Since release day is in less than a week, it's finally time to share my thoughts, and there's a LOT of them. I'm literally so excited to post my review on my instagram too, because this book was just CHEF'S KISS.

ELENA-- Ma'am. I read The Spanish Love Deception, and because I can't stick to a TBR to save my life, I didn't get around to reading the Long Game or The American Roommate Experiment; However I seen a posting for this on NetGalley and I couldn't turn my eye. IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

Even the dedication had me hooked:
"Your expectations are not impossibly high. Never let anyone make you believe you're asking for too much."

JOSIE AND MATTHEW JOSIE AND MATTHEW JOSIE AND MATTHEW.

These two, UGHHHHHHH!!!

SO let me relax, synopsis of the book, Josie is our girl who has had badd luck with love. (Can anyone else relate? I know I can) Four previously failed engagements, and all of it comes to light when her absent father-- who is a billionaire with a whole different family and life-- decides to announce that he is retiring, and does a magazine piece on it that talks about him being a family guy. Only then does Josie realize what's going on when PR shark Bobbi shows up and tells Josie all about how she's now involved in her life. Our girl Josie, too stunned to form a sentence is brought back to reality when Bobbi notices her engagement ring on her finger, and panics.
In pops lover boy Matthew down the driveway minding his own business, but not for long until Josie runs with it, and screams "Matthew?" He turns, and little does he know it, the minute he turned was going to be the start of a (Fake) engagement; But how fake is it when real feelings get involved? And what if feelings were always involved?

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This book had me absolutely swooning. It is definitely a slower start to the book, but once it picked up toward the middle with the fake engagement and all the wedding tasks, and Matthew and Josie needing each other as much as one another, you get to watch their relationship unfold and find out that Matthew doesn't mind being one more number on the list of "Grooms-that-never-were". Josie is so annoying at times but so relatable because she is just a girl figuring life out as she goes and she's picked quite a few toads to get to her Prince Charming, but once Matthew's there he's there for the good, the bad, the ugly, the real, and the fake. Exhibit Matthew: "You're not running, Josie. I'm not them, I'm not anyone. I'm not fucking letting you go."

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I would give this book a bajillion stars if I could. I give five stars veryyy easy I will admit so take my review with a grain of salt if you must, but if I enjoyed it it gets 5 stars. This book had me kicking my feet, giggling and screaming. Bobbi also turned out to be one of my favorite side characters because she really brings Matthew and Josie together IMO. Also, the podcasters? Such a fun addition even though sometimes I loved them sometimes I wanted them to leave poor Josie alone. The spice was spicing, Matthew has a MOUTH on him. Up there with Aaron Blackford. Overall Super cute book, will definitely read again.

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Favorite quotes/highlights: (Limiting myself to 2/3 for the sake of this review and I can't give away all the swoon worthy moments!)

* "You handsome smile." // "Enough to make you proud? Enough to make you want to show me off?"

* Something goes down and Josie sends him an SOS, it's not a super emergency but she didn't think it'd matter that he would call back when he got the chance. Mid workout, Matthew drops everything to run to Josie. "You're mad?" / "You sent me an SOS, You can't text me an SOS when there's no real emergency. Do you have any idea how-- I RAN down here. From the lodge. I thought something was wrong, you wrote 'I need you.'" / skip a few sentences for length clarity.. "You can't send me an SOS, then, Josie. An SOS means I fucking run." / "You're being very rigid about this, it was just a text" / "I am rigid when it comes to important things." OK SWOONING

* "I don't know Matthew. Are you the jealous, possessive type?" / "Yes. I can be. But I'm easily swayed to be nice and proper. Do you have me wrapped around your pinky Josie?"

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TROPES

* Fake Engagement
* It was always you
* Small Town
* Slow burn
* Sisters best friend
* He falls first AND harder
* no third act breakup
* "Where's my fiancé?"

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC on this book.

I love a good Rom-Com and this one hit on all parts. It gave all the Runaway Bride feels and EVEN joked about how the main character was just like Julia Roberts.

As mentioned, Josie, the main character has been engaged 4 times and walked away from all of them before the wedding. Josie's mother passed away when she was 19 and she never knew her father....until a year ago. She gained national attention as her father is a multimillionaire who discussed his long lost daughter in TIME magazine.

Here comes the PR specialist Bobbi to save the image of her father, and to save herself in this first unexpected meeting Josie claims she is engaged to her sister's best friend Matthew. Matthew agrees to go along with the plan of the "fake engagement".

Pick up the book to learn what happens from here. My only regret with this book is that I haven't already read the first book in the series. Definitely picking it up today.

This book was a 2.5-3 star read for me. I read The Long Game and so I knew the characters, but they didn't captivate me in the way small towns normally do. I wasn't as bought in to the found family and extended community. Instead of endearing, I found them complicated and a bit overwhelming to the story.

Josie and Matthew had a fun meet-cute and I did enjoy their chemistry although it was quite a slow burn. He was sweet and we got to watch Josie heal a bit as the book continued.

Overall, I just didn't connect with this book enough to rate it highly. For reference I loved TSLD and really liked The American Roommate Experiment. The Long Game was hard for me to get through, too.

Elena Armas never misses! I absolutely love her books, and this is no exception. The writing is amazing as always.

Thank you Atria Books for my #gifted copy of The Fiancé Dilemma! #AtriaPartner #atriabooks #TheFianceDilemma #ElenaArmas #TheLongGame #Thebibliotheque

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜é 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐚
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟑𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

★★★★

The Fiancé Dilemma is the second book in The Long Game series by author Elena Arias and tells the story of Josie and Matthew. While this is the second book in the series, it can easily be read as a standalone. I absolutely LOVED Josie. She was such a likable FMC and was so sweet and caring and fun and I just adored her. I loved Matthew and Josie together and the chemistry between the two of them was amazing. This was such a slow burn, to the point where it was almost getting frustrating at times, but I think it was all worth it in the end. There were some elements that I had a hard time connecting to, specifically relating to her father and how he was able to essentially dictate her life so easily. Apart from that, I did find this book to be a fun read and I did really enjoy Josie and Matthew’s story!

💜Fake Dating
💜Friends To Lovers
💜Small Town Romance
💜Sister’s Best Friend
💜Slow Burn

Posted on Goodreads on July 24, 2024: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around July 25, 2024: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on July 30, 2024
**-will post on designated date

Review for the Fiancé Dilemma
You guys, this book was so cute! The characters were so loveable, and their love was so TENDER! I have never used the word tender before to describe a love story in a romance novel but it is so perfect here. Josie has been engaged four different times and none of those engagements have ended in marriage. Her famous and super lame absentee father is getting married and is going to have a high profile wedding. Josie’s father’s PA shows up at her front door to interrogate her about all her failed engagements when Matthew Flanagan walks by. Matthew Flanagan is Josie’s half sister’s best friend. What ensues is swoony romance, friendship, pining and hilarity! Matthew is aallllll the flame emojis and Josie is a heroine that’s absolutely a delight to root for. I could not figure out how Armas would write an ending to this story but when I got there, it was TOTALLY satisfying, sweet and unexpected!

Side note, while they may seem a little suspicious, the reasons behind all Josie’s broken engagements were totally valid and understandable. Again, I was wondering how Armas would make it work but she TOTALLY did.

Thank you to Atria Books for the opportunity to review the book via Netgalley. I absolutely loved it and will highly recommend it to all my reader friends!

This book has so many amazing quotes and moments.
Matthew is literally Josie’s dream man, and she doesn’t even know it. He is there for her in all that she needs.

Also I loved the little Cam and Adalyn moments we were given but was hoping for a bit more. I know they had their own books but they are such integral parts of Josie and Matthew’s lives that it wasn’t enough.

I will start off by saying that I really enjoyed Elena Armas’ other books and was really looking forward to this one with the glimpse of these characters in another one of her books. The characters were okay here, but the execution of the story as a whole fell a bit flat for me. I hate saying this, but it felt like the story was rushed and formulaic while also being slow. I am hoping this one was just a miss and look forward to her next book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of The Fiancé Dilemma in exchange for an honest review.

Elena Armas has done it once again. And this time, with a blond MMC.

The Fiancé Dilemma is the follow up to The Long Game and is set in the same small town of Green Oak, North Carolina and takes place about a year after the events of that book. This book is best enjoyed if you have first read The Long Game or many of the events and people will not make sense.

Our FMC is Josie, the de facto town mayor and (surprise) half-sister of Adalyn, the FMC from The Long Game. Jose has a lot of baggage in her past, which includes four "failed" engagements. When Adalyn's best friend, Matthew, loses his job and comes to Green Oak, Josie enlists him to fake an engagement with her to help her fix a PR problem her and Adalyn's father is having - which is a direct result of his horrible actions in The Long Game.

Where I felt the book flourished was in the main characters themselves. As with all books from Elena Armas, we got a lot of fun, witty banter, and an MMC who is absolutely, 100% in love with the FMC from the start. A favorite runner of mine from this book was Matthew's continued testing of different pet names for Josie. And his continued use of calling her is fiancé whenever he got the chance? Swoon.

This beginning plot point is where I struggle with this book. Why does Josie give a single fuck about the PR problem of the man who abandoned her and her mother? And how exactly does her getting engaged and then married in a short time fix this problem? It only gets worse when a popular podcast catches wind of the story of Josie and her engagements and becomes absolutely obsessed with her - why? And don't even get me started on the PR person, Bobbi, who is supposed to be helping Josie. She was awful to Josie the entire book and was never actually helpful.

I also feel that the Adalyn we met in The Long Game is way too smart to buy the lie of the sham engagement. I wish she had done a little more to protect Josie from their father since she had first-hand experience.

Overall, after what felt like a chaotic start, and then a slowdown in the pace, I enjoyed reading The Fiancé Dilemma. Bonus - there was no third-act breakup!

4 stars

I knew I wanted to read Josie and Matthew’s story after getting clips of them in The Long Game but this was more adorable than I could’ve dreamed. Elena is the QUEEN of slow burn and I couldn’t wait for them to finally make the fake engagement real! I don’t normally like blonde MMC’s but Matthew may have just changed my mind. From his swoony declarations to his Chandler Bing-like jokes, I was rooting for him the whole time.
This is the book for you if you love Runaway Bride, fake dating/engagement, slow burn romance, butterfly inducing declarations of love, farm animals named after Sebastian Stan and Pedro Pascal, hilarious hijinks, and soulmates. 🤍

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC!

DNF at 19%. I was SO bored. I tried to read this for over a month. And based on her previous books I just don’t foresee it getting better, especially because I don’t like the main character. This is just so formulaic and predictable. But it also doesn’t make sense? Like there is no good reason for Josie to actually be in a fake engagement. Elena tried to make it make sense, but it just doesn’t.

I really quite liked her first book, but her second was so boring I skimmed the back half of it. I enjoyed her third book enough. But I just don’t see this one getting better.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the chance to read this e-ARC.

This book was quite hard for me to get through and I was finding myself not wanting to pick it up. 😔 Compared to other Elenas Armas books (The Spanish Love Deception, The American Roommate Experiment and The Long Game) this has been the only one that was in a singular point of view (Josie). I would have LOVED to have gotten the point of view from Matthew.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this ARC!

I enjoyed reading this book. Right away, we’re introduced to Josie and the fake relationship, which I thought was a little quick. I really enjoyed Josie at the beginning because she was quirky and funny, but I felt like she was just kind of a pushover, but little by little she started to stick up for herself. There were times where I did get a little frustrated that she didn’t just say what she felt. However, in the end, she does end up sticking up for herself and I was so happy she did..

Matthew was such a great guy. From day one, he helped Josie through everything from planning the wedding to her panic attacks. I love that towards the end of the book, we get his point of view. He was always honest, up front and stuck up for Josie.

I’m glad we got to see Adalyn and Cam in this book too. It was great to see how they are adjusting to their new reality and how Adalyn stuck up for Josie when she was able to. I also liked the ending because not everything was perfect, especially with her dad.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the arc for an honest review.

I received an ARC for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book. I liked Elena Armas's other books, but this was messy. The main character's motivations were not logical. She begged her sister's best friend into pretending she was engaged because she didnt want to let anyone down, but not realizing that calling a wedding off before the ceremony would let people down more? He kept telling her that he did not want to fake an engagement with her and when he finally relents she says that he made his own decision and she didnt force him. WHAT?

At times I thought that AI helped write it because the dialogue between characters did not flow well. It felt like a bad rip off of the Runaway Bride.

3/5 ⭐️

Idk how to feel about this. This was probably my least favorite of Armas's books. There were aspects I really enjoyed about the book but there were also moments I wanted to DNF it out of boredom.

Things I liked:
- Matthew and Josie's chemistry. They had some really sweet and steamy moments that motivated me to continue reading.
- The small town vibes were cute.

Things I disliked:
- The slow burn romance. It took soooo long to get things moving with the romance and the pay off once they did get together, wasn't all that great.
- The drama around her dad, the PR person (Billie?), and the fake wedding itself. I love a fake fiancé situation, and I'm pretty generous with jumping into a ridiculous scenario with why two people would agree to be in a fake relationship, but the reasons for why they should be fake engaged made no sense to me. The stuff with Josie's dad could have been more meaningful if it were set up better, but it fell flat for me. And I found the PR person to be unbearably annoying, which was maybe the point, but moments with her just dragged on and there seemed to be almost no point as to why she was even in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Elena Armas, and Atria Books for my early access to this.

*squeeeeeel*

All my favorite tropes!!

Elena Armas knows how to write romance, as simple as that. Josie and Matthew are officially one of my new favorite book couples. The spunk, the sass, the banter, the silliness! As much as I loved Cameron & Adalyn, this second book was better. Green Oak is even more charming, and I loved getting to know Grandpa Moe. My tiny complaint is the same with all EA books: the pacing is a bit *too* drawn out at times. Otherwise, loved it! Go read it!

4.5⭐️

Golden retriever energy, he falls first, and no third act breakup/miscommunication; sign me up! I loved The Long Game and this was a beautiful sequel to that story. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Elena Armas has once again delivered a heartwarming and enchanting romance with The Fiancé Dilemma. The story follows Josie Moore, a woman with a complicated romantic history, and Matthew Flanagan, a man who finds himself in an unexpected role as Josie’s fake fiancé. Set in the charming small town of Green Oak, North Carolina, the plot is sculpted around the classic fake dating trope, but with a fresh and inviting atmosphere that makes it feel new and exciting. We already met these characters in the author’s previous novel, The Long Game; however, each novel can be read on its own.

Josie is an extremely likable heroine. She’s funny, caring, a bit quirky, and someone who just wants to be loved. She does have her own set of insecurities, past trauma, and daddy issues, which are a prominent part of her character, making her relatable and endearing at the same time. Also, after having suffered many losses, her bond with her ‘grandpa’ Mo and her sister Adalyn is also quite touching, adding an extra layer of warmth to the story.

Matthew, the male lead, is the epitome of a golden retriever-like romantic interest. He’s charming, patient, protective, and always puts Josie first. However, underneath all that, there’s a more complex and layered personality making him a compelling and lovable character. The chemistry between Josie and Matthew is unmistakable, and their hilarious and brilliant banter makes their fake engagement feel surprisingly real.

The plot is filled with humour, sensitivity, and a touch of spice. Josie and Matthew’s relationship is well-crafted and nuanced, with their interactions ranging from tender to fiery. The supporting characters, most of which we already met in the previous book, also add depth and charm to the story.

While the novel is not without its flaws—such as a lack of depth in explaining Josie’s past engagements and a desire for maybe more of Matthew’s perspective—The Fiancé Dilemma is a delightful and heartwarming read. The small-town setting, a strong sense of community, and well-developed characters make it stand out.

Armas has once again proven her ability to create drool-worthy romances that hit you right in the feels and will have you giggling at all times. The Fiancé Dilemma offers a beautiful balance of humour, heart, and heat, making it a must-read for fans of contemporary romance this summer.

Thank you Atria Books & netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think this is my favourite Elena Armas yet!!! I loved Matthew and Josie's story 🥺🥺 AND THERE WAS NO THIRD ACT BREAK UP!!!!! *cheers*
Bobbie was ANNOYING!!!! but the way Matthew would stand up for Josie, the way he supported her and was always there for her makes my heart melt!! I am a sucker for an "it's always been you" type of book 🥺 Also cameo's from Adalyn and Cam 🥺🥺 This book was so good, I couldn't put it down!! WHEN HE CALLS HER "BABY BLUE" 😭😭😭😭😭😭 and the whole thing about her ring 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I would recommend everybody read this book, If you enjoyed The Spanish Love Deception, I think you would love this one too!!

Tropes:
- fake engagement
- he falls first AND HARDER
- "it's always been you" vibes

The Fiance Dilemma: ★★★★☆ (4.5)

Pub date: July 30 - preorder your copy now!

"What if I can't give you any fucking firsts, so I want to make sure I get a chance at being your last?" AHHHHHH

This is a fake dating, grumpy x sunshine, protective mmc, he falls first and harder, small town, golden retriever mmc, and healing fmc trope filled book. I was lucky enough to be given a chance to read this book before its release, so thank you Elena, Net Galley, and atria books!

josie's father is a rich man who has never been in her life. She lost her mother at a young age and decades later her father's past catches up to him and everyone knows about Josie. She's not exactly good for his image because she's been engaged four times and has called off every single one of them. So, a PR specialist randomly arrives to her hometown in an attempt to deal with the "scandal". She hasn't been treated right in some of her past relationships and has insecurities of being left/not good enough because of her father. She goes through a long journey of learning to accept the idea of someone loving her for her and learning to love someone and trusting that they won't leave.

Matthew is our fmc's sisters' best friend, but they had never met in person, until one night when he showed up at the perfect moment. He showed up when the PR specialist was talking with Josie, and she said he was her fiancé. Matthew is a very sweet and understanding character. He was always there for her and would help ease her anxiety in any way he could. It was literally never fake, that man was so clearly in love with her from the beginning. He shows her that love can be gentle :( (emotionally).

This book gets 5 stars, it was so perfect. It was an easy, fun and lovely read.