Title: Catch and Keep
Author: Erin Hahn
Genre: Romance
Published On: October 15, 2024
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Source: digital (Netgalley)
Pages: 311
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.
My thoughts
(Spoiler free)
And suddenly I realize he’s happy because I’m happy. Because he pulled this smile out of me. It’s why he picked up the mic and sang Bon Jovi. He did it for me.
And I don’t know what to do with that.
While Hahn’s last three adult romances haven’t been marketed as a series, they all have included connected friends. First we met Shelby in Built to Last, then Lorelai in Friends Don’t Fall in Love, and now it’s Maren’s turn in Catch and Keep. And if you’re a fan of the previous books, you’ll be happy to know Shelby, Lorelai, and their fellas appear throughout this one, as well, but it’s not necessary to know them. It’s just a nice bonus.
Things are rough for Maren at the start of Catch and Keep. She’s left her job as a park ranger, her now ex-boyfriend (who just stole the job she applied for out from under her), and she’s returning to the place she loved most as a child, with familiar surroundings and people—including her brother’s best friend, Josiah. Oh, and his two adorable kids.
Joe’s had it rough too, becoming a single dad when his wife and high-school sweetheart couldn’t accept their daughter’s autism diagnosis.
Maren and Joe soon discover they get along great, even though Maren’s brother Liam has warned them both to keep it strictly friends, and they each fill a hole neither one realized they desperately needed to fill. They can’t help wondering if it’s so easy, is it real?
I adored Maren and Joe’s journey. It’s sweet and heartwarming and romantic. We get both sides in this dual POV, open door romance. And the kids only enhanced the story. Watching them all fall in love with each other was the best. And if I was rating this one on just these four characters, it would be five stars. But there were a few side characters and stories that felt unrealistic?? Or maybe incomplete. I want to avoid spoilers here, but one storyline didn’t wrap up the way I felt like it needed to. The way it had been built up, I was expecting some serious drama, but it kind of just fizzled out for me. I felt like it was a missed opportunity.
And while I can believe that Joe’s ex-wife would bail when she couldn’t accept their daughter’s diagnosis, it was hard to make the two different parts of her make sense: On one hand, there’s Joe’s high school sweetheart, the woman that followed him every time he moved with the military, the only woman he’d ever been with as a 38 year old man, and then there’s this uncaring and awful mother. I needed more backstory, something more to make the transition make sense; she felt like two different characters.
If you’re a fan of Erin Hahn, and you haven’t read Catch and Keep, grab a cozy blanket, a warm cup of tea, and settle in to be romanced!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.
(All quotes are taken from the advance copy and are subject to change in final print.)
My Rating:
Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Bookshop | Amazon
(Levels inspired by The Well-Read Librarian from Sourcebooks)
My review of Built to Last
My review of Friends Don’t Fall in Love
About the Author
ERIN HAHN is the author of the young adult novels You’d Be Mine, More Than Maybe, and Never Saw You Coming as well as the adult romance Built to Last. Romance is her vibe, grunge is her soundtrack and fall is her signature color. She fell for her flannel-clad college sweetheart the very first day of school and together, they have two hilarious kids who keep her humble. She lives outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has a cat named Gus who plays fetch and a dog named June who doesn’t.
A Song For A Book
Since Hahn used song titles as her chapter titles in Built to Last and Friends Don’t Fall in Love, I knew it would be a must in Catch and Keep. It’s a fun little extra that hints at the coming chapter—if you know what the song is about. I’ve compiled a playlist of the songs which I’ll be sharing down below via Spotify. I’ve chosen to highlight “If You Could Only See” by Tonic.
If you could only see the way she loves me
Then maybe you would understand
Why I feel this way about our love
And what I must do
If you could only see how blue
Her eyes can be when she says
When she says she loves me…
Have you read Catch and Keep? Did you add it to your tbr? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Wandering!
