#BookReview: THE CATCH by Amy Lea @PenguinUKBooks

Publication: 15th February 2024 – Penguin Books

In a last ditch attempt to rescue her brand from the brink of irrelevance, fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a rural fishing village on the east coast of Canada. The only thing scarier than nature itself? Burly fisherman Evan Whaler – who single-handedly disproves the theory that canadians are ‘nice’.

After a boating incident lands Evan in the hospital, Mel is mistaken for his fiancee by his welcoming yet quirky family. And, in exchange for Evan’s help with her social media content, Mel agrees to fake their engagement for just. one. week.

But reeling in their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult than expected.

Is Mel willing to sacrifice her picture-perfect life in the city for a chance at true love in the wild?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

The Catch is definitely my favourite of novels by Amy Lea. Her previous novels, Set On You and Exes and O’s are fantastic and I truly enjoyed them, but The Catch, with its wonderful characters, the beautiful small town setting, and the fake engagement kept me completely engrossed and I couldn’t put it down.

If you’ve read the author’s previous novels, you have already met Melanie. Fashion influencer in need to boost her brand and increase her followers, she accepts a partnership with a spa resort in Nova Scotia. However, things start going wrong from the beginning. First there is a mix-up with reservations at the spa, then she arrives in a dilapidated inn in a small fishing town where she clashes with the grumpy and handsome owner, Evan Whaler, and then she finds spiders in her bathroom and she is not a nature-loving person. But, following a boat accident and a small lie told in a moment of desperation, Melanie becomes Evan’s fake fiancée, accepting to keep up the farce to help his family solve a years-long feud and save the inn. Melanie is happy to help, after all they must pretend just for one week, right? What Melanie didn’t expect is to be welcomed into the Whaler family like one of their own. Her only family is her younger brother Julian, who she’s been taking care of all her life, and she is not used to having close relationships and unconditional love, especially when her feelings for Evan start to become more real than she would like to.

The Catch has everything I love in romance novels: fake engagement, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and grumpy vs sunshine. Also, it reminds me of one of my favourite movies, The Proposal, so I kept picturing Evan as Ryan Reynolds (with a beard). Witty, steamy, and heart-warming, this is a story I didn’t want to end. Highly recommended!

A huge thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Amy Lea is a Canadian bureaucrat by day and romance and YA author by night (and weekends). She writes laugh out loud romantic comedies featuring strong heroines, witty banter, mid-2000s pop culture references, and happily ever afters. When Amy is not writing, she can be found fan-girling over other romance books on Instagram (@amyleabooks), eating potato chips with reckless abandon, and snuggling with her husband and goldendoodle.