I absolutely adore Katherine Center, and all of her books are always a balm to my soul. The Love Haters was cute, but does not hold a torch to her previous novels. Unfortunately I didn’t like the body dysmorphia angle, I felt as if Katie was so self deprecating and it made it hard to connect with her. Hutch, his beloved aunt, and his silly Great Dane really made the story what it was.

love love love katherine center! she has not missed a bit and i finished this book in one sitting! thank you so much netgalley for the chance to read this book in advance!

The Love Haters was the perfect book to kick off the summer!!! First, I will read anything by Katherine Center - I have yet to meet a book of hers I didn't fall in love with. And trust me when I say I fell in love with this book. You have an awesome scene for a beach read - Key West! You have the hunky heroic male character who doesn't realize how awesome he is, so it makes you fall even more in love with him. You have Katie, who is struggling to move on in her life, save her job and learning to love herself all at the same time. You have all of the ancillary characters that you want to be your new best friends. Oh, and there is the most adorable dog ever George Bailey!! Put it all in a mixing bowl and out pops the perfect summer beach love story! This book has all the feels!! Make sure you add this book to your summer reading list!!

My thanks to Katherine Center, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a Katherine Center completist. I have adored her since “How to Walk Away” and every book has been nearly 5 stars for me. I have also had the privilege to meet her multiple times and she is ridiculous, unequivocally lovely and kind.
That’s why I hate to share…I didn’t like this book very much. The characters were likable enough; Katherine Center’s kind, easy voice comes through in every character she writes. I wanted good things for them. I just didn’t find them believable as people. I don’t mind to suspend disbelief for a love story; I crave it. But the world she created in this one – down to the situations the characters found themselves in – just didn’t feel like it could exist anywhere.
I’ll keep reading and loving her books, but I would love to see her veer back to the more realistic spaces she explored in her earlier works.

I absolutely loved every aspect of this book. Katie was one of my favorite characters that I have read; she was relatable, witty, and endearing. Hutch was complicated yet lovable. The minor characters (Cole, Rue, Sullivan, The Gals) added so much to the storyline and I enjoyed their presence just as much as the main characters. Once I thought the plot was over, another event happened that was thrilling and suspenseful. Even though the novel as a predictable rom com path, Katie changed so much as a character on her own, regardless of the love story, that it made the story so much more impactful. The Love Haters was a quick, humorous novel that is a PERFECT summertime read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of Katherine Center’s Love Haters. The book offers a fun premise with Center’s signature charm and humor, but it didn’t quite land as powerfully for me as some of her earlier work. I found it entertaining and easy to read, but it wasn’t the most memorable.

I still enjoy her novels, for sure. My favorite remains her 2018 novel, How To Walk Away.

Cute romance, but didn't like as much as her others - just didn't feel there was as much depth there to the main character. Overall, I did enjoy this tale of a videographer who must overcome her fears to save her job and maybe even meet the man of her dreams when she agrees to make recruitment video for the Coast Guard. Good read for the summer!

This was a wonderful story about accepting and learning to love every part of yourself and seeing yourself through the lens of those who care about you. Katie, once the fiance of a famous pop (or was it rock, not really important), forgets that the Internet can be debilitating when catty women can hide behind keyboards. She takes everything to heart and spirals until Beanie (her cousin) steps in. Here she is a year or so later, and while her professional life seems to be going okay, she is still afraid of being seen. Enter a project that she is absolutely not qualified for but she's going to do it anyway. she learns to grow and to accept the color in herself. I really enjoyed the story and George Bailey lol.

If Katherine Center writes something I am jumping all over it. It follows Katie Vaughn who has been burned in the past by love and is subsequently bleeding into her career. She has the choice of getting laid off as a video producer or take a gig that would change the trajectory of her career by profiling a coast guard rescue swimmer in Key West. Some key points, loved how Center continues to intermingle human emotions in a way that sways the heart, though I did find that the FMC was very self deprecating to the point of ad nauseum.

This was a perfect summer read. It was the perfect combination of cozy, heartwarming and atmospheric Florida vacation vibes with fun angst, romance, and a deeper if undercurrent of self-love and acceptance. I loved the balance of emotional and flirty beats throughout the story, including some fun adventure-y stakes at the end! Totally recommend for a summer read and one of my favorite Katherine Center books yet!

Is KC using a ghost writer or something? I swear I haven't been wow'd by her since The Bodyguard and it's killing me! The writing feels flimsy almost and I don't want it to because I've always loved her. Sigh.

Really enjoyed this book, but I wish there had been a TW about the disordered eating discussed within it.

I absolutely loved this book. Katherine Center is one of my favorite writers and this story was so great. I loved how detailed she was with her research of the Coast Guard and the Keys. The love story was so much fun to follow.

I really wanted to love this book but I'm not in the place right now who is actively struggling with her body image. Others may find this really cathartic but I found I needed to put it down and return when I'm in a different season of life.

Katie Vaughn makes videos. Most of them are corporate training or promotional videos. But she has a side gig where she makes videos just for herself, to put on her personal YouTube channel. For those videos, she spends an entire day and night with someone she admires, showing 24 hours in the life of a hero. So when her boss asks her to go to the Florida Keys to make a promotional video of a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, she has to agree. Even though she doesn’t know how to swim. Especially since the rumors are flying in the office that cuts are coming.

But her boss Cole tells her that this is the perfect job for her. Because the rescue swimmer, Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson is the same person who notoriously saved Jennifer Aniston’s dog after it had gone over a cliff and gotten stuck. So not only would Katie be making the video for the Coast Guard, she could also make her Day in the Life video about Hutch. Cole says he can guarantee her access, because he knows the hero puppy rescuer. Because it’s his brother.

When Katie gets to Key West, she meets Cole’s aunt Rue, who not only puts her up in one of her cottages, but she also buys Katie some clothes to help her out until her luggage shows up. Rue takes an immediate liking to Katie and tries to get her to add color to her mostly black wardrobe. And she reassures Katie that she knows a swimming instructor who can help her prepare for the swim test she’ll have to pass before going up in the Coast Guard helicopter to film an actual rescue.

But Katie is horrified to find out that her swimming teacher is Hutch. And having to put on a swimsuit is bringing up her body image issues. Her issues had started when she almost a teenager and her stepmother had put her on a diet. They got worse when her singer/songwriter fiancé Lucas suddenly got a lot of traction online and his career skyrocketed. Katie had gone to an awards show with him, and the online community was most unkind. And then he had cheated on her, publicly. Katie had finally started to feel better about herself, coming up with body parts she liked about herself on their near daily phone calls with her best friend and cousin Beanie.

Fortunately for Katie, Hutch is patient as a swimming teacher. And his dog, a Great Dane named George Bailey, seems to be in love with her. And Katie spends her days learning about the Coast Guard and filming at their base. But she still has to learn to swim well enough to get herself out of a simulated helicopter crash. And her ex-fiancé Lucas has written a song about how he was wrong to let her go. And she can’t help but notice that Hutch is not just a hero and rescuer of dogs, but he is also smart and funny and a genuinely good guy. And tall. And handsome.

But there are secrets between the brothers, and Katie gets caught up between them. She has to go along with Cole, in order to save her job. But she insists that Cole tell the truth, so she’s not caught up in their family drama anymore. And when a hurricane shows up, nothing matters but basic survival.

The Love Haters is a an uplifting rom com about a woman who not only falls in love with the boy, but she also learns to love herself. Katherine Center has a way of writing stories that are funny and smart but also send waves of healing and warmth through my soul.

I listened to the audio book for The Love Haters, and I thought Patti Murin’s narration was perfection. She brought Katie to life, and she read Center’s words with emotional intelligence and grace, imbuing the story with love and wonder. I adored this book and just breathed in this world with each word. This is one of the books of summer. Or fall. Or whatever season you’re choosing to read in, this will be a book that will linger in your thoughts and in your feels for a long time.

Egalleys for The Love Haters were provided by St. Martin’s Press and a copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

I love Katherine Center and everything that she writes. Her rom coms are so fun! This book did not disappoint. It will make for a great summer read!

.Even though the title is The Love Haters, there were no love haters here, just a few weary ones.

Katie’s job is laying off people and she’s pretty sure she’s next. Her coworker Cole attempts to help her by sending her in his place to Key West to produce a video featuring a rescue swimmer Tom, his brother.

Tom hates being in the spotlight, he agreed to do a video for his brother, only to be blind sighted by the fact that his brother ditched him and sent Katie in his place.

Katie learns to love herself while falling in love.

I enjoyed this cute story… and more important George Bailey!

I had high hopes for this one as I LOVED the Rom-Commers. This one fell a bit more than I anticipated and I wish I could like it more.

Although it was a good premise, it was not executed the best. The characters were cute and it had the basic couple dynamics but I wish more could’ve been more.

As always, Katherine Center has presented a moving, feel-good-about-life story in THE LOVE HATERS. A woman shying away from love after a horrific public break-up with her fiancé accepts an exceptionally challenging work assignment to save her job from upcoming job cuts and is forced into close and personal contact with a man known for his brusque, heroic ways while looking astoundingly handsome and himself shying away from relationships. Let the awkward and intensely comical and yet relatable games begin! The dilemmas, the dialogue, all of it is memorable, trademark Center. This is a story with a huge heart written so well that I couldn't put it down. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Katie is at risk of getting laid off from her job as a video producer when her coworker, Cole, offers her a plum assignment making a recruiting video for the U.S. Coast Guard. What he fails to tell her until after she's arrived is that the hero starring in the video is none other than his estranged brother, Hutch, who was expecting him, not her. Hutch and Katie start off on rocky terrain, but quickly warm up to each other as the job progresses. But Hutch's behavior seems to be hot and cold, and Katie can't figure out why the first man she thought she could trust in ages is giving her mixed signals.

I am a huge Katherine Center fan and really, really enjoyed this book. It's not my favorite Katherine Center book--it doesn't tug at the heartstrings the same way some of her others do--but it's a fun ride that reminds me a bit of Swept Away by Beth O'Leary or If All Else Sails by Emma St. Clair while being totally its own. I really enjoyed learning more about video production and the coast guard, and I was really rooting for Hutch and Katie the whole time.

Thanks to St. Martin's for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10