help! this was not my favorite Katherine Center. There were things I really liked: the coast guard, the florida setting, Rue and her friends, and the MMC. The two things I didn't love was the conflict was aggravating and seemed avoidable. And I liked the representation of the body dysmorphia plot but it felt dramatically done, when often I feel those issues are more subtle.

I am an avid fan of Katherine Center and true to form, The Love Haters did not disappoint.
In my opinion rom-coms tend to have a few dips in action and intensity , which i slog through to get back to the fun pace of the heart of the book. I never felt that while reading Love Haters. The book held my attention and intrest from start to finish. All of the characters held a solid role in the plot; even the character or two that add tension , making life extra difficult for the main characters the reader comes to love.
I will certainly recommend this title to anyone hoping to read a cute,funny romantic comedy.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy.

Loved this! I laughed so much and teared up a little. I loved the understated chemistry between Katie and Hutch and foundation of surprising friendship. The Gals are so lovable. And sweet George Bailey! Also, the message of self love and self worth was wonderful. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

This was fun. I think it was lacking a bit for me in terms of character development. I did like the tropical setting and the idea of the book was fun. Overall, this didn’t hit like her other books unfortunately.

I was so excited to read The Love Haters because I have loved all of Katherine Center’s other books but this one just fell short for me. There was a shocking amount of woe is me kind of talk from the main character, Katie, whose name I kept forgetting because it was said so infrequently. The story between she and Hutch was sweet but so surface level I feel like I couldn’t tell you anything about either of them by the end of the book. The minimal detail combined with the miscommunication at the end just really was not my cup of tea and made it hard for me to figure out what Katie and Hutch had in common other than finding the other attractive. Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me.

This was a great rom-com by Katherine Center. I thought the story between Katie and Hutch was good, but could have developed even more. I also loved the personal growth arc, even intermixed with the romance and humor, it was truly relatable. Cole was a hard character and the story needed a twist, of course, but it was a bit hard to believe. Overall, enjoyed the book!

Banter! Ass splinters! Stowaway toads! This book has it all!

Um, what do I even say? Perfection. The characters are charming (well, most of them), the plot is delightful, and even when, for a short time, I wasn’t sure where things were going, I enjoyed every second of getting there. It was tender, laugh out loud funny, and deeply resonant.

Besides featuring the best MMC of all her books so far, Katherine also wrote a friendship that could only have been written by someone who has experienced deep best adult friendship.

Truly, this book is a gem and I miss it already. Another delightful read from one of my most beloved authors.

Loved the way this book played on the enemies to lovers troupe in a thoughtful way. The elements about self love and body acceptance felt the strongest to me.

The setting of Key West felt almost like another character. I enjoyed reading the author’s vivid descriptions of the place. I especially loved Rue’s character. She is the perfect encapsulation of the Key West lifestyle and now I want to read a full book about her life journey.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but thought it felt a bit disjointed. I also didn’t think the twist was believable, which made me lose trust in the characters.

Katie and Hutch’s relationship never fully developed. I liked the parts of the book where they started being vulnerable about the hard things they had been through. However, once the twist came their relationship stopped developing.

Hutch seemed to get lost in the second half of the book. I think it would have been better if the author focused primarily on Katie’s relationship with herself vs jumping back and forth. At the end of the book, I still felt like the characters barely knew one another and their relationship felt more surface level than I was expecting.

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

The Love Haters follows Katie as she journeys to FL to make a training video about an irresistible Coast Guard rescue swimmer. I enjoyed the added layer of Katie’s relationship with her self and self-image along with the romance. The ending was a bit much for me but overall this is a great read. George Bailey the Great Dane will steal your heart.

Katherine Center always manages to craft a story that balances out heart warming moments and romantic comedy laughter. The Lover Haters was such a fun read - I enjoyed every moment and finishes it within 2 days. I had purposely waited to start reading it until January so that my first book of the year could be a guaranteed amazing one! The characters a likable and you can’t help but root for Katie and Hutch. Add in Hutch’s dog who has a personality and a half, plus an eclectic aunt with a colorful group of friends - it’s just the perfect recipe for literary magic.

Katie and the supporting characters (Rue, The Gals, Beanie) were very relatable and enjoyable to read about. Katie's pov would have me either laughing for a chapter and then crying especially when it came to her body image and her journey to self love and acceptance. Rue from the beginning I knew was going to be my favorite character in the book because she was always that ray of sunshine in everyone's lives whether she knew you for years or for five minutes. George Bailey, I hope he saves every non-poisonous frogs for the rest of his life. Hutch, I could not get into him, he seemed too unrealistic and just couldn't connect with him. Cole...I hoped Katie would punch that man in throat.

Which is where my reading was starting to struggle because the progression of Katie and Hutch was going great and them developing feelings through time was great, it was until Cole brought in the fake dating thing that I was actively screaming at my kindle as if Katie was my friend and telling her to not go through this. Overall this is a very thoughtful and heartwarming story and the authors note is a definite must read.

Available May 20, 2025
I don't know if this is just an arc thing but there should be a content warning list because it goes heavily into sensitive topics that definitely need some warning.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a really cute book. I’m just not sure I love the title. The characters were well developed, and I love the emphasis on self-esteem and overcoming past trauma. You do have to suspend disbelief, just a little bit for surviving the night during a hurricane.

The Love Haters by Katherine Center does what Katherine Center books always do: drop the reader in the middle of a situation that is not ever going to be resolved simply, because each choice the characters make creates more difficulties. Complicated, fast-paced, compulsively readable exploration of body image issues, a grumpy hero, broken families, miscommunications, and what it takes to love again in a slow-burn romance that never quits. (Nor do the main characters.)

California-based video producer Katie Vaughn reluctantly accepts her co-worker Cole's push to take his place doing a profile of Tom "Hutch" Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West, Florida. Why? Well, there are layoffs coming from their employer. Cole says he is trying to protect her job. She will also have a chance to do one more of her documentary passion projects -- A "Day in the Life" - featuring Hutch. None of this is easy. Some of what Katie faces is downright terrifying. But she is encouraged by Hutch, who doesn't seem quite as grumpy as Cole said. Then there's Aunt Rue, in Key West, who welcomes Katie with not only a place to stay but also dinners, drinks, friendship, company, and brightly colored new clothing.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for the ARC!


The Love Haters follows Katie, a video producer who’s been through a rough few years—engaged to a man who went viral for the wrong reasons, body-shamed by internet trolls, and betrayed by a fiancé who cheated on her. When her job offers her the chance to produce a project profiling the Coast Guard in Key West, Katie, eager for a fresh start, reluctantly agrees. There, she meets Hutch, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who recently went viral for saving Jennifer Aniston’s dog, and the sparks between them fly instantly.

What follows is a mix of hilarious mishaps, self-discovery, and undeniable chemistry. Katie, still recovering from a failed relationship, steps out of her comfort zone as she navigates her unqualified role in the project and her growing feelings for Hutch. With the help of a quirky, magical woman named Rue, and a few splinters along the way, Katie starts to put her life back together. The Love Haters is a heartwarming, funny, and swoon-worthy story about second chances, self-acceptance, and embracing the unexpected.

I absolutely loved this and could not read it faster. This is only my second Katherine Center book but it was just as good as the first! Katie was such a relatable main character and I saw so much of myself in her and her struggles as she navigated the new and uncomfortable situations she found herself in in Key West. You couldn't help but root for her and Hutch from the jump, and I found that I couldn't put my book down for too long because I needed to know what would happen next with them. Such a great read and I cannot wait to continue discovering more of Center's work going forward!

As with every other Katherine Center book I've read, i absolutely adored this book. As a 'Love Hater' myself, this was such a relatable read. So many of us, women in particular, feel the need to dim our own light and dull our own sparkle for the comfortability of others. This was such a fun and heartwarming story.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!!!
This was a love story that also focused a lot on self love. I enjoyed the story and the characters but I felt like something was missing? The ending fell a little flat for me. I was wanting more between Katie and Hutch, especially in the epilogue

Katherine Center gets me every single time, and this book was not any different. I loved exploring the varying relationships and complicated dynamics. A wonderfully written and thoroughly engaging romance!

The Love Haters by Katherine Center is a laugh-out-loud, feel-good rom-com that blends humor, romance, and personal growth in the most delightful way. Katie Vaughn is a character you can’t help but root for as she fakes her way through a career-making gig profiling Coast Guard rescue swimmer Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson in Key West. The catch? She can’t swim. The other catch? She’s got history with Hutch’s brother, Cole, and they do not get along.

The chemistry between Katie and Hutch is undeniable, especially as their interactions move from awkward to adorable. Hutch is a bit of a love-hater, but watching him soften around Katie, while she tries to keep her lie under wraps, was both funny and heartwarming. Throw in some swim lessons, helicopter flights, hurricanes, and stolen kisses, and you’ve got a perfect mix of romance and adventure.

Katie’s personal journey is just as compelling as the romance, and the tropical setting of Key West adds an extra layer of charm. From her fake swimming lessons to navigating her relationship with Hutch, Katie faces her fears and discovers what it truly means to be brave—and to open up to love.

The Love Haters is a must-read for fans of rom-coms that balance humor with heart. It’s funny, swoon-worthy, and full of twists that keep you turning the pages.

I was thrilled to receive an ARC of this book! As a fan of Katherine Center's work, "The Love Haters" did not disappoint.

Amidst rumors of layoffs at the video production company Katie works for, she agrees to take on a project in Key West making a promotional video for the Coast Guard. The catch? She’ll have to film a rescue swimmer from a helicopter, but she can’t swim. In Key West she meets Hutch, the rescue swimmer and Rue, his aunt, whose vacation rental she’s staying at. After coming out of a very public relationship, Katie is struggling with her body image and much of the book centers around her journey to find self-love.

I found the book to be less about the romance and more about Katie’s journey with her own insecurities with the romance as a smaller subplot. Katie was a wonderfully relatable main character, and both Hutch and Rue were fully developed and added so much depth to the story. I found myself eagerly turning pages not just for Katie’s interactions with Hutch, but also for her connections with Rue and her group of friends. Overall, this was a fantastic read and would make the perfect summer book!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for honest review!
I have loved every single book I've read by Katherine Center and The Love Haters exceeded my expectations. I loved Beanie and Kate's friendship and how supportive Beanie was about Kate's body image issues. I LOVED Rue from the second she was introduced into the story and I loved her even more when I read her back story and how she came to foster/adopt Cole and Hutch.
The romance checked all the feel good, heartwarming boxes, and the story itself did a wonderful job with a sensitive subject such as body image. I also thought it was super cool how Katherine Center did so much research on the coast guard rescue missions. I just really, really loved this book. I can't wait for her next one 💜