I've been wanting to read Amy Lea's books for so long now, so I decided that THE CATCH was the one that I wanted to start with...and boy was it an excellent choice!

First off, I absolutely loved the characters! Melanie and Evan were wonderful and I loved seeing their relationship evolve...and oh boy, oh boy did I adore having a lumberjack-esque grumpy fisherman as the hero in this--I feel like that's a high I've been chasing ever since I read (and loved) Tessa Bailey's It Happened One Summer, and while there were definitely some similarities to the premise, Amy Lea kept this story so fresh and fun and I loved every single second of it! I loved that it was set in Nova Scotia, I loved Evan's family and all of the small town shenanigans! As someone from a small Canadian town that's a similar size...albeit in a very different part of the country, I can confirm that the way everyone knows all the news and the way everyone all comes together is very, very accurate. :P

Along with amazing characters and loving the Canadian setting, I loved the plot and story so much! It had elements of WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, and THE PROPOSAL, and gave me all of those gooooooood ol' school rom-coms vibes! The chemistry between Mel and Evan made it even better, and it was so fun to see everything that they got themselves into.

Overall, I thought that THE CATCH was absolutely amazing and I loved it so much! I did read it as a standalone, so I think that if you wanted to do the same, you definitely can! I have to admit that I will definitely be going back to read the first two books in the series now though because I definitely want to get to read Crystal's and Tara's stories, too! Highly recommend this one if you're looking for a fun, steamy rom-com that you won't want to put down...and I recommend it even more if you're like me and can't resist a grumpy, super capable hero that seriously knows how to take care of the woman he loves. ;)

This is book 3 of the influencer series but can be read as a standalone.

I loved this book! I loved the banter between Melanie and Evan and their chemistry. Melanie's character is spicy, funny and sweet. Evan is a grumpy fisherman but a big teddy bear at heart, and I adored his family.

Read if you enjoy:
Sunshine/grump trope
Fake fiance
Stories about influencers

✨REVIEW✨
The Catch
Amy Lea
📣 happy pub day!!

okay this had me GIGGLING and laughing out loud! big city influencer lands meets small town fisherman🤭

🩷 maybe it’s my need for a good romcom read
🎣 maybe it’s the sleepy seaside small town with universal healthcare (hi canada)
🫏 maybe it’s the older sister MC and everything she carries (cue Surface Pressure from Encanto)
❤️‍🔥 maybe it’s the can’t-get-enough banter and growing tension between Mel + Evan

or maybe it’s maybelline and this is easily my favorite of the Influencer series!! this reminded me of the best parts of Love, Naturally and The Long Game! best kind of tropes galore: grumpy/sunshine, one bed, fake dating, small town romance🥰

❣️thank you @berkleyromance for this free copy!!

This was a cute romcom. I loved the setting of Cora’s Cove. It was such a quaint town in Nova Scotia, and someplace I would totally visit. I struggled a bit to get into this one at first as I wasn’t connecting to the characters, but once the fake engagement happened the pacing picked up and I began to like Evan and Mel better. Evan’s grumpy character worked really well against Mel’s sunshine, and as he opened up more, I ended up really liking his character. Who doesn’t love a hot fisherman!? Mel was a bit much for me, but as the book progressed she calmed down and became more relatable.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Amy Lea’s The Catch is an enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating, opposites-attract romantic comedy that brings together some of the best tropes into a story surrounding an influencer who finds herself stuck in close proximity with a local man in a rural Canadian town. This book is funny, cute, and everything rom com fans could want!

Melanie Karlsen is in her late twenties. She’s worked hard to monetize her passions by building her brand as an influencer. However, a decline in followers and partnerships have led to a financial bind that is pushing her to seek out new opportunities. When someone reaches out with an opportunity to partner with Seaside Resorts in Nova Scotia, Canada, Melanie jumps at the chance. An all-expenses paid luxury spa getaway just to share her experiences on social media? Sounds like a dream job!

The only thing that is worrying Melanie is that she will need to leave her younger brother behind. Their father recently passed away and she hesitates to leave him to grieve alone. She knows he will be fine for a week, but she worries after the last time she left him alone.

After arriving in Nova Scotia, her worries turn towards a new problem—there has been a mix-up with her reservation and she is not able to complete her stay until the following week. Melanie ponders returning all the way back home, but decides to stay locally until the resort opens up. A lobster festival means most of the hotels (including the resort she is supposed to stay at) are booked, but she finds a vacancy at a B&B an hour away.

She was looking forward to staying in a luxury resort, but ends up at an eccentric (and potentially haunted) inn. The owner of the inn Evan Whaler overhears her concerns. He despises basically everything about Melanie and her career, and the two instantly are at blows with one another. But when a boating accident winds up with Evan in a coma, Melanie can’t help but feel guilty and lies that she and Evan are engaged so she can sit by his side in the ICU.

It seemed like a harmless lie at first, but when his family arrives Melanie and Evan realize that continuing to pretend may benefit them both. Evan’s family immediately welcome Mel, throwing engagement parties and treating her like one of the family. The more they play up their relationship to Evan’s family, the more they realize there are real feelings between them.

The Catch is such a great story. It reminded me of The Proposal and maybe a dash of While You Were Sleeping. Amy Lea is a talented writer, and this managed to bring several romance tropes together into a story that still felt unique and fresh. Melanie’s backstory was quite heavy, and it made her relatable and sympathetic to the reader. She didn’t grow up with money or nice clothing, and she was often made fun of.

With so much loss in Mel’s own family, Evan’s family feels like a warm mug of tea on a bitterly cold day. She worries as the fake relationship progresses about losing his family and hurting them. Meanwhile Evan is worried about losing his inn and what he could provide for his family. Evan reveals himself slowly to be a kind and gentle person. He hides behind a rough exterior but he is much kinder and soft than he seems.

I liked seeing their relationship progress across the novel. It’s a heartwarming story that romance fans will love!

This is the type of book I pick up when I want something that will let me escape into a world of new friends and leave me happy and content. The characters are appealing and I wanted to be friends with them.

Fashion-influencer Melanie's trip to rebuild her brand at a luxury resort is not going well. Her reservations were messed up and now she has a week where she needs to find somewhere else to stay. The only thing available is a bed and breakfast in a small Canadian fishing village and the first impression is not good. Evan, one of the bed and breakfast owners makes it clear that he doesn't want her there and the B&B needs work. But she has no where else to go so she stays. When an accident ends up with Evan in the hospital and everyone thinking Melanie is his fiancée things get complicated. Can pretending to be engaged save the B&B? Will they be able to carry off the engagement without revealing too much? A fun read that leaves you wondering if two people from such different worlds can find a way to make the future work.

this one was probably just ok for me. it took me a while to get through it because I really didn't vibe with the beginning. it definitely got stronger in the end, but I think I liked the second one better.
this is marketed as a while you were sleeping/the proposal mash-up set in canada, but there was really only one scene from each movie in the book so it didn't really do it for me. it's definitely a small town romance, but I think some of my favorite parts of the small town romance trope were left out.
there were definitely some silly moments and some swoony dialogue, but overall I think this will go as a book I'd recommend if you want something to read on vacation that you would immediately forget once you got home.

Amy Lea is one of those comfort authors that you know what type of story you will be reading before you even get into the book, and she knows how to deliver on that comfort. I've adored everything by her so far, and The Catch is no different. We have the last in the influencer series where Melanie (a side character from books one and two) is put out of her comfort zone in a small town with an innkeeper, Evan. This story had me laughing out loud and swooning for Melanie and Evan. The chapters are the perfect length, and if you can't get through it in one sitting, you won't be stopping mid-chapter. Amy is just the ideal mix of comfort with some fresh takes on our favorites. This gives "While You're Sleeping" meets "The Proposal." I highly suggest that you check this one out.

Tropes;
-Third in series but can be read as a standalone
- single POV
- fake dating
- grumpy x sunshine
- small-town romance

The publisher provided me with an ARC, and I purchased my own copy. All my thoughts are my own.

Well, that’s 3/3 for me and Amy Lea. I have been a fan since the very beginning with Set on You and I have just continued to genuinely enjoy Amy’s writing style and storytelling ability. I would 100% recommend each and every one of her books.

The Catch is the perfect enemies to lovers, cozy setting romcom. I want to build a house inside this book and never leave. Evan and Mel may be my favorite Amy Lea couple to date, but that is probably because I am a SUCKER for a grumpy man in plaid. If you love an atmospheric, spicy read with Lea’s characteristic loveable cast of family member side characters, then The Catch is for you. You may even get a glimpse of some of our past favorite couples.

This was the first book in this series I listened to the audiobook instead of reading the physical copy, and now I want to go back and listen to them all. The narrator, Kelsey Navarro Foster, was the PERFECT Mel and brought this story to life in such a fun and entertaining way. I felt like I was watching a movie because the story was so vivid in my mind.

Pick this one up if you love:

-Amy Lea, because I just love her, she is genuinely the sweetest human, and I will always read anything she writes
-A meddlesome family with the sweetest intentions. I LOVE how much they love Mel.
-A family inn that needs saving
-A small, sweet, coastal Canadian town
-Grumpy men in plaid
-Enemies to lovers and opposites attract
-SPICE (The Lighthouse seen had me sweating!)

This was by far the best romance I’ve read in a while… and I’ve read a lot lately!

One of my favorite romcoms is The Proposal and this one reminded me of so many of the things I loved about that movie 🫶

THE CATCH is the third book in a series and one of my favorite parts of these books has been the female friendships ❤️ I was so happy we got cameos from Tara and Crystal!

The tropes —
⚓️ grumpy / sunshine
🦞 enemies to lovers
⚓️ fake dating
🦞 forced proximity
⚓️ city girl & small town guy

This one truly had all my favorite tropes and it was executed SO well 👏 it didn’t feel for one second like there was too much happening! There were multiple laugh-out-loud moments and I had the best time reading this 🫶

THE CATCH is the final book in The Influencers series, which is super bittersweet. I’ve loved all three books, but this one was my favorite and it was the perfect send off 🥹

The Catch is the third book in the Influencer series by Amy Lea and I might've enjoyed the other two more than this one. I loved the setting and all the side characters in this one a lot. I absolutely loved Nana. And I liked the main characters when they were on their own but the unnecessary arguments and being rude and mean to each other the way they were in the beginning made no sense to me. What irked me the most was Evan confessing that he was attracted to her from the second morning itself even though he was mean after that. Him saying "And anyone who's made you feel otherwise is a fucking waste of space," about her clothes and her look even though he himself did that??? That pissed me off. Both MCs were pretty terrible to each other and somehow that made them fall in love in less than two weeks. I don't know. I was so excited for this one when I read the snippet at the back of Exes and O's. I flew through the first 30% of this book because of the setting and the way Cora Cove was described. But I really dragged my feet to finish this book after a certain point.

The Catch is the third book in The Influencer series. I didn’t read the first two books yet and although the characters are mentioned, you don’t need to read them to read this one. It works fine as a standalone.

When a fashion influencer, Melanie goes to Nova Scotia to work on her brand, she ends up staying in a small town at an AirBnB that isn’t actually open. She butts beads with the grumpy owner, Evan. When Evan gets injured on a whale watching excursion, Melanie pretends to be his fiancée to go to the hospital with him. When she meets his family there, they decide to keep up the charade in hopes it will help his family reunite.

This was a cute romcom. I loved the setting of Cora’s Cove. It was such a quaint town in Nova Scotia, and someplace I would totally visit. I struggled a bit to get into this one at first as I wasn’t connecting to the characters, but once the fake engagement happened the pacing picked up and I began to like Evan and Mel better. Evan’s grumpy character worked really well against Mel’s sunshine, and as he opened up more, I ended up really liking his character. Who doesn’t love a hot fisherman!? Mel was a bit much for me, but as the book progressed she calmed down and became more relatable.

This was my first book by Lea, and I do plan on reading the others in the series. I did think this book was a bit long for a romcom, but that’s my personal opinion.

Read this is you like:
- grumpy/sunshine
- fake dating/engagement
- fishermen
- quaint settings
- meddling family

Thank you Berkley Romance for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

🎣THE CATCH by Amy Lea🎣

📆PUB DATE: Today!
➡️Swipe or see below for synopsis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Format: Ebook
Read if you like:
💔Enemies to lovers
🎣Cute fishing village/BnB
1️⃣Single POV

Thank you @berkleyromance for letting me be on the book tour for The Catch! This was a great addition to Amy Lea’s The Influenced series, although you definitely don’t need to read the previous two books before this one. My favorite in the series is still Exes and Oh’s by far, but The Catch is my second favorite. I loved the setting in a small fishing town in Canada, it was very atmospheric and made me want to pack up and go stay at this Airbnb in this cute town. I liked that a family situation forced Melanie and Evan to fake date, leading to forced proximity and forced kindness in public, which was a fun way for the two characters to get together.

What I didn’t enjoy as much was the reason for the fake dating wasn’t super believable, and the way they went about it was slightly manipulative towards Evan’s family members. Even though it’s enemies to lovers, once Melanie and Evan started to fall for each other it went from 0 to 100 way fast. Aside from my few complaints, I still recommend this book to anyone looking for a cute romance with a great setting!

Thank you again @berkleyromance for letting me be a part of this tour and for the #gifted copy of The Catch.

4.5🌟- I really liked it!

Thank you PRH Audio and Berkley Romance for the audio and physical copies of this one!

While You Were Sleeping meets the Proposal and It Happened One Summer! There was so much I loved about this one! The banter, small town feel, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, fake dating/engagement, the fun cast of side characters, and our MMC Evan 🫶.

I was genuinely laughing throughout this book, and loved the tender and vulnerable moments between Evan and Mel. This had a lot of fun cameos from the gals in the first two books, but this could still be read as a standalone!

I'm going to miss this series, but excited to see what Amy does next!

This one caught me by surprise! A charming, coastal town romance set in Nova Scotia, I loved the banter and dynamic between the two leads, Mel and Evan. I'm a sucker for an opposites attract moment, and this really delivered on that front. I loved getting to know the entire cast of characters from Cora's Cove, they truly just added another layer of charm to the story. I thought this had excellent pacing and our main characters were superbly fleshed out — I feel like I really got to know them as people. It was a little long for what the story was, but that's really my only complaint. All in all, I loved this and highly recommend it as a fun contemporary romance option, especially for any summer reading roster!

With a fake dating scheme from two polar opposites and an eccentric yet lovable family set in a wonderful small town, this one one was truly a perfect mash-up of While You Were Sleeping and The Proposal.

I loved the dynamic between Mel and Evan. If you know me, you know I am utterly obsessed with While You Were Sleeping, and Amy Lea wonderfully recreated it within this setting. I loved all the nods to both While You Were Sleeping and The Proposal, giving it that quintessential classic rom-com feel. Evan was delightfully grumpy, and I loved how well suited him and Mel were for each other. Both characters were so stubborn, and it was as entertaining seeing them butt heads throughout the story as it was watching them gain a new perspective on each other. There were so many cute moments between them that I absolutely adored, and once you start to see past Evan's grumpy exterior? Oh my goodness I was *dying* over him.

Mel was also a wonderful leading lady. I loved how sure she was of herself. She didn't take any shit from anyone about the things she loved and the choices she made. At the same time, she had her own flaws and struggles, particularly through her fear of commitment. While I wanted to give her a good shake in the third act and make her admit her feelings, I understood the journey she had to go on to let go of her past to embrace her future.

All in all, if you love classic romantic comedies, this is THE book to add to your TBR pile.

Fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen is a fish out of water in The Catch. Author Amy Lea’s final installment in the Influencer trilogy is a mix of While You Were Sleeping and The Proposal, with Lea’s charming characters thrown in.

Mel’s brand is sinking and when a mix-up with a resort partner lands her in need of a place to stay in Nova Scotia, she ends up in Cora’s Cove at the inn of one very grumpy Evan Whaler. She’s sunshine (with a bit of bite), he’s grumpy. She’s a city girl, he’s at home in the great outdoors. All these are romance catnip and Lea makes them her own in this story. Evan is irritated with Mel at first but as you get to know him through her eyes you learn why. Evan may seem grumpy but he’s a sweetheart once you get past his guard. He also comes with a family who are big and loving when they’re not fighting with each other. For Mel, it’s not just Evan that’s a draw but his whole family. Mel is achingly lonely in a crowd and I loved watching her find her place in Cora’s Cove. She’s one who always has her guard up but among the Whalers she finally starts to let people in. It’s lovely to see her come into her own over the course of the story, to find a blend between the influencer bombshell and the unplugged Mel.

The romance between Evan and Mel is slow burn, especially since they start out at odds. They clash, they bicker, but there’s definite chemistry from their initial meeting onward. And once things heat up you can’t keep these two apart. I loved the mix of sweetness and spice in their story. Add in the Whaler family as a whole and The Catch is simply a heartwarming read.

Mel’s story is the third in the Influencer trilogy but it can easily be read as a standalone. Fans of the series will like the glimpses they get of Crystal and Tara but if you’re new to Lea’s work you can jump in here without issue. If you want to be swept away to an idyllic coastal Canadian town to enjoy a charming romance with humor and heart then The Catch is the read for you.

I have loved Amy’s Influencers series (Set On You and Exes and O’s) and The Catch continues to delight with fun romance! This book is perfect for romcom lovers and feels reminiscent of some of my favorite Sandra Bullock romcoms, While You Were Sleeping and The Proposal.

I loved the grumpy x sunshine, fake engagement, small town aspect of this book. I felt like this book moved faster than the previous books in the series but Amy Lea did a great job making the relationship feel like it was well developed without being too insta-lovey.

The Catch is book three in The Influencer series following Set On You and Exes and O's with a funny romantic comedy between a grumpy lobster fisherman and a fashion influencer in Nova Scotia!

This was cute and I loved the coastal Nova Scotia setting and Evan's family and friends. I'm always a fan of fake fiancé books, especially with a grump/sunshine! I didn't always love Melanie, she was a little immature/naive and this is very insta-love but it was fun to read and I enjoyed it!

Thanks to Berkley for my advanced copy. The Catch comes out tomorrow - February 13th!

4.5 stars!

This is my first time reading a book by Amy Lea and was not disappointed. I will definitely be checking out some of her other works. This story was the perfect rom-com-enemies-to-lovers-fake-fiance-sunshine-grumpy trope. Truly, it is one of my favorites. Because, let’s face it, no one is ever that miserable. There is always something just below the surface.

Melanie Karlsen is a social media influencer, but recently she isn’t garnering the attention she used. A great opportunity to help refresh her image has her headed to Nova Scotia. A small snafu has her staying in Cora’s Cove for a week before she can get to her destination. Her she rents a room at a somewhat run down B&B. And the owner/caretaker doesn’t seem too happy to have her there.

Evan Whaler is a lobster fisherman and caretaker for his families B&B who is stuck in a family feud with some of his family wanting to sell the B&B and some wanting to restore and keep it running. Evan’s perception Mel is what you would expect it to be : that she is entitled and high maintenance. A boating accident, leave Evan unconscious and Mal pretending to be his fiancé so that he isn’t alone at the hospital. Only now, his whole family is brought together over this news. It’s been so long since everyone got along that now Evan and Mel have come up with an arrangement: pretend to be engaged for the sake of the family, and Evan will help her get content for her social media. Only now, the more time they spend together, the more the both see that there is more to the other. And she is becoming strongly attached to the family that she never had.

I absolutely loved the whole cast of characters. I liked watching Evan open up, to remind him of happier times, and that things can still remain happy. And watching selfless Mel enjoy the natural side of things, instead of the made up world of influencers.

You’ll have to one click to find out how this ends.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book.