Anything by Katherine Center is an automatic read for me. This book pulled me in from the first chapter and all I wanted to do was read about Katie and Hutch. The writing style is relatable and the story is compelling. It touches on some heavy themes yet is warm and light.

Super cute and fun read!

If I wasn't reading this while it is still cold outside I would put on a bathing suit and find the nearest pool to jump into.

I genuinely loved a lot of this book. I couldn't put it down once I started reading, and I was giggling and kicking my feet for a lot of it. I loved how the characters weren't perfect and had to grow in order to really find love, I see a lot of myself in Katie.

I'm super thankful that I was able to read this early, it was amazing.

Premise was fun, the story just fell flat for me. There was no build up,, tension, enemies-to-lovers between Katie and Hutch. I never felt their relationship develop enough for me to care about what happened to them. The side story with Cole and Ree and their boss seemed misplaced. There just wasn’t enough character or story development to hold my interest. I finished it, but honestly didn’t care if I did- I had to push though it.

This could have easily been a 4+ star book if not for the self-hate the FMC felt about herself and the absolutely atrocious way it was handled.

The fact that I’m still rating this 2.5⭐️ should tell you that it had the potential to be a great book, the writing is solid, the overarching story is cute, and Rue steals the show - the problem with this book lies solely in the poor representation, and insensitivity regarding body image.

That said, some of the things I did enjoy include…
- Rue and the gals
- I’m a fan of big silly grand mishaps in romance so I quite enjoyed the way this played out and the ending.
- the epilogue was adorable - I appreciated the nice wrap up
- Hutch + the family dynamics with Rue were well done.

As for my dislikes, well it’s really just the big one. I think this was a very poor attempt at tackling a major issue…

I get what the author was trying to do, it was supposed to be a story about healing. I think she missed the mark on this one big time. Body dysmorphia is a serious disease that can’t be solved in less than 2 weeks with sheer force of will and positive thinking. And one man telling her she’s beautiful does not need to be the catalyst for her change. I’m disappointed.

And finally… this book needs an authors note in the BEGINNING of the book! Hopefully this is just an issue with the ARC and the final will fix this but giving the reader the option to go into the book informed about its content is SO important when tackling tough subjects. It is absolutely crazy to me that in 2025 we’re still leaving these out.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book very much. The characters and their exciting jobs (with the exception of Cole - read it, you'll understand) I loved Rue and the gals, George Bailey (the goodest boy).

This book has love and heartbreak, adventure and suspense, highs and lows. This was the first book by Katherine Center that I've read, it won't be the last.

Katherine Center can do no wrong! Yet another amazing novel with the perfect balance of complex personal issues and humor. I found the FMC relatable but also very out there. I couldn't put this book down and read it in one night (per usual with Katherine's books). The only thing that bugged me was the rescue scene, which I can't stop thinking about (IYKYK).

Thanks NetGalley for another amazing ARC!

Romance written by Katherine Center is always wonderful. New situations and interesting personal conflicts make each novel fun and unique. Great writer you can trust to keep you entertained!

I love Katherine Center. All of her stories feel so completely whole with regards to character development and story. The only thing I would have like to see more of here was Hutch and Katie time - he was a bit standoffish and quiet for me so it was a little hard to see the relationship develop.

I cannot tell you how much I was already looking forward to The Love Haters coming out later this year, so I was beyond excited when I was able to receive an ARC! I love Katherine Center’s work, and so enjoy reading her books– and this was no exception. While some of the romance aspects in this book fell flat for me, I enjoyed most of the characters and their progression throughout the story. Overall, a comfortable, easy read with fun POV narration, and great banter.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Katherine Center, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another incredible novel by Katherine Center.

Katie takes on a project in Key West, partially to save her job, but also because her boss is dead set against taking on the project, as it's about his brother (and the Coast Guard).

Hutch - the dreamboat Coast Guard rescue swimmer.... .Okay, I lost what else I was going to say about him.

Oh and did I mention that Hutch has a rescue dog? George Bailey. Absolutely another amazing character (pet) walking perfection.

This entire book was full of funny dialogue, banter, growth of all the characters, and the perfect amount of drama with the side characters. So many laugh out loud moments, and also moments of grabbing tissues. Basically all the feels.

This book - chef's kiss.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for my ARC!

This book was cute! The slow burn pacing was a nice change from some of my recent reads. The FMC. Katie lies about her ability to swim to be able to accept an assignment profiling a CoastGuard rescue swimmer, Tom "Hutch" Hutcheson. In order to keep her job. After a travel nightmare that finally gets her to Key West, Katie is helped into a weekend crash course in swimming, but UH OH her instructor is none other than Hutch himself. The story was cute overall, but I had to settle at 4 stars because I felt the first part of the book focused a little TOO much on Katie's body image issues. The comedy felt a bit juvenile at times as well, but overall a super cute book and a fun quick read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the arc! I was excited for another Katherine Center romcom especially since I loved The Bodyguard and The Romcommers. This was a fun read but also had depth as our MC was dealing with her own issues including body image and an awful ex. I really enjoyed her journey of growth with hijinks along the way! Aunt Rue and the girls are a treasure.

I love this author, and I have loved all of her books that I have read. I will continue to read whatever she writes given the way she writes uniquely beautiful stories and characters. I offer that framing as I also offer this one wasn't for me. My struggle was the heaviness of the content. I recognize that this was part of the why Katie and Hutch were indeed love haters. However, it caught me offguard as I began reading. There were so many layers of emotion/trauma and just so, so many things that happened. The cover and description led me to believe this would be lighter fare. There were still some great moments and quotes I loved, but a harder read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. I seriously cannot get enough of Katherine Center! She is the QUEEN of rom-coms. I will never not read something by her. The characters were great, love story was great, the setting was wonderful and made me want to travel to Florida right this minute and as usual she had a powerful message in her book about body image. I laughed a ton while reading this. Readers are going to love this one.

This was my first Katherine Center book.
So I was blissfully unaware she wrote single POV 🤣

But this was cute!
And it is a Rom-com. It’s meant to be cutesy goofy funny and it was just that.

Katie, the video gal sent to shoot a promo video of Hutch
Her enemies to lovers vibes with her body was a real big plot point to this book.
And it was impeccably relatable.

Hutch, the hot Coast guard rescue swimmer
Who also has a giant dog
Slightly frowny

A cool group of older women

Key west setting
Maybe a hurricane 🤷🏼‍♀️

Arc review ✨

To no one’s surprise, I absolutely loved "The Love Haters" by Katherine Center! As always, Center’s characters are sweet, funny and wildly entertaining—yet still manage to feel completely relatable. Even when the storyline takes a bit of a leap, her writing makes it all feel so believable. That’s the magic of Katherine Center! I’ve loved every one of her books, and "The Love Haters" is no exception. A huge thank you to Katherine Center, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC—I’m so grateful for the chance to read this sweet story!

Katherine Center has quickly become an “auto-buy” author for me.

Her books are not only entertaining, they have great banter, fantastic characters, HEA & are basically just fun books to read.

What I also appreciate is Katherine’s way of writing real life problems/struggles/etc into her characters that are relatable, thought provoking & engaging.

The Love Haters had it all - and for me, as someone who has struggled with self esteem issues for a very very long time, I felt seen & validated.

“Within six months of marrying my dad, Angela had put me on a diet. I was twelve. Looking back at photos from those years, I’m always shocked at how much I looked exactly like all the other ordinary kids.”
-The Love Haters

Rarely do I read the authors notes (sorry authors) but Katherine’s note at the end of this book was like she’d called me up, put the tea on & we had a chat about her inspiration. It was the cherry on top of a great book.

“The Love Haters, has, I hope, a very delicious romantic love story going on between Katie and Hutch—in addition to all kinds of extra love stories between friends, and siblings, and parent figures. But it also has another type of love story. One between Katie and herself. Specifically: Katie and her body—in a kind of enemies-to-lovers trope.”
- Katherine Center


Honest review given in gratitude for this wonderful ebook. Thank you NetGalley & St Martin’s Press.

The Love Haters by Katherine Center is another wonderful novel by one of my favorite authors! There were times reading this novel I was laughing so hard my husband asked me to read him what I was reading so he could laugh to! Ms. Center is a gifted novelist and allows her characters to learn to love themselves as they are, and we love them too! Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

KCenter, what have you done! Another win from what is becoming an auto-read author for me. Well done!

I know this is a very popular author, but this is my first time reading one of her novels (I have a few on my bookshelf as well speak waiting to be picked up). That being said, I don’t know why it took me so long to discover the genius of her writing! I absolutely adored all of the characters, the setting was beautiful, the plot was so relatable, and it had a cute dog! This may have been my first, but will definitely not be my last.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Love Haters!