The Catch - Amy Lea

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?

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

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I was provided with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read both of Amy Lea’s previous books in this series, and I was keen to finish off the set!

I had mixed feelings about Set On You (2.5*) and Execs and Os (4*), the latter of which I found much more enjoyable.

The Catch fell somewhere in the middle for me. It was an enjoyable, light read, but it wasn’t until about halfway through that I found myself actually wanting to pick it up.

The reason? I think I just found Mel a bit difficult to like. It really took me a long time to warm up to her, as she just does not come across very well at first. I understand that her role as a fashion influencer, and her actions as part of that, are established to highlight the vast differences between her and Evan, but I think it might have gone a bit far.

I did end up enjoying the novel, but it started well on the back foot as there was a lot of ground for Mel to make up with me!

Enjoyable, but not my favourite by Amy Lea.

Rating: ✫✫✫

My Thoughts

Let's start with the obvious one - I didn't really enjoy reading about Mel for a lot of the book. She comes across as demanding, annoying, and frankly not very bright (I'm thinking of you, boat incident). I think there could have been a lot more done in the establishment of Mel's character that highlighted her strengths and positive qualities, and this might have made her feel a little less airheaded.

Now, this does come into play in the later stages of the book, and if nothing else I will say that the character development really is there. Evan goes from being a grump to being very pleasant and amendable, and Mel becomes far less uptight ad more open-minded - which was really great to see. But unfortunately, it came a little bit too late for me to change away from my immediate feelings. 

I did enjoy the story, with Mel having to make up her mind about whether she wants to make a drastic change to her life. The total contrast between the lives of herself and Evan is vast, and the fake dating to real romance was such a fun and sweet plot. 

But what I think I enjoyed most was the setting of the novel. A remote, tiny town, in an out of the way part of Canada. With every scene, I found myself loving the setting more and more, and I think the inn and the descriptions of the location brought the story to life for me. 

I think fans of Amy Lea will probably enjoy this one as well, but it wasn't my favourite by the author.