I like Katherine Center so I was excited to get this audiobook. I liked the narrator a lot, she was a wonderful pick for this main character and she really brought the story to life. Katie is sent to Florida to do a video on a rescuer swimmer named Hutch. She tries to ignore that she doesn’t swim as she desperately tries to save her job from massive layoffs. When she gets there and finds her swim instructor is the feature of her video. Of course they have a meet cute and then things get heated and then complicated. The characters are cute and I enjoyed it, although I got tired of the body insecurities of Katie. Overall this was a fun rom com that I enjoyed. Definitely the feel good fun time that I needed right now.

this was the first book ive read by this author and i was so pleased with what i read. the characters are likeable and relatable, and the story flows really well and is really easy to follow. i love the stages of thinking/feelinf that the fmc experiences as we progress through the story and how everyone has a small part in changing how she feels about things.

5 ✨

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Center does. Not. Miss. This book, like her others, is so full of heart, emotional depth, and swoony romance. I loved the setting and getting to slip into the world of the Coast Guard with Katie and Hutch. I gobbled this up in a day and I’ll continue to eagerly snatch up everything Katherine Center writes.

TW: eating disorders/body image. While the book has an amazing message, these might be triggering for some people!

3.5/5 ⭐️, 0/5 🌶️, 1/5 💧

⛴️ Body Dysmorphia
⛴️ Grief & Complicated Family Dynamics
⛴️ Goodest Rescue Pup
⛴️ Workplace Romance
⛴️ Single POV

To manage expectations before starting this book, I’d probably argue that this book was more focused on the self love journey and the mental health surrounding that, rather than the love story between the main characters. I say this because I think if you went into this story looking for a swoony love story, you may be disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s there but I personally didn’t find it particularly convincing. It was riddled with miscommunication in the most ridiculous way, which I found detracted a bit from the story.

What I thought was done exceptionally well was the story line between the brothers, Rue, and the rescue pup.

The body dysmorphia and the mental health surrounding it was good, but I could see how one can interpret it as a tad overdone. I can relate to it, though, and agree that it’s a very important topic and glad it was explored in this story.

Teetering right between a 3 and 4 star rating, I ultimately rounded down to 3 as I was just not quite satisfied at the end of the book. But I do enjoy Katherine’s style of writing and found myself laughing out loud often. There were also some very ridiculous scenes that were written so perfectly I could picture everything in my mind like a movie.

If you like her other books, and like a little bit of ridiculous drama with an important message, I would recommend this book.

Thank you St. Martins Press, Katherine Center, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Honestly, Katherine Center can do no wrong. I greatly enjoy her story telling and her writing style. I really like her characters and the settings for her books. This one was no different!

I love the Florida Keys setting, the laid back feel of the town, and how it contrasts with the serious business of what the Coast Guard does. Hutch is serious when he’s at work and mister charming when he’s at the Starlight with the gals, Rue, and Katie.

Katie I think is a character many women can relate to in some way or another. She’s too critical of her appearance and misses the beauty that others see. Her self esteem issues take a while to resolve, but I love seeing her come into herself by the end.

I loved the sense of found family this book creates. Rue was a bright light. I loved the backstory between her and the boys even if it’s sad. George Bailey was a great comedic relief in the form of a lovable oaf of a Great Dane.

The early conflict in this was infuriating. Cole is not my favorite and I had a hard time sympathizing with him even when the conflict was resolved.

All in all this was an enjoyable read and I do recommend it. It’s a perfect beach read with its mix of light hearted and heavier topics. The Love Haters is not at the top of my Katherine Center rankings, but it’s nestled somewhere at the top of the middle.

This slow burn romance was about so much more than just love. Katie, is on a self discovery journey when she ends up meeting Hutch, her coworkers brother, on her work assignment. The story had the perfect mix of serious topics that both Katie and Hutch were dealing with and funny topics like Hutch's dog tackling Katie and them finally bonding during a Hurricane. There was a little bit too much miscommunication on Hutch's part for my liking with him just not saying what he was feeling, but they figured that out in the end. I loved Rue and her influence on Katie and George Bailey, the dog, was my favorite character!

Dnf at 55%. Let me begin by saying I have LOVED the other work I’ve read by Katherine Center. Read the bodyguard and the rom-commers.

NOW what I liked - the female main characters job was really fun. As a videographer trying to keep her job, she takes an assignment for a superior. She has her own side project focused on filming heros for a day in the life. The male main character was extremely likable. He was funny, caring and so down to earth. I loved Rue and her old lady gang.

That being said, I was so disappointed by this book overall. I really do like the romance that was developing and the plot. However, all of that got overshadowed by so much negative self talk from the female main character about how much she hated her body. To put a thin white woman on the cover and nothing about this struggle in the description (I hope the published version includes a trigger warnings page), and to dedicate so much time to this topic was very disappointing. I cannot imagine picking this up to read at the beach or pool (while in a swimsuit) and continuously read about critiquing your own body in a swimsuit. I’m dead serious - wearing a swimsuit was debilitating for the female main character. I really tried to push through but it was too much for me.

Thank you to St Martins Press for providing me with an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars!

First of all, I want to say a big thank you to St Martin's Press and to NetGalley for the ARC!

Here's my honest review:

The first 30% of this book took me so long to read for many reasons:
1. I didn't feel the chemistry between the characters.
2. There were so many cringe moments that I had to stop reading for some time.
3. I know that struggling with our body image is an important subject, but I felt like it was the only thing the fmc was thinking about and on what she was judging other people, especially the mmc.

However, after the 35% mark, it got SO much better! I read the rest of the book so fast, in a day to be exact. I didn't feel like the characters had more chemistry, but at least the story was picking up and I had a good time.

I also REALLY liked the dog in this book!

In conclusion, I gave this book 3.5 stars because, even though I read the last 65% in a day, I didn't feel like the characters had a lot of chemistry, and I couldn't forget how hard it was to pass the 30% mark! Overall, it was a fun book for the vibes and the messages about self-love and life, but the romance didn't hit for me like I thought it would've!

Okay! I enjoyed this book a lot! It took me a while to start reading it (mostly because of life and things) but once I started it, I was drawn in. It was a sweet story and was a fun read. Rue and The Gals were some of my favorite characters. I loved Katie’s inner dialogue, and found that I was drawn to Katherine Center’s writing like I was in The Rom-Commers. It was all very Top Gun-esque!

For me, this was missing that spark that The Rom-Commers had. In that book, the two leads had some serious chemistry and some amazing banter. Hutch was an enjoyable lead, but I felt like I didn’t know him. I would have loved for this to be dual-POV or just a little more background on how he was feeling. The other part that threw me off was Cole. I liked the idea of Cole as the main issue between the two leads, but I felt like it came out of nowhere. I also would have loved a little more insight into Sullivan and the company.

Overall, this was a fun read! I read it on a beach vacation, which probably helped me get into the beachy, Florida of it all. I will definitely keep reading Katherine Center’s books and enjoying them! A huge thank you to the author and NetGalley for this ARC!

Wow! I think everyone needs to read this book. It's so much more than a rom- com. It's a love story definitely but not the kind I thought it was going to be when I started it. It made me think of love in all ways but mostly with myself. I tend to look past that love story often but this made me wany to look at myself as a love story. The author captured love of all kinds and in such a beautiful way. This is definitely a buy and reread type of book.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love and next might be her career. That is why she accepts a gig from a coworker, Cole, profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a coast guard rescue swimmer. The only problem is she can’t swim, and her coworker is Hutch’s brother and they don’t necessarily get along.

I love Center’s ability to write a novel that has both humor and a deeper story. I appreciated the emotional growth and physical journey that Katie goes on during the story. George Bailey and Aunt Rue were great side characters and loved the colorful Key West setting. Over a great easy read that had both humor and heart. I

Huge KC fan, Huge!

& she certainly delivers with her upcoming release, The Love Hater.

Katie is faking, it until she makes it. As a video producer, she’s on the potential chopping block as her company looks to reorganize. When her boss offers her, a job filming an advertisement for the Coast Guard, she jumps at the opportunity. Until she learns she’s going to have to swim, in the ocean, and potentially jump out of a helicopter. As someone who doesn’t swim or wants to be in the middle of the action, this is not what Katie signed up for. However, she’s doing what she can to ensure she keeps her job, even if that means having to follow around the super buff, nice, and handsome Coast Guard Hutch – who also happens to be the brother her boss doesn’t seem to get along with.

While there was less love-hating and spice than I originally thought there would be, there was still plenty of witty banter and chemistry between our leads. I think this might be my new favorite Katherine Center book, but let’s be real, I say that almost anytime I read her books. I loved the beachy and dreamy Key West backdrop, the summer vibes, Rue and her vibrant friends. There is also plenty of deeper themes such as body imagine and grief. All these themes are typical of a KC novel and will make this a perfect vacation and beach read that is fun but also has substance.

However, I didn’t entirely love Katie’s ex-boyfriend’s plot line. It felt like it would be so much more a part of the story, and I honestly would have preferred it to be gone from the book. I felt just like a filler piece.

That said, that was really my only note and the reason why I gave this a 4.5 rounded down to 4 stars. BUTTT after thinking about wishing the story wasn’t over or that a movie gets made of this book ASAP, I decided to give it a nice 5 stars! Because let’s be real, I rate books on vibes, and The Love Haters gave me all the happy summer vibes, and I’m here for it!


The Love Haters comes out May 20, 2025. Huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my:
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Another amazing Katherine Center book! I enjoyed this a lot, its my new favorite.

The romance felt so authentic while also sweeping me away and Katie was a relatable character. This is now my new favorite Katherine Center book.

The Love Haters - Katherine Center
Available May 20, 2025

Be fully prepared to fall head over heels in love with Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson. Perfect doesn’t even begin to describe this man. From the heroic life saving job to the coffees in the airport… I didn’t stand a chance.

I also truly enjoyed Katie’s journey to self love and watched her internal narrative about herself slowly change as she stepped out of her comfort zone.

This was truly a remarkable read and it’s one of my top books so far this year. I highly recommend it.

Another romcom from Katherine Center. I was a die hard Center fan with her earlier writing and I still enjoy her stories but this one was a little too out there for me. It was just fine- nothing memorable about either of the main characters. I felt like the love story was secondary to the personal issues of the female lead. She had major body image issues that were keeping her from really enjoying her life. It was sad! Plus the ending was so strange and far fetched that it kind of brought down the whole book.

I will always pick up a Katherine Center book but I miss her old style!

Choosing to DNF a book at 75% is never fun, especially when you were really enjoying the story up until some truly bizarre plot points made continuing completely impossible.

The first 3/4ths of The Love Haters is great! Katie is a director who is forced by a coworker into taking the job of creating a recruitment video for the US Coast Guard even though she can't swim. This brings her down to Key West, where she encounters a wonderful cast of characters and Hutch, a very handsome rescue swimmer. It was all so lovely, and the main characters were full of depth and had such interesting backstories. When the pushy coworker (who also happens to be Hutch's younger brother) makes a surprise appearance in Florida, everything goes off the rails in such frustrating, unpleasant, and completely out-of-character ways that I was unable to continue on with the story. Katerine Center has written many books that I have enjoyed and I would basically recommend any of them over this mess.

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of Katherine Center. Anything that she writes I will ultimately pick it up to read. When I saw that the Love Haters was a read now I was super excited.

Our FMC, Katie is a videographer who is trying to save her job while her company is doing layoffs. Her supervisor/co-worker Cole sends her to video a promotional video of his brother Hutch who is in the US Coast Guard. I loved this story and Katie’s character growth throughout the book. Hutch and Katie work together to do the promotional video and during this time they get to know each other. I thought Katherine Center did an amazing job with the emotional connection instead of physical chemistry. Did this book have a ton of spice? No. But the over all structure and depth this book brought was worth it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the early copy!

this book explored body issues in an incredibly respectful, realistic manner. i really appreciate the author for doing that.

the characters were incredibly well-developed. their chemistry was well-written. especially for a shorter novel. i really enjoyed watching them fall in love.

overall - this was a really sweet, fun book. i found myself losing the plot a bit in the middle, but it all tied in in the end. i really enjoy this author’s writing and can’t wait to read more of it.

The Love Haters by Katherine Center follows Katie, a mid-level video producer who is desperate to save her job from a round of layoffs. Her colleague, Cole, offers her a role to produce a promotional video for the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Florida. Cole also suggests Katie make a day-in-the-life video of viral internet hero, Tom "Hutch" Hutcheson, who is known for… saving Jennifer Aniston's dog… Upon arriving in Key West, Katie is immediately introduced to an eclectic group of characters and is thrown into incredibly embarrassing situations with Hutch. Like all Katherine Center rom-coms, chaos and chemistry ensue.

Right off the bat, we're thrown into the story with zero context to the conversation that is happening and the current stakes for Katie, our FMC. Now, usually I love when we get right into the story and don't spend pages and pages reading exposition. However, there's so much info-dumping in the first few chapters to make up for the abrupt start of the novel that in this case, I wish the book started off at a slower pace; we missed some crucial character background information and context that would have been useful at the start of the novel and made for a smoother reading experience. Being immediately thrust into the story then quickly flipping to fill in the gaps gave me reading whiplash!

We spend a good majority of the first 30% learning about Katie's past and present struggles with her body image and relationship with food/counting calories. While I can appreciate the attempt to address a topic as serious and *real* as these, I wish it was handled with a bit more care. It felt like a careless plot device thrown in to give Katie some sort of tortured backstory rather than it truly be a part of her character. HOWEVER, I loved how this internal struggle played a role in Katie's overall growth throughout the story. She learns to appreciate and be grateful for her body, simply because it is HERS.

We also learn about Katie's past relationship -- her ex had a song go viral on TikTok (ugh) right after they got engaged and then he cheated on her! And THEN she was cyberbullied for how she looked! Honestly, nightmare scenario. But also, there's really no closure to this plotline? We get glimpses of it throughout the book and what seems like hints of it causing issues, but then the book ends without us hearing another word about it.

We meet our MMC early on in the book and right off the bat, we are told he is just *that* attractive and swoonworthy. EVERYTHING he does is in slo-motion, apparently. Seriously, take a shot every time "slo-motion" is said in reference to the MMC and you'll black out by 35%.

That being said, every single character treats the MMC like an object. A hot, wildly attractive and muscular object. It give me a poor first impression of him (We get it, he's hot. What else?) and made him lack depth right off the bat. The MMC's brother is randomly the worst person ever too? Honestly, all of our main characters need therapy. Seriously, too much buried trauma, unresolved self-esteem issues and savior/victim/survivor complexes.

Here are a couple things I loved in the book:
• The MMC collects pennies he finds, but only the ones that are from the year his mom was born. So sweet, but not in a questionable "mama's boy" way.
• Katherine Center's writing. It's SO easy to read and so digestible that regardless of what her book is about and no matter how unlikeable her characters are, the book feels like it flies by. Her writing is distinctly Millennial somehow.

Overall, this book feels like we pulled tropes and classic rom-com scenarios and character traits from a hat then challenged ourselves to make it into a 320 page book. Unfortunately, I found the love story to lack chemistry and any meaningful build up. I'm not even going to try to touch on the final 30% of the story because… HUH??

Would recommend if you've loved Katherine Center's other books!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

This novel was soulful, rich with body positivity and finding love for yourself. Does not help to be in force proximity with a cool handsome rescue swimmer!

Sometimes I stumble upon a book that irrevocably changes my perspective of my life, The Love Hater has successfully done this.

Reading this story makes me feel so happy. Like a warm hug Katherine Center doles out compassion with such ease and makes everything relatable.

I highly highly recommend this book!

I cannot wait to get my copy and spazz about with Katherine on tour!

Thank you Gallerybooks for this advance readers copy!