A Novel Glimpse

Catch and Release
Author: Erin Hahn
Publication Date: October 15, 2024
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Note: This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased opinion.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Synopsis:

In Erin Hahn’s latest cozy, swoony romance, Maren Laughlin has been fishing her whole life, but she’s finally ready to be caught.

At thirty-three, Maren Laughlin’s just turned down her boyfriend’s proposal, walked away from her decade-long position as a park ranger, and returned to her childhood playground in Northern Wisconsin to accept her inheritance: a decrepit waterfront bait shop. After a lifetime of letting things happen to her, she’s ready to start making her own moves, even if everyone else thinks she’s making the wrong ones. Well, not everyone—at least the local heartstopper and resort owner is on her side.

Josiah Cole has made some missteps in his life, but he’s proud of what he has: two awesome kids and the keys to the kind of getaway spot that has families coming back every summer– their up north home away from home. After his marriage dissolved, leaving him a single dad, he feels he’s the last person to judge Maren for her recent transformation (even if his best friend, her brother, wants him to feel otherwise). Besides, he genuinely likes having her around. She’s a breath of fresh air, his kids adore her (not to mention her dog, Rogers), and it doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful.

Things between Maren and Joe are easy. So easy, they’re fully immersed in the middle before they even decide to begin. It’s not a question of should they, but rather can they make it last? Are things too easy, or is this just how real love works? In Erin Hahn’s heartwarmingly sexy Catch and Keep, Maren and Joe have to be brave enough to find out.

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I ADORED Catch and Keep! It made my heart so happy. Here’s why.

• The lakeside resort setting was vivid and fun. I felt like I was lakeside with the Maren and the gang.
• Maren, fresh off an entertaining breakup, retreated to the happy place of her youth to fish and start fresh. I loved how she reset herself and took time to figure out what she needed in life.
• Joe followed his heart as a young man and was now ex-military and a divorced father of two. He was doing his best to give his kids the childhood they deserved in a place they all loved but was slowly buckling under the weight of it all, despite help from his parents.
• The older brother’s best friend trope was perfect! Maren quickly figured out the crush she had on her older brother’s best friend as a teenager was still alive and kicking. Joe, on the other hand, was figuring out his best friend’s younger sister wasn’t the annoying little kid she used to be.
• I loved how Maren seamlessly fit into Joe and his kids’ lives, starting by being the friend they all needed. I had a lot of respect for her in her interactions with Joe’s family. It made Maren and Joe falling for each other even sweeter than it already was.
• I loved how Joe and his family made Maren part of their family and community.
• Maren and Joe were the best mix of sweet and steamy. Their slow burn romance was so swoony!
• Joe’s kids were adorable. I loved them. I felt for them.
• Maren’s dog, Rogers, made me smile every time he was on page.
• Everything else because I know I’m forgetting something.

Out of the three adult books Hahn has written, Catch and Keep is my new favorite. It had everything I love in a romance. Now excuse me while I go dream of summer on the lake.