TL;DR Spectacular, give me 14 of them of them right now!

Josie is a chronic runaway bride and to avoid being labeled as a having daddy issues she pretends she's engaged to her sister's best friend, Matthew. Matthew doesn't even recognize her at first but he's just a helpful guy so he agrees to this. Everything spirals out of control when they want the wedding to be in two months and these two start falling in love for real!

Now how did I feel about this book? I loved this book. Call me biased (or Bobbi Shark) all you want but I have never taken blonde MMCs seriously until Matthew. That goes to show how good of an author Elena Armas is because this book had me kicking my feet and giggling. I loved this book for real. I thought Aaron was the perfect MMC but Matthew has won that title. I also loved Josie and the whole town in general.

About it being a sequel, I never read the first book in the series and was able to enjoy this book immensely. I'm sure if I read the first one the experience would be even better but I just had a good time. I'm a girly that judges a book by how it made me feel and this made me feel great! I highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books, and Elena Armas for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is a sequel to The Long Game with Adalyn and Cameron. We met Josie in that book and her appearance caused quite a stir.
Now a podcast and pg 9 have picked up the story and have come to town to turn her life upside down. Josie is a bit of a Runaway bride (love that movie!). So this be fake engagement with #5 is probably a huge mistake.
But he is a friend of Adalyns and even though she picked him off the street she was attracted to him and his banter in their group chat.
So much was happening and I did not like Bobbi, the pr lady, but I think that was the point.
I think they had great chemistry and there were some scenes but really it was them just getting to know eachother while everyone planned a wedding around then, you know the usual.

The way this book hit me right in the heart. Those two ! I have no words.

Thank you so much Simon & Schuster Canada for an digital ARC for an honest review.

Matthew and Josie made me fall in love with love, soulmate, magic, fate. Their love story was so so beautiful.

They made me laugh out loud, their tension and chemistry had me screaming in my pillow and they made me cry at the end, because it was just so, so beautiful.

And Matthew is the sweetest but he can dirty talk all right. 🔥🔥🔥.

And Grandpa Mo, Bobby and all those amazing side characters; they made me want to live in this town.

Read this If you love :

✨ Fake engagement;
✨ Small town romance ;
✨ Sister's best friend ;
✨ Soulmates ;
✨ Sweetest MMC but dirty in the sheets ;
✨ Funny characters.

Review provided for arc from @netgalley and the lovely people at @atriabooks

If you love a good fake dating, golden retriever full sunshine love story, this is the book for you! 5 ⭐️ all around. I will be reading again soon just to experience so much love all over!

I loved The Long Game, even during Adalyn and Cam’s whirlwind story Matthew and Josie were my favorites. So the fact we got a whole book about them? Over the moon.

I loved the book and seeing the growth, we see Josie as so strong and confident in book one and we really dive into her character in book 2. We see what all that enthusiasm and big exterior is covering up and we get to see her grow through her biggest insecurities and fears. Matthew is just as fan boy, golden retriever vibes as in the The Long Game but also going to overflow your heart with sweetness.

What a beautiful story, Elena Armas is a genius and knows exactly what heart strings to pull.