The narrators were really good and portrayed the characters and their dialogue really well. I loved the way both of them pronounced the words and I feel they both really added to getting to enjoy the feel of the story, even more.

This book is a total rom-com vacation—with chaos, chemistry, and just enough heart to keep you hooked from chapter one. Whether you're reading or listening, the story delivers a fun, flirty escape that feels like a beachy cocktail with a twist of emotional depth.

Katie Vaughn is the kind of heroine you root for instantly: smart, flustered, a little reckless, and just trying to keep her career from crashing and burning. Her new assignment? Profile a hunky Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West—who happens to be her coworker’s estranged brother. Oh, and she can't swim, but she’s pretending she can. What could possibly go wrong?

Enter Hutch: grumpy, gorgeous, and not particularly thrilled to have Katie tagging along. But as they’re thrown together—from swim lessons and helicopter rides to hurricanes and (incredible) stolen kisses—their dynamic shifts from awkward to electric. Add in Hutch’s eccentric Aunt Rue, a rescue Great Dane, and plenty of Key West mayhem, and you've got a story that’s equal parts hilarious and heartfelt.

The eBook is super bingeable, but the audiobook is a standout too. The narrator brings Katie’s inner monologue to life with just the right mix of sarcasm, vulnerability, and charm, making the banter and emotional moments hit even harder.

If you love grumpy/sunshine energy, accidental vulnerability, and heroines who keep digging themselves deeper (but in the most relatable way), this one’s a total win. Funny, sexy, and a little chaotic in all the best ways.

I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press and am voluntarily leaving my review.

“It was such a life-changing thought: that longing to be looked at lovingly, that longing to be lovable … that’s really also so much about wanting to be valued, and seen, and connected, and safe, and just deeply, fundamentally okay? Maybe we didn’t have to outsource that. Maybe we could fill that longing for ourselves.”

A favorite aspect of any Katherine Center book is the author’s note, where she discloses her inspiration or motivation for the title in question. I appreciate that deeper context, and it reveals the thoughts and planning that go into each title, which reinforces why they are successful and why they connect with readers: Center isn’t afraid to tackle real, messy topics.

In THE LOVE-HATERS, Center focuses on body positivity and self acceptance. Katie’s boyfriend is a musician finding success. While Katie was already struggling with being publicly analyzed and privy to strangers’ assessments of her value and worth based on outward appearances, when her boyfriend is caught cheating, she ends the relationship and is thrown into a tailspin. The intervening months were a dark time of her navigating the fallout.

When Katie has an opportunity to coordinate a promo video for the Coast Guard, she welcomes the chance to lose herself in a project where she can prove her worth. On this small island, she finds community and friendship and a new appreciation for herself. And, as can so often be the case, when we become most content with ourselves, we may find a partner well-suited to joining together alongside.

THE LOVE HATERS entertains readers, but behind that levity, we find ourselves dwelling on the lessons that Katie is learning, encouraged to internalize them for ourselves as well.

The audiobook is skillfully narrated by Patti Murin, who finds ways to characterize a host of personalities and her performance absolutely added to my enjoyment of the listening experience.

(Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.)

Katherine Center never fails, and this audio was up to par with everything else she has released that I've read. I can't ever get enough! Such a great read.

I absolutely adored this book. and the audio could do no wrong. Katherine Center can do no wrong in my eyes. I will listen to or read any of her books. Her writing is funny and has such depth, I anticipate anything she puts out. She writes complex characters that have depth to them that you are rooting for and that you want them to figure out and work out their issues so then can be together but in a healthy way. I would definitely recommend this book. I would read this a second time. Thank you Katherine for continuing to do what you do!

A great, quick romance read! I really enjoyed the audiobook and I definitely recommend! Katherine Center is definitely an autobuy author for me.

Another Katherine Center book that was 5 stars for me. When Katie has to learn how to swim in order to make a video featuring Hutch, for the Coast Guard promo, she is stuck tackling her own insecurities while managing a flirtatious friendship with “the love hater.” I absolutely loved these characters and the banter that they had. Watching them fall for one another as they tackled the video project, and watching Katie overcome the insecurities she had with her body, while learning to be open and honest about it, was really moving. As well as the way Hutch challenged her to see herself and her past in a better light. I thought this story had a unique plot and a great cast of characters that made it so much fun to read. Rue and The Gals were such an entertaining addition and made for a really well rounded story.
Patti Murin did a wonderful job with the audiobook. Her narration was clear, creating a great voice for the main character as she narrated her story, and I felt like I was really engulfed in the story. She also did a great job at creating distinct voices for each of the characters so that it was always clear when someone new was talking. I never found myself having to go back because I was confused with scene breaks or chapter breaks, or unsure of who was talking. She did a great job with the story and added emotion and depth to the experience.

I am a HUGE Katherine Center fan. Like she is one of my favorite authors. But this was a miss for me. I just didn’t connect with any of the characters and I felt alike the swing banter and chemistry was missing.
But the narrator of the audiobook was great, engaging and expressive in the perfect amounts.

A true love story for two love haters. I was drawn in, and held hostage by the story! Katherine Center does an incredible job at perfectly balancing backstory AND the present all while keeping engagement strong!

And bravo to Patty Murin! An audiobook that I forgot I was listening to, she did such a fantastic job!

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this book!

I love love love Katherine Center’s characters. She makes these books so much fun while also pulling at your heart. I really enjoyed the audiobook. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen in exchange for a review.

Rating: 4.25
Spice level: Low (kissing only)

The Love Haters is a chaotic summer romance in Key West, FL. This book covers some heavy topics so please check the trigger warnings before reading! Katie needs to save her Video Journalist job and her coworker Cole gives her a project that he didn’t want to do. Following his brother, Hutch, the viral hero who saved Jennifer Aniston’s dog! Katie and Hutch start hitting it off until Cole comes home and tells everyone that him and Katie are dating. This sends Katie into a lie she doesn’t even want to go along with but she needs to, to save her job. This messy summer romance will keep you on the edge of your feet to the very end.

Thoughts:

Katherine Center wrote this book for me. I am the target audience. This book was so a roller coaster of emotions, unnecessary lies, family trauma, the coolest dog, and the most unrealistic man to ever exist but you’d like to wish he did.

Tropes:

🩷 Found Family
🧡 Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer x Video Journalist
💛 Grumpy x sunshine
💚 Forced Proximity
🩵 Single POV
💜 Self Love Discovery

Heavy Topics / Trigger Warnings:

🛟 Body image / self hatred
💥 Death in car accident off page
🫀Heart Disease
🌊 Hurricane / Potential of drowning at sea


🚨SPOILER 🚨Character opinions:

Katie - Katie is the type of woman that triggers me. I had an unsettling time at the beginning of this story hearing all the self harm this girl did to herself. Unfortunately she was too relatable lol I felt like I was being called out!

Hutch - we love fictional men written by women! Hutch is an anomaly of a character and a man. This man has star power but he’s private, doesn’t give a fuck what people think about him, and is a good humble man. Like this man simply does can’t exist 🙂‍↕️ say thank you Katherine Center!

George Bailey - we love a good boy! I always love it when books have adorable animal friends who really add so much value to a story. George Bailey is such a good boy & a hero!

Rue - Rue is a magnificent woman! Her story is so heartbreaking yet so loving. This is a woman who needs to be praised. Losing her husband, planned to not have children in her life yet when she saw two orphaned children in her proximity she stepped in and took them in. Women are just so amazing. The acts of service they do on the accident anniversary is just so touching and beautiful I teared up. Aunt Rue is such a legend 🫶🏼

Cole - Cole, Cole, Cole…. What a MESS you created for no fucking reason even though he thought he was helping. This is such a typical man lol creates so much drama because their feelings are hurt. His lies were so ridiculous and expected Katie to go along with his lie just to hurt his brother. Like I was yelling at this man… pathetic 😭

Sullivan - The most unprofessional boss lady I have ever seen…. girl…. Anyways….

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for the early access in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyable, but I didn’t understand why the bit about counting calories was included. Especially without a content warning. I love the author but that section in such detail was unnecessary and upsetting.

Katherine Center always delivers an easy, fun romcom and this one hit the mark. It was everything I was looking for in a light summer read.

The Love Haters by Katherine Center

📖 About the book:

Katie Vaughn might be about to lose her job, so when her coworker Cole asks her to take on a big assignment profiling a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West, she says yes. The only catch is that she doesn't know how to swim and lies that she does. Things get even more complicated when she finds out the swimmer, Hutch, is Cole’s brother and they don’t get along. Once she’s in Key West, Katie gets caught up in swim lessons, beach parties, helicopter rides, one very large dog, and feelings she wasn't expecting.

💭 Thoughts:

This was a cute, lighthearted story with Katherine Center's signature humor and warmth. I really enjoyed the secondary characters, especially Hutch's aunt and the cute dog, and the tropical setting was perfect. While the book touches on topics like fear and body image, it doesn't go as deep as some of her other novels. Still, it was an easy and enjoyable summer read.

I listened o the audiobook, which made it even better, the narrator did a wonderful job.

I don't know why I waited so long to read this book. I loved it so much! It made me giddy but was also an emotional read. Hutch was the perfect Book Boyfriend. Hutch and Katies relationship was just too good. This felt like a true Rom-Com like it was the late 90's or early 00's movie.
Katherine Center is one of my top 5 Authors and I will continue to pick up her books.
I highly recommend this book.

The Love Haters was a beautiful romantic audiobook with grit and had such positive messages of self acceptance and learning to love yourself! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

3.5/5 stars. I know that I'm in the minority here, but I found this book to be mostly just ok (and pretty unmemorable, trying to write this review almost 6 months later). Hutch was so boring to me...if you're going to write a character who's a self-proclaimed "love hater" then he needs to be a whole lot grumpier. I never felt like he and Katie had real chemistry, we were just kind of told that they were into each other and asked to go along with it. Ultimately, this was less of a love story and more of a story about Katie's relationship with herself, which is absolutely a story worth telling. If the author had leaned all the way in with that it would have worked a lot better for me.

I did love the Author's Note, it made me cry! Most memorable part of my reading experience for this one.

Katie finds herself in a work bind, and her boss Cole offers to help her with her situation - only it has a catch, and he doesn't share that fact until after she is out on assignment! Like most romantic comedies, the two main characters, Katie and Hutch, dance around an attraction for one another, while they suffer through miscommunications and misunderstandings, before reaching the expected conclusion. That all stated, author Katherine Center sets up the characters, main and secondary, to have emotional growth spurts that move the plot along at a reasonable pace.

I listened to this version of the book and found that the narration by Patti Murin quickly pulled me into the story. My only criticism is how often the author used Katie's characters as her spokesperson for self-love and self-acceptance, long after the point was made, it kept recurring. If the book is reissued, I would tone that part down just a bit. Otherwise, a fun story, and I learned quite a bit about making documentaries!

(I received a copy of this audio book through Net Galley and have written an objective review)

Mini synopsis: after a public breakup, katie goes on assignment to key west. Her subject? Hutch, a coast guard member & her boss’s estranged brother. Oh & she can’t swim. What could go wrong?

Okay this was my first Katherine Center book & what I was expecting was a fun beach read. And don’t get me wrong, there are some elements like that included. Buttttt I was not expecting a heavy body image subplot! (Side note: I’m not sure I loved being in that head? Idk it felt a little off to me 🤷🏻‍♀️) besides that! I enjoyed the rom com moments we got. The ridiculous relationships switching & the not being able to swim moments made me smile. The big ending? I was not expecting that! 🤯 it gave a little thriller/suspense vibes! I LOVED aunt Rue. She was so fun & I liked how she formed a relationship with Katie. But really George Bailey (the dog) stole the show, i absolutely loved him! I think the characters are what makes me want to pick up another KC book!

TW (bc my copy didn’t mention any): body dysmorphia, eating disorders, body shaming

Katherine Center is known for writing warm, heartfelt romances with relatable female leads, and The Love Haters follows suit. Katie is a video editor whose career is on the line when she’s sent to Key West to produce a profile on a decorated Coast Guard member. That hero turns out to be a handsome, kind bachelor who, of course, turns her world upside down.

There are undeniably sweet moments, and Center clearly spent time researching Coast Guard culture—something I appreciated, having had my own experiences around Coasties. The supporting characters added a nice touch of charm, and the romance had a familiar rhythm that readers of the genre may enjoy.

However, for me, the story felt a bit too formulaic. It was light and pleasant but ultimately lacked the emotional depth or spark to make it stand out. And as someone who gravitates toward books with a strong sense of place, I was disappointed that Key West barely played a role. I nearly forgot the book was set there.

As an audiobook, it was fine, but again ultimately forgettable.

Book: The Love Haters
Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Romance
Places Featured: Key West, Florida
Review Score: ★★★½ (rounded up)