I was excited about this book-- it sounded like a While You Were Sleeping spin, and I feel like you don't see many stories happening in Nova Scotia. However, it just fell flat for me.

Enemies to lovers has to be really well done for me to enjoy, and this was not it. I didn't feel a ton of chemistry between the two of them, just plain annoyance. I honestly got pretty bored by it, and it was not enough to get me over the conflict-adverse part of me.

There's beauty in holding on . . . as long as you're not trapped in the past.

Brief Summary
When Mel, a social media influencer, ends up in Nova Scotia on the wrong weekend, she has no choice but to shift her plans and stay at a hotel surrounded by local fisherman. There she meets the grumpiest fisherman Evan.

WHAT TO EXPECT:
🦞small town romance
🦞city girl x small town guy
🦞grumpy x sunshine
🦞fake engagement
🦞forced proximity
🦞third act breakup

🦞TW: death of parent, death of family member, grief, depression, estranged parent, family strife, near drowning,

My Thoughts
I really didn’t care for the FMC and the MMC I think both of them were in sufferable… but it was easy enough to read without having to think too much. although the book as a whole did feel a little flat for me. The pacing of this book completely threw me off everything happen within two weeks. I do want to check out this author other books because I hear so many great things. Maybe I just had high hopes for this one.

I would recommend this book to the right audience. I think this series has a wide appeal.

“You're never alone in this world while I'm in it, Mel." There's a conviction in his words that makes me feel grounded, tethered in a way I've never been able to grasp.”

All the stars! The Simple Wild meets the Bellinger Sisters duo. Standalone in an interconnect series. The romcom girlies will love The Catch!

✨ THINGS AND STUFF ✨
-nova scotia, canada
-forced proximity
-loathe to love
-jarvis 🕷️
-city girl 🤝🏼 small town grump
-fried pickles & lobster poutine
-oh no! you’re wounded (him)
-fake finance
-would you rather…
-family dynamics
-lobster festival
-#IsThisAKissingBook: open door. “I've never wanted to kiss someone again so badly in my life, and I don't like it one bit.”

thank you berkley romance for an advanced copy.

Thank you to @netgalley @berkleyromance @berkleypub for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

✨ARC REVIEW ✨

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕓𝕪 𝔸𝕞𝕪 𝕃𝕖𝕒

Synopsis: A grumpy fisherman & a fashion influencer on the brink of irrelevance lives are tossed overboard in this new romantic comedy from international bestselling author Amy Lea. Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a fishing village on the east coast of Canada where she meets the burly & bearded bed-and-breakfast owner & fisherman, Evan Whaler. The B&B is under fire & Mel agrees to fake their engagement for one week in exchange for Evan’s help with her social media content. But of course with their long hikes and campfire chats, exposing in their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult by the day. Will Mel be willing to sacrifice her picture-perfect life in Boston for a chance at a true, unfiltered love in the wild?

I FINALLY finished “The Influencer” series!! This book gave me all the vibes of Sandra Bullock’s movies ‘While You Were Sleeping’ & ‘The Proposal’ & packed with banter, some swoony lines, and a bit of spice. 🌶️ I really loved Mel & what she stood for—finally getting her backstory after reading the other two books was really nice to see. Now Evan, he had to grow on me a bit, but at the end I wound up not disliking him as much as when he first showed up. Overall, I think this was a good book.

ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ:
• ᴡɪᴛᴛʏ ʙᴀɴᴛᴇʀ 😂
• ᴀ ꜱᴛʀᴏɴɢ ꜰᴍᴄ 💅🏾
• ᴀɴ ᴏᴜᴛᴅᴏᴏʀꜱʏ ᴍᴍᴄ 🎣
• ɢʀᴜᴍᴘ x ꜱᴜɴꜱʜɪɴᴇ ☀️
• ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴀᴛ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ꜱɪɢʜᴛ 🤬
• ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟʏ 🫂
• ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ᴛᴏᴡɴ ᴠɪʙᴇꜱ 🏠
• ʜᴀᴘᴘɪʟʏ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

I’m glad I took the time to read the first two books in the series and I think if you want a fun, low stakes series to read that has some LOL moments, this may be the series for you.

Thank you to @netgalley @berkleyromance @berkleypub for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

#TheCatch #AmyLea #TheInfluencerSeries #Netgalley #BookReview

When I began reading this book, I didn't realize it was the third and final book in a series by Amy Lea. I loved The Catch so much that I'll be going back to read the other two books ASAP.

The Catch has two of my favorite romance tropes, enemies-to-lovers and fake dating, both of which are well executed. Melanie and Evan are both stubborn characters with dominant qualities and it leads to great banter and opposites attract chemistry. Mel has had a hard life and keeps everyone at an arms length distance, never showing all of her cards or letting anyone in to protect herself. Evan comes off as a grumpy asshole, but turns out to be more of a cinnamon role than anything.

Evan's family is a hoot and they help keep the plot rolling in dynamic ways. Their tiny Canadian fishing village is a lovely, charming character itself and reminded me of a coastal Stars Hollow. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a grumpy fisherman romance, but The Catch hooked me and reeled me in until the very end.

3.5 ⭑ hot lumberjack book boyfriends are gonna do it for me every time!!

this was fun! there was a good mix of witty banter, heavier topics, and tension. my attention wasn’t wholly captured, but I still had a good time. this was also too insta-love for my personal taste, but the chemistry between melanie and evan was still there and very hot & entertaining!

I really liked both of Amy Lea's other books and think her writing is so fun and funny! She has the perfect blend and her books are true rom-coms in my opinion. This third and final book of her Influencers series pairs Mel, a fashion influencer from Boston with Evan, a small town fisherman trying to fix up his family's inn. After a boating accident turns into Mel lying about being his fiancee, Evan and Mel decide to keep the lie going in order to get his family to come together after a years long conflict.

Read this for:
- Fake Engagement
- City girl x small town guy
- Asian FMC
- Opposites Attract
- A small town Inn

I really had a fun time with this one! I really liked the small town setting of Cora's Cove and was glad basically the whole book was set there. I really liked all of the characters, including side characters and loved that we got to see glimpses of the two previous couples from the series. It definitely has some laugh-out-loud moments but also some emotional ones as well - I loved how much Evan really saw Mel and also accepted her even though she considers herself a bit "high maintenance" .

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

2.5 ⭐️ Sadly, this was not for me.


"Fake dating always leads to true love. Fact. I don't make the rules."


WHAT TO EXPECT:
✨ small town romance
✨ a not so meet cute
✨ she’s a big influencer from Boston
✨ he’s a small town fisherman in Nova Scotia
✨ city girl x small town guy
✨ dislike to lovers
✨ grumpy x sunshine
✨ fake engagement
✨ forced proximity
✨ opposite attract
✨ 2.5/5 spice
✨ third act breakup
✨ HEA
✨ POC rep - FMC is Chinese
✨ cameos from characters in previous books
✨ TW: death of parent, death of family member, grief, depression, estranged parent, family strife, near drowning,


*There are some slight SPOILERS in this review so read at your own risk*


My Thoughts:

After reading the previous books, Set On You and Exes and O's, I was really excited about Melanie’s book. And while the premise is fun, I was ultimately disappointed.

This type of story has been done so many times and I was bored with how it was done here. So here's the thing, I really did like the premise of a high maintenance, big city influencer going to a small town where she's roped into becoming the fake fiance of a grumpy fisherman who lives in a dilapidated inn. However, this really gave me It Happened One Summer Vibes by Tessa Bailey. And while, yes, I know the details of the stories are different, it just didn't feel that original to me.

My biggest issue is that I didn’t really like either MC, nor was there any chemistry between them.

First, let's talk about Melanie. She is just so overly dramatic. For example, she has a phobia of spiders (and any other bug really), and the way she would react was childish. There's a moment where she's freaking out about a spider and says "the eight-legged monster can't escape and plant eggs in my face." I have phobias and I know there isn't always logic to them, but surely a grown woman can realize spiders do not plant eggs in human faces. Also, her referencing horror movies 10 times throughout the story was overkill. We get it, she would not survive a horror film scenario. Again, she's just being dramatic.

Now, onto Evan. Look, I really tried, but I just did not like him. He's a grumpy fisherman who plays guitar and struggles with grief. That's his whole personality. He was such an asshole and the reasoning wasn't good enough. And his anger and irritation towards Melanie felt so forced. I also didn't understand why he softens towards her eventually. Because she's 'charming'? The girl who legitimately says she doesn't connect with people and has a hard time making friends and has a resting bitch face is . . . charming? Doesn't make sense. I feel like this story would have been better if we got his POV.

There was no chemistry between Evan and Melanie. It's all 'I hate you' for the first few days and then when he takes her to go hiking, they actually talk to each other like regular human beings and suddenly, everything changes. What? This guy was such an asshole and now, because he got you to open up (which you never do) you go, hmmmm maybe there's more to this guy. No babe. No. And even when they talk, there's no spark. It's just conversations anyone would have with someone they're spending time with. I did not feel any chemistry.

At the end of the day, these characters were just too opposite from one another and mean to believe that in a week, they went from immensely disliking each other to lovers. And by lovers, I mean feeling like they were 'the one'. Their relationship is just so ridiculous and far-fetched.

The Whaler family was fine at first but then it got weird. They're way too in each other's business. But what gave me the ick was when Evan and Melanie do the deed, and then shortly after the family comes into the room, sits on the edge of the bed while they are naked and sweaty, and proceeds to chat with them. WHAT??? So gross . This family has no boundaries, oh, and they hold massive grudges. I would legit be running for the hills if this is the family of the guy I was screwing. Sorry, but dysfunction isn't cute or charming.

Melanie's child stalker was so creepy and should have been left out of this story. This twelve(?) year old lives in her building, is in love with her, follows her around, stalks her IG, writes her poem, and tries to flirt with her. And what was weird is that while Melanie also finds this creepy, she puts up with it and sometimes find amusement with his infatuation. Someone makes a joke about how she might need a restraining order against him but then she laughs about it. But really, it's not funny. It's weird. This kid is so inappropriate. I would ignore this kid and have a serious conversation with his father where I'd threaten to get an actual restraining order against him.

What's even weirder, is that Melanie has her breakthrough moment of realizing she wants to be with Evan while having a heart to heart with this child! Seriously? Melanie doesn't open up to people ever but she's going to talk about her love life with a child stalker? WTF? I just . . . I don't understand why this kid needed to be in the story AT ALL.

I was a full time travel influencer and photographer for six years, so I’m very familiar with that world, and there were a lot of things that happened that weren’t 100% realistic or didn’t make sense.

1. Melanie getting an offer for an all expense paid trip would not have been a shock. She has 500k followers. If anything, she would have laughed at the offer because someone with her amount of followers would be getting paid an insane amount on top of the free trip. No lie, influencers with 500k followers charge anywhere between $5,000 - $10,000 per post (depending on engagement)! So yeah, her getting a free trip and being excited about it is ridiculous.

2. Melanie decides to stay in Cora's Cove because paying for another flight would have been too expensive. But I'm here to tell you that flights from Boston to Halifax would not be more expensive than staying at an Airbnb for an entire week. In all honesty, it probably would have been more expensive.

3. When Melanie moves Evan's boat equipment for the shot. I know there are influencers who might do this without asking but the fact she asked, he said no, and still decided to move it didn't seem realistic to me.

4. Melanie canceling her work trip to just stay with Evan did not make sense. She says she needs this job, but this hard working girl is going to throw that all away for some guy? No, this doesn't align with her characters.

I also want to note that the writing itself was perfectly fine. The story was easy to follow and well-written. However, I did end up skimming a lot of the non-dialogue just because I had lost interest in the characters and overall story

I have preconceived notions in my mind of what it’s like to be a fashion influencer. Like most people out there, I think of them as vapid and shallow people who put artificial beauty over quality. With this book I enjoyed how the main character challenged my biased ideas by giving me a look at behind the glossy and well edited pictures. She humanized Mel by giving the reader an understanding on why a person would chose this as a career and the ups and downs a person would have with social media.

This was such a delightful read with chemistry pouring out the pages. The beauty of this book comes from the slow burn of this romance which provided the strong foundation for Melanie and Evan. Though they only spent 2 weeks together, the author did a great job in developing Mel and Evan's relationship by creating a meaningful emotional bond. Their connection felt just as authentic and genuine as a couple who had been dating for years.

This book was the perfect ending to this series. It had laugh out loud moments to tender heart to heart scenes. It truly felt as if Nana was hugging me throughout this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC

**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: mention of parental abandonment, parental death, depression

+ I didn’t read the first book in this series yet but I read book two and loved it. So when I was offered to join the book tour for this book I was excited to do it. Amy Lea is fast becoming a must-read author for me.

+ Evan is grumpy and I can’t say Mel is actually miss sunshine but she is confident, she’s a go-getter and the two of them do not hit it off at first. Which makes this story so fun! The story is set in a small fishing town where everyone knows everyone but the people are nice and it’s the first time Mel gets to feel a sense of community and family in her life. Evan’s family drama is a big part of the story which leads to a fake dating/engagement scenario.

+ The romance is fun because Evan and Mel do not get along but there is something brewing underneath the surface of their arguments. When they finally do something about it, the scenes are sweet and spicy. I like that Mel is a social media influencer and we get to see her perspective on her job – which people thing isn’t a job, but through Mel we do see it is work, no matter how frivolous some people find it to be. I also like that Mel isn’t perfect but is always striving for perfection because of her job to be on social media and how Evan shows that he likes her even in her most natural state. 

~ It’s insta-love. Evan and Mel barely know one another and she’s at this airbnb for only a week.

~ I felt like Julian’s story wasn’t really complete. He is Mel’s brother and mental health and depression are tied to his story. He gets introduced to us in the beginning and then barely anything throughout the story, except for Mel’s thoughts about him, then everything is okay for him at the end. I did like the themes about family – for Mel it was Julian and Evan has his close cousin, Lucy and then his family drama.

My Thoughts:

I thought this was a cute, small town romance with grumpy and sunshine characters who start off as enemies and move onto lovers…kind of fast! There romance is a bit spicy and sweet which was nice. I liked the themes of family and Mel finding a place that she could experience family and community and I also appreciated her confidence. Overall, I didn’t love this as much as Exe’s and O’s but it was still an entertaining read. I look forward to reading more from this author!

⭐️: 4/5

When fashion influencer Mel’s sponsored trip to a five star resort goes awry, she finds herself in a coastal Canadian fishing village, staying in an AirBnB owned by two cousins, the bright and lively Lucy, and brooding fisherman Evan. When an accident leads to Mel being mistaken for Evan’s fiancé, they decide to keep up the ruse in order for Evan to mend some familial fences and Mel to get some good wilderness content for her socials. Amidst their forced proximity, real feelings start to emerge, but is Mel willing to sacrifice the image she built so carefully for a life in the wild?

I guess this is part of one of those rom-com series that follow a group of friends or otherwise interconnected acquaintances where a side character from a previous book ends up getting their own book. Although I know the previous books were meant to be read first, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything terribly pertinent, so this definitely functions as a standalone. It was very clear who the other two main characters were though, since their presence and personalities and relationships with their significant others was explained just badly enough but harped upon enough that I knew I was supposed to just know their stories already. As far as the actual plot of this book goes, I’m definitely such a sucker for “city girl meets country boy.” It’s probably one of my favorite tropes, so this one was perfect. The caveat however is that I’m not the biggest fan of contrived accidents as plot points, I think it’s a little lazy and too out of the realm of possibility, even for a rom-com. This one in particular I felt took a really roundabout way to get to the fake dating storyline. There was also some element of instant love going on, which can be irksome, but since we only get one POV for the most part, it was handled a lot better than it could have been. Which brings me to the fact that we only got one POV for the majority of the book. I definitely prefer my rom-coms as dual POV. I really liked the story overall though, and the relationship was so cute, and it was great to see the characters evolve and grow throughout. One of my favorite things about this book was the representation though. I’ve never read a book that came anywhere close to feeling similar to my experiences, since most stories that feature trans-racial adoptees center either on their search for their birth parents or at the very least, despite not knowing where they fit in, how they felt so ~wanted~ by their adoptive parents, which isn’t always the case. It was nice to see a different sort of representation.

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub and @berkleyromance for this free eARC!!

I was happy to be back in the world of Amy Lea's influencers and the grumpy men who fall for them. Add in a bearded, Canadian, Lobster fisherman and I was sold. This is a fun fake-engagement trope with sweet family elements tied in.

The Influencer series has been hit or miss for me. My favorite is the second book, Exes & O's.

The Catch features an influencer and a fisherman in an insta-love story. Nothing goes as planned when Melanie is invited to a resort for a week-long feature on her socials. Only the date gets mixed-up, and she finds herself in a half-renovated Inn with a brooding, grumpy, flannel wearing man.

Evan is consumed with guilt over the death of his cousin. He can't believe his luck when Melanie walks into the Inn with a reservation on a day that haunts his thoughts. Is this a sign from his best friend to forgive himself, and open his heart to a relationship?

Opposites attract storyline with snippets of enjoyable ROMCOM moments. The insta-love was a bit unbelievable with this couple.

Thank you, Berkley Publishing. Rating 3.5

i LOVED this book! I love anything grumpyxsunshine and this book definitely delivered! It was so perfectly swoony. Found family? Sign me up. Small town? Yes please! I loved the witty banter and I felt so deeply for the FMC finding her place. I do often feel a disconnect with "influencer" stories but this one was better than the previous one.

It's probably just me but I could not connect with this one. I'm not sure why when this author is a huge fav of mine. It could have been my mood? So I will definitely go back to it in the future.

Melanie is supposed to be at the spa. Except they have her reservation wrong…so now she is stuck here for a week. Well…not here, they are fully booked, but she manages to find an inn with an opening about an hour away. When she meets Evan however, he makes it clear the Inn is not open, and has no desire to let her stay. Lucky for her his cousin steps in. When he ends up in the ER with only Melanie there, she has to pretend to be his fiancé to be allowed in. Only problem is not his entire family think they are engaged…

Always love me a fake fiancé story! Add in a flailing influencer and it’s perfection! Oh wait…and don’t forget enemies to lovers! We hit all the favorite tropes in this one! I loved that Melanie was trying to reinvent herself and bring her audience back, but was struggling to do so. I think that’s a side of influencing people often don’t think about! Also Evan was just as dreamy as could be, and I adored his family so damn much! I found this to be a delightful read that was so enjoyable!

I didn't love this one.
It was cute enough, and if you like the tropes, you might like this book.
It just really wasn't for me.

Thank you Berkley for my copy of The Catch! All thoughts are my own.

If there’s one thing about me, if the book takes place in a coastal town, I’m gonna read it. Now add in the grumpy hero trope mixed with fake dating? It’s gonna be a knock it. I LOVED reading The Catch by Amy Lea. It was everything I loved about It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey (grumpy fisherman, influencer heroine, coastal town) but felt a little more grounded in reality, which is my preferred style of romance. While i didn’t love Set on You, Exes and O’s and The Catch have quickly become favorites. It was such a fun read and I look forward to the next phase of Lea’s writing career!

Synopsis:

“In a last-ditch effort to rescue her brand from the brink of irrelevance, Boston fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a rural fishing village on the east coast of Canada. The only thing scarier than nature itself? The burly and bearded bed-and-breakfast owner and fisherman, Evan Whaler—who single-handedly disproves the theory that Canadians are “nice.”After a boating accident lands Evan unconscious in the hospital, Mel is mistaken for his fiancée by his welcoming yet quirky family, who are embroiled in a long-standing feud over the B&B. In a bold attempt to mend family fences, Mel agrees to fake their engagement for one week in exchange for Evan’s help with her social media content.Amid long hikes and campfire chats, reeling in their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult by the day. But is Mel willing to sacrifice her picture-perfect life in the city for a chance at a true, unfiltered love in the wild?” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Setting—I LOVED being on the East Coast of Canada in this book. It was a stunning coastal setting that captured the feel of salt water spraying your face as you enjoy the view. Plus, it’s a perfect small town vibe.

The Tropes—Fake Dating! Grumpy Hero! Small Town! Meddling Family! So many good tropes that still feel grounded in reality.

The Characters—I fell in love with Evan and his family, so I can’t blame Mel at all for her attachments!

What Didn’t Work For Me:

Opening Pacing—It took a little bit to get into the story for me, but right at 25% I became super invested! I think I would have liked the inciting incident to come a hair sooner, but it didn’t impede my overall enjoyment of the book at all.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: 2/5 Overall Rating: 5/5

I just don't think books about influencers are for me. I definitely see how this one could appeal to a certain set, but one that I am not apart of. I just cannot take the main character seriously. I'm sure overall the book is charming or whatever, but it was a DNF for me.

The Catch by Amy Lea
Narrator: Kelsey Navarro Foster
Rating: 4 stars
Steam: 1 chili
Pub date: 2/13

This enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, fake dating rom-com was a highly anticipated read for me that did not disappoint! I have read and loved the first two books in Amy Lea’s influencer series, but I liked this one the best. The Catch has solidified Amy Lea’s place on my auto-buy author’s list.

The story starts off with lifestyle influencer FMC, Mel, traveling to Nova Scotia to stay at a boutique hotel. When she arrives, she realizes there’s been a mistake with the dates and is forced to find another place to stay for a week. This is when she ends up at a Bed and Breakfast run by Evan, a grumpy but smokin’ hot fisherman. Cue the enemies-to-lovers, found family, fake dating hilarity.

This was so cute. Mel is hilarious, and the banter between her and Evan never gets old. Evan is protective and adorable, and once these two get over their initial impressions of each other, the romance heats up quickly. I don’t always enjoy insta love like this in rom-coms, but it just worked really well here. The third-act conflict was very believable, and the resolution was perfect.

I loved all the side characters and quirky family members, the mental health rep, and the small-town charm. This was fun to listen to on audio, and Kelsey Navarro Foster did an amazing job bringing all the characters to life.

Overall, this was a cute read and a great conclusion to this series. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for my advanced copy and PRH for my complimentary audiobook.