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funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first read of 2025 and my first Amy Lea! I picked up The Catch because I rarely ever see books (especially rom-coms) set in Canada, without realising that this was the third book in Lea’s Influencer series. I’d seen Set it Up making the rounds on the internet when it first came up but never got around to reading it, but I loved the friend group in this book so I might backtrack and check out the other two books sometime!
The Catch follows Melanie, a Boston-based fashion influencer, as she heads to Halifax for a luxury stay in a resort. Unfortunately, the spa got the dates wrong and she’s left scrambling to find a place to stay for a week when she stumbles into Evan’s grumbling inn. The two DO NOT get off to a good start, but after an unfortunate accident and some innocent miscommunication, Evan’s cousin has convinced the pair to pretend to be engaged to encourage their family to fix the rift that’s been pushing them apart. Hijinks ensue, and Mel and Evan realise that their hostility is (SHOCKINGLY) perhaps covering other feelings….
I absolutely loved the setting of this book. While I’ve never been to the maritimes I do know a little something about small-town Canada, and I think that this book captures that experience quite well (though obviously with the requisite charm of a romance novel). I was amused by the Canadian-isms and I think Lea managed to work these in without it feeling too cheesy.
I really liked Evan and Melanie as characters, though I do think the ending was slightly rushed and sort of back-tracked on what the rest of the book felt like it was building up to. *SPOILERS* The entire story felt like it was working up to Mel realizing that she had no real connection to Boston, that her brother Julien could take care of himself, and she had found a home in Cora’s Cover, and so their decision to split their time between the Cove and Boston felt a little too convenient and sort of anti-climactic to Mel’s story.
Overall though, this was a really fun rom-com, though nothing especially groundbreaking. Definitely check it out if you’re also intrigued by the small-town Canadian setting because I think it lives up to the promise!
like another reader said, this book is literally like the movies the proposal and while you were sleeping - not in a good way.
Good book. Romance felt a bit rushed, but it was cute! I enjoyed it!
This review is for The Catch by Amy Lea, which releases in the UK on 15th February! Thanks so much to Netgalley and Penguin Books for giving me an eArc copy for this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is book number 3 in the influencer series and I think my favourite out of them so far. I loved the two characters in this, Mel and Evan. Evan is of course the grumpy, bearded, bread and breakfast owner in a small fishing village in Canada and Mel is a perky fashion influencer from Boston who ends up in the village after her brand deal stay gets the dates mixed up.
You know how much I love grumpy sunshine, so this was an instant hit for me. I loved the buildup from them hating each other to falling in love, even though the timeline for them meeting is only around 9 days or so it did feel longer so didn’t feel so instalove.
This was super easy to read and I ended up finishing this in one sitting, which I always love. It was fast paced, with a decent amount of spicy scenes and a lot of tension. It also goes talks about grief and how different people can deal with their grief which was also nice to see.
Would recommend this for any romance readers out there!
This is book number 3 in the influencer series and I think my favourite out of them so far. I loved the two characters in this, Mel and Evan. Evan is of course the grumpy, bearded, bread and breakfast owner in a small fishing village in Canada and Mel is a perky fashion influencer from Boston who ends up in the village after her brand deal stay gets the dates mixed up.
You know how much I love grumpy sunshine, so this was an instant hit for me. I loved the buildup from them hating each other to falling in love, even though the timeline for them meeting is only around 9 days or so it did feel longer so didn’t feel so instalove.
This was super easy to read and I ended up finishing this in one sitting, which I always love. It was fast paced, with a decent amount of spicy scenes and a lot of tension. It also goes talks about grief and how different people can deal with their grief which was also nice to see.
Would recommend this for any romance readers out there!
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
rep: adopted Chinese-American protagonidt
cw: mentions of death of a parent (father), death of a loved one (brother/cousin)
eh this was fine tbh. I just feel like there wasn’t enough buildup for the relationship to turn that intense (like genuinely it felt like a switch was flipped at the halfway mark). also you could see the third act break-up coming from a mile away which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I got to the point where I just wanted it to happen already.
cw: mentions of death of a parent (father), death of a loved one (brother/cousin)
eh this was fine tbh. I just feel like there wasn’t enough buildup for the relationship to turn that intense (like genuinely it felt like a switch was flipped at the halfway mark). also you could see the third act break-up coming from a mile away which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I got to the point where I just wanted it to happen already.
Let’s keep this short and sweet. This is the third book in Amy Lea’s Influencer Series. I was obsessed with “Set on You,” really enjoyed “Exes and Oh’s,” and thought “The Catch” was pretty cute. My expectations must have been too high.
This is a story about Mel, a Boston influencer who goes to a small town in Canada for a work trip to review a fancy spa/resort, but ends up staying at a run-down inn after a mix-up. The co-owner of the inn is a total grump, and he and Mel quickly get on each other’s nerves. This is the kind of enemies-to-lovers story that gets on my last nerve - why are they so immature and annoying?
There are cute moments as they realize maybe they don’t hate each other, but the romance fell flat for me and I didn’t really find myself with a vested interest in their relationship. This small-town setting and meddling family dynamic has a lot of similarities to the movie The Proposal, and I’m sorry, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds set the bar way too high!
My issue may have been that the audiobook narrator had such a tone of derision for 75% of the book, so it may have tainted it for me. But listen, I’ll still read whatever Amy Lea writes next! (For the record, I was unable to keep this short and sweet - somehow my broadcast journalism degree has failed me.)
This is a story about Mel, a Boston influencer who goes to a small town in Canada for a work trip to review a fancy spa/resort, but ends up staying at a run-down inn after a mix-up. The co-owner of the inn is a total grump, and he and Mel quickly get on each other’s nerves. This is the kind of enemies-to-lovers story that gets on my last nerve - why are they so immature and annoying?
There are cute moments as they realize maybe they don’t hate each other, but the romance fell flat for me and I didn’t really find myself with a vested interest in their relationship. This small-town setting and meddling family dynamic has a lot of similarities to the movie The Proposal, and I’m sorry, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds set the bar way too high!
My issue may have been that the audiobook narrator had such a tone of derision for 75% of the book, so it may have tainted it for me. But listen, I’ll still read whatever Amy Lea writes next! (For the record, I was unable to keep this short and sweet - somehow my broadcast journalism degree has failed me.)