ARC Review: "The Fiancé Dilemma" by Elena Armas (The Long Game #2) ★★★★

ARC Review: The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas

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.

“I’m not sorry I stumbled upon your driveway that night. I’m not sorry you thought this was your way to fix a mess that wasn’t yours. I’m not sorry I played fiancé when I knew I’d end up falling ridiculously in love with you.”

[Contains some spoilers]

PLOT SUMMARY
29-year-old mayor of Green Oak, Josephine “Josie” Moore has been “always the bride, never the wife” having been previously engaged 4 times but jilted the groom on the wedding day just about every time. After her recently discovered father, multi-billionaire businessman Andrew Underwood, plans to publish a tell-all book and considers Josie a PR problem due to her disastrous reputation.

Bobbi Shark ("doo-doo-do-do-do-doo". Get it? Ahem sorry), Andrew’s PR strategist, shows up and will not leave. A misunderstanding of Josie wearing a ring – a previous engagement ring she was wearing for fun and unfortunately (or fortunately) got stuck – she finds her saviour in the form of Matthew Flannagan, recently returned from Chicago, as she calls out to him and gets him to play along as her fiancé just to shoo Bobbi away.

This only makes matters worse as the rumour of her new engagement has become the talk of the town. Josie makes a deal with Matthew: they will pretend to be engaged as this is just the sort of redemption Josie needs for PR: she gets married, Andrew pays for everything, father-daughter reconciliation, reputation saved! With the wedding less than two months away, so much can happen: so many caught feels, so many almost-kisses, so much forced proximity that it is no wonder Josie falls completely in love with Matthew. But will she make her way down the aisle this time?

This is written in the first-person past-tense POV of Josie. Matthew does get his own POV in the very last chapter, which is something that was nice and I genuinely would have loved more of his POV.

OVERALL OPINIONS
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. Then it escalated haha and I did enjoy *that*.

Formerly called “The Short List” (to match the vibes of the series), this book is the second in the series “The Long Game” but can be read as a standalone. Josie is the stepsister of Adalyn Reyes and Matthew is her “former best friend” before Josie came along and took that spot. Having read this first, I felt I really should have read the other story first as I would have loved to have seen more of the sisterhood. It is sweet but a shame that both Josie and Adalyn hide secrets from each other (Josie with the fake engagement, Adalyn with being pregnant) because they did not want to hurt the other. I am glad they open up to each other and vow to never to do that again.

<< Observations >>
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:

We were engaged, but I wasn’t his. He wasn’t mine. We had rules and were not getting married.
It was us who were backwards. Facing the other way. Not the ring.
Would he turn it, then? Make the heart point the right way? Would I turn this whole thing around? Could I?

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.

I like that there is this dynamic of a strained father-daughter relationship that Josie wants desperately to fix but by the end of the book, she realises her father needs to work harder on earning that relationship from her. Some people in real life need a gentle reminder that, though you may share the same blood, you need not feel bound to them.

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.

<< Positives >>
🠚 The 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. Especially the actual bedroom scene – DAYUM! Y’know what I’m saying?
🠚 Matthew going through names of endearment for Josie was adorable! From sweetheart, to sweetcheeks, to babycakes, back to sweetheart, to sugar snap, to snuggle bear, back to sweetheart. Sweetheart is said around 20 times. Also her nickname being Baby Blue (because of her eyes) aww!
🠚 The ending was so beautiful – and I cannot emphasise that enough! I think it was one of the best parts of the whole novel, very creative and different from what I expected. I like that Matthew did not care if they married or not so long as they were together. But having her walk down the aisle towards him, not to marry him but just to speak to and hug him, was so tender and proves to show that she can do that in the future if she ever wants to. And that will wait however long it takes if she wants.
🠚 All the film references like the opening page with Star Wars (“I am your father”), Twilight (“That's why you were watching me sleep?... I wouldn't mind if you were.” … “Okay, Bella Swan, but I wasn't.”), the Avengers, etc.
🠚 Puns and Pedro Pigscal! Enough said!

<< Negatives >>
🠚 I found Josie to be a very ridiculous character. Particularly at the start of the book, and this disappointed me. I get that she rambles when she is nervous, which is something I am quite sure I do – is it possible for one to ramble too much? In which case, Josie ticks the box. She got better as she went on but I found the beginning difficult to make it through.
🠚 Slowburn dragged on for too long. There were so many nearly kisses I had to roll my eyes.
🠚 That one nearly-kiss that turned into him humming a song? Like I get it’s his way of answering a question she had – but it was from a while ago. I’m sorry, but it was too random.
🠚 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:
ㅤㅤ• all her exes would appear at some point (only one of them actually does, the rest are mentioned)
ㅤㅤ• 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)

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Josie꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Funny, goofy, awkward, a people-pleaser, ah yes I do relate to her. As I mentioned above, some of her character was annoying but it made sense from her abandonment and daddy issues. Also I too get interrupted by people rather often, so I was annoyed that I found this relatable too
🠚 “You’ll find it on Google, too; I made sure it’s there.” – I am this person.
🠚 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.

-ˋˏ ꒰ Matthew꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ 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! If anything, he is all too obliging. (It’s always the quiet ones!) No but seriously, what a beautiful but sexy man, I can see the big appeal. That… wasn’t meant to be a pun but we will roll with it. Because the man is big. And likes to do dirty talk. A lot of good girls to enjoy, ladies.
🠚 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 – especially if they are going to go on a podcast to fight for your honour, green flag). I love how much he saves Josie, and how dedicated he is to her. He has sisters too – another green flag.
🠚 Bonus for “If my woman has cold hands, I’m going to keep them nice and warm.” – as someone who got teased about how cold my hands were and very self-conscious about my hands, this made my heart melt! And gathering her wildflowers because she loves them.
🠚 HE LIKES BRIDGERTON! ANOTHER GREEN FLAG.
🠚 With a middle name like Eugene, aka Flynn Rider, aka Tangled, it is no wonder I love him.

FAV QUOTES
•“I have daddy issues too. Half the world does, and the other half deals with a partner who has them.”
• Sweetheart. It wasn’t the word that bothered me. It was the way he said it. Like someone who wanted to protect me. To spare me the heartbreak.
• Oversharing was one of my love languages.
• Those two were like the Avengers of None of Their Business, assembling the moment anything important was picked up by the wind.
• Matthew was standing there, at the entrance of my café, looking like one of the men whose thirst traps I pretended not to save.
• “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.”
• “Beautiful things shouldn't be boxed. It eventually dims their light.”
• “Perfection is subjective.”
• “Do you believe in magic? Juju? Premonitions? Ghosts? Fate? The power of manifestation? The yeti?” Matthew pondered the question. “Oh, absolutely.”
• the way he’d somehow guessed. Known. Read me. Even through the phone, almost made me want to weep. Laugh.
• “But no one ever bakes for me.” “I do.” He did.
• “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 did believe that sometimes love was enough. And some other times it conquered the world. It depended on how much magic was in the air that day.

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I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, and I’d like to thank Elena Armas, Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“The Fiancé Dilemma” is out July 30th