Catch Her If You Can
This is my first book by Tessa Bailey and now I’m wondering what took me so long! It’s a very fun lighthearted marriage of convenience story with excellent spice. The timeline went back and forth enough that I was ready for it to stay in the present but, overall, I enjoyed the romance and camaraderie between friends.
Eve and Madden met when they were in high school. Eve was a freshman and Madden a junior. Madden was attracted to Eve but felt she was too young and was waiting until she was older to make his move. Eve tried not to fall for him because her best friend, Skylar, was into him, but Madden only had eyes for Eve. When he found out she was being bullied in high school because her father ran a strip club, Madden became her protector. Madden was an athlete at school, then was diagnosed with kidney disease and ended up getting a kidney transplant. Eve helped look out for him (he lived with his aunt) but they were strictly in the friend zone.
Seven years later, Madden is a catcher for the Yankees and Eve has taken over her father’s club and turned it into a burlesque club. The townspeople haven’t warmed up to it and the business is struggling. Then her sister asks her to care for her young niece and nephew while she goes to rehab. When the children get sick, Eve is struggling financially and Madden comes to the rescue and asks Eve to marry him. If they are married, he can provide health insurance for all of them. Eve’s friend, Skylar is now with Robbie (Pitcher Perfect) and so Eve feels like she can be with Madden without hurting Skylar’s feelings. Eve wants to keep their marriage a temporary secret because she doesn’t want her reputation to hurt Madden’s career (because she owns the burlesque club). They’ve wanted each other forever and finally they can be together and it gets steamy!
Madden is the best. He is from Ireland and has an accent and he will do anything for Eve and wants to convince her that they are meant for each other forever. I enjoyed the humor and the camaraderie between all of their friends, especially Elton (Skylar’s brother) and Veda (Eve’s snarky friend), who I hope will star in the next book.
The story bounces around between high school, college and the present and it felt a little clumsy as it switched around. I liked the present time best, especially when it focused on Madden and Eve. I also would have liked to see more baseball.
This is the fifth book in the Big Shots series and I thought it stood well alone. The modern marriage of convenience trope was a delight after the slow burn yearning. Their friend group is lively and I look forward to reading more about this crowd in the future.
Recent Comments
I’ve had mixed thoughts on Bailey’s work; this does sound good, though!
Finally, a plausible reason for the marriage of convenience trope: desperate for health insurance!
Only in the USA, but far more realistic than all the unbelievable plot lines about marriages to access inheritances or to merge fortunes like if it were the Middle Ages
So so true.
Hmmmmm…. I’m never wild about the idea that a friend would make a love interest off limits unless they were actually dating. At what point did Skylar say Madden was fair game?
Skylar never told Eve that she couldn’t date Madden. Eve kept it a secret that she liked him. When Skylar told Eve she was with Robbie, Eve asked if that meant she was over Madden. Skylar said yes and began to suspect that Eve liked him. Eve went to Madden and agreed to marry him. I hope this makes it more clear.
OK. I have to say, this has always been a plot line–and its twin: don’t date my little sister/brother–sketchy. No one has dibs on another unless that person has agreed to those dibs.
In this story Skylar and her brother accepted Eve and were her friends when the rest of the town rejected and bullied her. Eve didn’t want to risk losing her only friends. She also had a habit of putting others wants and needs before her own.
Got it. Thanks!
I’ve always disliked those plotlines, and still don’t love them, but when it happened in my family I did see some reasons a person might not want their sibling dating their best friend.
When my son and middle daughter were in their late teens, early twenties, my son’s best friend started dating my daughter. My son was angry, and told them he wasn’t happy. He and I talked and his reasons were these: 1) Now when his friend came over or when son and friend went places, my daughter and the friend wanted to be together, too. It meant less quality time for my son to spend with his best friend. They had all been friends to some extent, so it was awkward to exclude my daughter. 2) My son knew they’d break up eventually and it could put his relationship with either or both in jeopardy.
My daughter and the friend dated for almost two years, but did eventually break up and it was unfortunately accrimonious. My son was, as he’d feared, put in the middle. It damaged his relationship with both his friend and his sister. His friend never came over anymore or wanted to hang out anywhere if my daughter was there, and my daughter wanted Thomas “on her side” about who was to blame.
I know they were young, but not younger than a lot of protagonists in romance novels (college aged). I still beleive you can’t police other people’s romantic attachments, but having your friend date your sibling can be difficult to navigate.
We are the opposite. My son started dating a friend of my daughter’s and, yes, it took a bit of adjusting, but now that couple, together for 12 years, is loved by all.