Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this books as an arc
I went into this with no expectations and ended up loving and devouring it in one sitting
This had the romance but still some deep topics and a plotline
I really enjoyed this authors writting and can't wait to pick up some of the other novels she has put out already

Katherine Center is quickly becoming a must read author for me. Her characters are well thought out and their stories just so easy to get invested in. The only reason this isn’t a five star read for me is Coles whole storyline. I feel like the brother rivalry and fake dating lie took away from Hutch and Katie’s relationship in a way that killed any momentum they had and it didn’t have enough time at the end of the book to make up for it.

I really liked this book. A solid 4 star read. The characters were fun, relatable and funny. There were some points where the FMC talked a bit too much about something and it got slow at times but all in all I liked it.

Unfortunately this was a miss for me. The story really felt all over the place and when it finally hooked me around 50%, it wasn't long before it took a big left turn and threw me completely for a loop. The nature of a romance novel is typically in some ways unrealistic but this really pushed that boundary by a tone. I don't want to spoil hence the cryptic nature of this review, but all in all this doesn't live up the other two Katherine Center books I've read - The Rom-Commers and The Bodyguard. Bummer! 1.5 rounded up.

Katherine Center never misses for me, and I truly enjoyed this book with the exception of a couple things. Katie is a video producer who agrees to a job profiling Hutch, a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer, in Florida. In order to do the profile she needs to be able to swim, which could be a problem, and manage her feelings for Hutch. It is no surprise that Hutch is dreamy and heroic and all the things one can imagine in a heroic leading man. While this story does focus on Katie and Hutch and their relationship as friends, it is also a story about facing one's fears. As with all of Katherine Center's books, there is an abundance of humor, romance, friendship, bravery, and laughs. Rue, Hutch's "aunt" was a delightful and quirky character. The parts that I struggled with the most were the body image issues that Katie faces. There were so many negative comments she had about herself that it felt too much, and I struggled with those parts of the book. The setting was beautifully described and made me want to hop on a plane to Key West right away.
Overall, it was a fun and quick read and one I would read again. Katherine Center is still a must buy for me with her new releases.

I usually adore Katherine Center’s books, but The Love Haters didn’t quite hit the mark for me. While the setup was promising—a fun premise, a vibrant setting, and Center’s signature humor—the romance and emotional depth felt underdeveloped, leaving me a bit underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, this was still a fun rom-com, but it didn’t quite meet expectations.

The biggest issue was the love story itself. Katie and Hutch’s relationship never felt fully realized, and their chemistry seemed more like something we were told existed rather than something that naturally unfolded on the page. Their interactions lacked the kind of tension and buildup that make a romance truly compelling, making it hard to feel invested in their connection.

Beyond that, the book tried to tackle weightier themes like body image and grief, but these elements often felt like an afterthought rather than an integral part of the story. While I appreciate Center’s willingness to weave deeper issues into her rom-coms, the execution here felt uneven—almost as if the book couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be lighthearted or emotionally resonant. As a result, the humor sometimes felt forced, and the more serious moments didn’t land as powerfully as they could have.

There were still bright spots—Hutch’s eccentric Aunt Rue added some much-needed charm, and the Key West setting was beautifully described—but overall, the story felt a little flat. Katie’s personal growth had its moments, but without a stronger emotional foundation, it didn’t have the impact I was hoping for.

In the end, The Love Haters is a solid, easy read with flashes of Katherine Center’s usual magic, but it lacked the depth and romantic spark that make her best books so memorable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the complementary advanced digital copy - please note all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Job cuts are coming to video producer Katie Vaughn’s company, so in a desperate attempt to keep her job, she agrees to a job assignment with the Coast Guard. The only problems are that she doesn’t know how to swim and the rescue swimmer she’s assigned to profile is her boss’ brother. Spoiler alerts: someone learns to swim and someone falls in love.

This was not my favorite Katherine Center book. The negative body image issues were a drag and handled half-heartedly. Bad boy behavior was too easily dismissed, and tropes were plentiful. I suggest readers new to Center start with an older title.

She's done it again! Love how Katherine center promotes common issues many young women are encountering

What a delightful breath of fresh air! I couldn’t put this down- it somehow managed to be both relatable and outlandish in a perfect rom-com way.

Though the writing style initially took some getting used to, I laughed out loud more times than I could count.

Highly recommend to anyone looking for a relatable, enjoyable, well-written and easy-to-read rom-com!

KATHERINE CENTER YOU MAKE ME FALL IN LOVE (with my husband) OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Okay I’m done shouting. Every book KC writes always has a both a love story and love of a different kind. It always makes me reflect on my own love story. This book was about falling in love while also learning to love yourself. Katie didn’t wait to love herself before she fell in love it happened together and THAT is real life. It’s not always waiting until you’re perfect to find love, it’s meeting in the mess and growing together.

This book had sun, storms, boats, dogs, family drama, health scares and a look inside the coast guard (which was cool as someone who grew up in a coast guard area). Pre-order this ASAP, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for this ARC.

the love haters (arc)

slowly chipping away at my unread arcs one book at a time.

katherine center is an author i always have mixed feelings about. every time i finish one of her books, i’m left unsure of how to sum up my experience. there are always parts i really enjoy—moments that hit just right—but then there are others that just… don’t. and this one wasn’t much different.

the setting and premise were a definite highlight. the florida keys backdrop made for a dreamy summer escape, and conceptually, i liked where the story was going. but a few things kept me from fully loving it.

first, the fmc. she was, for lack of a better word, kind of annoying. she brings up her body insecurities throughout the book, which didn’t personally bother me, but i can see why it grated on some readers. my bigger issue was that she just didn’t seem very… sharp? she made some choices that felt so absurd they completely took me out of the story.

also, a few of the plotlines at the end felt downright ridiculous. like… wdym the fmc gets stranded on a houseboat during a hurricane, and out of all the coast guard rescue teams, the mmc just happens to be the one to save her? the dramatics are OFF THE CHART.

then there’s the romance—or lack thereof. i know katherine center’s books lean more toward women’s fiction with a romantic subplot, but this one felt particularly underwhelming. the romance felt a bit all over the place and the fmc’s personal arc didn’t have enough weight to make up for it.

overall, i’m glad i read it (my netgalley ratio thanks me), and i had a decent enough time. i wasn’t dragging myself through it, but i wasn’t rushing to pick it back up either.

3 stars

This book was not my favorite from Katherine Center, unfortunately. I love the way she writes and as someone who is picky about romance, her books usually are still enjoyable for me, but this one was an outlier in that sense. I just wasn't terribly invested in the story, and I didn't like how the issues within it were handled. I think that the idea was great, but the execution fell flat for me personally. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this arc!

Katherine Center does it again!! This is one to put in your beach bag and enjoy by this summer!

HUGE shout out to Katherine &. St. Martins Press for the absolute honor of the eARC! It was delightful to read!

What to Expect:
⭐ A Great Beach Read!
⭐ Workplace Romance
⭐ Forced Proximity
⭐ Key West Location
⭐ Fake Dating
⭐ 3rd Act Breakup
⭐ Lost at Sea
⭐ Body Positivity

TW: Discussions of body image struggles, body image insecurity, death of a parent, hurricanes & severe weather.

My Thoughts:
This is 100% classic Katherine Center! I struggle with my rating on this one though. Not necessarily because I didn't like it I really loved the story, but more of the over all plot. There were just some things I didn't love about it. The secondary characters weren't my absolute favorite. Cole gave me the ick from the start but the explosive way he comes in the second act just really made me dislike him more. His over the top and at times absolutely GROSS behavior really turned me off for that section of the book. I'm one of six kids so I 100% relate and understand the competitiveness between siblings. This just felt like dang.... therapy please. I absolute LOVED Rue and she was an absolute LIGHT for this book. I know there are mixed reviews on her friend Beanie, but I honestly loved her. She was tough on Katie in the most supportive way. The kind of friend you need in the mess of life! Thats true friendship.

This story and the underlying of it is hard hitting. The loss that occurs, the way that the family is melded, left me crying. Absolutely HEARTBREAKING. The story though of Hutch + Katie and the connection they have, the trust they build ooooo the tension! LOVED! It's the one thing I love about Katherines writing. The deep cutting tension without it being the main focus. I love a good story with plot, strong secondary characters and great locations. The journey you take with Katherine is always the same. Also the love of Key West for sure pours out of these pages.

And Katherine to answer your authors note... I did stay up ALL night reading this! lol

Synopsis:
Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved that it was set in the Keys, such a great background! I loved Rue so much too. She was a strong female character! The only thing I had a problem with was Katie's body image issues. Why does every woman have to have a problem with herself? Yes, we learned some great lessons from cousin/sister Beanie, but was it necessary? I don't know that Katie's body image issues added anything at all to the plot. Please give us strong females. It's 2025, time to write like it is.

3.75 rounded up

Katie is a video producer in danger of being laid off. Tom “Hutch” Hutcherson is a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer. In an attempt to save her job, Katie accepts a position filming a Coast Guard recruiting video featuring Hutch. There’s just one small problem: she lied and said she could swim (a requirement for the job). Can she? Nope. Is she going to let that get in her way? Also nope.

-Fun setting (Key West)
-Rescue Great Dane
-Body image issues
-Quirky characters
-House boat/only one bed

I am a huge Katherine Center fan. I will always buy and read everything she writes. That being said, this one fell flat for me. At face value, it was fine. But trying to actually think through and process the decision-making and the wild situations the characters found themselves in made my brain hurt. It was just too complicated and unbelievable. I also didn’t feel the chemistry between the FMC and the MMC the way I have in her other books and honestly their relationship didn’t make much sense to me. I also felt like the body image and ED content overtook a lot of the story. I think it’s a big mistake to not include a CW page at the beginning of the book.

The Love Haters is a quick read and there were redeeming qualities to be found in the setting, some of the side characters, and the interesting info about the Coast Guard and rescue ops.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advance reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’m a long-standing Katherine Center fan and this was my official first digital review copy (courtesy of #netgalley) [screams with excitement].

It started strong with something I think most women can identify with: the idea of sucking in starting at the age of 12, of the illusive thigh gap, and counting calories down to your black coffee. By chapter 3, I was ready to dig in, thinking the story was ramping up.

Instead, it was pretty formulaic—from the “my job is on the line” premise to the “they lost my luggage at the airport” to the wacky aunt and seemingly all-knowing sidekick cousin. Insta-limerence with the male lead (called Pup Daddy which… given that this book hasn’t even come out yet, didn’t age well). You knew going in they’d end up together, that she’d find some self-worth, learn to appreciate her body, embrace wearing color and have a whole new outlook on life. It felt… shallow in a way that Center’s other books do not. Hello Stranger was an absolute delight start to finish with what I felt were infinitely more complex characters (writing this makes me want to go back and read it again) which also shed light on an issue I have no insight into (her face blindness), whereas this story’s fervor resided mostly in the colors in Rue’s wardrobe.

As others have said, it’s nearly every trope in the proverbial book.

Cole as a character made me uneasy from the start, and much of the conflict seems like it could have been solved by… healthy, open communication. The romance definitely wasn't at the level I'd hoped for, and much of it didn't feel like anything more than light flirting until the very end of the book (though it was obvious from the start that Hutch and Katie were both very down for one another).

Don’t get me wrong, I continued on to finish the book and still enjoyed it like most of Center’s lineup (had a chuckle a few times), but this definitely was not her strongest. The Bodyguard and Hello Stranger meanwhile… [queueing up to read again]

I wanted to love this book so, so much. The premise sounded fun I love the theme of self-acceptance and self-love that runs alongside the romance aspect of the book. But it just... fell a little bit flat for me at the end of the day.

I love that Katharine Center is on a mission to make romance a genre to be taken seriously. Her author's note at the end of this book was fantastic and I can see what she was trying to do with The Love Haters, but unfortunately, it all just felt rushed. It's a novel that reads like a novella, if that makes any sense at all. The characters were great, but I wanted more from them. The backstories were compelling, but felt skimmed over. There just wasn't enough there for me, particularly in the ending, which felt really rushed. Everything just needed to be a little bit more.

All that negative stuff said, it is a cute story and I loved the main characters so much.

I love Katherine Center, and enjoyed this book, but it wasn't my favorite of hers. I felt like there wasn't enough character development of either of the main characters, there was no "slow burn" to their love story, not enough chemistry between them, and also I found the title to be based on nothing, since the character wasn't a love hater at all - his brother referred to him that way, but it wasn't shown that he was at all. 3.5 stars, rounded down.

There were some funny parts to this book, but a few events were cringey or didn't feel plausible. For example, it was entirely unrealistic that he would tweeze splinters out of her backside, not to mention not funny at all. In addition, after all of the care and attention that Rue gave her, it didn't make sense that Rue would evacuate during the hurricane without even warning her. Lastly, her constant body image ruminations were boring, sorry. And there wasn't nearly enough romance! I normally like KC, but this one is a miss, in my opinion.

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review. This was not my favorite Katherine Center book. She is an author who opened my heart to this genre, but this was just not good. While many rom-com authors find a formula that works, this one felt like she was grabbing plot devices out of a hat and sticking everything together in the hopes that it would work. Sadly, it did not and many of the tropes felt familiar….fighting brothers…sick relative…And I am not anti-body positivity at all, but this overdid that sentiment quite a bit. I appreciate the effort but it was beyond what one wants to read through in a rom-com. I am disappointed but willl remain a Katherine Center fan with the hopes that her next one has that spark and hopefulness that I love in her writing.