This was an enjoyable romcom read with It Happened One Summer vibes and a boatful of tropes including:
🩵Small Town Romance
🩵Fake Dating/Engagement
🩵Slow Burn
🩵Forced Proximity
🩵’Enemies’ to lovers
🩵Opposites Attract/ Grumpy x Sunshine

This was sweet and spicy and I loved the small town setting- it felt so cozy and cute, like sunshine on a page that brightened up the drizzly February days and it will be a great read come the summer ! Evan was a pretty swoon worthy love interest once you got past his slightly grumpy outer shell and the entire Whaler family were an excellent set of side characters but honestly, the real star of the show was Nana who was hilarious and an absolute ✨Queen✨.

Melanie and Evan had great banter and I loved Mel’s energy as well as her pride in being a 'curvier' girl but I wish this was a dual POV rather than single as I feel like seeing Evan’s thoughts would have made me enjoy this even more and I also think this could have been shorter/simplified and still been enjoyable.

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 my second favourite of the series after Exes and Os. It was a cute, small town romance. I love a fake engagement book and it was cute but forgettable..

The issue I had were as follows: I found the family to be weird… at one point they came in to chat to them while they were naked in bed like it was a normal Saturday? There was the strangest stalking 12 year old that I found a tad disturbing and the “enemies” to lovers was forced. One minute they hated each other for no reason,. The next everything was fine.

If you go in to this book looking for a light read, just run with the story, don’t overthink it it’s fine. The writing is good and i did end up liking the couple but it’s not a book I’d jump to recommend. 3.5 stars

This was cute. It really made me smile. The dynamic between Melanie and Evan was a lot of fun, especially in the first part of the book when they were still at loggerheads a little bit. There’s also a really lovely cosy, small-town vibe to it that was just lovely. The book as a whole was really comforting.

However, I found the fake relationship angle a bit forced and Evan’s family drama dominated a bit too much for my preference. The plot felt a little meandering at times, but I did like how it handled their respective backstories for the most part.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. The romance was good, their chemistry worked well and the love scenes were well-written. It just had a lovely vibe about it. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, small town, hate-to-love, fake relationship romance. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy of this book.

Content Notes: Death of a parent, death of a cousin, mental illness, depression, anxiety, grief, head injuries, boating accident (on-page), seizures (on-page), on-page sex.

thank you for my early copy!

amy lea is so good at what she does, this is cute and easy to read and i loved everything about this!!

i rated it a 3 as i feel like this has been done by tessa bailey and whilst i hated it happened one summer i did vibe with this that much more !!

i hope to read more of amys work:)

Definitely a pick for anyone who loved THE PROPOSAL, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING or IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER!

The Catch (The Influencer 3) by Amy Lea

🌟: 4.25/5
🌶: 1/5
Genre: romantic comedy
POV: first, single person
Tropes: enemies to lovers, grumpy x sunshine, opposites attract, small town, fake dating
Trigger warnings: death, grief, depression, fertility issues

Favourite quote:
“I know it’s easier to just wipe you hands clean and move on. But… there’s beauty in holding on… as long as you’re not trapped in the past.”

Synopsis:
Attempting to rebrand her online social media content, Boston influencer Melanie Karlsen flies to a fishing hotspot in rural Canada where she meets grumpy b&b owner and fisherman, Evan Whaler. After a Mel induced boating accident landing him in hospital, Evan wakes up with a new “fiancée”. News of their engagement brings his family together in the midst of a long running feud over selling the b&b. Can Mel be persuaded into continuing the ruse to help save the b&b from being sold?

Review:
I will never bore of a classic grumpy x sunshine, small town romance.

They’re both stubborn and the bickering created great tension!!

Mel and Evan are a prime example of opposites attract. I really do enjoy that trope, it gives an aura of blended harmony between the MCs.

I felt the characters had such depth, healing from trauma while figuring out the future.

This book also showcases the impact that a difficult childhood can have on adults and their relationships. Mel and her brother Julian both reacted the grief and loss in different ways and it’s beautiful to read how they navigate adulthood together.

Having known Mel from book 1 (set on you), I didn’t want to stop reading, eager to find out how her and Evan’s story ended. I’m sad the Influencer series has finished, but I’m happy the girls all got their stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Such a good book. I loved Amy's writing. Sad to see this series end so very bittersweet, such a fun book, I adored it and the characters.
3.5

This was so cute! It was my first book by this author and certainly won’t be my last! I didn’t realise it was apart of a series, but it can definitely be read as a complete standalone!

I loved the enemies to lovers aspect in this! The banter and scathing looks were just so great! Mel and Evan are complete opposites! I loved how they clashed at times, but I also loved how they slowly opened up to one another when forced to be around each other. Loved their chemistry!

I loved that this also has the fake engagement trope! It was all just so good how it all happened! I really enjoyed this one!

This book was cute and fun. I had a good time reading it. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read it early.

Loved this book, the story of Melanie and Evan. An opposites attract romance, I liked how it was told from both points of view. The setting was great too.

I have loved the whole ‘Influencer Series’ but I have to say this is the stand-out book for me. A seemingly grumpy fisherman will be sure to hook me into a story and I was kept hooked by the whole Whaler clan and the connection between Evan and Mel.

This book was the perfect ending to Amy Lea's influencer series. This is a great enemies to lovers book filled with so many laugh out loud moments I couldn't help but love it.

I fell in love with the character of Evan as soon as Mel met him at the B&B, he is a classic grump but has a large heart and will do anything for his family.

Mel is the complete opposite to Evan, she breaths confidence online but that's all for show. Mel is lonely and struggling with losing her father. As a couple Evan and Mel are absolutely adorable and totally swoonworthy.

Overall this was a classic enemy to lovers story that was just so heart warming. I really loved it and would highly recommend it.

I’m a sucker for romance and I really enjoyed this one. I adore fake dating and I loved the humour in the story. I wish I could just go and live in the book, it was so cosy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for this digital arc copy.

3.5 stars

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.

This book made me cry!!
This was my first read by Amy Lea and I can certainly say I will be reading more by her in the future. This book follows Melanie and Evan in a fake dating situation. Evan is a fisherman by trade, never reading anything with this occupation in before I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it but Amy has a beautiful way of connecting the ocean to the emotions and feelings of the characters. It was a beautiful blend of found family and watching the main characters open up and heal in their own ways but together.
The book glides over family traumas such as: loss/grief, depression, anxiety so just a warning if these things are triggering to you. They are not delved into in too much details however.

I had no idea this was part of an unconnected standalone series until I got to the discussion questions at the end and I would say you can definitely read this one on its own.

I adore Amy Lea and her writing so there was no surprise that I also loved this book.

As the final instalment in a series I found this a sweet conclusion. I'd have loved an extended epilogue with all our heroines and their partners just to seal the deal but I did love the way this story ended.

There was an instant connection between our two characters (we love enemies to lovers here) I adore that she's a social media girly and that he's a fisherman ugh opposites attract am i right?

I too am scared of spiders so I feel you there Mel - but I am so glad that she takes a break to admire the world (and man) around her!

I ADORE his family - give me crazy and loving and overbearing - who needs personal space anyway.

and also hello fake fiance trope? I am SOLD.

I cannot and will not ever stop reccommending Amy Lea's writing to any romance lovers - they're such easy cheesy reads you cannot go wrong!

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