I have been a fan of Katherine Center for a few years now, so to say I was excited to be approved for this ARC is a huge understatement!! I love the witty and charming way that she writes.

This specific story deals with some big emotions surrounding the FMC’s (Katie) abusive step mother, which resulted in very poor self confidence. The overall message and healing she goes through in this story is so powerful. As a military spouse I also really loved the Coast Guard MMC (Hutch)
nicknamed “Pup Daddy” after a rescue of his went viral.

I will always and forever read anything she writes. Thank you so much to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!!

The Love H8ters by Katherine Center 💚
Standalone

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Adult • Romance
ARC Review
320 pages
🗓️ May 20

💚workplace romance
🩷close proximity
💚found family
🩷slow burn

📌 “You’re not not forgettable. You’re unforgettable.”

📌 “So you really do h8te love.”
“A lot. So much.”
“I h8te it, too.”
“Good choice. Let’s h8te it together.”

Sometimes we fall in love with someone else. Sometimes we fall in love with ourselves. Sometimes we fall in love with ourselves while falling for someone else… because we fall in love with someone, so we can fall in love with someone else.

I was 7 when my dad’s mom told me I was fat. I never thought I was fat. Or skinny. Or anything. I had a body. It was mine. My parents told me I was pretty and smart. So I knew that. But not fat. But maybe it was just something I was and it was okay because I was me and I was who I was.

Then my parents separated. And I thought it was me. Maybe I was fat and things like that happened to people like me. But they figured things out so maybe it wasn’t because I was fat?!

Not that long after my best friend got a boyfriend and she didn’t want to hang out with me as much. Which is normal. Or maybe it was because I was fat. I didn’t have a boyfriend. I didn’t want one eww but maybe it was because I was fat?! And so it went. You get the logistics of it. And it took me forever to stop limiting my calories, my food, my life. It took me forever to love all things myself.

Love is complicated. Love is ever evolving. Love is a moving, pulsing, living thing. And if I ever get to h8te love, I hope I get to h8te it with the ones I love too.

All of this to say, thank you @katherinecenter .

Sincerely, that 7 year old girl.

I had a really good time with this book, and didn’t want to put it down! 🏝✨

Thank you to MacMillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press and Raincoast Books for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.

✦ tropes & stuff:
✨ self love/body image
🛟 coast guard rescue swimmer
🎥 video journalist
⛅️ grumpy sunshine
🔗 forced proximity
🏝 tropical setting - Key West
🫶🏼 family + found family
💖 single 1st person pov

📝 mini blurb:
Desperate to not lose her job, Katie, a video producer, agrees to an assignment profiling Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Hutch.
Unfortunately, Katie doesn’t know how to swim - thankfully she ends up with a very good teacher 🤭

Katie’s has many adventures in Key West, and finds herself (and love) in the process.

•┈••✦ review ✦••┈•

⭐️: 4.5/5
🌶️: closed door, kissing only

Just want to start my review with a bit of a content warning - I’m not sure if this has been added in the final version, as I had an uncorrected proof.

This book has a heavy focus on body image & disordered eating. Katie, the fmc, spends a lot of the book learning to love her body. In the author’s note at the end, Katherine mentions how it’s an enemies to lovers story between them.

Personally, I found a lot of her thinking to be very relatable, and I connected well with the character, but I can see it possibly being triggering for others.

💭 what I loved about this one:
- their meet-cute(ish - technically the 2nd time they met)
- their banter, and Katie’s thoughts, had me laughing out loud often
- why Hutch collects pennies 🥹
- “You’re like a human hot-fudge sundae or something” 🥹
- how both really didn’t know their appeal, and were able to show it to one another
- George Bailey 🐕 mischievous pup
- the hair clip 🌺
- I adored Rue & Beanie as side characters, their roles in the story & their wisdom

🙃 what didn’t quite work for me:
- Hutch giving into drinking, when he doesn’t drink for a very valid reason
- some of the lying made me uncomfortable, and I didn’t appreciate Cole’s lack of consent in the way he treated Katie

🎧 audiobook thoughts:
So cute, Patti Murin did a fantastic job and made this so fun & unforgettable!

📖 The Love Haters by Katherine Center
💜: contemporary romance
🎙 narrated by: Patti Murin

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC of The Love Haters. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for my complimentary audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I can always count on Katherine Center for a perfect summer read. The Love Haters does not disappoint.
The sights and sounds of Key West are an amazing backdrop. Katie and Hutch are about to take you on a rollercoaster of emotions.

Perfect if you like:
Personal growth
Family drama
Body positivity

Also included (and not my favorite)
Dog in perilous situation
Lies by omission

Once again, Patti Murin did an excellent job with the narration.

Katherine Center is my go-to author for the swoon and she did not disappoint with The Love Haters. I must admit that there were moments when I was frustrated by the lies/misunderstandings but I pushed through them knowing that the moments of resolution would be worth it and, of course, they were times 20! Hutch puts the H in hero, Katie is an extremely relatable FMC with great character development, but George Bailey stole the show. Loved it.

Katherine Center has done it again! With every one of her novels, I fall in love with a new book boyfriend and am thoroughly smitten with the side characters in the story. This time, Hutch is, in his brother's words and in reality, absolutely perfect, and Aunt Rue, George Bailey and Katie are wonderful characters that made me laugh and cry (sometimes at the same moment).

My favorite aspect of the novel was how the author addresses body dysmorphia, without ever naming it or really letting us know what Katie actually looks like. The message was clear--it just isn't important. Katie has issues with body confidence and I could totally relate to her, as will many readers. Her relationship with her cousin is the best girlfriend we all need, boosting confidence and keeping you humble at the same time. I loved her so much! I also enjoyed Rue and her friends, they were such a fun group and reminded me of a group of my friends who are older ladies just enjoying everything about life.

I've seen some of the less stellar reviews, and was a little nervous going into this one. I am very happy to say that if you are a fan of rom-coms, enjoy a closed door romance, and especially one where the main character makes significant personal growth through the novel, you will love The Love Haters.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Katherine Center for the digital ARC of The Love Haters. The opinions in this review are my own.

I want to start by saying I typically love Katherine Center’s books. I look forward to her new work every year and I typically rate them between a 4.5/5 stars. I was so excited to get this arc and saw some initial positive reviews. Right off the bat I was hit with a character who clearly had had an eating disorder and disordered eating habits. There were no trigger warnings for this which is something that when it comes to eating disorders is so important. I have read books before that dealt with this topic and they were handled with care and included trigger warnings at the front of the book. That certainly was not the case here and I’m honestly gob smacked that both the author and the publisher did not deem these necessary when putting this book out into the world. For a woman approaching 40, disordered eating habits and body dysmorphia affected myself and many of my friends, specifically in our 20s when all we saw in the media was content that promoted this.

I definitely think that there is a place for sensitive topics in romantic comedies when they are handled with care. That is certainly not the case here. Very disappointed.

I want an Aunt Rue in my life—who doesn't? She was such a bright spot in this story. I also really enjoyed the Coast Guard angle, which added a unique twist. That said, Cole just didn’t work for me. He annoyed me early on, and unfortunately, that never really changed. I found myself wanting more of the actual love story between Hutch and Katie . There were moments I enjoyed, but overall it just didn’t fully deliver for me.

The Love Haters is an entertaining, funny, heartfelt novel about facing your fears and loving yourself. Katie has struggled with her weight and her body image since she was a teenager So she is panicked to learn to save her job she has to film a recruitment video featuring Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. Additional problems; she can't swim, and Hutch only agreed to the video when he thought it would be filmed by his brother (Katie's co-worker).
As Katie gets trapped in the increasingly tangled web of lies, she finds herself drawn to the handsome Hutch, his sweet Great Dane (named George Bailey) who is afraid of thunder, and his eccentric Aunt Rue. This is a wonderful slow burn rom-com filled with forced proximity, found family, adventures, and healing of old wounds. It was heartfelt, and very sweet.


Thank you St Martin’s Press, Katherine Center, and NetGalley for the e-arc

I really enjoyed The Rom-Commers and The Bodyguard, so I was hoping this was similar. I feel like this book leaned more towards women's lit than romance. While the romance aspect was there, the real story is Katie's personal growth. Katie's body image issues were pervasive and she had a lot of work to do with loving herself. Hutch was lovely, but he was almost too perfect and humble. Rue was probably my favorite character while Cole was awful.

4.25 stars!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for this eArc. My opinions are my own.

Katherine Center is an auto buy author for me and I adore her books. This one is really good! I went through all of the emotions in this one. There was even a part that I was terrified for the main character Katie. The MMC, Hutch is kind and amazing in the best possible way and the FMC Katie has a lot of body image issues she has to work through and the author handled it well. I highly recommend this book.

I've been huge fan of Center but this was a disappointment to me. Katie, who makes promotional films, is coopted to make one for the Coast Guard featuring Hutch, a rescue swimmer who happens to be the brother of her boss Cole. Of course Katie can't swim and of course, she's coming off a bad broken relationship (the time line doesn't work). She's also got a real body image problem. Hutch for his part has a romantic disaster in his recent past (although it didn't make sense) but he's got a great dog named George Bailey. And there's a hurricane. This has a lot going on and some of it is a muddled mess (Cole). The pros are the side characters, especially Rue (her backstory deserves a bit more attention), Beanie, and George Bailey. There was too much gratuitous admiring of Hutch's body (I got it the first time-he's hot). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Enough from me- I'm going to put this one down to a surprising miss from a favorite author and look forward to the next one.

I loved it. It felt completely relatable with the season of life im in (weight gain with perimenopause 🙄) and I just loved the message of loving your own body- because it’s yours.

This one felt like a mix between her older style of writing and her new. Very in line with her books Hello Stranger and The Bodyguard.

Each character felt mature but also struggling with something of their own and I just thought the whole message of the book was good.

The reason I love Katherine Center so much is because her books are fun and meaningful with life lessons and you usually learn about something completely new to you.

This time we’re diving into body image and I just really truly appreciated the perspective of loving your body because it’s YOUR body.

Katherine Center's books are always such a treat to read. In The Love Haters, we witness the budding relationship between Katie, a video producer and Hutch, a Coast Guard rescue. With Katie filming the way Hutch works, it's inevitable the two will get closer however obstacles get in the way of their love and the two find themself being pushed apart. 

This was such an engaging read. I had an ebook copy as well as an audiobook copy and loved the way the narration brought the characters to life. George Bailey stole the show for me though! What a cute pup! Peppered with humour and banter throughout, I am so glad this book lived up to my high expectations.

My favorite Center book in a while! I loved the journey of reframing her relationship with herself that Katie went on! Seeing her become more confident and brave was such a joy! And obviously loved the journey between Huck and Katie! They were absolutely perfect. Plus George Bailey was such a bright spot!

When trying to save her job and film a profile on her coworker's brother the last thing she expects is to fall for the guy who is said to hate love. Katie Vaughn's life was turned upside down when her fiancee, a famous musician, dumped her and the internet destroyed her image and now she's hidden herself and is working on her insecurities day by day. Katie is a video producer but when her company is beginning to make cuts her coworker offers her a chance to make a career making gig profiling Tom "Hutch" Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in the Key West. While Katie might not be qualified (she can't swim) she'll do anything to keep her job... the only ting is that her coworker never mentioned that the profile would be on his brother... or the fact that he and his brother. do not get along at all. Katie heads off to do the profile while also befriending a group of great old ladies, work on her swim suit phobia, and meet the guy that is said to hate love... only he's perfect, he's sweet, fun, and amazing... too bad when her coworker comes back pretending to be her boyfriend do things go bad and oh did I forget to mention that there is a hurricane coming along with the mess that the family drama and lies will create. This book definitely make a fun movie, and I do think that the heavy focus on Katie's extreme insecurities and her work on her body image was really well done because it's true, we can all relate to how she feels and how she struggles, but it's great to see her grow to love herself and feel more secure about herself. I kind of wish there was more to the romance because it had so much more potential but it just kind of ends where I wish there was another epilogue or something more about the ending for Katie and Hutch. Its a fun read overall and I had a fun time getting to see Katie's misadventures. I can't wait to read Katherine's next book and would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a feel good book!

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Katherine Center does it again! I loved this book just as much, if not more, as her other books!
Katie and Hutch are two “love-haters” who seem to be hopeless with finding love. Hutch is too busy with his job, and Katie is just over a year past getting publicly dumped by her fiancée.
In a desperate attempt to save her job, Katie packs for a trip to Key West to film a promo video for the US Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue team.
Rue and her ladies were a fun addition. I pictured Rue as Blanche from Golden Girls and that mental image made her character even better in my head.
Throw in a cute Great Dane pup named George Bailey, and that just tied the book up into a sweet, romance package. 💜

The Love Haters is the newest novel from Katherine Center. I really enjoyed this story as it’s not just a love story between two people but also a love story that the FMC had with herself. The journey of body acceptance. It’s also a beautiful story of found family and healing.

Katie Vaughn is a documentary film maker whose job is threatened by budget cuts. Her supervisor, Cole, sends her on an assignment in Key West where she has to follow a famous Coast Guard rescue swimmer, who also happens to be Cole’s brother, Hutch. Katie’s biggest problem is she can’t swim but she’s willing to take a crash course to keep her job.

Cole warns Katie that his brother is love hater. He hasn’t dated in a year and hates fun. Katie feels like a love hater too so she has no issue working with Hutch. Katie and Hutch initially get off to a rocky start but the more time they spend together the more Katie learns that Hutch is nothing like his brother described. Katie and Hutch have several hilarious, unfortunate encounters together, including several with his Great Dane. I always enjoy a fun, comedic element to liven a story.

As Katie is working on the documentary, taking swim lessons and qualifying to fly in the helicopter, she’s also working through a painful history that has led her to essentially hide herself. She has an extensive history of being body shamed starting in childhood and while dating her ex, a famous musician. This history led to an eating disorder and negative self talk. At the start of the story she is obsessed with her body and hiding it.

Along with Hutch, his Aunt Rue is instrumental in helping add color and confidence to Katie’s dark thoughts and life. It was one of the most beautiful aspects of this book. Katie’s journey of self acceptance was as vital as her developing relationship with Hutch. Hutch also finds himself needing to heal his relationship with his brother.

Katie’s journey with Hutch was up and down and fraught with misunderstandings that you have to read to experience. #nospoilers But it was also funny, heartwarming and beautiful. Go ahead and grab a copy of this book if you enjoy enemies to lovers in both a romantic relationship and relationship with self. But also if you enjoy found family, dogs, and healing from past hurts.

Thanks to Katherine Center, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC opportunity.

Katie takes an assignment as a videographer to interview and follow Coast Guard swimmer Tom "Hutch" Hutchinson in Key West. He requested his brother Cole, Katie's coworker, to do the interview and is less than happy with the switch. Dropped in the middle of the Hutchinson family drama Katie is determined to make the best of it and find herself falling for him.
While this was a solid romance with great characters, it's not my favorite by this author. I like the self-love coaching but it was a bit overdone. The behind the scenes with the coast guard helicopters was fascinating and made Hutch a great hero to love. The final drama brought my rating up to 4.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Katherine Center never disappoints! On top of her romances, she makes you want to love yourself, in addition to falling in love!

As a girl that went to Key West every year in March with my grandparents, I loved that the story took place there, it was nostalgic and made me miss spending time with my late grandparents.

The romance between the two characters didn't feel natural, for once I was more interested in their journey of self acceptance than I was of the romance.

George Bailey, the Great Dane, was everything in this book! Even if you don't like the characters, stay for the dog.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, and Katherine Center for the opportunity to review this book!