Katie as 2 choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch”, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Sometimes, authors can be hit or miss, but Katherine Center is always a hit, hit, & hit for me. I knew I was going to love this book with just 3 pages into it.

Katie & Hutch's chemistry was goofy, swoony, & romantic. I loved all those silly & over-the-top moments they had. Hutch noticing Katie's exact eye color had me blushing & I had this burning desire to be their friends! The old ladies, always-tackling-Katie dog, & Cole's unnecessary drama were cherry on top.

Every second of this book was a comfort to read. Not only the romance, I appreciated how Katie's body image played such a huge role in the story; it was handled carefully, too.

What a beautiful, vulnerable, silly book this is! So lucky to exist in the same world/time as Katherine.

Thank you Publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this in one plane ride back home from spring break and it really hit the spot! Katie and Hutch had me laughing out loud with people on the plane giving me the side-eye but I didn’t care because I was having the best time 😂. I read Center’s books every year and I swear I enjoy each one even more than the previous and I don’t even know how that is possible since I love them all 💖. This one will make you laugh but will also tug at your heartstrings with the tender core of these sweet characters. Highly recommend!

I've come to expect nothing less than perfectly sweet love stories and beautiful life lessons from everything Katherine Center writes and this was no exception! While there was a heavy focus on body image and self-love (don't miss the author's note at the end for additional insight) Hutch, Rue, and George Bailey made me smile and I've decided we all need friends like "the gals" with unabashed conga lines!

The perfect mix of charm, chaos, and courage. A reminder that love, like life, is worth showing up for, even when we feel like we’re in over our heads. Add this one to your summer list!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press via Netgalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review was posted (Instagram, Goodreads, bookishlytara blog, Storygraph) on May 11, 2025. An additional post (with a reposted review) was posted on Instagram on the publication day as well as an Amazon Canada review. (links below)

Katherine Center has quickly become a must read author for me. Her books are always filled with emotional depth & The Love Haters was no exception.

Katie has gone through a LOT before the book starts, and is fighting with how she feels about herself. Even if there wasn’t a love story between the 2 main characters, seeing how she learns to love herself over the course of the book was beautiful. Hutch was the definition of a hero, both in his job & in his life, and KC was able to make that character feel real & not just a caricature. And Katie & Hutch together? Perfection!

The side characters were all so fun & well thought out. There was even some high suspense in the climax of the book. Following and learning about the coast guard was really interesting too.

And absolutely don’t skip the author's notes, Katherine’s are always a must read!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing the ARC for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC.

This book is a wild ride and I am absolutely here for it.

Katie is a delightful character wrapped up in her own insecurities to really and truly appreciate the world around her and the body she lives in. As someone who has dealt with my own forms of body dysmorphia, reading about Katie's eating disorder and how she still struggles with her appearance and weight was a bit of a downer. It was hard reading all of her disordered thinking on page and not have a knee jerk reaction towards it. It was very similar to my own internal monologue and I could feel myself slipping. But I loved how Katherine Center approached this topic at hand, with her best friend somewhat steering the helm of self acceptance and healing.

Hutch was very much just as Center described him at an author panel recently. While I know that this has been solely Katie's story. I do wish we had a bit more from Hutch"s character than we good. He is so utterly fascinating that I wanted more time with him.

This is a really great. Boom!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC!

This was a truly great book. It was an adorable love story and carried a wonderful message.

Katie and Hutch are very cute together. Despite the somewhat “trope overload” I experienced in this book, it felt very natural to me. I didn’t even mind the tiny bit of miscommunication Center snuck in there. I loved Hutch. He really is just a sweet guy out there doing his best, and I love him for that. I also appreciated George Bailey’s dedication to helping them out. His efforts did not go unnoticed.

I really like all the characters in this novel. They all felt like very real people. Hutch felt a little too perfect at times but I think it balanced out in the end the more we got to know him. This book had a nice bit of everything you could want: complicated family dynamics to jerk your tears, a journey of self love, and heartwarming friendships. Cole kind of sucks, but his arc with Hutch and Rue was both interesting to follow and natural to the plot. Katie deserves her own paragraph, so I'll get to her in a minute. Rue and The Gal’s friendship was such a nice background for this story, which, at its heart, carries the idea that everything will be okay with time if you work for it. I will say, I wish I had seen a bit more of Katie’s relationship with Beanie. While their interactions were all lovely and important, I wish I had seen more of the mundanity I saw from them at the start of the novel.

The progression of this story, even though I literally never knew what was going to happen next, flowed very naturally. It all made sense while simultaneously being unpredictable, so props to Center for that. I also feel like I learned a lot about the Coast Guard in this book—I was right there with Katie at the beginning—so that was a fun bonus!

Speaking of Katie... She was one of the most relatable FMCs, for me personally, that I’ve read in while. As a woman who has dealt with her fair share of body insecurities, Katie's thoughts and feelings were something I felt very strongly. This novel truly impacted my view of how I think about my body and I can say for certain that I will think of this book any time I'm feeling negative for a long time. Thank you, Katherine Center, for writing such an honest depiction of what it means to be a woman today and for helping me change the way I think. I appreciate it more than you know.

This was a good book. I did not know where it was going to end and it kept me on my toes and I had a great time reading it. I would highly recommend it, as not only is it a fantastic read, but it truly made me reassess the way I treat myself.

3.5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ this book looks like a breezy rom-com, but it’s actually about something much deeper. at its core, it’s a story about body image, self-worth, and the hard, messy work of learning to love yourself. the romance is there, but this felt much more like women’s fiction to me. the tone is chatty, chaotic, and honestly super over the top! but honestly I couldn't put it down.

that said, the handling of the body image theme sometimes felt at odds with the book’s lighter tone. it definitely won’t land for everyone. a lot of what katie struggled with mirrored things i’ve seen my loved ones go through, so I found myself empathizing, but the conversation stayed pretty surface level, and the resolution was a bit oversimplified. it could definitely be triggering for some readers so if you're in a sensitive place with food or body image, please read with care.

what worked:
– key west setting + forced proximity combo
– genuinely funny internal thoughts that break the fourth wall
– katie’s voice was relatable, messy, and easy to root for
– the great dane 🐾 a total star!!

what didn’t work:
– the body image arc is central to the book, but you’d never know that from the marketing
– cole. i hate him!
– the MMC being described as an “alpha” (ugh)
– some moments were so melodramatic they made it hard to take things seriously

thanks to st. martin's press and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest thoughts!

This book was actually pretty enjoyable and easy to read. I feel like it did a good job demonstrating what Katie and tons of other people deal with in their everyday life. I also really enjoyed Katie and Hutch together. I liked the setting and how Katie was able to grow from the beginning to end along with Hutch and Cole’s relationship. A couple of things I didn’t like is I felt like I didn’t feel the tension between Hutch and Katie, I felt like it just happened randomly and then they moved on. I would have liked more build up and little moments that make the reader desperate. Maybe if it was from Hutches perspective also it would have worked. I also felt that things kept happening fast and kind of randomly, like how suddenly she said yes to Cole and just things like that. Another thing I did like though was the setting of Key West and of course George Madison. I also liked the way it was written because I felt like Katie was telling us the story and I wasn’t just reading it if that makes sense. Overall I really enjoyed my first Katherine Center book and can’t wait to read more!!!

3.75⭐️ rounded up!

Katie is a delightful, talented, loyal cinematic director who gets thrown into a job she wasn’t supposed to be in but can’t refuse… otherwise she won’t have a job! What she didn’t expect was to meet and be adopted by group of older & wiser gal pals, conquer some fears, and also fall for Hutch, the stunningly handsome and perfect subject of her current project!

Enjoyed this light, flirty, fun book! Some parts were over the top and I found myself saying “surely that’s not going to happen”, and then it would happen - but I think that’s also what made it fun to me. Cute summer read for sure!

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

I absolutely loved this!! So many funny lines that had me actually laughing out loud. On top of the endearing love story you know is coming, expect to be smitten with the friendships - Beanie and Katie, The Gals, George Bailey and his toad🫶. I appreciated the major themes of family, self-love, and living life in color.

I think this one would make a great movie. Many thanks to St Martin’s Press for the ARC! And to Katherine Center for writing another story to warm my heart. 💖

I was so happy to have found this book early at BN for a book signing last week and i devoured it.

All the characters are so relatable.
Love Katie so much and felt for her with her body image struggles specially with such a negative step mother.

This is one of my fave reads

Another great rom-com by this author! I really liked Katie. She was the type of character that feels like she could be my friend. Her life has been a bit of a mess and that's how she ends up doing the video for the Coast Guard. Who knew it would change her life. I thought Hutch was completely swoony. He is a hero on so many fronts. The relationships with the supporting characters was great. The Great Dane is absolutely my favorite character in the book. I laughed out loud a lot during this book and yet it was so full of heart! Pick it up and settle in for a great mood lifting book! I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I didn't end up loving this one. I had a hard time with the eating disorder storyline and I just had a hard time getting into the book in general. I usually live Katherine Center books, so I'll keep trying her new releases but this I've wasn't a good fit for me.

I will forever love Katherine Center! And any time she writes a book, I will read it.
She writes beautiful and inspiring fiction for women, with love stories are to swoon for.
I admire Katherine for writing on the topic of body image, and the struggle to love yourself as you are. However, I wish she took it a step further, because the topic was lost and dropped and I found myself wanting more depth in the characters.
I still recommend this book to all of my romance lovers.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

Format:

~ 📱 Ebook: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Overall rating: 4.8

🔥 Slow-burn
❤️ Love after heartbreak
🫶🏼 Self-discovery
🏋🏼‍♀️ Body image
🫂 Found family
🐶 Dog companion

The Love Haters begins with Katie's coworker Cole saving her from being cut from her job by having her interview his brother Hutch for a video promo so he doesn't have to. What ensues is a fun and hilarious ride.

~ First line:
It was quitting time on a Friday, but Cole Hutcheson didn’t care.

~ Favorite line:
We’re here to be alive. To feel the sun on our skin. To breathe deep in the wind. We’re here to feel it all. To love and cry and love some more. We’re here to rescue ourselves— and everybody else— in every way that we can.

✴️ World building: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The set-up was perfect!

✴️ Writing style/ flow: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I could not put this book down!

✴️ Character development: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
LOVE, love, love these characters! I love the banter between Katie and Hutch. Also, Rue is fabulous!

✴️ Plot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The web of lies seemed a little far-fetched to me, but it all came together in the end. I truly loved this story!

✴️ Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Absolutely enjoyed! I've never read anything by this author and I will definitely be reading more!

*** Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy. I'm grateful for the opportunity to review. All opinions are my own.

Was this the best book I've ever read? No, but it also wasn't the worst. Starting with the positive, I enjoyed the development Katie & Hutch's relationship and the moments between the two of them, as well as Hutch's dog. I also thought that Hutch's aunt, Rue was such an inspiring character and I aspire to live my life as boldly and colorful as her! Now in terms of what I didn't enjoy... everything else. First thing first, this book needed a trigger warning in the beginning for eating disorder and negative body image. Not knowing that those two things were going to be the main focal point of this story, was shocking and made my reading experience so much less enjoyable. I also just found Katie to not be super likable as well as her colleague and cousin. I debated DNFing this book but Hutch was the saving grace.

In The Love Haters, Katherine Center delivers another uplifting, emotionally rich romance with her signature blend of wit, heart, and hard-won hope. This time, the story takes us from office politics to ocean rescues as video producer Katie Vaughn is sent on assignment to profile a Coast Guard rescue swimmer—only to discover her subject is none other than Hutch Hutcheson, the golden boy who broke her heart years ago.

Katie is everything you'd want in a Center heroine: smart, guarded, and achingly human. Her emotional armor is tight, her skepticism high—and yet Hutch, with his sun-drenched charm and quiet steadiness, starts to chip away at both. What begins as a professional inconvenience slowly turns into a reckoning with her past and, more importantly, her future.

Set against the salty air and sunset glow of Key West, the book tackles vulnerability, healing, and what it really means to choose love, even when it's scary. The romance is slow-burn perfection—filled with banter, unspoken history, and moments that feel like breathless freefalls—and the emotional payoff is deeply satisfying.

Katherine Center doesn’t just write love stories; she writes growth stories. And this one, full of warmth, humor, and second chances, is a testament to the power of letting go and leaning in.

Tropes: second chance romance, workplace tension, sunshine x guarded, emotional healing, forced proximity
Vibes: ocean breeze, flirty tension, journalistic chaos, deep-heart epiphanies

This was great! It contained the exact amount of humor and vulnerability I've come to expect from Katherine Center. But what was unexpected was how healing this was. Watching Katie face her fears over her body image AND heal from her toxic af ex? Incredible! I was crying one minute and laughing the next. Thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

Somehow I didn't see the conflict at the end coming, even though it makes total sense when you consider Hutch's job... I can't say I loved the turn it took, but I do love how it ended!

Thank you to Netgally for the ARC ebook. Katherine Center has quickly become an auto read author for me and I knew I wanted this new one asap. The Love Haters did not disappoint. I fell in love with the main characters. The author note at the end was so touching. Really enjoyed this book, go buy it!

“You’re like a human hot fudge sundae or something”

The Love Haters is a fun, flirty, feel-good escape set in sunny Key West, where Katie—our video-producer-turned-fake-swimmer—finds herself in way over her head (in more ways than one 👀) when she’s sent to film a Coast Guard hero who just so happens to be her co worker's grumpy brother.

This had all the rom-com energy I love: laugh-out-loud moments, quirky side characters (Rue and George Bailey = ICONS), and a FMC you genuinely want to root for! While I wish there had been a bit more romance between Katie and Hutch (and a little less repetition of “love hater”), I still had an absolute blast with this one. The perfect easy, breezy summer read!

What to expect:
🏝️ Key West sunshine
❤️‍🩹 Self-discovery
🌤️ Grumpy x sunshine
💗 Found family w/the BEST quirky and fun side characters

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️