Angie Cox's Reviews > The Catch

2.5 ⭐️ Sadly, this was not for me.


"Fake dating always leads to true love. Fact. I don't make the rules."


WHAT TO EXPECT:
✨ small town romance
✨ a not so meet cute
✨ she’s a big influencer from Boston
✨ he’s a small town fisherman in Nova Scotia
✨ city girl x small town guy
✨ dislike to lovers
✨ grumpy x sunshine
✨ fake engagement
✨ forced proximity
✨ opposite attract
✨ 2.5/5 spice
✨ third act breakup
✨ HEA
✨ POC rep - FMC is Chinese
✨ cameos from characters in previous books
✨ TW: death of parent, death of family member, grief, depression, estranged parent, family strife, near drowning,


*There are some slight spoilers in this review so read at your own risk*

My Thoughts:

After reading the previous books, Set On You and Exes and O's, I was really excited about Melanie’s book. And while the premise is fun, I was ultimately disappointed.

This type of story has been done so many times and I was bored with how it was done here. So here's the thing, I really did like the premise of a high maintenance, big city influencer going to a small town where she's roped into becoming the fake fiance of a grumpy fisherman who lives in a dilapidated inn. However, this really gave me It Happened One Summer Vibes by Tessa Bailey. And while, yes, I know the details of the stories are different, it just didn't feel that original to me.

My biggest issue is that I didn’t really like either MC, nor was there any chemistry between them.

First, let's talk about Melanie. She is just so overly dramatic. For example, she has a phobia of spiders (and any other bug really), and the way she would react was childish. There's a moment where she's freaking out about a spider and says "the eight-legged monster can't escape and plant eggs in my face." I have phobias and I know there isn't always logic to them, but surely a grown woman can realize spiders do not plant eggs in human faces. Also, her referencing horror movies 10 times throughout the story was overkill. We get it, she would not survive a horror film scenario. Again, she's just being dramatic.

Now, onto Evan. Look, I really tried, but I just did not like him. He's a grumpy fisherman who plays guitar and struggles with grief. That's his whole personality. He was such an asshole and the reasoning wasn't good enough. And his anger and irritation towards Melanie felt so forced. I also didn't understand why he softens towards her eventually. Because she's 'charming'? The girl who legitimately says she doesn't connect with people and has a hard time making friends and has a resting bitch face is . . . charming? Doesn't make sense. I feel like this story would have been better if we got his POV.

There was no chemistry between Evan and Melanie. It's all 'I hate you' for the first few days and then when he takes her to go hiking, they actually talk to each other like regular human beings and suddenly, everything changes. What? This guy was such a fucking asshole and now, because he got you to open up (which you never do) you go, hmmmm maybe there's more to this guy. No babe. No. And even when they talk, there's no spark. It's just conversations anyone would have with someone they're spending time with. I did not feel any chemistry.

At the end of the day, these characters were just too opposite from one another and mean to believe that in a week, they went from immensely disliking each other to lovers. And by lovers, I mean feeling like they were 'the one'. Their relationship is just so ridiculous and far-fetched.

The Whaler family was fine at first but then it got weird. They're way too in each other's business. But what gave me the ick was when Evan and Melanie do the deed, and then shortly after the family comes into the room, sits on the edge of the bed while they are naked and sweaty, and proceeds to chat with them. WHAT??? So gross . This family has no boundaries, oh, and they hold massive grudges. I would legit be running for the hills if this is the family of the guy I was screwing. Sorry, but dysfunction isn't cute or charming.

Melanie's child stalker was so creepy and should have been left out of this story. This twelve(?) year old lives in her building, is in love with her, follows her around, stalks her IG, writes her poem, and tries to flirt with her. And what was weird is that while Melanie also finds this creepy, she puts up with it and sometimes find amusement with his infatuation. Someone makes a joke about how she might need a restraining order against him but then she laughs about it. But really, it's not funny. It's weird. This kid is so inappropriate. I would ignore this kid and have a serious conversation with his father where I'd threaten to get an actual restraining order against him.

What's even weirder, is that Melanie has her breakthrough moment of realizing she wants to be with Evan while having a heart to heart with this child! Seriously? Melanie doesn't open up to people ever but she's going to talk about her love life with a child stalker? WTF? I just . . . I don't understand why this kid needed to be in the story AT ALL.

I was a full time travel influencer and photographer for six years, so I’m very familiar with that world, and there were a lot of things that happened that weren’t 100% realistic or didn’t make sense.

1. Melanie getting an offer for an all expense paid trip would not have been a shock. She has 500k followers. If anything, she would have laughed at the offer because someone with her amount of followers would be getting paid an insane amount on top of the free trip. No lie, influencers with 500k followers charge anywhere between $5,000 - $10,000 per post (depending on engagement)! So yeah, her getting a free trip and being excited about it is ridiculous.

2. Melanie decides to stay in Cora's Cove because paying for another flight would have been too expensive. But I'm here to tell you that flights from Boston to Halifax would not be more expensive than staying at an Airbnb for an entire week. In all honesty, it probably would have been more expensive.

3. When Melanie moves Evan's boat equipment for the shot. I know there are influencers who might do this without asking but the fact she asked, he said no, and still decided to move it didn't seem realistic to me.

4. Melanie canceling her work trip to just stay with Evan did not make sense. She says she needs this job, but this hard working girl is going to throw that all away for some dick? No, this doesn't align with her character.

I also want to note that the writing itself was perfectly fine. The story was easy to follow and well-written. However, I did end up skimming a lot of the non-dialogue just because I had lost interest in the characters and overall story


Thank you Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review! As always, all opinions are my own.


Favorite Quotes:

I'm not sure if he wants to choke me out or give me a swift kick to the shin. Probably both.
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Turns out, being fake engaged to Evan sucks, but kissing him isn't half bad.
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There's beauty in holding on . . . as long as you're not trapped in the past.
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"You're never alone in this world while I'm in it, Mel."
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