I needed this at just this moment! After reading so many fantasy series for a few weeks I needed a light romance. This delivered! I loved the meaning around learning to open up to those that love you. The found family aspect for the FMC was the sweetest. The banter was funny and witty. I also really enjoyed the scene of the book. The small town, open waters, historic vibes at the inn was right up my alley! I’ll definitely be recommending!

The Catch was my favorite book in The Influencer series! I’m a sucker for the grumpy/sunshine and fake dating tropes, so this was the perfect book for me.

I was very invested in Mel and Evan’s fake engagement which reminded me of one of the movies I loved growing, While You Were Sleeping. The secondary characters were a great addition and the Nova Scotia setting was perfect. It was a fitting end to a fun series!

this is the third and finally book in the influencer series and I was really looking forward to this one. I have loved this series and this was was no exception. insta love is a hard one to pull off but I fell like Amy does it so well. this one following Evan and Mel had me all in my own feels. I love being able to have an emotional connection with the characters and Amy does such a good job at that. I laughed and cried while reading this. so well done!!!

Exquisite read!

This was a wonderful Enemies to Lovers set in a cozy ambiance of a book!
I love the destination and the fisherman town vibes.
This was the perfect installation to the influencer series and as per usual the steam was on point!

For those who have been reading Amy Lea, the Catch is the third book revolving around three friends, this time following Mel's adventures as she travels to Nova Scotia on an influencer assignment. The resort she's staying in miscommunicated the dates, so Mel lands a week early with no accommodation. She finds a vacancy an hour away at a private Bed and Breakfast and travels over immediately, only to find the inn dilapidated, closed, and the owner not excited to see her.

This was a cute grumpy/sunshine trope which I enjoyed immensely! It was compulsively readable, and both characters grow and change while learning about each other. The book is a fun mash-up of "While You Were Sleeping" (complete with characters named Jack and Lucy as a cheeky nod), and "The Proposal." As a fan of both movies as well as Amy Lea, there was very little not to be delighted about in this novel.

While grumpy/sunshine is not my favorite trope, I did enjoy this book because Evan's "grump" is revealed to have deeper layers, and he doesn't communicate solely through grunts.

One star is deducted because I did have one beef with the book that I can't let go. This section does contain a spoiler.

Mel states that she can't give up her life or move to Nova Scotia, but she gives up the week at the resort to spend more time with Evan. I keep trying to justify this decision - she's uncertain about the direction she wants to take her influencing; she's reconsidering her brand; she's found what truly brings her peace and happiness is not found on social media.... and I know that's the message the author is trying to convey, but at the same time, she made a commitment to the resort, it's part of her income and career, and she cancels on it for a guy. I wanted her to say, "come with me to the resort for a week," or "I've been having a ton of fun, but I made this commitment and I need to honor that. And if you respect me and what I do for a living, you'll understand that." It did not sit right with me that she ditched the resort. Again, I understand why the author did it - she wanted to give them more time together - but I feel that could have been achieved without sacrificing the week at the resort.

Small blip, still highly recommend the book and thought it was well-written, great representation, and fun all around!

I read and enjoyed the first two books in The Influencer series and I was anxious to finally read The Catch. This time, we’re following Melanie who is a fashion influencer who is struggling after the death of her dad, her mom taking over, and trying to take care of her brother. Plus she’s also trying to make ends meet as well.

It seems like Mel is finally catching a break when she’s given a chance to go on a dream trip for a week. Once she gets there, they let her know they have no room and she has to wait a week. It only gets worse as she can’t find a place to stay and goes to an Airbnb an hour and a half away where she meets Evan.

From the jump, these two immediately can’t stand each other as she thinks he’s a stoic douche and he believes she’s a vapid influencer. Through these unlikely circumstances, these two end up being embroiled in a fake dating scheme of epic proportions as a way for Evan to hopefully keep the inn where Mel is staying.

While the two aren’t comfortable with lying, they are almost too convincing and end up falling for each other in the process? The only issue is that Mel is leaving in a week and Evan has no places to relocate. Add in some meddling family members, plenty of good food and a chance at love, you’ll quickly fall in love with these two and their romance.

Aside from the romance, both of them are dealing with some past childhood trauma as Mel is still grieving the loss of her dad and taking care of her brother. Evan is trying to move past his guilt and grief due to the loss of his cousin. While the book is lighthearted, those topics weigh heavy on our characters so be aware of that if you plan on picking it up.

A super cute grumpy/sunshine fake dating story. A Small town, a meddling family, and well-developed leads create a vast and plot you fall for easily

This was such a sweet ending to this series! This one was kind of a slow burn on a tight schedule?? It took place over a week and Evan and Mel took almost her whole trip to finally confess some feelings! But then they were ALL IN. I loved watching his family fall in love with Mel, and her being able to help them come together again! Evan and Mel were the perfect opposites attract, fake dating to save the family inn, also I came here just to visit but now I love your family as much as they love me and hate lying to them?! If you love The Proposal, the vibes are very similar!!

Mel is a girl after my own heart. She doesn’t ever let people in, her closest friends don’t even know everything. She is very much a ‘people always leave ‘ girl and watching her find people that won’t ever leave 🥹 made me so happy for her! Evan and her family were exactly what she needed! She was the one taking care of her and her brother when they were growing up and now she found people that will actually care for her because that’s what family does. She found what she has always been looking for and it was so perfect!

also I loved Evan so much. We love a fisherman who falls in love with a city girl!! He was the grumpiest man alive but also it was CLEARLY because he was obsessed with Mel and didn’t know what to do about it. I mean he agreed to fake date her! When all he did was grumble in her presence!! They were CUTE!

Thank you so much to Berkley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars! This was a cute, summery romance! Pretty fast paced and entertaining, with a little bit of a found family vibe, a family inn that needs saving, and a city girl and a country guy. It got into the story pretty quickly so I was never REALLY bored but it did feel a little too long for what the story was.

For me personally this was nothing SUPER special, just a cute romcom to pass the time. Both main characters were great, I just wish we had gotten to know Evan a little better, so I think dual pov would’ve worked great in this book. The main trope is fake dating, and the reason behind it felt a little silly and far fetched for me, so it kind of kept me from rooting for the couple.

It takes place in a coastal town in Canada that’s very big on fishing so this would make a great, quick summer beach read. Not a bad book by ANY means, just not a favorite of mine!!

Thank you Berkley for the arc in exchange for my review!

Mel is Crystal and Tara's best friend and a successful fashion and beauty influencer. The constant need to keep her account current has Mel feeling. a little anxious and she's hoping that accepting an invitation to a seaside resort in Nova Scotia will give her content the boost that it desperately needs.

When a date mix-up lands her a week early in Nova Scotia and without any room at the resort, Mel is forced to try to find another place to stay. She ends up at a less than stellar B & B that has definitely seen better days with a plaid-wearing, gruff owner, Evan who seems immune to Mel's charms.

As Mel tries to make the best of the situation and curate content for her page, she continues to clash with Evan who is not happy that she is there and dismisses her as a vapid city girl.

When a serious of unfortunate circumstances lands Evan in the hospital, Mel reluctantly agrees to pose as his fiancee for a week in order to help his extended quirky but feuding family-who has shown up en masse to tend to Evan-bond over something instead of their long-standing feud over what to do with the future of the B & B.

As Evans and Mel are forced to spend more and more time together to perpetuate the ruse, they begin to develop a real friendship and romantic sparks begin to fly.

But it's not real...or is it? City girl Mel may never be the same and she begins to question everything about her life choices and what really amounts to true-unfiltered-happiness.

Mel was somewhat an enigmatic side character in the first two books of the Influencer series. It was great to see her fully fleshed out as a character with an interesting backstory and endearing vulnerabilities.

This novel is a bittersweet but satisfying end to Lea's Influencer series. I love her well-constructed characters, her themes of acceptance and body positivity, as well as her sensitivity as an author to always provide thorough trigger warnings to her readers at the beginnings of her novels.

Journeying with Crystal, Tara, and Mel has been a pleasure and I will miss them. Definitely do not miss this final installment!

This is my first Amy Lea book and I flew through it. What I really liked:
- Details like Mel’s lash extensions and fear of creepy crawly creatures that made her feel like a realistic city girl
- The physical scenes (not all of them were sex scenes) were hot and I always like when the characters’ dialogue with each other is also sexy/hot
- The overall writing style. And I loved every scene with the character of Ian.
I don’t love/buy people falling in love and changing their whole lives after two weeks, and although I totally wanted Mel and Evan to get together, I didn’t completely believe that she would have been his type, let alone that he would have fallen in anything other than lust with her in that amount of time.

Although there were a few plot issues I didn’t love, I really enjoyed her writing style and now want to read her other books.

The Influencer series was one I have really enjoyed my experience with, and I was really looking forward to Melanies story after how good Exes and O's was.

Something about this one just did not really connect for me overall. I really liked the plot and premise of the story, and I liked how it had The Proposal vibes. I liked our cast of characters, and I thought that all of their problems were valid and such- what was missing for me though was the emotionality of it all. Something about this one never really hooked me in the gut and dragged me in and it just kept me on the light and fluffy surface the whole time while reading. Now don't get me wrong- it was entertaining, but it was just missing something I can't quite put my finger on. I just liked. I did not LOVE, which was somewhat of a let down.
3.75/5 rounded up to 4.

Bittersweet to be done with this universe of characters, but I am excited for whatever Amy Lea will be writing next!

Thank you Berkley for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have been a fan of Amy Lea’s ‘The Influencer’ series from the start, and though The Catch wasn’t my favorite of the three (Exes and O’s is by far the best imo) it was still enjoyable overall.

Melanie is a different kind of influencer than her two best friends. The kind you think of when influencers come to mind. Highly edited photos, fashion, travel, etc. She is sort of at a crossroads with her career and goes out of the country to review a resort, but not everything goes to plan.

Mel ends up at an only partially operational AirBnB run by two cousins, Lucy and Evan. Evan is a grumpy fisherman but there are sparks between him and Mel, even if neither wants to admit it. Evan was the best part of this book. I adored him. And his entire family. The fake dating was fun, but some of the third-act stuff made me eye-roll some.

The ending of this book was bittersweet. I was happy with how things turned out for this couple, but I’ll miss these characters!

5 things I love about my human…

1. He leaves the room to fart.
2. He picks up the dog poop
3. He has sat through countless hours of the housewives.
4. He barely complains when I forget to feed him.
5. He does his own laundry.

Happy Saturday my little kittens!

I promised Craig, I would give him my undivided attention last night…

What he doesn’t know is that I put melatonin in his beer 🤫

I received my widget for this book yesterday and I mean come onnnnnn now it’s AMY LEA . Amy Lea literally makes my heart leap out of my chest and the only other thing that comes close to that kind of satisfaction is, well okay, scratch that, NOTHING.

The Catch is book 3 of 3 in the influencer series. You don’t need to read the first 2 books but why would you not want to?

Get ready to fall in love with Mel and Evan, this book will have even the toughest critics swooning.

My eyes swelled with tears witnessing this love story unfold and I just want so much more. I need a life update from Mel 😭

The Catch, releases just in time for Valentines Day and this is a gift any “loved” lady (or gentleman) would enjoy.

Check out this teaser :

A grumpy lobster fisherman tosses a fashion influencer’s impeccably curated life overboard in the next romantic comedy from international bestselling author Amy Lea.

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?

I’m a big Amy Lea fan and loves the previous two books in this series so I was excited to pick it up! I alternated between listening to the audiobook and reading the ebook.

I really enjoyed Melanie and her adventures. She was not expecting to have a hotel mixup and end up in a small town hotel. The animosity from Evan was a little strong to start but it made sense once he explained the background.

I loved how Melanie made a niche for herself in the town and at the hotel. I’m a big fan of the fake dating trope so I was excited to see Melanie and Evan fake their relationship as they developed real feelings. I also loved the grumpy Evan and sunshine Melanie. I also loved the mentions of Tara and Crystal from the previous two books.

Finally found my first 5 stars of 2024! This book was so perfect. I knew I was going to love it because of the small town setting and tropes:

♡ small fisher town
♡ opposites attract
♡ small town boy x city girl
♡ fake engagement
♡ forced proximity
♡ messssyyyy (seriously, very messy) family

Like, seriously, this book was destined to be ✨ It ✨ for me. So, I want to start with Mel. I loved her so much. She deserved to put herself first once and for all and accidentally finding Cora’s Cove and its people was destiny calling her. I could understand her reticence, though, because her sense of responsibility towards her brother was not going to be easy to shake. Evan, Lucy and the Whalers were so amazing as well. They have to be one of the most dysfunctional families ever, but loving them was so easy. Mel fell for them just as hard as she does for Evan, with good reason. The romance was simply top tier. Both of them have huge personalities that clash a lot at first, but that only hinted at how hard they were going to fall for each other. I think they have the best third act I’ve ever read. Pure perfection!

I’m sad to see this series end, but very happy that it ended on such a high note.

Rating: 5/5
Steam level: Open door, 3-4 scenes, high level of detail

ARC provided by Berkley and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

This book was such a cute romcom! I enjoyed the whitty banter, I love grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers, and forced proximity and all of this was wrapped up in a nice little bow to complete the perfect romcom story.

This is one of my favorite series! Amy Lea has a way with words. She not only entertains her readers but she makes them swoon and always have a smile on their faces. The Catch is a grumpy sunshine, fish out of water romcom that will leave you giddy! I loved it to pieces!

I loved this book, definitely my favorite of the series.

Its was super fun and cute a perfect heartfelt romcom

Full video review linked below

The Catch is definitely my favorite of the books in this series from Amy Lea that follows a series of female friends who make their living as influencers in Boston. This one reminds me of when we'd get if It Happened One Summer and While You Were Sleeping were combined into a contemporary romance novel.

In The Catch, Mel realizes that her once reliable brand partners are starting to move onto greener (and younger) pastures so when an opportunity to head to Nova Scotia presents itself, she jumps at the chance. When a booking mix up forces her to find the one remaining AirBNB in town which just so happens to be an inn run by Ethan Whaler and his cousin, Lucy. When a boating accident lands Ethan in the hospital, Mel tells the hospital staff she is his fiancé so she can accompany him to the ICU. Of course, his entire extended family shows up and meets his "fiancé" and instantly fall in love with her. Mel and Ethan decide to keep up the façade while the family is in town so that they can get the inn back on track.

I really liked seeing these two get under each other's skin and thought the character development as the story moved along was really excellent. I switched between the printed version and the audiobook, which is narrated by Kelsey Navarro Foster who does a great job capturing all the different characters. The epilogue in Ethan's POV really melted my heart.

Content flags: death of family members (cousin, father) referenced; parental abandonment; adoption (Mel is adopted)

I voluntarily read a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.