4.5 stars rounded up

The authors note for this book says it all: this is more a love story between Katie and her body than between Katie and Hutch. This was a beautiful novel of self-love, with a romance plot taking place in the background. I enjoyed all the characters and found the main couple to be a cutie twosome to follow.

While this is not my favorite Katherine Center I’ve read (still The Bodyguard!), I really enjoyed this tale and appreciated the message of growing to love the bodies we’re born into. I found healing through Katie’s journey, which is what I’m sure Center set out to do. I will continue to read anything this author writes.

Highly recommend to any romance lover. No spice, like Center’s other works, which is what I prefer.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Katherine Center does it again with a closed-door feel-good romance that you won't want to put down. Her writing makes you embarrassed for Katie when first meeting Hutch. Is the ending a little cheesy? Yes, but the story overall is great. If you enjoyed the Coast Guard movie, The Guardian then you will enjoy the MMC being a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer. I would give it 4.5 stars since I do enjoy a quick feel-good romance to read between other heavy reads.

Another cute rom com from Katherine Center. Easy, quick and pleasant read. The perfect beach book. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the bit of angst about body positivity.

I absolutely loved this book. I have never before connected with a character like I did with katie. With her feeling so low on her self about her body and trying to learn how to love her self, that hits really close to home.
The relationship between Hutch and Katie is so relatable, the banter, the nervousness. I love it all!
I will for sure be reading more books by the author!

I love Katherine Center’s writing so much and this one was no different!! I loved the Key West setting, the eclectic aunt, the documentary style. I loved it all!! This book was so much fun and made me laugh out loud so many times. The ending was absolutely wild and I was on the edge of my seat.

The only thing is that I wish we got to see more of Katie and Hutch’s relationship grow. I noticed that the feelings came on fast and it was a lot of Katie narrating that something happened off page. It made me feel like I was missing something as the reader. But all in all, this was another win for me and I can’t wait to buy the physical copy when it comes out!

3.75⭐️?

- Katherine Center’s books continue to have lovable main characters and a easy books to fly through
- I picked this one up because I was in a book slump and I knew this would help out! I finished in 2 days!

- this one def needs a trigger warning for disordered eating
- no steam at all in the story… very mild romance!
- I learned more about what the U.S. Coast Guard does from this story!

- I enjoyed the main character’s journey of self love. However, with the way she described her eating patterns for the couple years post breakup, I think she would have needed some professional help and it is a bit odd that wasn’t mentioned. She just like “snapped out of it” … which doesn’t seem super realistic to me.

I’m always happy to pick up a Katherine Center book - they do not disappoint. This one was just as well-written as her others, but fell just a little flat for me comparatively in the end.

This book is about Katie Vaughn, documentary filmmaker, whose films evoke lots of emotion, who is cheated on by her TikTok famous musician boyfriend, and gets sent by her boss to make a promo video for the US Coast Guard in order to keep her job (despite not knowing how to swim and having body image issues that have created a fear of wearing swimsuits).

The rescue swimmer and subject is her boss Cole’s brother, Hutch, who Cole describes as hot, perfect, and a “love hater”. Obviously, Katie gets involved in his life once in Key West and finds he is in fact not a “love hater” through a typical romance plot.

I also really enjoyed the side characters: Rue, the Gals, Beanie, and George Bailey the Great Dane. Through her relationships with them she was able to work through a lot of the things that had been holding her back from being happy.

Overall 3.75/5 stars for me. I would definitely recommend it to others, but doesn’t surpass Center’s other books for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

She did it again!
One thing I learned is that you just can’t go wrong picking up a book by Katherine. The characters are super engaging, the romance is pure heartwarming vibes, and the story flows so well.

The Rom-Commers is still my fave, but this one came reaaally close!

As much as this is a book about falling in love with a coat-guard hottie, it’s also about learning to not hate your body after being raised in a diet-culture-obsessed world. I don’t think I liked this one as much as The Rom-Commers, but it’s a solid spice-free romance.

This is another great rom-com from Katherine Center! It had such a beautiful setting and provided all the tropical vaca feels. Filled with entertaining scenes (like a guy picking a bunch of splinters out of your butt) and of course some romance! This book is sure to make you smile! Thank you to NetGalley, publishers and author for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you Katherine Center, Net Galley, and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

This is my second Katherine Center book. I read Hello Stranger earlier this year and really enjoyed her writing style and her ability to tackle difficult topics, so I was especially excited for a chance to dive into The Love Haters.

The Love Haters was an enjoyable read, but I didn’t find it to be particularly groundbreaking or a story that would resonate me long term. I found Katie to be a shallow FMC. Other than her journey to heal her relationship with her body image, I didn’t find her to be particularly compelling. Hutch read similarly to me - definitely a classic golden boy (although, I did fall in love with his rescue pup), neither characters were ones I found myself rooting for.

This was a light-hearted read that is perfect for the beach on a warm, summer day. There were parts of the book that kept me entertained, but unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me. 3/5 stars.

I am pleasantly surprised by this one. I read another of Katherine Center’s books and really didn’t enjoy it. So when the chance to grab the ARC from NetGalley came up, I wasn’t sure if I should take it. While it’s not my favorite book I’ve ever read, it ended up fairly cute and is totally the kind of book I could see myself recommending as a fun beach read (especially if you know anyone who is like particularly offended by swearing and sex, as this is a very chaste sort of romance. Not my thing, but a lid for every pot).

i’ve read several katherine center books and they are always super good or just alright. unfortunately this one fell under just alright for me. i am sure there will be readers that looove it but it wasn’t my favorite. katie was sweet and so was her journey but there were several characters i didn’t care for. overall, a good read just not for me.

After years of hearing about how loved Katherine Center's writing is and how so many of her books pop up on people's 5 Star-Reads, I was thrilled to be able to have this arc be my first venture into her world.

I went into this not sure what I was expecting, maybe a simple romcom or another romance novel that had me swooning, but I didn't expect to go on a rollercoaster ride of emotions throughout the entire book. The characters feel real and believeable, and although our FMC, Katie, is dealing with absurd situations that many people would never encounter, we still find ourselves relating to her emotions at every chaotic moment she experiences. Even some of our loving side characters had so much more depth than you would ever get from any other romance novel, which is something I truly loved and appreciated about this story.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but let's just say towards the end of the book, I simply could not put it down. I was up until 3am finishing reading this. I had a blast! It reminded me of an early 2000's coming-of-age RomCom movie but in the best possible way. I'm so looking forward to when this fully releases so I can snag a physical copy!

Katherine Center, you found yourself a new fan.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc!

I love Katherine Center's books. This is yet another engaging, feel-good read with The Love Haters. Katie and Hutch’s dynamic is full of heart, humor, and undeniable chemistry, set against the vibrant backdrop of Key West. The story beautifully explores courage, vulnerability, and second chances—not just in love, but in life.

The author’s note stood out, adding even more depth to the book’s themes. A must-read for fans of emotional, uplifting romance!

Thank you to NetGalle yand the publisher for the early copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin Press for the arc on The Love Haters.

I greatly enjoyed this book. Katie is working to make a career for herself by making videos. She thinks she is getting a lucky break when she is sent to Key West to film Hutch, who is in the Coast Guard. I fell in love with Katie. She is fun and unconventional. There were many parts of this book that made me laugh out loud. Katherine Center created lovable characters in this book with some realistic issues. A definite read for rom-com and Katherine Center lovers!

#netgalley #stmartinspress #katerinecenter #thelovehaters #romcom #mslucysliteracycorner

I forgot how much I love the writing of this author. She had me hooked from the very beginning. I loved the characters. She sets the perfect picture that i can visualize.

This book also had multiple lessons to hold on too. So many things I wanted to highlight and go back to.

I was invested from the start to the finish. It had a good message and great feelings.

I adore Katherine Center and this was the perfect book for me right now.

I loved seeing Katie overcome her fears, learn to accept and love her body and just enjoy life after having been knocked down by love and the internet (among other things). Katherine Center does a good job of writing friendships and Katie’s friend Beanie might be one of my favorite female side characters. It was also interesting to learn a bit about the Coast Guard, which is not a first responder profession we hear much about.

This was a fast paced read and I look forward to adding it to my personal collection once published!

The Love Haters had all the ingredients needed to make for a cute summer rom-com. We departed from Katherine's typical choice of location of Texas for the Florida Keys this go around. Outside of Katie's co-workers, who were the absolute worse, I grew extremely fond of the secondary characters in this story... and maybe that's because the two main characters just weren't doing it for me. There was no foundational depth to Hutch and Katie's relationship and no strong passion even after. I've read books where the chemistry between the main two people were out of this world, and I just wasn't getting that this time. The last quarter of the book also took a weird turn for me. Things became a little too over the top to be believable and it made me realize that I just had no strong connection to Katie. I always appreciate Katherine Center's storylines and characters though. She is always willing to try obscure plots that you don't always see romance authors attempting. Maybe she hit it too hard out of the park a few years ago with The Bodyguard that it's just so hard to find something to top it, but The Love Haters will fall somewhere in the middle of all the books I've read so far in her collection.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for this early copy of The Love Haters to read and review!

3.5 ⭐️

I love Katherine Center and quirky style of her writing and MCs. Her books are so fast and fun to read. They're true rom coms and I pretty much picture an early 2000's Sandra Bullock starring in all of them. And I love that all her books of late include an ode to romance books at the end.

I was very excited to dive into her latest, but unfortunately quite a few things didn't work for me, like the lack of character development for most of the characters but especially the MMC, the missing setup of their relationship, and certain plot points that I found unnecessary and lacking at the same time (but won't get into because of spoilers). This all said, KC seems to sprinkle some fairy dust on her books that make them just so charming. So, even despite all the qualms I had one this one, I somehow came out liking it. I'm very curious how people are going to take this one!