Fin­ished Catch of the Day by Kris­tan Hig­gins. This is a con­tem­po­rary romance set in Maine.

This book focuses on Mag­gie Beau­mont, who runs a diner in a small Maine town. Mag­gie is look­ing for love in what seems like all the wrong places, since every date she goes out on ends in dis­as­ter — and she has a crush on the local priest, of all peo­ple. But then Mag­gie hooks up with a mys­te­ri­ous lob­ster­man named Mal­one, who seems to have a heart of gold under­neath his gruff exte­rior, and things seem to be look­ing up …

I enjoyed one of Hig­gins’ pre­vi­ous books so I got this one to read. It was a cute, fun read for the most part. I enjoyed the Maine land­scape, and Mag­gie is such a good-hearted char­ac­ter that it’s impos­si­ble not to root for her (although I did find her nar­row focus on find­ing love and her crush on the priest to be a lit­tle annoy­ing at times). The sec­ondary char­ac­ters are inter­est­ing as well, as is a sub­plot with Maggie’s par­ents, espe­cially her mom.

My only real quib­ble is Mal­one. I know he’s sup­posed to be the strong, silent type, but I thought he was a lit­tle too silent in the book. I would have liked to have got­ten to know his char­ac­ter much better.

But over­all, if you’re look­ing for a fun con­tem­po­rary, check out Hig­gins’ books. Thumbs up.

Note: Mag­gie has an elderly dog who has some issues dur­ing the course of the book. Hig­gins han­dles what hap­pens well, but con­sider this fair warn­ing if read­ing about ani­mals in dis­tress upsets you.

Up next: Poi­son Study by Maria V. Snyder.

Books in my TBR pile: About 15.