Absolutely loved this one!! The humor was fantastic. The romance was everything. I loved how Matthew just was super bold and said how he felt and didn’t let people talk crap to the Josie!!

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book early!

Thank you to Elena Armas and Atria books for allowing me to read an early copy of "The Fiance Dilemma."

Going into this book I didn't realize that this was a sequel to "The Long Game" but as soon as I realized it I was happily swept back into the world of Green Oak, NC. I was happy to realize that the POV in this book is from Josie, the always seemingly happy town mayor and coffee shop owner from the first book in the duology.

We stumble upon Josie in a world where she has been identified as the daughter of Andrew Underwood and fame and attention is being thrust upon her at the loose lips of her father at a press conference. We meet Josie as she is being confronted by a PR person sent by Andrew and in a case of misunderstanding Josie is supposedly engaged once again. This man just so happens to be Matthew, Adalyn's best friend from Chicago, the catch is that Matthew and Josie have never met in person. What ensues is the bumblings of two people falling in love, mistaken intentions, and a lot of laughs.

I would definitely recommend this book. In the "Spanish Love Deception" and "The American Roommate Experiment" duology I preferred the second book and similarly I preferred the sequel in this duology as well!

**Provided by Net Galley**. Don’t generally do this but rounding up from a 3.5. You don’t have to read the first book in this series first to enjoy but would definitely recommend as there are spoilers for book one.

I think I have a favorite trope, I really like the fake lovers one. This one was told only from the lead female, Josie’s, perspective so you only get the male’s, Matthew, perspective at the end. I think this worked better this time as there was more going on with her. Matthew was a very small character in the first book so you don’t really get to know him that well. Both of them are really likable characters with really good intentions.

I wish we had heard more about Josie’s history, especially with Duncan. It feels like there was good dirt there that could have added some context to the story. I am glad they referenced Runaway Bride, it felt like too much of an opportunity not to!

Thank you Netgalley, Atria books and the author for providing me the opportunity to read this ARC for an honest review!

I liked that this was a slow burn. I enjoyed reading about the friendship between the fmc/mmc. Didn’t love the fate element especially in a contemporary romance. Loved the way it ended.

Fun read. Would recommend.

I was kindly provided by the ARC by NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange of an honest review, thank you!

4⭐️

This was my first Elena Armas’s book, and I wasn’t aware the story comes after The Long Game so at first I was a little lost with Adalyn’s and Andrew’s character and obviously wasn’t aware of the family issues 😅 BUT, besides that, I really enjoyed this book!

Josie is sooooo warm and sweet and she really cares for the people she loves! Is obvious she has trust issues, and daddy issues, and that’s the reason she were not one but four times engaged and all four times she quit the engagement, even she left a couple fiancés at the altar, and this reminded me a lot of Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride 🙊🙊

Now she has to pretend she’s engaged again with her best friend’s sister!!! And all because Bobbi (her fathers PR) showed up at her door telling her she’s ruining her and his father reputation because now all the world knows his father left her while he was making millions 👀

The relationship between Josie and Michael was sooooo full of funny moments and also spicy and romantics moments that I can’t enjoyed a lot! It was a little too much slowburn for me, but only because i prefer a little more fast paced romance 😅

I wish we could have Michael’s POV because I think it would be very interesting to dive in his thoughts with all the non so fake engagement thing 🙊🙂‍↔️

I certainly going to read more books by this author because u really enjoyed her writing 🙊

I love Josie and Matthew! If you’ve read The Long Game, you’ve already met and love both of them, too, but in The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas we finally get their stories. I’m going to be honest. As much as I enjoyed Adalyn’s and Cameron’s HEA (and you’ll be happy to know we get plenty of them in The Fiancé Dilemma as well), Josie’s and Matthew’s story OWNS me. Josie is a small town mayor who runs a coffee shop and has been engaged four times. Matthew just lost his writing job and is visiting Green Oak, Josie’s town. Miscommunications and fake fiancé plans ensue.

Like most romances, this book is full of fun romance tropes, but Josie and Matthew are both fully fleshed out characters. Josie is a warm hearted, funny mess. Matthew is sincere and bold, and may be exactly what Josie needs. (Also-he wears glasses and has a dirty mouth)

I’m so glad that Elena Armas decided to write Josie’s and Matthew’s story with us. Her writing style is really engaging, and she has a special talent for delivering stories that are spicy and sweet in equal amounts. I related to Josie so much. She tries so hard (too hard!) to do everything right, but in spite of it all, hasn’t found a love that follows all the way through for her. Matthew literally wanders into her driveway exactly when she needs him-could he be the one to give her the kind of love she really needs?

Matthew is supportive of Josie, and also, the foreplay/sex scenes is this book are so steamy, while also somehow being sweet. (Like, really. I don’t think I’ve ever read foreplay scenes so HOT). I think this is Elena Arnas’s best novel yet! Thanks to her and to Atria Books for the digital advance reader copy for review.

Thank you Net Galley for proving the eARC. I don’t know if I am simple minded or if this is a sequel but this book was hard to follow. The writing was amazing and the characters were fun but the concept was just not for me. I think if you like her other stuff though you will love this release.

I tend to be very hit or miss with Elena Armas' books, but I keep coming back for more. I am happy to report that The Fiance Dilemma was a hit for me! The characters were lovely and had a nice dynamic/chemistry. There was definitely a good story with a lot of romantic buildup. My biggest complaint with some of her other books is that they drag and drag, but this one zipped along quite nicely and kept a steady pace. I wasn't bored and waiting for those sparkling romantic moments. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this arc!

Cute and easy read, Matthew is PERFECT and the spice is great! But it could have been shorter with less filler, I found myself skimming at times. I also would have liked more dialogue as it was heavy on the inner monologue which isn’t my favorite. Overall I enjoyed it as a low drama, sweet rom-com but Spanish Love Deception remains my favorite Elena Armas rom-com.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC

A funny, cute, entertaining, lengthy slow burn with bits of swoon sprinkled throughout the book. There were parts of the story that seemed open-ended with no real explanation with certain characters. Overall, it's a good book to read in parts as a treat.
Thanks to Net Galley and Atria books for letting me read this ARC for an honest review.

This book was amazing and I devoured this book in just a few sittings! I loved the character development and how the story progressed.

How do you describe an Elena Armas’ book?

Elena has created her own universe in Green Oaks and she invites us readers to join in this ride. It’s pretty amazing how she is able to transport you to this town with just a few words.

Ever since I finished reading this one I’ve been thinking about ways to put into words how much I loved everything about it.

How in this book us, readers, find ourselves watching, learning, earning for Josie to find her happy ending.

How we cheer her on and we cry with her, how we celebrate all her great moments and how we feel for her at each heartbreaking event.

It is an experience to dive into Josie's mind and go through all that she goes through. All the unfairness of the media, all her insecurities, doubts, anxieties, but also all of her compassion, love, caring and kindness.

Josie is the mayor of the town, she also owns her own coffee shop, and she volunteers as a goat yoga instructor, she organizes town events, she is a shoulder anyone in the town could lean on. She knows everyone and she cares for all the people in her town.

In the long game we know how energetic and kind Josie is. In the fiancé dilemma we learn how she truly feels, and how deeply she feels.

Matthew is Adalyn's bff who moves to town and he does arrive with a bang! He truly is a man written by a woman because this guy knows how to use his words, how to express his feelings and how to be there for his fiancé!

This book is SO beautiful, so beautiful it hurts to read it so fast, but there's no other way. It's just too addicting, too good to ever stop.

We have a fake engagement, second chances of finding love, family bonds that are formed and strenghtened. A golden retriver MMC and a sunshine FMC. Growling and protective Cameron and a teary Adalyn bringing all the feeling from The Long Game back, PEDRO PIGSCAL, wise and cute kiddos, and, obviously, grumpy grandpa Moe.

There are so many moments to laugh out lout, to kick your feet and giggle, to cry and to celebrate.

Elena's writing is a gift to us romance readers, and I don't want her to ever stop releasing these masterpieces.

3.5 stars!

My girl Elena Armas you know I would go to bat for you for anything no matter what. That being said, I was not a huge fan of this one. I LOVEDDDD The Long Game and I quite literally jumped up and down when I got the ARC approval for this one. I had incredibly high hopes (and maybe some high expectations??) for this book. Before I get into what I didn’t love, I wanna share what I DID love about it.

I did love the ending. It ALMOST made up for the things I didn’t like about it. I thought the confession of love and the way he treated her (throughout the book yes but definitely at the end) was very sweet. I also was very proud of Josie’s growth through the book. She went on a huge character journey in this book and I’m proud of her!

However, there were also some things I didn’t particularly enjoy about this one :/ I saw this review that said that Matthew (our MMC) doesn’t make any growth and is just there. I was aghast and thought “no way would that happen in an Elena Armas book!” However, that did turn out to be true. I feel like Matthew didn’t make any kind of growth and was kind of just had the sole purpose of helping Josie grow. In addition, without spoiling anything, there are two podcasters in the story. I know we’re supposed to hate these characters but I felt an amount of hatred that made it unbearable. Between very cringy dialogue, weird obsessions with the FMC, and a dig at the people’s princess Taylor Swift, I just could not read another word spoken by them. Finally, the overall pace was not one of Elena Armas’ best in my humble opinion. I had a very hard time getting through it because of that. I felt like it was slow in unimportant parts and moved through really important parts too quickly. I felt like I was sprinting uphill in some parts which made it tough to get through.

Overall, I still love my girl Elena Armas and I will still read literally anything she writes. She’s my girl forever and I’ll defend her still always- I just can’t love every single thing!

Thank you for NetGalley and Atria books for the ARC!! <3

Overall rating: 4.5

I’ve been waiting for Josie’s story since The Long Game. And Elena you never disappoint! Josie and Matthew now have a little piece of my heart ❤️ This book took the fake dating trope up a notch and I ate up every bit of it! I LOVED Matthew!!! This book was everything because of him! My only complaint is I felt like we never got Josie’s full story. The ending was really cute but I’m an epilogue kinda girl and I needed more! Overall I loved this book and thank you net galley for the opportunity to arc read this amazing book!

This had all the popular tropes, sunshine and grump, fake dating, and forced proximity. The plot was just unbelievable and the side catchers lacked depth. The dialogue was ok, but of the MMC called MFC “sweetheart” or “blue” one more time….that is not a favorite of mine!

Elena Armas', The Fiance Dilemma, is a must read! Josie Moore has a complicated relationship with being in love. She’s been engaged four times. Her father, a wealthy businessman, recently came back into her life. And now his sudden reemergence into her life is seen as PR problem. Her father sends his PR specialist to meet with Josie to help clean up his image and Josie's past. Josie doesn’t want to be seen as a burden, which ultimately leads her to her fake engagement to Matthew Flannagan, who happens to be her sister’s best friend. It’s all temporary; the ring, the engagement, the relationship. Josie just needs to help fix her father’s reputation so they will leave her small town, friends, and family alone.

Josie is kindhearted, quirky, loves her small town and gives second chances. Matthew is thoughtful, protective, and loyal. I love how the author took the time to connect the pieces of Josie’s past to how and why she has made the decisions she has in the past and present. It’s thoughtful and real. I love the cameos from Cam and Adalyn and truly hope there is more from these characters in the future. I laughed, I cried, and I really connected with the characters.

"Those are the best things to fall in love with," I heard myself say. "The ones we find accidentally".

Elena Armas is a genius, and I will read anything she writes. Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for providing me the opportunity to read this ARC for an honest review!

OMG, I love Elena Armas so much. This is my first pre-release read and I was beyond excited to finally get the notification for The Fiancé Dilemma. So let's get into it because boy oh boy Mr. Matthew Flannagan. Where on earth can I find a man like that in my life?

I am sucker for romance by nature because I just find it so beautiful when you find your soulmate. Josie believing in the same magical feeling got me so excited and reading how her breath would get caught or belly would get filled with butterflies had me giggling like a little girl. And Matthew just knows how to use his words correctly. I mean I found myself saying "YESSSSS" or "OKAYYYYY!" several times through out.

At the end of the day I feel like relationships have this stigma that it must go a certain way and just witnessing how Rosie and Matthew played against those stereotypes really filled me with hope and encouragement.

Elena Armas is one of my favorite romance authors and she hasn't missed yet. If you're on the fence if you should read this book...DO IT!

Another adorable read by Elena Armas (and better than The Long Game IMO)!

It was fun to revisit Green Oaks and read Josie’s story, and I LOVED Matthew. His only flaw is being a Boston sports fan 😂

I do wish we got a little more of Josie’s and Matthew’s back stories. I still don’t know much about Josie’s past engagements? And why did Matthew keep so much from his family? These things were kind of glossed over. But the chemistry between these 2… 🔥🔥

I am so sad to be making this review because I really wanted to love this book. Fake dating is one of my all time favorite tropes so I had my hopes too high. I feel like I either love or feel meh about an Elena Armas book, and this one sadly is meh.

The flow of the story didn’t work for me. Chapters just ended abruptly talking about them kissing so I was like did they kiss or not? It was just odd, but this is a very slow burn which I enjoyed that.

Also Matthew didn’t have a personality to me until over half way through the book. I think it would have worked better if his POV was added earlier instead of just one chapter at the end.

To me this had The American Roommate Experience flaw where side characters are nonexistent. In TARE Rosie felt isolated and all the great side characters in The Spanish Love Deception disappeared and it was just her and Lucas. The Long Game has great side characters, and they were not utilized. Plus I was sad that Adalyn and Cameron were not in it much.

Sadly this one was just not it for me.

Thank you to Atria Books and Net Galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I really enjoyed Ms. Armas' first book - the Spanish Love Deception, but this one left much to be desired. The main character is Josie, a small town major/small business owner/baker in North Carolina. She is beloved by her hometown and was raised by her mom in this small town until her passing around the college years. Josie spent her life not knowing who her father was and just recently discovered that he is a famous multimillionaire from Florida. Josie is a liability to this man, in that she has been engaged four times, but not actually married. Josie freezes when her father's fixer comes to see her and says that she is engaged to be married. When asked to whom she was engaged to, she picks a nearby man approaching. One she has never met in person, but knows because he is her sister's best friend, Matthew. Matthew is stunned, but plays along. This ridiculous charade continues and Josie is for some reason unable to find it within herself to say that she is not really engaged and to tell her father's fixer to go away. The fixer is trying to make her dad seem much better by throwing her a lavish wedding, no expenses spared. Predictably Matthew and Josie develop feelings for each other. I didn't really have a liking to this book because it all seems so forced and the character Josie is not someone that I can admire because she doesn't stand up for herself. I read half of this book before I realized it just was nonsense and not worth it at all. Incredibly disappointed.

I received this ARC for my honest opinion from the publisher. I had really hoped much more from Ms. Armas.