Not one of my favourites of Katherine Center but still a great read. I loved the humour, the stories of the brothers and their pain, and Rue is an absolute riot!

Katherine Center always hits the mark! This book is no exception. I enjoyed Katie’s journey to self-love; her body dysmorphia is something that so many of us can relate to. It was honestly so spot on. I loved Hutch’s way of speaking - again, the way that he reacted to things and what he said felt incredibly real. Rue and George Bailey were complete delights. The last third of the book took a turn I didn’t expect - which shook things up on the romance novel front and gave the novel further depth (while albeit not being very believable - BUT, it’s fiction, so enjoy the ride). 4.25 out of 5 stars. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in response for an honest review.

One thing I love most about Katherine Center's books are the way the hook me in from the start and The Love Haters was no different. Hutch is easily one of my favorite ML; he is literally perfect, and he has a rescue dog. What more could a girl want? I also loved the way Katie learned to love her body and the way Hutch always made her feel confident in herself. The media can be harsh and create unrealistic expectations, and it felt so real to read about Katie's experience. However, the last half of the book felt like a rollercoaster. Cole showed up and ruined everything, then her boss was there but she really didn't add anything to the plot, and lastly the book ending right after the hurricane made it feel rushed and uncomplete. I wish we could have seen the couple have a least a moment of happiness on land. Overall, I loved reading The Love Haters in a day and can't wait to read another book from Katherine Center.

I loved this read!

I want a Rue in my life.

I also loved the body positivity from Beanie that changed Katie's view on herself and her life.

Love Katherine Center. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Rom-Commers was one of my top romances last year so I was so thrilled to get The Love Haters as an early arc.
This book is about Katie, a video producer, who takes on a project starring Hutch, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer.

Location:
I loved that this took place in Key West. I've vacationed there before, and the book really captured its vibes so well.

Characters:
The FMC Katie has some serious body image issues- which I loved as an idea. And while I can relate on some levels and love that she was not your typical FMC.
The friendship between Katie and Beanie was amazing. Beanie didn't actually make an "apperance" in the book, but their frienship was beautiful to see and experience.
MMC Hutch and his dog George Bailey were pure gold.
Cole was pure trash.
I would die for Rue.

Plot:
I loved the reflections on the characters pasts. Katie with her musician ex-fiance- I could relate 💯😂
The snippets into Hutch's past had me wiping a tear or 2.. Which took me by surprise.
When Cole re-entered the scene- I was just not a fan and was ready to drop a few stars off my rating from my irritation.
However- it all came together in the end.

This is so much more than a romance, which at times took me by surprise. There were so many action packed things happening, some emotional roller coasters that gutted me- it felt like a movie.
I was expecting a cute rom-com, but what I got was so much more. So much to reflect on, so many surprises. I feel like I will remember this one for a long time.
This is not a spicy book, but a true romance, which I loved.

Hot tip: Don't skip the authors note. Katherine- you are a gem ❤️

⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐ stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this gem. It releases May 20th.

Overall I really liked this book. There was about 50 pages in the middle that dragged a little. After, that is was a complete page turner and I couldn’t wait to finish! Funny, romantic, hopeful, all the feels!
I am a science teacher and still was able to learn a bunch!
Def recommend this.

Katherine Center can tell a story like no other. When I pick up her books I'm transported to another world and feel a part of the characters. The way that she writes and tells the stories are like no other!

Katie's job is on the line due to the fact that the big boss Sullivan has just been dumped and is on a rampage. Katie is given the opportunity from her co-worker, Cole, to do a video on his big brother Hutch about the coast guard. Even though Katie doesn't know how to swim, nor does she want to put herself in a bathing suit. However, Hutch and Katie have one thing in common they are both love-haters.

This beautifully written book goes into how we can hate parts of ourselves because of what others have said and learning to love yourself.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance read!

This was a really fun, cute read! Katie and Hutch had great banter and the storyline was unique. Katie’s journey to accepting/loving her body was powerful and I’m sure relatable to many readers. I didn’t want to put it down and ended up finishing in a day!

I really enjoyed this ARC of Katherine Centers new book! If you’ve read her other books, I would categorize this more as a “Things You Save in a Fire” type book verses a “The Rom-Commers” type book.

Something to know going in: Katherine Center is known for mixing light-hearted rom-com with more difficult topics. In this book, the main character deals with an eating disorder and body image issues. There is also trauma involving death of parents, as well as a chronic illness of one character. I think that it’s important to know these things going in if they are topics you avoid reading about.

As a whole, I enjoyed the story. It was easy to read and I wanted to know where the story was going. Some of the actions and reactions of the main love interest made me cringe a little bit, so in the end I knocked one star off for that. There are also some pretty unbelievable scenarios, but I expect that in a rom-com and it doesn’t personally bother me.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the e-Arc of this book!

Katie is a video producer, and she learns her job is at risk, so she takes a gig at the request of her co-worker Cole to profile a coast guard rescue swimmer. The problem is Katie can't swim and the coast guard swimmer she has to profile is Hutch, Cole's brother, and the two brothers don't exactly get along. As Katie and Hutch spend more time together the closer, they grow, but Katie soon finds herself entwined in lies from Cole that put everything at risk.

Katie has her insecurities, and I liked seeing that as the book progresses, she learns to accept herself for who she is with the help of her best friend Beanie. I loved seeing Hutch and Katie spend time together and how Katie has to work with Hutch to learn what it takes to be a rescue swimmer for the coast guard. I loved Aunt Rue and how quickly she took Katie under her wing and looked out for her. I also loved Hutch's dog George Bailey, a goofy Great Dane, I enjoyed every scene involving this amusing dog.

I enjoy Katherine Center books and look forward to each new release. This was a fun, cute read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

🌴Beach vibes
✨️Forced proximity
🪻Found Family
🐕Rescue Dog is really the star
💕 Body Positivity
👭 Heartwarming friendship


Expected release date May 20, 2025

I went to lead this review with Katherine Center's note in her acknowledgement. "The best love stories are never just about romantic love. They're always about so much more than that: kindness, joy, belonging, and safety- not to mention growing, changing, and healing from the past. They are always masterclasses on how we find the best in each other - and, by extension, ourselves." This quote sets the tone for The Love Haters and beautifully encapsulates the essence of the book.

A big thanks to Netgalley and St.Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Katie finds out she's likely about to lose her job as much of the office is about to get let go, so she jumps when her supervisor Cole offers her a job in Key West filming a video for the a Coast guard recruitment video. It's a win- win for both of them as Cole was originally supposed to shoot the video because it's his brother who is the subject of said video but with his strained relationship with Tom "Hutch" Hutcheson, he'd rather not do he offers it to Katie who is great at these types of videos, to showcase her skills to their boss, and save her job. Katie agrees, but when she shows up and meets Hutch and his rescue Great Dane, George Bailey, he isn't the guy Cole had described at all.

This book is so much more than a romance book. This is a book about learning to love ourselves and the struggles of a woman's lifelong image of her body. Katie's struggles with her body image were a central theme to this book and a key character development throughout the book. I think this could be triggering for many, so a warning beforehand might be a good idea. My only issue with the book was how quickly these snuggles seem to dissolve quickly. Katie legitimately struggled all her life with body dismorphia, and in the span of two weeks, they all seem to dissipate with self-love and words of affirmation from a love interest. While I agree these can be extremely helpful, I think two weeks is a bit unrealistic, so for that, I took away a star. I still loved this book, though!

Katherine Center gets it right every time. This book is a super fun read, more focused on self-love and friendships than some of her others, but the romance is there, and it's charged with all the right emotions. A feel-good, uplifting story. Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC. This book was amazing, and I ended up giving it A tier/5 stars.

(Content warnings at the end)

Like other Katherine Center books, this book is 50/50 romance and women's fiction. There was some incredibly swoon-worthy moment between the main characters, Katie and Hutch, but also a near equal focus on Katie's body image issues that she was in the process of overcoming.

I highlighted soooo much of this book, sometimes near entire pages. The number of romantic-like predicaments the characters were put in was great. I loved seeing Hutch flustered and freaking out when Katie wore a sexy one-piece swimsuit. And then broken hearted over a lie his brother told. I love that even characters I disliked at certain parts we got to learn more about, which made me relate to them and love them in the end. Also that these characters had common sense! Especially Hutch in the lie predicament. I was afraid for a second there that it would go a direction I hated, but the characters pulled through in the end.

I also liked seeing how Katie's body image issues were explored. My only criticism/disappointment being that I wished to see more of it, I wish it dove deeper. I feel like Katie was pretty far in her journey already, which helped resolve it by the end (not totally, which I appreciate), but I think I would've liked if she was earlier in her recovery so we could see her struggle more with it and then have it even less resolved by the end. Also, at first because she mentioned in her past going on an incredible calorie restricting diet, I though the story would tackle eating disorders (because I don't believe the things she details didn't count as one or would have led her to have one), but tacking body imagine issues instead was great too, and I definitely liked the messages the book sent with it.

Additionally, this book is not spicy. They only kiss, though the FMC definitely mentions wanting to be carried off to bed a couple of times. So, still very fun and flirty.

Hutch also has a cute Great Dane in case you needed any more convincing to read this book.

Overall, I really loved this book, and I definitely recommend it.

.

⚠️CONTENT WARNINGS⚠️
If you're sensitive to any of these, please read with caution:

- Body image issues
- Mentions of an eating disorder (the FMC mentions once the number of calories she restricted herself to)

Content warnings that are possibly spoilers:

-Natural Disaster/Hurricane
-Mentions of a past fatal car accident
-Drunk driving
-Loss of loved ones in the past
-Incurable illness

I really enjoy Katherine’s writing style, it sucks you in and is easy to read. While I liked the main characters some of the side characters were insufferable like I hate this person insufferable. Really took me out of the story.

Katherine Center does it again. Every book she writes just gets me every time, and she did not disappoint with this one.

Without giving much of the book away, The Love Haters is a story about Katie, who is assigned by her boss to go to Florida and record/interview a guy named Tom Hutcheson to create videos to highlight the life working on the US coast guard and get people to recruit. Hutch is a guy famously known to be a hero, always helping people but at the same time, very kept to himself and distant, described as a love hater. Katie herself feels the same way, like a love hater, after being heartbroken over a breakup. She mostly likes to feel invisible. And the story unfolds as she has to face a lot of fears, change and grow during her stay in Florida.

This book was healing to me. It truly made me stop and recognize some of the ways I’m not always kind to myself, and how we’re so quick to put ourselves down and find flaws on our looks, our weight, and this pressure we feel to always be perfect. I love that the story shows so much about changing and growing, learning to love yourself and recognizing good things about yourself, to treat your body kindly, etc. It’s not just a silly romance novel, but has important contents that add a necessary depth to the story.

Also… CHAPTER NINETEEN?!? Excuse me? “You’re a TV jingle you never wanted to learn, but can’t erase.“ was the absolute death of me. Anyway, BIG THANKS to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC, the publisher and Katherine Center for writing this so beautifully. All thoughts are my own.

Katherine Center has blessed us yet again. 🙌 She is the master of the deep rom-com, and The Love Haters is no exception. I stayed up until 1:30 AM to finish this book because I didn't want to put it down.

Set in Key West, this book will be the perfect beach read for your summer vacation! Hutch, the green flag MMC, is a dreamy Coast Guard swimmer with a rescued Great Dane, and Katie is trying to make it as a filmmaker, while working to start fresh from a rocky romantic history. I love how the insta-attraction is there, but the relationship is built from a friendship first.

And like any Katherine Center romance, this book is about every part of life, not just love. Katie goes on a journey of appreciating and accepting her body, and this is done with humor and depth in a way that's really relatable and also uplifting. There's also found family, dealing with past tragedy, a wise and colorful elderly aunt, and so much more.

Not to mention the Author's Note at the end is 100/10. I love how thoughtful she is about romance and why it's important as a genre. 🫶 This is definitely a book I will reread when it's released!

It happened! I finally gave a romance book five stars. I fell in love with the characters, I fell in love with the setting (hello, Florida Keys?!?), I got all the feels from all the different relationships - work, sibling, best friend, found family…there’s a lot to love here.

Katie is a documentary filmmaker tasked with making a promo video for the U.S. Coast Guard by filming one of its most recognizable (and sexy) rescue divers. Hijinks ensue. There’s a crazy aunt and The Gals who are amazing secondary characters. Some of it is hilarious in true KC style, some of it heartfelt, and some achingly intimate. There is a deep dive into body image that took me on a ride I didn’t expect. Can Katie learn to love herself? And someone else?

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Stories takes us out of ourselves and deeper into ourselves at the exact same time. They are specific and universal. Big and small. Something and everything.”

That quote is from her AUTHOR’S NOTE just fyi and I thought it was fitting and fun.

The way I DEVOURED this book. I mean it was funny, it was sweet, it was real. Allllll the things you could want out of a rom com. If it’s not on your tbr add it right this second. Katherine Center is the CEO of cute rom coms and I stand by that. (Also def laughed out loud at least 3 times while reading this).

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!!!

Thank you Katherine Center, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this eARC of The Love Haters in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start by saying, if Katherine Center writes it, I'm going to read it. She just has this delightful way of writing romances that make you want to believe that love at first site, head over heels, kismet kind of relationships exist. She's written some of my favorite romcoms of all time (The Bodyguard & Hello Stranger). And I want to say that I absolutely loved The Love Haters, and in a way I did. But I'm also torn.

Did I read this in basically one sitting? Yes. Did I get so giddy about the flower and the first kiss and the rescue? Of course. Did the brother's backstory make me ache and the pennies feel bittersweet? Absolutely. Do I love Great Danes? Who doesn't.

BUT... Was the plot absolutely ridiculous high camp that I cannot decide if I loved it or if it was too ridiculous to even exist as a story? Yes. lol. I feel the same way about our FMC. I cannot tell if I loved Katie or hated her. Honestly, I deal with a serious amount of body dysmorphia, and it was a little bit triggering to watch her talk about herself. In the end it all worked itself out, and was very body positive. But it was a LOT of discussion around BD.

Overall, a quick, easy read that will be a great summer hit. Very silly. Very unrealistic. Great beach read!

I couldn’t put this delightful book down! With some southern charm, she creates a real love- hate dynamic that wins you over! We all need a fresh start sometimes and you can’t help but root for Katie in this hilarious, sweet and swoon-worthy book! Get your copy today!