fifth time's the charm

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.