4 out of 5 Stars!

Katie Vaughn currently has two choices: wait to get laid off at her job as a video producer or take on a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, who is a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The problem? Well, she can’t swim. But, she is going to fake it until she makes it. Even though Key West is paradise, this won’t be an easy job as Hutch doesn’t exactly love the spotlight. Will Katie be able to win him over, so she can keep her job? Or will she sink?

“The Love Haters” by Katherine Center has a BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL cover that really caught my attention when I was looking at Advanced Readers Copies this past winter. Little did I know that this book would be equally bright and colorful on the inside too! Katherine Center’s romances are my favorite, with characters that are so relatable with big, bold and refreshing plots. “The Love Haters” was no different!

I loved our couple, Katie and Hutch. They had such interesting jobs that kept me entertained throughout the book. I could really tell that Katherine Center did a lot of research while writing this book, as there was so much information I learned along the way about video production and the coast guard. I really liked Katie and Hutch on their own, as they both had huge character development throughout the book. I did like them as a couple, but I felt like their relationship felt a little more forced than natural. I still liked them together, but I can’t say they are my favorite fiction couple.

My one complaint with this book was the small details. Normally, I love small details as they help build up the story and just give extra information to make the plot more interesting. Personally, I felt like Katherine Center was trying to “check” things off of a list she made rather than letting them come naturally. For example, it is suspected that Katie had an eating disorder at one point in time (I don’t know if it was ever confirmed, so I will say suspected). Rather than going into that topic slowly, it felt very forced in the beginning of the book. I like the point Katherine Center was trying to make, about loving yourself and being brave, but I think I could have done with the suspected eating disorder. Also, please read the trigger warnings in this book if you think it will be beneficial to you. There were a lot of hard topics in this book which could ruin your reading experience.

I really loved the ending of this book. Obviously, I won’t be saying what happened as I don’t want to spoil it, but it felt very refreshing in comparison to other romance novels. I genuinely didn’t see it coming, which doesn’t happen for me a lot in the romance genre. Overall, this book had more romance going on than just Katie and Hutch. This was a love story between Katie and herself with family romance, sibling romance, and friendship romance. I think anyone can pick up this book and find a theme they really enjoy.

You can pick up “The Love Haters” by Katherine Center TODAY (May 20th, 2025). Happy publishing day!! Pick up your copy today!!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Katherine Center, and Netgalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This felt like a Katherine Center book. Funny moments, soft moments, and fun side characters. Our main characters definitely had some trauma to work through. The FMC but also issues stemming from childhood and just being a woman in the world. Her body issues do come up repeatedly, so make sure to take care of yourself if that’s something that triggers you.
I liked watching these two get to know each other and the will they or won’t they. The conflict made me angry (but not at our main two). I enjoyed the growth of the characters and the family relationships a lot in the story. It helped round it out and make our characters more relatable. I too have found myself on FaceTime doing *absolutely nothing* and being kept company. The story definitely put the comedy in romantic comedy, and can be a little over the top at times. But if you’ve liked past books of Katherine’s, you might love this one.

The end of this book really bumped my star rating from a three and a half to a four ⭐️

There were parts that were so wholesome and hilarious in this one! I loved that it was in key west (I’ve been 3 times with my husband and love the keys sm ❤️). Katie’s job as a videographer is on the line, so she decides to take the job her coworker Cole doesn’t want, to film an advertisement for the National coast guard. But there’s a catch … The coast guard’s “hero” doesn’t want to be famous, doesn’t want to be filmed, and is annoyed that Katie is there and not Cole because the only reason he agreed to any of this is because Cole is his long-lost brother! This changes everything!

Katie and Hutch’s slow burn romance is refreshing and so sweet! I enjoyed this slow burn romance, it wasn’t too cutesy and didn’t have any spice but that was fine with me. I think even though this was a slow pace all the build up was worth it for that ending 🥸🥸

Thank you netgalley & st martins press for this ebook arc! This one hits bookstores today 05/20! Be sure to check this fun summer read out! Perfect beach reach 🌊⛱️

This was unfortunately a miss for me.

A large portion of the plot centers around the main character’s issues with confidence and body image, which would have been fine if it was handled a little better. Many parts of the story read like a peppy self help book instead of a character going through a journey of self discovery.

I wish I could say that the romance part of the story was better delivered, but sadly there was very little chemistry to be seen, no witty banter in sight.

Overall, it seemed like the author had a lot she wanted to say in this story, but did not write a long enough book to flesh all those things out.

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have a hard time reviewing and rating Katherine Center books. Let's talk about why.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Love Haters by Katherine Center

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: Standalone

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: E-book ARC on Kindle. Courtesy of NetGalley.

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Romantic comedy

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Military man (Coast Guard), grumpy/sunshine, meet cute.

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Katie is about to get laid off, but that decisions relies on whether or not she goes a great job on her latest assignment - creating a promotional video for rescue divers in the Coast Guard. She's paired up with Hutch, a seasoned hero who doesn't have time for a documentary crew to follow him around. 

 🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: So let's step back here. Objectively, if I wasn't who I am, I would say this was an excellent book. It was well written. It was funny - I laughed actually out loud more than once. And the concept was fresh enough that it definitely didn't feel repetitive.

Katherine Center is a great writer. And this book had such a strange POV - it was in first person, but was written like Katie the FMC was just telling the reader a story. It was confusing at first, then endearing. 

But being who I am, I definitely wanted more. I wanted just the littlest bit of spice - three steamy kisses were the end of the line here. And I wanted the volume pumped up on the romance as well - even the epilogue didn't play into the HEA as much as I wished it would. I would kill for the slightest bit of a Hutch POV.

I feel like if I handed this to a friend, it would feel like the most solid recommendation. They'd love it. But if you are a seasoned romance reader, you might find it a bit light in the romance department.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 0/5 

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.

Katherine Center is an auto read for me, and this one is so good!!
Katie Vaughn immediately says yes to a new assignment to help boost her standing at her job since there are a lot of layoffs coming. But she wasn't given all the details, and she didn't disclose all of her shortfalls. So she quickly finds herself in Key West with a sweet old lady trying to help her overcome her chromophobia and with the responsibility of convincing Hutch, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, to allow her to interview him and somehow teach her how to swim. Throw in a great dane afraid of thunder, conga lines, a fake relationship, a famous ex, a lot of video calls with a BFF, and too many secrets, and you'll get a great fun romance story!
This is one of those books that I flew through and wished I read it slower because I loved living within this world for a bit. I appreciated the growth that Katie showed across the book in accepting and loving her body. I did struggle a bit with the lies/secrets everyone was keeping, especially a pretty big one, but I think the resolution of it was believable.
Definitely add this one to your TBR if you're a fan of Katherine Center, or Grumpy/Sunshine (although they both have their crossover moments) romances. Luckily for you it was published today, so go grab it at your favorite book selling location!
Thank you to @netgalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my review!
#NetGalley #TheLoveHaters

Kate has two choices; take a job she is wildly unprepared for or risk being next on the chopping block when company lay off start. She decides on the former and that's how the girl who doesn't know how to swim ends up in charge of the Coast Guard's new promotional video. It doesn't help that her subject is her coworker's brother who he was expecting to see instead and who he has some sort of familial animosity toward. It also doesn't help that he's gorgeous beyond belief has zero interest in doing the project with her and has a big dog who seems determined to knock her on her butt every time he sees her. Oh, and then there's that whole he hates love thing. Which is fine by her because love hasn't been too kind to her either. But the more time they spend together the more they start to second guess their outlook on life and love.

Katherine has this ability to combine humor and emotion creating what I would consider to be the perfect recipe for an addictive rom com that will stay with you long after you finish. Add in the delightful summer vibes and you've got your next must-read beach read. I fell hard and fast for these characters. As their struggles and histories were unraveled, I couldn't help but root for them even harder. Plus the cast of side characters were equally compelling including Aunt Rue and that meddling great dane George Bailey.

This is easily my favorite read of the month and I can't recommend it enough.

As a longtime Katherine Center fan, it pains me to say The Love Haters didn’t quite land for me. This is my first 3-star rating for one of her books, which feels a little like betraying a favorite author—but here we are. (to be fair- I would probably give it closer to a 3.5).

The setup had all the ingredients I love: humor, heart, a dreamy Key West setting, and a protagonist with something to prove. Katie Vaughn, a video producer roped into swim lessons and tangled family drama, had potential as a fun, flawed heroine. But while the story promised big emotions and swoony romance, the execution fell short. Katie and Hutch's chemistry felt more told than shown, and the romance didn’t sweep me up the way I hoped it would.

Supporting characters were hit or miss. Rue, Hutch’s eccentric aunt, brought some color, but others—like Katie’s friend Beanie and Hutch’s brother Cole—felt underdeveloped or unlikable. And while the book tried to tackle important topics like grief and body image, they often got lost in the shuffle of hijinks and humor that didn’t always land.

That said, there were still bright spots. The setting was vivid, the adventures fun, and Katie’s growth arc—learning to face fears and embrace herself—was worthwhile, even if uneven.

The Love Haters has moments of charm and will likely appeal to fans of light, feel-good rom-coms. It just didn’t hit the emotional sweet spot I’ve come to expect from Center’s work. Still, I’ll be the first in line for her next release—every author is allowed a miss now and then.

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Haters
By: Katherine Center

Thank you to @SMPromance for free book #SMPpartner #gifted All opinions are my own.

“Every time you have to be brave, you get to be a little braver next time.”

Okay, this pains me but I have to be honest and say that I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with The Love Haters

What I loved:
The writing
George Bailey
Hutch
The humor and wit that leaps off the page
All of the many sweet and tender moments
Learning more about the coast guard
Rue
The Gals
How Katie is fearless in some ways but not others
And finally: the author’s note at the end of the book - chef’s kiss

What I didn’t love:
Cole (in bold!)

The fact that at a certain point Katie realizes that she is a pawn in Cole’s pathetic, petty and pathological game and yet she just goes along with it. She pretends to be his girlfriend even when she sees that it is hurting the person she is falling in love with and despite knowing that it will likely destroy the relationship that she and Hutch have started to build. To be honest, I wanted to throw my book across the room at that moment and I’m still not over it.

The depth to which Katie’s body dysmorphia influences her self-worth (I’m adding this part here but honestly it wasn’t really that I disliked this part of the story only that it made me sad)

My final thoughts: It’s been a week since I finished The Love Haters and I still don’t know where I land on the scale between love and hate (PS: I am nowhere near hate) but I will say this, no matter what, I will always come back to Katherine Center’s books and I am so eager to see what she writes next!

Read if you like:

Found family
Adorable four-legged friend
Closed Door
Fun setting
Forced Proximity
Workplace romance
Cozy, small town vibe

Sadly, I made the choice to put this down. It was solely based on myself going through my own journey with my body image. I just found that extremely hard at the moment to read about. That is not to say that I will never pick this back up when I’m in a better headspace. I love Katherine Center’s books and will continue to read her releases.

I wanted to love this book, I just couldn’t.
I never fell in love with Katie like I usually do Katherine Center’s protagonists. And Cole? Nope. I was so mad at him for being so petty.
However, Aunt Rue came along and saved the day for the book. How could you not love her to begin with. And then when you know her backstory with Cole & Hutch, you love her a little more.
It was a good read, just not what I have come to expect from one of my go-to authors.

The book centers around a woman who has a lot of body insecurities who takes a job filming a video for the National Guard (despite not knowing how to swim). She meets Hutch (and falls in love with him) and a group of older women who help her overcome her insecurities.

This book reminds me a lot of Katherine Centers older books, which I loved. Do not get me wrong, I like the Bodyguard and found it to be very cute and fluffy, but I preferred her work that had some more depth to it.

I think many women (actually people in general because body insecurities are not specific to women) go through periods of time when we hate our bodies and need to learn how to love and appreciate our bodies again. I think Katherine Center did a good job of showing how damaging it can be to start having those insecurities at a young age.

The book centers on her growing as a person and learning to overcome her insecurities and emotional damage caused not only by her ex fiance but by her step mother as well. She does end up overcoming a lot of her issues and learns to love and appreciate her body (obviously in real life it would take a lot longer than the time period described in the book but it is a book).

Now for the MMC
The MMC is in the national guard and I learned more about the national guard than I knew before starting this book. He was good to the FMC (although that scene at the end even though it felt on brand for him still kinda rubbed me the wrong way), but I am not a fan of the whole describing a man as alpha. I am not sure when that became a thing but we need to move away from that. I liked his relationship with his aunt and with her friends. I also loved his dog.

I would not necessarily call this book a romance, though. It does have romance in it but like a lot of her other books the romance is not the main point of the book. If you are looking for a book with a lot of romance, you might not like this book.

I do think that the book could have shown more of the relationship between the two main characters. The ending also felt a little rushed to me. I also did not really like Cole. Honestly he was really childish and his actions were rude.

Overall, I did like the book and rated it 3.85 stars (I rounded up because I do love the author). I will continue to read all of her books (I also like that her books are closed door). I did go into the book thinking it was more of a romance and that did somewhat impact my score. I also lowered the score a little because of the rushed ending and the whole brother thing.

Thank you to netgallery and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

QUICK GLANCE-
My format: e-book
Other formats- 📖Physical (320 pages) 🎧Audio (10 hours and 33 minutes)
Spice: 🌶️
Language: 🤐mild

MY THOUGHTS-
Happy Pub Day to The Love Haters by @katherinecenter ! This cover just screams “beach read”, so def add this to your summer TBR! Katherine Center is one of those authors I can always count on for a mood-lifting rom-com. Her stories are warm, engaging, and filled with heart, even when her characters are facing real-life struggles. Also, don’t skip the author’s note on this one... it was beautiful!

READ IF YOU LIKE-
👵🏼 Funny Seniors
🛟 Coastguard
🩱 Body positivity
📹 Documentary
💼 Coworkers
🐶 Man’s best friend
☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine

A special thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the e-arc!

‼️CW: eating disorders, body dysmorphia, helicopters, hurricanes, death of family members

3.25 stars

I first picked up a Katherine Center book, THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE, about 6 years ago and have been a fan ever since. She gives her characters interesting backstories and throws some humor into the mix. THE LOVE HATERS was a pleasant read but unfortunately out of the 8 books I’ve read by this author, it ranks pretty low on the list.

Video producer Katie Vaughn is on assignment in Key West where she is doing a profile on Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson. Neither one is looking for love. They won’t open their hearts and develop romantic feelings for each other. Not gonna happen. A strictly professional relationship, right?

Both characters are nice people and everything but I wasn’t wowed by their chemistry. It was there but not off the charts. The story itself is okay although I didn’t care for the brother entering the picture again. (Don’t ask me for details because I read the book about 3 months ago so my memory is fuzzy other than remembering it bugged me at the time.) And of course everything built up to the a scenario at the end that was a tad far fetched but I just rolled with it.

Don’t get wrong, it still was a positive reading experience even though I had some issues along the way. Her books are always worth reading if you enjoy the romcom genre.

Synopsis: Katie is a video producer on the verge of getting fired. As a last ditch effort to keep her job, she takes a gig profiling her boss’s brother, a Coast Guard hero who doesn’t want to be profiled. Only, she can’t swim. And she most definitely has to pass a swim test to be allowed in the Coast Guard helicopter. Whoever will teach her how to swim?!

My thoughts: Katherine Center is an auto-buy author for me. She consistently delivers sweet rom-coms that are low on spice but high on warm fuzzy feelings, deep themes, and a prevailing sense of hope. The Love Haters delivered all that and more!

Although there is an adorable romantic love story, Katie’s journey away from body image issues and towards self-love was the real star of the show for me, perhaps because that’s an issue I very readily identify with. Katie’s struggles felt genuine and true-to-life, and I thought Katherine Center handled them with just the right balance between care and levity. I am always amazed at her ability to talk about deep and emotionally complex topics while still making me smile and laugh!

The setting felt vibrant, the characters were endearing and believable, the relationship was adorable, and story made me both laugh and also GRIN like a little kid on the swings. My only (slight!) critique is that there were a couple of moments near the end that felt almost too outlandish to be believable, but I suppose if they had happened to anyone, it would have been Katie 😂.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good story that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. I did receive a digital ARC of this book, but also purchased a copy of my very own today when it released, which should honestly tell you all you need to know!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC of this book, and thank you to @katherinecenter for continuing to write books that help me hope when life feels hard 💕

𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚 🎭: Chick lit/women's fiction
𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚: 🚫
𝙋𝙖𝙘𝙚 🏃🏼‍♀️: fast
𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 🖤: surface level humor & light on romance, great side character
⚠️: on page self loathing/body image/ED

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝:
🌸kooky aunt rue & The Gals
🌸writing style/quips and internal dialogue
🌸comedy of events

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞:
✌🏻grating amount of self loathing around past and current eating and body image issues - where most of the plot is spent in a bathing suit
✌🏻lack of actual romance

KC is comfortably moving into the women's fiction/chick lit category in my opinion. This is a very LIGHT on romance book, has some heavier themes, wide variety of side characters, and a couple points of contention. Mostly read like a summer fiction with humor intertwined.

I actually really loved some of the ridiculous scenes that were thrown in for comedic relief - it made for a super fast binge able read. I very much like KC's writing style, even when I'm not sold on the characters or the love components.

Thank you to SMP for the review copy! All opinions are my own.

Katie is sent to the Florida Keys to interview and film Hutch for a Coast Guard video. She's doing it to try to save her job, but she doesn't have the whole story. Immediately, Hutch isn't glad she's there because he was expecting his brother. He quickly changes his mind , though. Cue some misunderstandings (some on purpose), plus their meddling aunt Rue, and Hutch's huge dog. Some scenes are really funny, some are heartfelt, and some are dangerous. This book was worth it in the end, but the start was a bit slow. I still really enjoyed it because I love Katherine Center.

The fmc is just unlikable. All she does is complain without trying to come up with any solution. She got herself into a situation where she KNEW she would have to swim for her JOB, complained the entire time that she couldn’t do it and just kept saying she didn’t want to. That’s not how the world works. Or if you really don’t want to then fine, quit and deal with the consequences of losing your job. Also her entire personality being her struggles with her body image was extremely draining.

Lastly, as someone who was in the military, a lot hod those aspects were very oddly written to the point they came off super cringey. When Katie, a civilian, asked if she needed to salute, it was extremely off putting.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to Katherine Center, St. Martin’s, and NetGalley for an ARC of The Love Haters! All opinions are my own.

Katherine Center truly cannot help but write bangers. The Love Haters, like her previous work, is both delightfully funny while also heartwarming and so real that I have several quotes and passages marked to share with my therapist.

I think sometimes there are books that come into your life when you really need them the most and this was one of them. Katie‘s journey, along with her changing and developing relationship with her body really did something for me at this point in my life. The emotions and experience of being seen and loved when all you want is to disappear was beautiful, and I’ll be thinking about these characters and this book for a long time.

POV: first person singular

You can expect: forced proximity, opposites attract, longing at first sight, meddling Great Dane, he falls first, self love, filmmaker FMC, Coast Guard rescue swimmer MMC.

Rep: eating disorder, grief, body dysmorphia

Spice: none

CW: past cheating by a partner, eating disorder, death of parents (implied DUI, past)

This was my first Katherine Center book and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a cute romance story, which I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised by the deeper meanings and messages explored throughout: the difficult task of learning to love yourself, the importance of family, being unapologetically you, and how recovering from trauma is a lifelong journey.

I relate to Katie and found her journey of discovering what she loves about herself and owning it to be inspiring. The journey of loving yourself and getting to a point where you truly believe it.

I really enjoyed the writing style and was looking forward to finding out how all of the events would unfold the whole time I was reading it. I’m excited to read more Katherine Center in the future!

Thank you for the ARC!!