First, let me start by saying I wanted to love this book. I love Katherine Center’s books. This book felt more like a book on self-esteem issues and body dysmorphia. The blurb doesn’t mention this at all. The cover looks like such a fun cute beach read.
I understand this is a huge topic for girls but it became repetitive and I wanted to skim those parts. This could be a trigger for some girls/women. It needs to be listed as a TW or added somewhere in the blurb. If it’s such a huge issue for our FMC then the same needs to apply to your readers who suffer with the same issues and they need to know what they’re reading or at least given a warning before starting this book. The book starts slow other than reading about her body issues and food restrictions. We don't meet the hero until almost 50 pages in. This book was just so hard to read. I couldn’t connect with this heroine or any of the characters. The FMC was physically scared of wearing a swimsuit and couldn’t swim and was being sent to the Florida Keys to video/interview a rescue swimmer. Yes, it’s fiction but it was so incredibly hard to fathom any of this actually happening. This book was such a discombobulated mess. It took me two weeks to push through and finish it. I only did due to it being an ARC. I wanted a fun beach read and there was zero laughing. Where was the romance? The Chemistry? The Banter? Ugh…

Katherine Center never misses the mark. All of her novels are absolutely fantastic, and this one is no different! Our Love Hating FMC and MMC are likable, relatable, and can grow any Small-Grinch-Sized-Heart by the end of her newest novel.

Katherine Center delivers another charming and uplifting read with The Love Haters. The story is filled with her signature blend of humor, heartfelt moments, and a strong, relatable heroine. The banter between the characters is sharp and entertaining, and the slow-burn romance keeps you hooked from start to finish.

What really shines is the book’s underlying message about love, self-discovery, and resilience. The protagonist’s journey is both inspiring and emotional, making it easy to root for her. While some plot points felt a bit predictable, the engaging writing and feel-good moments more than made up for it.

Overall, The Love Haters is a delightful read that perfectly balances romance and personal growth. If you love witty dialogue, a touch of angst, and a satisfying happily-ever-after, this book is definitely worth picking up!

I’m rounding up because it’s Katherine Center but I think this has been my least favorite of hers thus far. Not that I didn’t enjoy it but I guess I didn’t really connect with these characters as much.
It was also a little tiring being in Katie’s head the whole time but I liked seeing her personal growth throughout the book. There was also so much miscommunication and silly situations but I did love the last act.

I enjoyed this story immensely. Katie is worried that she's going to lose her job. Cole is her coworker who gets get an assignment that she's isn't quite qualified for that can potentially save her job. The catch is that the job is a documentary starring his brother Hutch. Katie gets caught up in saving her job and tries her best to get qualified for it. In the process, she gets taken in by Cole and Hutch's "aunt" Rue. Katie likes to hide in plain sight and doesn't like much about herself. Hutch and Rue see right through that and immediately include her. Cole holds resentments with his brother and tells all sorts of lies including Katie to get revenge on him. Katie reluctantly agrees to briefly go along with it in hopes that it saves her job. After coming clean, Hutch and Katie don't get to have their moment since a hurricane is barreling towards them. After going back for Hutch's dog during evacuation and getting trapped on Hutch's houseboat, Katie realizes that she spent too much time not appreciating herself. Katie eventually gets rescued, by Hutch, and they get their HEA. I enjoyed the story, the characters were likeable and the plot moved well. Definitely a good read.

I am truly becoming a Katherine Center stan between this book & the last one of hers I read, The Rom-Commers. The first-person writing style is very conversational and can skew a tad cringey sometimes, but altogether it worked for me with the character. I think the brilliance of what I've read of Center's books, though, is the unique and fascinating backstories of the characters. Each FMC/MMC have cool jobs, in my opinion, and there seems to be a lot of research into how those jobs work to make them authentic.

In addition to the backstories and jobs, the story was great; I loved the other characters and even though there was some miscomunication, I found it to be resolved in a good way. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an interesting, closed-door romance with good character backstories!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is typical Katherine Center, with story lines that are unique and fun and clearly well researched. I loved living in Key West with Rue and The Gals. Nightly dinners with best friends around the pool is the dream! I enjoyed learning about the Coast Guard and rescue swimmers and definitely fell in love with Hutch too. Katie was a very relatable character and I was cheering for her the whole time!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me the opportunity to review this book.

This was a super cute, romcom that had me hooked early on. The FMC’s inner monologue was absolutely hilarious and the blooming relationship between her and the MMC was enjoyable. The side characters gave the story depth and their interactions with the FMC were heartwarming.

Overall, this book is what I would consider a “pallet cleanser” and is something I’d definitely recommend to someone coming off a book hangover. It was a quick and fun book to read. There weren’t too many plot twists or things left hanging in the balance. It was cozy and entertaining. It was well written and I enjoyed it.

Katie swears off love after a catastrophic breakup with a celebrity boyfriend. As a last ditch effort to avoid being fired, she flies to Key West to create a Coast Guard recruiting video starring the supposed love hater, Hutch.

My Review:

I love Katherine Center’s feel good rom-coms and this was a hit for me. It was an entertaining fish out of water story with witty banter, and comedic moments. If you’re looking for an easy beach read with a HEA and comedic antics, this is for you.

Thank you St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for the Arc.

Katherine, girl.... what was this?

I have really enjoyed the other Katherine Center books I've read, so I was excited to receive this ARC from NetGalley. However, nothing about this book worked for me. The plot was a mess, most of the characters were unlikeable, and parts of it were really poorly written. The only reason I did not DNF was because it was an ARC and I wanted to finish it to leave a review.

Thank you NetGalley & St Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love a Katherine Center book!

Katie works in documentary filmmaking and gets sent to Key West (in hopes of saving her job) to film a promo for the United States Coast Guard. Katie has some body issues and maybe some confidence issues after the end of her engagement a year earlier. The promo she’s filming? It’s going to star “pup daddy” Hutch who is a rescue swimmer and is supposedly the silent type. And also her supervisors brother. Except that’s not at all what Katie experiences. She finds herself in the middle of someone else’s family drama while just trying to her job which inevitably has her falling for Hutch! Que all the drama!

The body issues could be a sensitive topic for some!

Was it my favorite Karen Center novel? No, but I still found myself enjoying it and wanting to watch all the Coast Guard movies. She is a must buy author and J would still recommend this!

I think I might be the outlier here but this book was nothing but annoying to me. It was a struggle to finish. I didn’t even start enjoying it until over 90% finished.
Plus, and most disappointingly, I didn’t laugh at all.
The romance was flat, the plot twists and the secrets were forced.
It’s a bunch of adults acting like preteens.

The entire premise is a woman- who judging from the front cover and being lighter in weight than a Great Dane weighing 170 pounds is mid size between 8-12 - hates her body so much that the hating of her body essentially rules her life and all of her relationships. She devoid guesses every interaction and everything. This book wouldn’t exist if this woman got therapy.

Speaking of, her boss Cole, desperately needs therapy.

Another Home Run in the Rom-Com department!!

Katherine Center is an automatic read for me at this point, her consistent feel good writing is like cuddling up with my favorite blanket and ice cream, it just feels good!!

Thanks NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy, Katie and Hutch were giving the main character energy the whole time, a heroic Coast Guard rescue swimmer and a film journalist are the focus of this Rom-Com. Katie is on a mission to save her job and Cole her supervisor gives her what sounds like the best chance by filming a promo for the U.S. Coastguard, specifically Hutch who is Cole’s recently estranged brother. Hutch invited Cole but got Katie instead. Enter in “aunt” Rue, and her girl gang, a huge Great Dane George Bailey and the fact that Katie can’t swim. Katherine just is able to concoct the perfect mixture everytime!

Katherine Center has quickly become one of my favorite authors since I started my book binge experiment. Although I haven't explored her back catalog yet, her recent works—The Bodyguard, Hello Stranger, The Rom-Commers, and now The Love Haters—have all been five-star reads for me. I hope they will be for you too!

What I loved about The Love Haters (keeping this spoiler-free) was how seen I felt while reading this book. The amazing author's note at the end brought the story full circle for me. Katie, Hutch, Rue, and George Bailey jump off the page and into your heart, set in the intriguing world of video production and the Coast Guard. Katie, our heroine, has a past storyline that could even serve as a prequel. The author skillfully shows Katie's growth from this previous relationship as the story begins, and her development throughout the book is one of the high points of this story.

If you're already a fan of Katherine Center, I don't need to convince you to read this amazing story. If you're new to her work and looking for sharp dialogue, captivating side characters, and a compelling story about family and relationships, add this book to your TBR list now! I couldn't put this book down and can't wait for everyone to get their hands on The Love Haters when it publishes on May 20th!

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the early opportunity to fall in love with The Love Haters!

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Katherine Center’s books are always an immediate yes for me. She has an incredible way of writing really complex issues in such a light and positive way. All of her books have a deeper meaning and this one was no exception. Katie deals with body image issues and has a lot of things to work through.

I really enjoyed Katie’s story and loved Hutch, Rue, and The Gals! I did get a little frustrated while reading the storyline with Cole because up until that point, Katie had been so open and honest with Hutch and then it seemed out of character for her to just go with whatever Cole wanted to say instead of speaking up. This is probably why it wasn’t 5⭐️s for me. It also felt like we needed a bit more of Hutch and Katie at the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. And thank you Katherine Center for writing beautiful and inspiring stories.

This books gave me all the feels! I loved all of the characters. The back drop in Key West. Everything by was written so beautifully that I could see all the characters and locations so vividly in my mind.

I especially loved that we got to know so many of them more than on a surface level. Katie was so perfectly human and relatable. Her journey from start to finish was wonderful to experience as a reader. Hutch was such a wonderfully lovable character while Cole was not as lovable. I loved their dynamic and their dynamic shift.

I really enjoyed being in Katie’s point of view the whole book. I enjoyed her side thoughts like “I googled it” or I will go look that up. All the cool knowledge share in the book about the cost guard and hurricane felt so natural in the book and was written seamlessly into the storyline.

This was such a fun read! It didn’t have quite as much depth and emotion as a lot of her other books, but I did really love the characters and the storyline. Plus a dog side character is always a win!

She is on my immediate read list and I devoured this immediately upon arrival without hesitation!

Sometimes the right book finds you at the exact right time. It transports you out of your everyday experience and into a story that helps you to hold up a mirror and discover something new and beautiful about yourself. That was my experience with The Love Haters by Katherine Center.

This book read like the best slow burn. At the beginning I was intrigued, curious where things were going, and by the time I finished the epilogue I was desperate for more. Of course I ate up Katie and Hutch's romance, but more importantly I loved reading about Katie's journey for self acceptance and love. The way her character arc was depicted was so real and refreshing. It highlighted things I didn't realize I needed to hear myself until I was wiping away the tears from my eyes. This book was everything I needed and then some.

That said, I can't not mention all of the incredible side characters that filled this book with so much hope and joy. My new life goals include befriending Rue and the Gals, and spending my time living life colorfully at the Starlite.

Katherine - Thank you for writing romances that make us FEEL something. So heartfelt. So honest. Such a great representation of why everyone should read romance. And thank you to Net Galley and MacMillan Publishing for the ARC. Love Haters goes on sale May 20th!

I love Katherine Center books, but this one did not work for me. I feel like describing a man as an alpha with a savior complex put me off, and I just could not get myself to care about any of these characters. This one was a miss for me.

“So I couldn't lay all of my insecurities at Lucas Banks's feet. Some of them were courtesy of Angela. Some of them came from just being a girl in a world that is appallingly hard on girls. Do any of us escape unscathed?”

I will pick up any book written by Katherine Center. I loved the message in this book and how I felt so seen by Katie and her body imagine issues. I do wish the book was a bit longer to establish the setting a little bit more but it was charming and sweet with a wonderful message about self love and acceptance.