This was rough. It was so hard for me to get through and it pains me to say because I usually love Katherine Center’s books. I almost DNF multiple times.

Katie is so body conscious and while I can appreciate and relate, I hate that it was her entire personality. We were reminded of it so often that it became tiresome.

Hutch doesn’t speak. He is broody and when he attempts to have some sort of emotion, he ends up laughing at Katie. He calls her a, and I quote, “hot fudge sundae.” Wait, what?

Where was the chemistry between the two main characters??? I kept searching the pages for it and found none.

Don’t get me started on the dynamic between Cole and Hutch. Is there a redeeming character in this novel?

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve got a confession: I love the Victorian novel. OK, maybe not a confession, as such, and certainly not controversial, but there’s something so satisfying about starting a book and knowing that no matter what trials and tribulations (a phrase I ban my own students from using but wholeheartedly indulge in myself when I’m teaching them about the Victorian novel) the protagonist goes through, they will have a happy ending. In short, the good will be rewarded, the bad punished, and everything is tied up in a neat, little bow. I guess it’s not much of a confession, in that my preferred contemporary genre is the romantic comedy, which fits these requirements to a T.

Even still, I couldn’t help but feel that Katherine Center’s The Love Haters, which features mid-level commercial videographer Katie, who’s on assignment to record a Coast Guard recruitment video of rescue swimmer and bona fide hero Hutch, was heavily influenced by novels written for hopeful audiences nearly two centuries ago. In short, Katie’s job is on the chopping block. Her slightly senior colleague, Cole, tells her the best chance of proving her worth in the oh-so-sexy and apparently cutthroat world of mid-level video production, is to interview Hutch, who lives in the Florida Keys and rose to internet superstardom when he risked his life to rescue a dog. Jennifer Anniston’s dog, in fact. Cole warns Katie that her subject is gloomy, taciturn, wears a perma-frown, and, oh yeah, hates love. How does he know this? He’s his brother. His estranged brother.

Katie’s no stranger to her own battles with love, having been publicly cheated on by her boyfriend, a former coffee shop musician who became a TikTok celebrity and chart-topping singer / songwriter overnight, plunging her into a very cruel public spotlight. As a jilted woman, Cole assumes that she too hates love. And, he’s not exactly wrong. Katie’s real issue, however, is that she hates herself. Hate might be too strong a word. She certainly doesn’t love herself - her appearance, to be specific, and seems to suffer body dysmorphia that can be traced back to a stepmother who essentially made her bathing-suit-phoic. Her issues were only exacerbated by being subject to internet trolls when she caught strays by didn't of her relationship to her ex. Her fear of swimwear has had an impact on her life that suddenly becomes much more relevant: she never learned how to swim. Granted, there are huge swaths of the population who can’t swim (my own children, bless their adolescent hearts, amongst them), but when you’re, you know, shooting video of Coast Guard rescue swimmers, that’s a non-negotiable.

What’s a girl to do? It gets worse for Katie - a card-carrying chromophobe who’s entire wardrobe consists of basic black - when she arrives in Key West sans luggage. Fortunately, she’s staying with Rue, Hutch and Cole’s aunt who never met a color she didn’t like and owns the charming trailer park, and seemingly half the town, that will house Katie throughout her assignment. Also fortunately, or unfortunately in Katie’s mind, she owns a boutique that features Floridian patterns that look like something out of a unicorn’s fever dream and provides her with an ORANGE! kaftan to wear. It’s when she’s spinning in said garment (without underwear, due to a coffee incident) that Katie comes face to face with Hutch. This, however, is their first encounter but not their meet-cute as such. That comes on their second encounter, as Katie, who has to be talked down from the edge and into a Rue-provided swimsuit by Beanie, her cousin and true hero of the novel, is run down poolside by a Great Dane and skids across the wooden dock. The dog’s owner? Hutch (obviously). The result of George Bailey’s, yup, that’s the dog’s name, enthusiastic hello? An ass-full of splinters. For someone who hasn’t worn a bathing suit for the better half of their life, it’s a lot for Katie to have the unfairly sexy Hutch pull each individual piece of wood out of her nether-regions. Yet, as they have their first real face-to-face, or face-to-haunch, as it were, we, like Katie, realize that Hutch is loquacious, charming, capable (more competence porn!), and a genuinely nice guy. So much so that she can’t bring herself to tell her SWIMMING INSTRUCTOR that she’s the one who will be pretty much stalking him - for work purposes, of course, for the next few weeks.

Suffice it to say, when she shows up to shoot the recruitment video the next day, there’s an adequate amount of awkwardness when he realizes who she is. That awkwardness reaches peak levels when, after weeks of budding attraction and one relatively sanitized but sweet make-out session, Cole comes to town - the first time he’s done so in over a year - claiming that he’s Katie’s boyfriend. This explains Hutch’s hot-and-cold behavior towards her AND compounds the tension between the already distant brothers. There’s, you guessed it, a backstory there - one that explains Cole’s dismissiveness and conviction that Hutch, the cooler older brother who is better than him in just about every way, hates love - but I’ll leave the reason for their fallout for you to discover. To compound matters, Cole hasn’t told Katie that they’re fake dating, which puts a real crimp in her plan to finally put her lust for Hutch to bed, literally. But neither Cole nor Katie can come clean about their impromptu fake relationship. For lots of reasons, a few of which are to save poor, sick Rue’s heart and health from deteriorating (gotta have a sick elderly female relation in harebrained fake-dating schemes) and to save Katie’s job, as her name was on their boss, Sully’s, short-list for termination. Katie’s too good to care only about her career, however - so very Victorian, putting others ahead of herself - and goes along with Cole’s fake-dating fiasco for Rue. Thus, we’ve got ourselves a love triangle, folks. Let the fun begin.

And, it is fun. Not for the characters involved but for us, the audience. Cole and Hutch’s strained relationship, however, is surprisingly deep. Yes, they’re sad orphans - VICTORIAN NOVEL, Y’ALL - who have become kinda sad adults, but the reason for their schism goes back further than a recent misunderstanding. Center’s best work is with the family dynamic between Cole, Hutch, and Aunt Rue. As much as this novel is a love story - we know that Katie and Hutch will get their HEA - it’s also a story about family and self-love. (And not of the usual kind I write about. This book is about as spicy as porridge.) Thus, while there’s a dramatic hurricane - it’s the Keys, of course there’s a hurricane - that thrusts our heroine into the literal eye of the storm and a death-defying rescue, it’s not the action or the inevitable relationship between the leads that make an otherwise cute story something more poignant.

Yet, as much as I appreciated the nuance in the brother’s relationship and absolutely adored the tertiary characters - aforementioned cousin Beanie, “the Gals”, Rue’s rag-tag bunch of rowdy retirees, and Sully the cougar, who’s joined Cole on his trip less to check up on Katie and more to check out Hutch - I wasn’t down with Katie’s body issues and journey of self-discovery. I know that we, as a society, certainly need to examine how we still portray women and hold them to impossible beauty standards, which, despite having come a long way since the Victorian era, are still a whisper in every girl’s ear, even in an age of body positivity. But, Katie’s own battles were so overwrought and featured so prominently that I found myself flipping through these pages to get to the parts of the story I wanted to see, namely those that featured Hutch. This felt too didactic and, in this, was maybe the most Victorian part of the book: the overt moral that doesn’t quite ring true.

That aside, I’d certainly recommend The Love Haters if you’re NOT a love hater. If not for the lovers themselves, then for Beanie and her ORANGE! pillows, which were a harbinger of the very large, loving, and colorful life that Katie carves out for herself.

This is going to be a great summer beach read! I love that Katherine Center brings together characters in unique ways and her characters are always so real. The book follows Katie who is a videographer sent on assignment to Key West to film a promotional video for the US Coast Guard. She has some complicated feelings on love from past relationships and learns to face her fears and love herself again while in Key West. This was a heartwarming story that kept me engaged throughout. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC.

So on this one Katherine. Center let me down. She is one of my favorite authors but I could on,unread so much material about how much the main character hated wearing bathing suits! The RomComers her last book was my all time fave. But this one not so much. still a good read I guess just not as good as the rest of her books.

I love Katherine Centers books and even though this wasn’t my fave of hers it was still an enjoyable read. I enjoyed Katie, a down on herself woman who is sent to key west to interview and tape Hutch, a beefy rescue swimmer.. the plot points were certainly over the top but most of these types of books are. I think if it had been just a little more realistic (there is a plot point about a bad accident that was a bit action movie that kind of made me roll my eyes) I would bump this up in my rating. But, I’m a sucker for key west and dogs so I’m gonna give this 4 stars..

There just isn’t much substance to this book. I found that I wasn’t really routing for the characters to get together.

Wow, just wow. This book reminds me why I love this author so much and why I scoop up all of her new books as soon as I can. She has a unique way of tackling complex situations and human emotions through her creation of such relatable and lovable characters.
A light romcom on the surface, however nothing in life is exactly as it seems and it tackles some tough challenges.
Bravo, Ms. Center, you've done it again!

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced read of this book.

Katherine Center has a way of writing believable main characters that continues with “The Love Haters”. The characters were dynamic and believable and helped to move the story along. Highly recommend this book!

The Love Haters was such an amazing book. Katherine Center is a go to author for me when it comes to romance. Katie has been jilted by her ex fiancé and is trying her best to grow through it. She is further challenged by an assignment that could be the only way to save her job but plays on her fears and insecurities. This leads to the insistence of her cousin Beenie to learn to appreciate and accept her body. This deeply resonated with me because like most women I have been through this. There was so much wisdom in these pages on self love and for this I am grateful. Cole and Hutch’s aunt Rue immediately takes Katie under her wing when she arrives in Key West and begins to show her a new and colorful way of life. As Katie meets the star of her new assignment, who happens to be her coworker Cole’s brother, she realizes that almost everything he said about his brother Hutch was true. He is handsome, strong and very close to perfect minus the love hating thing lol. He is also a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer. As she gets acclimated she realizes there is a bit more family drama than she anticipated and she is kind of in the middle of it. Katie does her best to just do her assignment but soon gets wrapped up in Cole, Hutch and Rue’s lives. Along the way I think she finds herself, the evolved version and she takes back her power. She realizes that loving herself just as she is the most important thing of all and to embrace herself without trying to be perfect.
This book was colorful, super funny and it had me tearing up so many times. I loved the characters, the wise quotes, the lessons and the relatability. The authors note at the end is a must read. I know that Katherine Center puts her heart into her books and I’m grateful for having the privilege to receive this ARC. Such a beautiful story and a great ending!!
Thank you Net Galley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. And thank you Katherine Center for another wonderful book!! 💖

Does Katherine Center know how to write a book that isn’t 5 ⭐️?! No. The answer is no.

Katie is sent on what seems like an impossible mission to film a video for the Coast Guard when she can’t even swim, in hopes to save her job. She meets Hutch, the Coast Guard, also deemed the “love hater.” Cole is the mastermind behind the whole thing and quite an unlikeable character.

Hutch and Cole’s Aunt Rue and the dog were my favorite characters. They bring so much brightness and joy to the story. There’s a lot of references to body image issues, so I appreciated the lightness that they added.

Classic rom-com, but it was also full of bravery and facing your fears. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital reviewer’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Love Haters by Katherine Center is a charming and heartfelt contemporary romance novel that explores themes of love, self-discovery, and second chances. The story follows Katie, a woman who navigates her complex feelings toward love after a series of heartbreaks. Center's writing shines with warmth and humor, making the characters feel real and relatable, specifically Katie and Hutch. The book offers a balance of emotional depth and lighthearted moments, capturing the intricacies of modern relationships. While it may feel a bit predictable at times, the engaging characters and uplifting message make it an enjoyable read for fans of romance and personal growth stories.

3.5 ⭐️
The main female character, Katie, has recently been through a breakup with a rockstar. Social media comments from his fans become detrimental to her health and she develops extreme body issues. At the same time, the company she works for is laying off a lot of workers. Katie is determined to save her job. That’s how she ends up in Key West with a rescue swimmer in the coast guard- Hutch and his dog George Bailey.

This book snagged me right away with the likable side characters and witty older ladies at swim class. I was following along well enough until about 60% through the story. The family drama between Hitch and his brother was pretty over the top for me. It felt like the story dipped into cringy daytime drama territory and I questioned how old the characters were twice a minute. I understand the need to cause conflict but this is my 7th read by Katherine and I know she could’ve created a better scene than that. It really caused me to dislike the story. The last scene conflict really saved the story for me and I’m glad I didn’t DNF it. Apologizing to the 911 operator for calling during an actual life or death emergency is sadly so relatable.

I enjoyed the body image representation and how the MFC overcame that, the heroic MMC, the supportive found family side characters and of course the dog turned Cupid, George Bailey.

Four really strong stars for this one! I absolutely love Katherine’s writing style. This romance reminded had me laughing, near tears for a toad, and rooting for the love “haters”.

Thank you to SMP for this opportunity to read early and review in exchange for an eArc!

I've remained a pretty steady fan of Katherine Center books, and this was no exception! I was giggling, laughing, feeling introspective, swooning, giggling some more and just FEELING.

Never in my life did I think I would get a bit weepy over a toad btw???

George Bailey was the clear star matchmaker here and I'm thankful to him.

(My boyfriend's name is Cole, and mine is Katie so at first I was like YEAH!! HAHA ITS US and then I had to remind myself it wasn't and then Cole was kind of a dumb idiot which was even more ironically accurate and hilarious to me)

Katherine has such a wonderful way of weaving stories to be heartfelt and emotional without sacrificing a 'good time'. I even learned things about the Coast guard! and what pie slices are called!

If you're scared of open water like I am though, just, be warned**** lol

Anyway literally no notes, I loved this, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to let people know they should pick this up.

4.75 stars

I found this book completely delightful!

In order to save her job, Katie travels to Florida to meet Hutch, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. Her task is to follow him around, creating a marketing video for the Coast Guard. Hutch thinks it’s his brother coming to do the project and is not happy when that’s not the case. And Katie isn’t completely truthful when she agrees to the assignment.

I LOVE all of the characters! The story is told from Katie’s perspective and we get a great look into how she sees herself, including her past and present body issues. The relationship she has with her best friend, Beanie, is 100% #friendshipgoals. The group of older ladies that Katie finds herself surrounded by are the best. And Hutch is heroic perfection.

I found myself laughing out loud multiple times, with an occasional emotional tear. A perfect balance.
Katherine Center’s The Rom-Commers was one of my favorite books of last year and I was hoping this book would be another winner. It did not disappoint!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I had high hope for this read to be a favorite of mine. I read The Bodyguard by Katherine Center and LOVED it. This one fell flat for me. The love story was fun and kept me entertained. I wanted to love the awareness that this author was bringing to body image issues and mental health, but it just didn’t hit for me. It felt like the issues lacked depth and were mentioned frequently, but weren’t explored on a deeper level.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The premise for it is unlike any book I read and I really enjoyed certain aspects of it.
Pros: I liked learning about the rescue swimmers and following their job. The dog George Bailey was the show stealer. As a lover of rescue dogs, I loved that they talked about that.
Cons: most of the characters were semi-unlikable even until the end. Cole was super annoying and just had so many issues? I get he was supposed to be like that but dude you're a grown man.
I didn't mind Katie's insecurities and even liked that it was talked about, but sometimes I needed more depth from her character. She felt really whiny at times.
Also The romance felt really rushed at times.
In summary, super cool premise, Rue and George stole the show, and I enjoyed myself while I was reading it.

The Love Haters is perfect for anyone who enjoys a heartfelt story with emotional depth, a touch of humor, and characters who experience significant personal growth.

It follows the story of Katie and Hutch, who are navigating challenges like family disputes and self-doubt, which makes them feel real and grounded. Especially Katie, who struggles with loving her body after being body shamed multiple times in her life. I loved how Katherine described it herself, saying that this was another type of love story: "One between Katie and her body - in a kind of enemies-to-lovers trope".

What I loved was that Center has a gift for blending humor and heart. Her characters often face tough situations, but there's a lightness in the way she presents them, offering hope and optimism even in difficult moments. She doesn’t shy away from exploring the emotional complexities of her characters’ experiences, in the end offering an uplifting message about resilience and transformation. For example now, showing how to learn to love yourself and the difference that it makes once you do it.

Even when the characters face hardship, there is a sense of hope and positivity in Katherine Center storytelling. Through Katie and Hutch story, we are being encouraged to embrace life’s challenges and find joy in unexpected places. And while this is a romance, it’s never just about love for the sake of love. Katherine Center romances are intertwined with deeper personal journeys, making the relationships more meaningful and authentic. Katie's and Hutch romantic relationship is built on emotional connection and growth, rather than just chemistry.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced digital copy - all thoughts and opinions are my own!

The early part of this book had me doubting if I would enjoy this book as much as the others I have read by Katherine Center, but by the time I finished, I really enjoyed it. The author throws in a couple of plot twists in the second half of the book that had me coming back for more and staying up too late to finish. The characters are compelling and not all the same despite the obvious reference to the protagonists being "love haters". Family history and body shaming are major topics in this book that play into the choices and personalities of the characters.

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Katherine for allowing me to read the ARC of this book!

First and foremost, I want to let readers know that this book is not primarily a romance between the FMC and MMC…to me, this book was a love story about Katie learning to love herself. Though it wasn’t what I was expecting, it was one of the most heartwarming and emotional books I’ve ever read.

It made me ugly cry a few times. It made me laugh out loud so much that my husband didn’t know what was going on.

I think I loved this book (5-stars loved) because I related more to the main character than any book I’ve ever read:
***Small spoilers in this paragraph***
Katie experiences extreme body image issues related to both a demeaning stepmother and a cheating fiancé (who is also famous, so she gets berated online for her appearance). I relate to this because my mother used to say the exact same thing to me (suck your stomach in), and my husband cheated on me. People who haven’t experienced these things have no idea what it’s like to hate the body you live in, and can’t escape, each and every moment of every day, even if it’s irrational. I saw people complain in reviews about Katie and her issues, and how they didn’t think it mattered, or care, or want to see her heal and grow. They were only concerned about her relationship with Hutch. But Katie and her issues are what made this book unforgettable for me. I loved the freedom and healing she experienced - how she learned how to stand up to herself instead of bullying her own body every day. How she learned to love even small and silly things about herself. How she started to thank her body for what it did for her, instead. And how she stopped living in fear of what everyone thought or fear of being seen, and decided that only her opinion of herself mattered. And that her opinion of herself needed to be more kind.

All that to say, I think this book actually helped heal me a bit. So thank you, Katherine, for creating something so much better than a shallow romance. This book was deep.

I will also note quickly that I loved the brotherly competition dynamic and their backstory, and that Rue is awesome. As is George Bailey.

People will love this book if they:
-Have ever experienced body image issues
-Enjoy a strangers-to-lovers trope
-Like some action/adventure scenes mixed in with their romance
-Love a protective MMC with a sad backstory
-Enjoy a FMC who learns and grows a lot during the story
-Would choose a beautiful, tropical setting for their romance 🌴

All in all, I HIGHLY recommend this book, and will read it again and again just to see Katie overcome!!! My favorite Katherine Center so far 🤍🙌🏻