On an influencer trip to Nova Scotia Mel meets grumpy fisherman Evan and angry sparks fly. The Catch is an enemies to lovers romance with While you Were Sleeping x The Proposal Vibes. Mel and Evan agree to a fake engagement to save the Evan’s family inn. Mel is an adoptee and hasn’t experienced the ‘big family’ which Evan has.

Some scenes were VERY reminiscent of The Proposal. I liked the communication between Mel and Evan. I was happy there were no miscommunications and they asked each other the difficult questions. As with the second book in the series I found Crystal to be a menace (I didn’t love her that much in her own book either) and I feel like Tara’s character was slept on. Mel needed to learn how to open up and feel safe with other people and honestly I feel like Tara should have been the one to help her do this?! I liked Mel’s relationship with her brother Julian and I bought into Mel clinging onto this relationship and wanting to constantly be there for him.

Honestly I thought the reasons for continuing the fake engagement were ridiculous. Mel doesn’t really get anything out of the engagement and agreeing to a fake engagement with basically a complete stranger you don’t even like with his entirely family hanging around is a bit far fetched. The book also reminded me of It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey… but it just didn’t hit in the same way. I didn’t totally believe the chemistry between Mel and Evan, it was like turning on a light switch with how quickly they went from enemies to lovers especially as the novel spans about 2 weeks and 1 of the weeks the characters are separated.

Tropes
💗 Enemies to Lovers
💗 Fake Dating
💗 Forced Proximity
💗 City Girl in Small Town

MINOR SPOILERS:
I wanted to like this so badly. I’ve read all three books in the influencer series and they all basically have the same formula: the couple meet and have some kind of misunderstanding, they get together, they breakup (I hate third act breakups which also makes this review slightly bitter), they get back together. Nothing about this really felt original to me and I thought I was going to love this based on the blurb. My ultimate gripe though is Mel is self-aware she knows she finds it difficult to open up to people but she does and nothing bad happens. She falls in love and is happy and again nothing bad happens but for some reason Mel decides they are way too different contrary to all evidence and to sabotage the whole thing. I can’t get on board with someone who doesn’t help themselves.

Overall the writing was good. This was a light hearted read and I did enjoy it. I liked the small continued updates about Crystal/Scott and Tara/Trevor.

3 stars 🌟

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First I would like to say thanks to Netgalley for giving me early access to this book prior to release.

This was such a cosy romance, hot fisherman and a little village b&b what’s not to love! We follow our main character Melanie is an influencer sent to a small boating village to get content but there is a mix up with her booking and she ends up at a run down B&B.

To be honest for me the love was a little too insta-lovey for me, I can understand why but to be dropping L bombs on each other when they have only known each other max 2 weeks is a little quick.

I did laugh out loud at the poison ivy part but that was short lived for the plot so not really sure why it was there. I did like the characters and I think that carried weight for how I rated the book - I’ve only read exes and o’s by Amy Lea so treated this book as a stand alone rather than as part of a series.

Would still recommend ☺️

“Isn’t that just what you do for love? Go for it?”

“..a lifetime of love packed into mere days.”

The Catch by Amy Lea is the third in the Influencer series and although I hadn’t read the first two, it was enjoyable as a standalone. Melanie, an influencer is constantly needing to innvovate in order to stay relevant and is relieved when she receives an invitation to a resort in Canada in exchange for publicity. She gets her days mixed up and is left without a place to stay due to it being the fishing season. She finds herself at the mercy of a grumpy fisherman who owns a run-down inn listed on Air BnB. Luckily his cousin prevails to allow her to stay and due to certain events, a fake relationship ensues.

This was a fun story which is sweet and considerate. I loved how Amy draws out Melanie and Evan’s relationship making it real and not just insta-love. I love the grand gestures and the ability to compromise to allow each person what they need. I don’t often read romance so enjoyed this Grumpy x Sunshine relationship as well as Melanie’s wittiness which had me laughing.

Pick this up if you are a fan of sweet rom coms with a healthy helping of spice.

Now excuse me while I hunt down the first 2 books in this series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this

The Catch is book no.3 in The Influencer series, but this was my 1st Amy Lea book. Although there are connections between the characters in the series, you can definitely read it as a stand-alone, as I did.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so I fully intend to go back and read books 1 & 2, and if book 3 is any indication, you should definitely read them all.

Mel is a fashion influencer who keeps her real identity hidden behind her virtual persona.
When she is invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to a flashy resort in exchange for footage on her social media, she jumps at the chance. However, on arrival, it turns out that the resort has messed up the dates. In addition, Mel has arrived at the height of Canadian fishing season, meaning all local hotels are booked solid, leaving her without a place to stay!
Mel heads out of town looking for accommodation for the next week before she can check back into the resort. She finds herself in the sleepy fishing village of Cora's Cove, where she finds a room at a local Inn and where she encounters burly fisherman Evan Whaler.
Evan demonstrates an instant dislike for Mel, and she's not overly keen on him either. It's a whole week before she can return to the resort, but a lot can happen in the space of a week....

Throughout the book, there is unmistakably the message that a person is more than their online identity.

I really loved it! I loved the slow burn, grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers, and found family tropes in this little coastal community. Add in the sprinkling of spice, and it had it all!

There were funny bits and heartfelt ones that had me welling up. Plus, a nostalgia trip in the form of Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles! I'm definitely a new Amy Lea fan!

Thank you to penguinukbooks and netgalley for the advance reader copy in return for my honest review.

A gorgeous and sexy small-town romcom featuring two absolute fools thrown into a fake engagement by circumstance (and a boat accident).
Mel, an influencer with the world on her shoulders, needs a place to stay. Evan is Not Thrilled to have her at his family B&B. Yet as they spend time together, in one of my favourite fake-dating premises ever, their attraction and connection grows. The only problem is that Mel’s only here on holiday and her life is back in Boston.
Mel is a wonderful protagonist; I loved her story of learning to cope with perfectionism and her need for control. She is brilliantly messy and has become my favourite character of the series. I really appreciated how much Evan just utterly adored her, and how she became part of his family.
‘The Catch’ is also incredibly atmospheric - it takes place in a world of love and beautiful landscapes. Cora’s Cove, the town, is almost a character in itself, exerting a pull on Mel from the beginning.
Amy Lea’s Influencer series is romance perfection.

This is a really cosy book.

The characters are really likeable. The romance between Melanie and Evan was really sweet. A great easy to read romance.

I think you’ll really like this is you like grumpy/sunshine, fake engagement with forced proximity romance with a little spice.

Thank you to Amy Lea, NetGalley and penguin for this arc.

This is actually the first Amy Lea book I have read and certainly won’t be my last. I loved the storyline of Mel who is a social media influencer going to Canada for work when it all goes wrong! She meets Evan a rugged fisherman who’s b&b she ends up staying at! This is grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, fake dating, small town romance. Lots of angst, mutual pining and slow burn! Will defo be reading the other 2 books in the series now!

It’s cute, it’s an easy read, it’s small town.

But it happens way too quickly, I know it’s fiction but still. One minute she thinks they are enemies and the next it’s like a switch has flipped. The tension didn’t really exist, and for me tension is necessary.

Fans of It Happened One Summer are going to really love this one, it has the same broody male fisherman in a small town vibes and I was totally here for it!

I love an enemies to lovers and a small town story line so this was already ticking my boxes but I really loved the addition of the fake engagement and all the characters in including the side characters like Evans Cousin (please can we have her story next) and Nana! My only mild criticism is that I would maybe have like a little more of the enemies before the lovers as it felt like it swapped over very quickly once the fake engagement was announced

Thank you Michael J and Netgalley for my review copy!

Really loved this booked!! super fun, cute and wholesome. Amy Lea's writing always impresses me! four out of five stars!

When picking up The Catch, you can expect:

🏡 small town romance
🌦️ grumpy / sunshine
🏙️ city girl / small town guy
💍 fake engagement
👀 forced proximity
🌶️ spice

I have to admit that I haven’t read the first two of this series (although The Catch can be read as a standalone too) so I am pretty new to Amy Lea’s work, and wow, I loved it!

Lea provides everything you want in a rom com and then some. I found it so charming, funny and lovely. I loved the characters and thoroughly enjoyed escaping to Cora Cove every time I picked up my kindle. Also, Evan is a very swoon-worthy book boyfriend! 👀

Highly recommend this one for all rom com lovers out there. You won’t regret giving Mel and Evan’s story a go. ❤️

Really loved the story and plot. The characters were very loveable and I was hooked from chapter 1. Great rom com from a great author

What a lovely book!

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc of this book. Enemies to lovers isn’t my favourite romance trope, however I really enjoyed how this book spanned out. I definitely preferred the second half of the book, as it gave me all the feels and even made me emotional towards the end! The ending pipped my rating up to four stars as it made me feel giddy and so happy!

Really enjoyed reading this after reading Exes and O’s, I definitely preferred that story but still loved this one!

Definitely recommend and I can’t read to keep reading more from Amy Lea, she is definitely being added to my list of auto-buy authors!

📚BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Catch @amyleabooks

Exe's and Oh's was one of my favourite reads last year and so I was so excited to read the third and final book in the influencer series. I feel very lucky I got to read this ahead of publication and it's definately one to add to your "to be read" pile.

Oh this book just had everything I love. The enemies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes and also fake dating and we get them both in this delightful read. I feel like this book is just waiting to be made into a film. It has similarities in some of my favourite films with "The proposal" and "While you were sleeping"

This book focuses on Melanie who is a beauty and fashion influencer. When she is offered an all expenses trip to Seaside Resorts, in Canada, it's too good an opportunity to turn down. The only problem is leaving her brother who she feels responsible for. However she decides to go on the trip. When she gets to the resort she finds there has been a mix up with the booking and she can't actually stay for another week. So she decides to find another hotel to avoid flying back home Olly to come back out a week later.

This is when she meets Mr grumpy, Evan Whaler who is less than thrilled to see her turn up at the B and B and tries to turn her away. But it's her last resort and the other person running the hotel, Lucy let's her stay.

What follows is a fun read with some hilarious family members, some great banter and friendships formed. There's also a love story which is great to see the journey of how they get there. I loved this book. Loved the characters and there's some real funny scenes too with some spice thrown in also.

Thank you to @penguinukbooks
@netgalley
@amylea for letting me read this book before release.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for honest review.

This was a disappointing conclusion to the series. It had less of the usual Amy Lea charm and was very very cringey. The characters were childish and the reasons for them fake being engaged didn’t make sense at all. I really didn’t care for the characters and think the MMC was especially horrible and makes excuses for his behaviour.

I really loved the vibes, descriptions of the surroundings and Canada in general. The B&B storyline was a great one and I would’ve loved it to have had a more satisfying ending. Love declaration was cute enough.

Just not my favourite from the series unfortunately.

This is the third and last installment of The Influencer series. I haven’t read the first one yet but I loved the second book. While I enjoyed reading this, it wasn’t hitting it for me.

First of all, I liked the setup of the story: a fashion city-girl influencer out on a work travel experience only to land in a family inn in a small coastal town and pretend to be engaged to a fisherman whom she didn’t see eye to eye at first. Said fake engagement occurred due to him falling overboard, having to be taken to the hospital, her announcing herself as his fiancee so he wouldn’t be alone, and word gets to his overbearing family which defuses an ongoing tension.

I loved seeing Melanie and Evan go through their misbeliefs of their selves and each other, and I was invested in seeing them bond, grow fondness, care, and eventually love. There is a message here about one’s sense of belonging, finding one's home, appreciating and seeing what matters, and creating compromises to meet someone you love halfway.

Here’s the thing though: I think it was rushed, in the sense that the timeline of the whole story is so short to me. Although the writing does make it seem like a slow burn romance, the timeline is too evident for me to feel 100% invested in it. I didn’t get to dive deeper into their character arcs, the conflict, her job as an infleuncer, so it feels underdeveloped in that way. I also struggled to picture out the characters in my head for some weird reason that I can’t pinpoint (despite really loving how cute Melanie and Evan are).

With all that, I kind of feel removed from the story a little bit. Now looking back, I can’t really remember how the story flows in one cohesive picture. I’m also saying that this is most likely a me thing, that my preferences include slow burn romance that takes time more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for this eARC.

Rating: 3.75 ⭐

The third instalment in the influencer series sees Melanie travel from Boston to Canada to market a hotel only to find herself stuck in a small town B&B run by a grumpy, but attractive fisherman.
This enemies to lovers to fake dating was fun, whilst also covering deeper topics along the way.
I really liked both Mel and Evan as characters, and the side characters as well as getting cameos from the first 2 books.
The romance was a bit insta love, but I enjoyed the book as well as the romantic aspect.
The setting made me want to pack up my things and move immediately. If you liked It Happened One Summer, this gives similar vibes, so definitely give it a go.

The romantic month is upon us so what better than a new Amy Lea rom-com to get you in the loving mood?

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.
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?

Just as her previous books were, The Catch is a harmless and trope indulgent romantic read, and it's easy to fly through the book in a couple of sittings. Characters are all likeable and the relationships are rather sweet - particularly between Evan's family. The romantic timeline moves FAST, and I was unconvinced by how unfazed both Mel and Evan were by their first steamy kiss, which came out of nowhere but neither of them blinked? Maybe I'm an over-thinker. Also some of Mel's choices and the way the plot resolved were a little tenuous (I'm looking at you, Julian) but I'm willing to overlook these.

A sweet fake-dating rom-com with it's steamy moments - harmless and definitely worth a go.

I really enjoyed the first two books in The Influencer world, and was excited to delve back in with Mel's story! I absolutely LOVED this. As much as I love the Boston setting of the first two, I really enjoyed the small town romance that this brought all the way from Nova Scotia. I adored Evans family and loved the fake dating/engagement plot line, as well as getting small glimpses back into the lives of Mel's friends. This had to be my favourite of the three and I'm so sad it's the last in the series!

I read this book as an arc thanks to Net Galley and I really enjoyed it.

This book is the 3rd book in this series and it is also my favourite one. This was a book that I read in some sitting and couldn’t put down at all.

This is a small town romance and also a social media influencer x fisherman with them also fake dating and I loved it so much and highly recommend to anyone