Fresh Catch

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 1,852 ratings

Price: 17.46

Last update: 01-03-2025


About this item

Take a vacation, they said. Get away from Silicon Valley's backstabbing and power-grabbing. Recharge the innovative batteries. Unwind, then come back stronger than ever. Instead, I got lost at sea and fell in love with an antisocial lobsterman. There's one small issue: Owen Bartlett doesn't know who I am. Who I really am.

Owen: I don't like people. I avoid small talk and socializing, and I kick my companions out of bed before the sun rises. No strings, no promises, no problems. Until Cole McClish's boat drifts into Talbott's Cove and I bend all my rules for the sexy sailor. I don't know Cole's story or what he's running from, but one thing is certain: I'm not letting him run away from me.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Kim May
    5.0 out of 5 stars This beautiful love story deserves 5 MILLION stars!!!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2018
    The reason I read romance is because I love a good story, and I really love a good love story. At the very foundation, this book is a beautiful love story, but in reality it is so much MORE. To be honest, out of the thousands of books I’ve read I can only think of 3 other m/m books I have read. While they were good, it’s just not a genre that I seek out, but will gladly read if it’s a good story. As far as good stories go, my favorite author of a good story is Kate Canterbary. So I was quite excited and intrigued to see that Kate was writing such a book. As you would expect from her, it is AMAZING. Even if you don’t read this genre, you need to read this book.

    This book has all the feels. You get sweetness, sexiness, angst, tension, and so many more emotions. The character development is complex and compelling. The storyline is different and intriguing. The chemistry between the characters is sizzling. The story has an energy and a build up that most books lack. The love is palpable and beautiful. The sex is scorching. On top of all that, there are interesting facts and like her other books, you walk away feeling smarter.

    The essence of this book is love, acceptance and belonging. There is a quote in the book that I feel not only describes the journey of these characters but also how we all want to be loved, “I’d rather take my time to understand someone piece by piece. I don’t want to condense anyone down to a blurb or caption. I want to hold and treasure every piece, and I want someone to do the same to me.” This book does a beautiful job of giving us pieces of Cole and Owen, and I treasure every piece of them and their journey.

    If you haven’t read this author, you need to. She needs to become one of your automatic-one-click, buy-everything-she-writes authors. Her writing is always beautiful, her stories are thought provoking and unique, and her knowledge and research on topics will leave you smarter (and definitely more equipped for trivia nights). There is always a depth to her stories that you rarely find in the romance genre. When you finish one of her books you feel full, your heart is full of love, your mind is full of intelligent writing, and your soul is full of a beautiful story. I wish I could give this book more than five stars. I’d give it five million stars. You definitely need to read this book.
  • Cranky TBC
    4.0 out of 5 stars He's my lobster
    Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2018
    4.5 Cranky Stars
    Sexy. Swoon worthy. Did I mention sexy? Owen and Cole had off the charts chemistry and I found my self in the zone with this book. I even went and hid in a closet so people in this house would stop talking to me for 5 minutes.
    Cole is a tech giant. A billionaire with nothing to lose he sets out to sail the open seas. What he wasn’t expecting was all his components on his boat to go on the fritz and end up in a tiny town in Maine. While drifting slowly to shore he encounters a cranky lobster fisherman. It’s here he learns who he truly is and what life is really all about.
    Owen is on a self-imposed exile in Talbott Cove. He enjoys his quiet existence and occasionally visits major cities to get his fill of the city and people. His lobster fishing business is what keeps him afloat and his tiny cottage livable. One night during his routine of watching the sunrise he spots a vessel drifting close to his shore and he goes to lend a hand mainly to make the intruder leave. He wasn’t expecting a tanned god with a busted face. Against his better judgement he invites Cole into his home.
    Sweet puppies this book had me saying aww and fanning myself at the same time. This was my first Kate Canterbury book and It certainly won’t be my last. I have been on a M/M kick lately and this is surely one I will recommend to anyone looking for this genre. She made them relatable. I wanted to kick Cole and Owen a few times when the past and who they truly were could have been hashed out. The story wraps up in a nice epilogue that makes the reader sigh with happiness. Kudos to you Kate!!
  • warpammer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful Canterbary tale
    Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2020
    Fresh Catch--along with the rest of the Talbott's Cove series--was a sudden impulse purchase triggered by my disatisfaction with another romance entirely. I was plodding through a short yet endless cliche-fest when I suddenly thought, "Gee, doesn't Kate Canterbary have another series that I haven't read yet?" No sooner thought, than bought, and there I was, rescued from the toils of ennui.

    It seems appropriate then, that the novel opens with a rescue at sea, one more hilarious than hair-raising. Cole McLish, disgraced tech wunderkind, finds himself techless and adrift on a sailboat off the coast of Maine. Fortunately he is boarded and towed to safe harbor by pirate/lobsterman Owen Bartlett before the sailboat can run aground. Cole decides that Owen's seaside home represents the sanctuary he didn't know he craved, and the two men strike a bargain--Owen's spare room for Cole's labor as a deckhand for the rest of the summer.

    The story is told from dual points of view, and Cantherbary handles this style choice with her customary aplomb. It's an excellent way to underline the contrasts between the two men. Cole alternates between broody brat and world-weary pilgrim, brilliant but volatile. Owen, on the other hand, comes across as solid as the granite of those famously rock-bound coasts, embracing a solitary yet meaningful life. The dual POV serves to really focus on character growth and the gradual development of the relationship between the two men. I love the author's writing even when a given novel doesn't entirely work for me. In the case of Fresh Catch, it totally worked, and I found myself highlighting passages that moved me with their wisdom or tenderness or humor or sometimes just the beauty of the language. And I loved Cole and Owen.

    The structure of the novel is pretty straightforward. Two very different men meet, become friends, and finally, driven by their mutual attraction, become intimate. Love scenes are steamy and explicit, but founded as much on emotion as on lust. While both men are comfortable with their sexuality, neither is fully confident in his ability to sustain a serious relationship, and most of the novel's tension stems from this uncertainty.

    Ironically, the book I abandoned in order to read Fresh Catch was also a "small town romance." While Talbott's Cove is undeniably a small town, it completely lacks the incestuous nosiness of so many fictional small towns as well as the cutesiness so common to the trope. The central couple is the focal point here, not the wacky yet annoying inhabitants of the village. Peripheral characters are well drawn and realistic but not distracting . I found the settng a refreshing departure from stereotype, despite the author's admission that the equally fictional inhabitant's of Cabot's Cove served as inspiration.

    Fresh Catch really hit the spot for me, a seemingly simple story transformed into tender romance by the power of beautiful writing. I'd recommend it to anyone needing a break from all the stress and complications of 2020. So, five enthusiastic stars.

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