✔️ Workplace but in a Vacation Setting
✔️ Fake Dating Uno Reverse
✔️ One Bed

Hi, please meet my new favorite Katherine Center book, The Love-Haters. I knew I would enjoy this one but it is a whole other level of swoon, laughs, delight and inspirational too.

It starts with an amazing FMC, Katie, who is reeling from a breakup and years of body image issues. I loved everything about her from the start. Sure, she's a situational underdog but she is also so funny! I want to join her friend group asap.

The plot was a little zany - but that's what made it so delightful. The vibe of the plot was similar to last summer's Anyone But You - just fun mayhem, great characters, a terrific location and you walk away having had the best time.

But that's not all. Seeing Katie fall in love with herself and reaching a turning point where she truly loved and was grateful for her perfectly imperfect body? Amazing.

This is a closed door read and yes, usually I prefer spice in my books. However, KC does a terrific job in really making the emotional payoff worthwhile! That and she knows how to write great kisses/makeout scenes.

Highly recommend 5⭐️ and I already preordered my own copy!

Steam 🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕💕

This book had me hooked right from the start! Katherine Center is one of my go-to authors. The humor and witty remarks has me laughing out loud while reading this. The characters were relatable. I would have loved to join "The Gals" poolside. It was a fast paced and I would highly recommend this book for any one that enjoys rom com's!

I want to preface this: I ADORE Katherine Center. Pure adore her.
This was 3.5 /5 stars for me, but without my love of KC I think it would lose at least one. Thank you to St Martins SO much for the opportunity to read it early.
This story follows Katie, a career driven woman in the film industry, as she travels to Florida to interview Hutch, a coast guard rescue swimmer whose gone viral for saving Jennifer Aniston's puppy. They both have deeply traumatic pasts: Katie had a bad breakup with a celebrity and severe body issues, Hutch and his brother were involved in a car crash that left them orphans. As can be imagined, sparks fly between Hutch and Katie (all relatively PG-13 and chaste, per Center's style), but a whirlwind of antics threaten to break them apart in the middle of a hurricane.
I liked Hutch and Katie. They don't hold a candle to some of her other characters but they're both developed pretty well. Katie's body image story does not hit home from me, and in fact is hard to relate to, but if you ever had body dysmorphia, I feel like this might appeal to you.
The antics for me are where this falls apart: I don't love the secrecy, the pretending aspects, the back and forth Katie goes through, the way in which Hutch was played with...none of that felt real. It all felt really gimmicky. Especially in a romance where you know the happy ending is coming, it felt all a bit ludicrous. I love KC's humor...but here it just felt really silly. I hate the employment portion and I just wanted them to either be together or not.
I also feel like for being love haters, the romance timeline just felt insta-love like? Kinda a gigantic hypocracy? It felt off to me.
This gets its stars because I love the author and the fourth wall breaking and overall I enjoy rescue stories (in every aspect that rescue comes into play here) and the romance is sweet...but I would recommend others first.

What a delightful book! I had previously read Katherine Center's the Rom-Commers and totally enjoyed it--zero spice romance, if that's the sort of thing you prefer. She uses the same conversational, short-paragraphed writing style here, which very much suits the genre. Here, videographer Katie gets sent to create a Coast Guard recruitment film centering on her supervisor's too-perfect-to-be-true brother Hutch, in hopes that she can separately profile him for her YouTube channel on day-in-the-life videos. Naturally, Hutch is far less standoffish than he was described, and honestly I'm not sure either of the main characters could accurately be described as a "love hater"? But in any event, this book has its eyes on larger themes than just romance (body image/disordered eating, post-traumatic stress responses, terminal illness to name a few). It is a super fast read with some legitimate edge-of-my-seat moments. Recommend! (ARC provided by NetGalley; opinions herein are my own)

I love Katherine Center's books, so I was really excited when I saw she was coming out with something new. I immediately started reading it once I received the eARC, and it did not disappoint. This book made me feel so many feels. I found myself tearing up at times, laughing at times, and enjoying myself throughout the entire reading experience. The characters feel so real, all of them. Katie is lovable and fallible and she deals with things that many people are familiar with, like body image issues and insecurity. Hutch is a babe doing the most and succeeding, but also trying hard to be strong for everyone around him. The other characters are so fun, I would kill to spend a day with The Gals by the pool. Beanie is the ultimate best friend. Cole sucks but once you learn more about him the suckiness makes sense. Thank you so much St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC! It really is spectacular.

Katherine Center does it again!
Katie and Hutch might just be my favorite couple of hers yet. They, and their world, feel real. They feel like characters you could be friends with in real life.

Hutch is pretty much the ideal book boyfriend, and teaches Katie that there is so much to love about herself.

Add in Katie's best friend Beanie, Hutch's brother Cole, a great dane that's afraid of storms, and a boss threating to shake up Katie's world, and you have a fun adventure in Key West.

Let's all learn about love together with Katie and Hutch, it's worth it, I promise.

I had mixed feelings about this novel. The pacing felt uneven. While the middle 10-15% flowed well, both the beginning and the latter half felt slow. The section detailing when Katie is shipwrecked, in particular, felt drawn out, and it wasn't until around the 66% mark that I found myself fully engaged.

The plot felt somewhat predictable. Both the reveal of the lie about Katie and Cole's relationship and the subsequent development of a relationship between Cole and Sullivan were plot points I anticipated early on.

The romance felt rushed. Hutch’s apparent rapid shift to romantic feelings, seemingly before any meaningful interaction with Katie, felt unconvincing. While I'm happy to suspend disbelief for the sake of a story, this particular element didn't resonate with me.

I also struggled with the character of Sullivan. Her decision to lay off half her staff due to her personal circumstances following her divorce felt jarring and potentially insensitive, particularly given current public sentiment regarding CEOs and billionaires. The subsequent romantic pairing of Sullivan and Cole further detracted from my enjoyment.

As a fan of Katherine Center, especially after enjoying "Happiness for Beginners," I was eager to read this book. However, like “What You Wish For”, this one left me wanting more. The narrative felt disjointed, lacking a cohesive flow, and ultimately read more like a loosely connected outline than a fully realized story

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

This is not my favorite by hers I feel the last few books lack the spark her books once how they have become almost formulatuc to the point I don’t know if I will continue to read them
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

I usually love all of Katherine Center's books, but this one felt quite different from her previous novels. I tried to set aside my feelings to provide an unbiased review, but the book seemed to lack the spark I typically find in her works.

Overall, this book was a cute story with a message that extended beyond the slowly developing romance. The theme of self-love was thoughtfully explored, and I appreciated that Center provided us with a relatable character who experienced real growth. Kate and Hutch's relationship was adorable. I enjoyed how they met, particularly how Hutch had to rescue her during swim class. However, the romance developed slowly, and by the end, I was still hoping for a more epic conclusion to their love story. I was really missing that spark! I also loved Rue as a side character, but I disliked Cole from the start because of his ruthless lies to get what he wanted. If Cole hadn't played such a significant role in the book, I might have enjoyed the story more.

Thank you to NetGallery and to St. Martin Press for giving me a copy.

Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors. I have loved everything she has written and The Love Haters did not disappoint!

I felt so connected with the characters that some parts of the story made my blood boil, because I felt like it was happening to me.

I laughed. I cried. I need more Rue and Hutch in my life.

I loved this book! There are two love stories here, and I think the one the main character has with herself is moving and important. I can't wait for everyone to meet George Bailey, Rue, and Hutch! Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this early.

Katherine Center's The Love Haters is a delightful romantic comedy featuring Coast Guard rescue swimmer Hutch and video producer Katie. Katie's job depends on successfully filming Hutch, but their growing attraction complicates things. Center creates a charming and entertaining story with a vibrant Key West setting, quirky supporting characters, and a dash of heartwarming self-discovery. The plot moves quickly, keeping the reader engaged with humorous situations and genuine emotional connection. I received a copy of this book for review purposes.

I absolutely loved this book. I stayed up until 1 am finishing it, with no regrets. You follow a AST in the Coast Guard and a journalist trying to save her job and their journey if self development and healing. You’ll feel for the main characters and have your heart strings pulled by their stories. Katherine Center thankfully continues to write closed door romances so you can be sure to have a great plot and no spice. But lots of feelings! As a Coast Guard family she definitely did her research. Highly recommend.

Once again Katherine Center delivers on a heartwarming romance. This was a cute story, but nothing has been better than rom-commers, my all time favorite.

Folks, she does it again… 🩷🩷

In the Love Haters you meet the dynamic duo Hutch and Katie and MANY more characters who you’ll fall in love with…and some you’ll loathe. *coughcolecough* Katie works in video production and has recently gone through a breakup. As if that’s not enough, her job is on the chopping block. She’s presented with an opportunity to shadow/create a video of the Coast Guard staring Hutch…Cole’s brother who he doesn’t get along with and apparently hates love. In order to keep her job, she packs her bag and heads to paradise with her best friend, Beanie, on speakerphone. What could go wrong? Or right? 🩷

I have loved all of the Katherine Center books I have read, but this one make take the cake. I could NOT Put it down!

Notes:
First off, Katie and Beanie’s friendship is major goals! Their conversations make you feel like you’re right there with your best friends. Working through her body issues was so real and relatable.

Same thing with the location! Katherine is perfectly descriptive and you feel like you’re really there with them. Especially with the Coast Guard aspect of it…talking through their procedures and how they do things was really neat!

One thing I loved about this one is how Hutch was such a hero and truly a good person. I feel like sometimes MMC’s are written kinda dopey, emotionally immature, not going anywhere in life…but not Hutch. He was established, kind, he took care of the ones he loved and Katie really respected him as a man/person.

All the conflict was perfect.

Even the “climax” of the book was pretty outlandish….but I was GLUED! 😂 I don’t want to give away any of that, but it was so entertaining. All the things that Katie did/thought was hysterical and something that we as girls would TOTALLY think. 😂

Last thing, Aunt Rue and her old lady gang was a highlight. She’s precious and I want an Aunt Rue so bad. 😂🩷

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Devoured this book in a day! Its flows and I loved the story. My only critique is I would have loved one more chapter before the epilogue to wrap storyline up.

This book was adorable!! I love the inclusion of the The Gals and it was fun to watch the romance play out. I did feel overwhelmed with the amount of body positivity language in this book as someone who is easily triggered by that language

I am so very lucky to get ARCs from Katherine Center's team! George Bailey was the star of the show!!! KC romances always hit, so l devoured this quickly. Cole took me out of it for a minute there and I probably could have benefited from a trigger warning about negative body talk, but I would absolutely still recommend! I cried and laughed and felt all of the emotions!

Really liked this book. The concept was so interesting to begin with and I love Katherine's writing. I could feel like I knew these characters which was really nice. Overall a very good read.

Katie es productora de video y su compañero de trabajo descubre que está a punto de ser despedida, junto con la mitad de los empleados. Sin embargo, tiene una oportunidad que podría evitar su despido: grabar un video sobre la vida de Hutch, un miembro de la Guardia costera que se hizo famoso por salvar a una actriz. Pero hay un truco: debe ganarse su confianza, ya que él solo accedió a grabar un video sobre su trabajo, no sobre toda su vida. Ambos chocarán en un principio, pero deberán pasar tiempo juntos. Katie conocerá a su familia, se hará amiga de su perro y comenzarán a surgir chispas. Sin embargo, ella viene de una relación pública en la que fue duramente criticada y burlada por las fans de su ex, por lo que lo último que quiere es tener una relación con alguien famoso. Las burlas le dejaron muchas inseguridades y no está segura de poder soportar todo eso nuevamente.

~

Me encantó que no todo se centrara en el romance, sino en el crecimiento de Katie, pero en el epílogo sí esperaba que se enfocara más en ella y Hutch. Incluso esperaba que fuera desde la perspectiva de él.





Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.