First and foremost, I really enjoyed this book. So much so that I could not put it down. The idea of a fish-out-of-water character like Mel and a fisherman from a small town like Evan was so attractive to me and the only reason I wanted to read this book, the fake dating part is just a bonus part of the plot to me that sweetened the deal. If you previously enjoyed Set on You and/or Exes and Oh’s like me, you will most likely enjoy The Catch. I really loved how Evan and Mel helped each other heal with their love, such a lovely read!

My only and tiny complain is that I wish there had been more of that found family aspect between that comes with the best friendship of the three girls in this series! That’s all and it doesn’t take away from the goodness of this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
️️🌶️🌶️

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆:
- Small Town
- Opposites Attract
- Found Family
- Forced Proximity

Amy Lea’s ‘The Influencer’ series has been some of my favorite reads and The Catch is no exception!

A perfect blend of While You Were Sleeping x The Proposal is the best way to describe this book. Mel gets stuck at a bed and breakfast in a small village and is at odds with the owner/local fisherman - Evan. Shenanigans happen and then Mel and Evan find themselves in a fake date situation.

This is a fast paced love story and it works well with Mel and Evan. Mel is the determined sunshine and Evan is the grump (but secretly a cinnamon roll). There are little things that each of them do for each other that show how much they care for each other (eyelash scene IYKYK). Along with Mel and Evan’s snarkiness and banter is a whole fun group of supporting characters - like Crystal or Tara from the previous books in the series but my favorites are the newcomers - Evan’s family!

I have really loved this universe and will miss seeing these characters. This is such a fun series, and does a great job of not making you feel like you missed anything if you haven’t read the previous one. This book follows a fashion influencer named Melanie who is trying to change her audience, she is supposed to be visiting a resort to shoot content. Immediately things go sideways when the resort informs her that they made a mistake and mixed up her dates, but they are sold out and can’t accommodate her until the following week. She books a room at a nearby B&B to stay at until she can continue on to the resort, and meets our grumpy lobster fisherman/innkeeper who lets her know that the B&B is currently closed… It only spirals from there! It was an enjoyable read, kept me entertained and had such lovable characters. Highly recommend, and if you haven’t read Crystal or Tara’s stories you absolutely should go grab them too!

Sadly, a book that was incredibly bland and forgettable to me. Pockets of enjoyable moments that allowed this book to maintain my attention to the end, but not enough to make me fall in love with either character.

The last installment in Lea's influencer romance series, The Catch is your classic grumpy/sunshine, small-town boy/big city girl romance. Aka, It Happened One Summer. And I hate to be someone who compares novels because I think my judgment of one does not depend on my judgment of another.... however, It Happened One Summer is one of my favorite novels because it does not fall into the pitfalls of this book.

Melanie is stuck in a rut. She's no longer excited by her influencer job and feels that though she has two very close friends, she is lonely. When a resort offers her a free week's stay in return for social media content, she jumps at the fresh environment. Just her luck, however, is that the resort has mixed up the dates of her stay. Melanie scrambles to find a replacement for a week, ending up nearly an hour away in a small town at what appears to be a rundown inn. She mistakenly insults the inn's appearance just as the grumpy, growly owner, Evan, appears behind her. Melanie and Evan continually butt heads, Evan holding on to his grudge at her harsh judgment of the inn and Melanie responding with grumpiness in turn. Eventually, this book develops into a very half-baked fake dating plotline. Evan's cousin Lucy thinks that the way to reunite their family and keep from selling the inn is by having everyone bond over Melanie and Evan's engagement.

I had a lot of problems with this one. I was really hooked within the first few pages, expecting the joy of It Happened One Summer all over again. My first issue was the timeline of the story. The whole story takes place over a week. You expect me to believe they fell in love that fast? I don't. And not just because of the accelerated timeline, but because I didn't even witness it happen. One moment Evan and Mel are sniping at each other and Evan is rude and brusque and dismissive, and the next they are suddenly falling for each other? I couldn't even sense the physical tension between these two.

Also, he got a serious fucking head injury???? And then the book completely forgets about that?? Like literally seizing, serious concussion, the doctor says no strenuous activity. Then like 2 days later they're madly in love and doing an expert-level multi-hour hike. Huh? Did we forget the head injury????

Additionally, Evan was quite flat in personality. He had no growth throughout the story, claims that he never disliked Melanie and was just grumpy because it was a bad day and he couldn't handle how much he wanted her, and then basically has no hopes or dreams the whole rest of the plot. Melanie on the other hand had a much clearer arc of emotional challenges that she overcame to be with Evan.

I just couldn't cement myself emotionally in this story and I'm so disappointed because I saw a real growth in Lea's writing and storytelling skills between Set on You and Exes and Ohs and this felt like such a step back.

3.75*
This book was super cute. A great finale to the Influencer series by Amy Lea. Mel and Evan may even be my favorite couple from the series.
I love the Grumpy x Sunshine trope. Evan is definitely grumpy. To the point where I was unsure that he actually did like her and I was a little blindsided from him professing his feelings towards Mel.
Calling his fake-fiancé his fiancée and being protective over her when they weren’t even dating was too damn cute. I want someone to be obsessed with me like that!
I loved the town and subsequent secondary characters! They were all so well rounded and played their parts perfectly in the story. I need Lucy and Kyle to get their own happily ever after books. Lea has a way of making you care about the people that Evan has made part of his life.
This book was recommended to me as “perfect for fans of ‘It Happened One Summer’ by Tessa Bailey” and I agree completely.

I loved this one so much! This was a fast paced, fun, contemporary romance, and it was just what I needed. Mel is a great heroine, and I look forward to reading more of Amy Lea's work.

If you don't have THE CATCH by Amy Lea on your most anticipated lists of 2024...you need to change that immediately. This was the perfect grumpy/sunshine romance. It definitely reminded me of IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER by Tessa Bailey, so I would 100% recommend picking this one up if you enjoyed that one as well!

What a fantastic book to kick off 2024 with!

The Catch follows the story of Melanie and Evan. Fashion Influencer, Melanie, is feeling what all social medialites feel, the worry of irrelevance. In an effort to refresh her brand, Melanie finds herself in a rural fishing village in Canada. Unfortunately, her trip to Canada is nothing like she expected. First, there is a mixup with her reservations, which puts her on the radar of Evan Wheeler, a local Bed & Breakfast owner, who hates Melanie on the spot. Despite wanting to turn her away, fate keeps bringing this unlikely pair together. And when a boating accident lands Evan in the hospital, a simple lie from Melanie turns both of their worlds upside down.

I am a sucker for opposites attract, fake relationship romances with a broody male main character, and The Catch does not disappoint. The broodiness oozed off of Evan and provided some incredible banter and tension. Yes, Melanie and Evan were such an unexpected pair. But, when fate brings the two of them together in the most unexpected way, the sparks between them were off the chart. Suddenly, things weren’t as simple as they seemed and I couldn’t wait to see how it would all play out.

The Catch sucked me in from the very first page. I couldn’t help but fall for Melanie and Evan. They kept me on my toes and had me devouring each and every word of their story. This is my first book by author Amy Lea, and it certainly won’t be my last.

DNF at 54%…I loved the first two books of this series but this one was such a disappointment. I wasn’t a fan of Mel and Evan. Their romance isn’t believable. I didn’t like how shallow and closed off Mel was and Evan is too much for a grump. The supporting characters were okay but I couldn’t invest in their family drama.

While it took me a while to get into, I loved how The Catch ended. It was a very satisfying conclusion to The Influencer series. This book gives Schitts Creek and all that but does it in a new way! Fun, I enjoyed it, quick read.

This is my favorite of the Influencer series by far!! I really enjoyed the small town feel and the wittiness of the main character. It felt like I was talking to a friend.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.

I loved this book! I really enjoyed the small Oceanside town vibes. The family was quirky, but felt realistic. I loved hearing about the inn and everything that made it unique. I related a lot to Mel’s character, and it was so nice to finally get to read about her HEA!! I also loved that we got glimpses into what Tara and Crystal were up to. Overall, it was super cute and I would definitely recommend it to my followers!

Rating: 4/5
Warnings: grief, death of a loved one, depression
Steam: 3/5
Tropes: fake engagement, grumpy-sunshine, forced proximity, small town, vacation romance

Thank you to Berkley Romance, PRH Audio and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Okay, this might have been my favorite of the influencer series! After enjoying Set on You and then not loving Exes and O’s I was genuinely curious how I would feel about the Catch.

This book is the definition of a grumpy-sunshine romance, with a little bit of fake engaged and forced proximity. Giving major the Proposal vibes!

I think the real hero of the story for me was how these two really accepted each other for exactly who they were. It was the little things, like him getting her fake eyelashes because he knew she loved them.

Yes, the timeline was very fast but it worked for me with this book. Did I love the third act? No, but also it was coming and I kinda loved how it ended.

And this quote:

“Having babies out of wedlock is my most favorite sin” -Nana

Iconic, the grandmothers are always the most hysterical part of these stories and I live for it.

Can’t wait to see what new series we get next!

What to Expect:
☀️Opposites attract
☀️short lived enemies to lovers
☀️fake dating
☀️nosey family with no boundaries
☀️an old family owned inn that needs saving

🫶🏽What I enjoyed
The first paragraph sucked me in, and I found Mel to be quite relatable at first. I love Evan’s family dynamics (once their feud was paused), and Nana was the best! Evan’s mom is a sex therapist, and there’s a scene that is equally hilarious as it gives you secondhand embarrassment. A few of my favorite quotes:

“If I were a character in a classic slasher film, I’d be the first to die.”

“My bitch face never rests”

“Having babies out of wedlock is my most favorite sin” -Nana💀💀💀

🤷🏻‍♀️What didn’t work for me
I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two MCs or laugh as much the way I did in Exes and O’s. The high fashion influencer with a burley lumberjack fisherman reminded me a lot of Tessa Bailey’s It Happened One Summer, but the Canadian version. I didn’t care for that book by Tessa, but those who loved it will probably enjoy The Catch.

This is the third and final book of Amy Lea’s Influencer series and my favorite of the three.

Synopsis: 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 local B&B at a small fisher’s town. There she meets the grumpiest fisherman Evan

Thoughts: This book can best be described as The Proposal meets While You Were Sleeping. I loved the influencer angle and how easy it was to fall for not only the two main characters but also all the meddling townspeople. Evan was a major grump but was open with his emotions and did so many little acts of kindness to show he cared about Mel. While the love story in this escalated quickly, I did not mind the instant attraction because all of the forced proximity x fake dating.

Read if you like:
-Grumpy x sunshine
-Fake dating
-Forced proximity
-Lifestyle influencers
-Meddling families
-Canadian fisher’s town setting

Thank you Berkley Romance for the ARC! Pub 2/13

Fashion influencer Mel from Boston and lobster fisherman Evan go from enemies to lovers in this entertaining rom com set on the coast of Nova Scotia. The first half of the book was laugh out loud funny with lots of clever repartees and conversation between the two strangers.

The next half of the book deals with the problems of a woman with obligations in Boston falling for a fisherman in Canada, miles apart. The love scenes are a bit steamy and not exactly to my taste, but it adds some spice to the rom com.

I enjoyed reading about a coastal town with fishermen in Nova Scotia, about the surroundings, and locals making a livelihood from the sea. I was amazed that this area of Canada gets a good share of tourists too.

Enjoyable read overall.

**Review will be published on my site and socials on release week!**

NEW FAV.

Officially my new favorite book by Amy Lea. What a gem.

I was iffy initially on Mel being a fashion/lifestyle influencer. But I really liked how this was approached and it wasn’t heavy handed. Nor did she act ridiculous about getting content and such. I loved watching Mel realize disconnecting from her phone was doing her soul a lot of good.

And Evan was hella swoony. I adored him. That grumpy fisherman has all of my attention. I loved the opposites attract and the slow burn that ignited between them. I was smitten with all of the little smiles and looks and cute things Evan would do to show he cared and how Melanie learned to being open to and reciprocating those feelings and intentions.

The third act could be a little anger inducing but the longer I sat on it the longer I felt it fit the story. It wasn’t an overblown miscommunication. It was an honest to goodness adjustment that needed some thought before big changes. And I liked that both Evan and Mel had the time to process those ideas.

There were major The Proposal and While You Were Sleeping vibes. I also think if you enjoyed The Simple Wild this would be a winner too. A great fish out of water, broken down inn, rediscovering yourself, spicy read.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: 3-4 open door
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: recounting loss of loved ones, near drowning

#TheCatch:⁣
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Thank you @berkleyromance @prhaudio for my gifted copy! #BerkleyPartner #berkley. ⁣
⁣
Listen, we all know I’m horrible about reading a synopsis. Cute cover? Fun romcom author? I don’t think twice. So imagine my surprise when I start listening and I hear Kelsey Navarro Foster yelling MY name. Girl, I didn’t know I was the main character of this book! (Well, just my name, but of course I threw myself as the MC cause… duh)⁣
⁣
Our girl Boston Melanie is an influencer and she’s not having the best time at influencing. She also keeps everyone at an arms length. She gets a week at this luxury resort in Canada, only to find out when she lands, they got their days mixed up. Instead of wasting a plane ticket, she makes it two weeks instead of one. Issue is, everywhere is booked. Except for a little darling place in Cora’s Cove. That’s where she meets lobster fisherman Evan and the rest of the Whalers (I expected them to be a musical group if I’m honest). He doesn’t want her here especially with it in disarray, but she’s determined to make the best of the trip. Long story short, he ends up in the hospital and she says she’s his finance so she can go to the hospital with him, the hospital tells his fam, and now they’re in this fun tangled web of lies. ⁣
⁣
The Catch gives major vibes of Tessa Bailey’s It Happened One Summer x The Proposal (Ryan Reynolds/Sandra Bullock connection) Mel really starts to understand herself and become comfortable in her own right, while still being unapologetically her. Nana was the star of the show, naturally. She gave off Betty White feels. It is a slow burn, but also instalove if that makes sense, and it was very steamy. I loved the family banter and the journey we took. The third act breakup was not bad at all, and I liked how it played out. ⁣
⁣
Trope City:⁣
🦞 Fake Date⁣
🦞 Enemies to Lovers⁣
🦞 Grumpy/Sunshine ⁣
🦞 Big City/Small Town⁣
🦞 Opposites Attract ⁣
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Thank you again for my copy! The Catch releases Feb. 13th!

Boston fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen is a lobster out of water when she stumbles into Evan’s life in Canada. This big city girl meets small town grump story gives fun and flirty vibes comparable to It Happened one Summer and Things We Never Got Over.

While the initial set up for the storyline was well-done, this story took longer for me to get into than the first two books in the series. I found myself struggling connecting to Melanie, and additionally, found her relationship with Evan underdeveloped. Despite her declaration of “Love isn’t on some timeline”, their 2-week-instalove-romance took away from the depth of the story. I will say, I did appreciate the conversations the characters had discussing their feelings and addressing the quick escalation of their relationship.

Overall, my favorite part of this book, hands down, was the side characters. I really enjoyed getting to revisit characters from the first 2 books (so fun!) and a bonus was the phenomenal cast of new characters. Evan’s family was so entertaining and brought all the laughs!

If you enjoyed the first two books in this series, I think this one will be a hit! Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub Day 2/13/24

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series so I was excited for this one. I ended up really liking Evan and not liking Melanie so much. She seemed a bit irresponsible and was annoying at times. But overall, I liked their pairing because I almost always like grump sunshine couples.

This book was a bit too slow for me. I liked the premise and the story, but some of the scenes seemed to drag out too much.

Their HEA got me in my feels and the epilogue from Evan's point of view was *chef's kiss*!

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥
⚠️: grief, depression