Following the release of ‘The Catch‘ – the final part of her Influencer trilogy of rom com books – we interview Amy Lea about the novel.
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions! What a joyful start to the year this book was, where did the idea for the book first originate and what was the initial spark?
The initial spark of inspiration for THE CATCH came to me in 2019, before writing EXES AND O’S, the second in my series. I LOVE a fish out of water story where a city girl meets a small town, rugged man and knew I had to write one myself.
THE CATCH was ultimately inspired by a mashup of classic romcoms, namely THE PROPOSAL and WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING with Sandra Bullock. WYWS is an amazingly fun premise, about a lonely woman who gets mistaken for a guy in a coma’s fiancé and gets adopted into the family. I find that so compelling, because adult loneliness is such a common thing that no one talks about. The concept of found family, mixed with the always delightful fake dating trope is something I really wanted to put my own twist on.
Another kernel of inspiration came from my love of small town romance, inspired by my own upbringing in a town of 5,000 people. There’s something about fictional small communities where the town and all its little quirks becomes a character in itself. I personally love the water, boating, and all things nautical, which is why I’m obsessed with the East Coast (Canada).
This is the final one in your influencer series, what did it mean to say goodbye to this trio of women?
It was so bittersweet to say goodbye! All three characters mean a great deal to me in different ways. My goal with each was to focus on a theme that is really pertinent to women’s lives today, ie. body image (Crystal), being labelled as “crazy” (Tara), or written off as “materialistic” and struggling with adult loneliness (Mel). Because of that, each character has a piece of my heart. I am aiming to include easter eggs of them in my future works because I miss them so much! I like to think everything I write exists in the same world, even if it’s not part of the Influencer series.
Was the series conceived as a whole or did you start off with Crystal’s story and then build it out once you had established the friendship between the three women?
I started with Crystal’s story initially, but once I conceived of her life, her family and friends, I knew Tara and Mel needed stories of their own too! Fun fact: Mel was the first side character I came up with. Tara wasn’t initially going to have her own book, but she begged me for it, lol.
You’re Canadian but the trio are based in Boston, with Melanie’s love story based in Nova Scotia – how much is place important to you? Did you always know you wanted to base her story there?
Setting is very important to me. My goal is to match the vibe of the book to the setting. Crystal and Tara very much suited big city, Boston with it’s old-school charm meets modern vibes. However, I always knew I wanted to write a story set in Canada. I have family from the East Coast and have visited as a child and fell in love with the ocean. Since Mel is such a big city girl, putting her somewhere rural was the best way to challenge her.
Do you have a sneaky favourite from the three books?
I love them all in different ways, but I suppose Tara is my favorite, mostly because her voice was the easiest to write since she wears her heart on her sleeve and puts her thoughts out there. I could see her and I becoming instant bffs!
Family is such a vital theme of The Catch, with Evan and Melanie’s family shaping their stories, why was that so important for you as an underpinning part of the story?
In every book I write that is heroine-centric, I like to ensure that the hero gives her something she needs or is missing in her life. For Mel, as I noted earlier, she is very lonely, though she doesn’t really know it or acknowledge it. She keeps everything very close to her chest and doesn’t burden her friends or her brother, or even boyfriends about her life and stresses (like financial stress). Because her mom left her family and her dad was a bit absent, she grew up learning that she had to depend on herself and had to take care of her brother. She isn’t used to confiding in or relying on other people at all. This is different from Crystal and Tara who are from a close family on both sides and rely on each other for support.
This is why the theme of family becomes important to Mel’s story, because it’s what she lacks. People without family have to navigate the world very differently because they don’t automatically have people they can inherently rely on if everything goes south. Mel is someone who simply doesn’t have that support system and thankfully she finds Evan, who does. And even though he has a comparably big family, it doesn’t mean they’re perfect. They have a long history of feuding and have to work those things out.
There’s a lot of interesting ideas about beauty and influencer culture generally in the book – namely how much Evan misunderstands Melanie as an influencer – why was that idea so interesting to you to flesh out?
On the surface, Mel seems to be glamourous and rich like a lot of influencers, who tend to only show a highlight reel of their life. I ultimately wanted to explore who she really is behind the façade. Unbeknownst to Evan or her followers, Mel actually comes from a humble background and worked hard to be able to afford the finer things. I was also very adamant about Mel embracing her love of fashion, makeup, and having plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures, generally being extra. Because in many city girl meets small town romances, the heroine changes. She stops wearing makeup and becomes simple, when in reality, there’s nothing wrong with being extra or having work done. Beauty is very villainized in society because either you don’t meet the mould or the standard, or you try to meet it by having work done and it’s made into this moral thing where your ethics are judged. There’s this conflation and belief that if you get plastic surgery, you’re fake, shallow and a bad person. I wanted to make sure Evan accepts and loves her extra-ness.
How much were you inspired by While You Were Sleeping and rom coms generally, all your books have such a joyful 90s rom com feel to them that makes them so addictive?
Romcoms always inspire my books! I just love infusing callbacks to classics with a modern, diverse twist. While You Were Sleeping, in particular, has a stellar premise but also this sweet undertone of family, which I really wanted to explore in THE CATCH.
Finally, what are your favourite rom com tropes and which can you not stand? And any favourite rom coms you’re curling up with this winter?
My favorite rom com tropes are enemies to lovers because of the tension, friends to lovers because of the longing and pining, and of course, fake dating. I actually don’t have many tropes I dislike. For me, it’s mostly about whether I connect with the writing style. This winter I’d love to read Ali Hazelwood’s new book, Bride!
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