First I’d like to say that I loved the author’s note at the end! 🥹 She compared Katie and her view of her body to an enemies to lovers trope and I honestly loved that so much. Sadly, I think a lot of us can relate to having body image issues so it was easy to relate to Katie. I really loved her journey into loving her own body in this book. There’s a moment where she has an epiphany about longing to be looked at by someone in a lovingly way and she realizes that SHE can be that person. It’s so simple but I loved it.
Also shoutout to Beanie! She’s such an amazing friend! She was so supportive of Katie. The way she gave her ‘homework’ to help her find ways to love her own body. 🥹 it honestly had me tearing up!
And then there’s Hutch. 🥹 Hutch is a literal hero and I truly appreciated that he had a career that i haven’t seen often in books. He was in the Coast Guard and he was amazing. I liked his story with his brother.
George Bailey and Rue were lovely additions as well.


The audio narration was perfection. The narrator brought this story to life in the best way. She changed her voice slightly for each character so it was easy to know who was speaking. Highly recommend the audio! 5/5 for the narration 😊

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5-ish stars)
The Love Haters by Katherine Center was my first foray into her work. While I totally get why readers love her voice and storytelling style, this particular book didn’t hit all the marks for me.

I was hooked by the premise...romantic, a little chaotic, with a chance for second chances, but the FMC’s inner monologue of self-doubt was exhausting. Like, sis, I am rooting for you! But every step forward felt like two steps back into a pit of “I’m not enough.” She does find her footing eventually, but I’m growing a little weary of storylines where women only realize their worth after a man enters the picture and gives them permission to love themselves. That’s just not the narrative I’m chasing right now. With that being said...I found the read/listen enjoyable, and it is definitely suitable for a summer read TBR.

Don’t get me wrong—Center’s writing is charming, and I can totally see myself enjoying some of her earlier books. This one didn’t leave me swooning the way I hoped.

Themes:
Second chance romance
Grumpy x sunshine (but maybe more insecure x confident?)
Career girl with big dreams
Emotional baggage unpacking in real-time

Would I recommend it?
Sure...if you love Katherine Center or emotional growth arcs with a romantic payoff, give it a go.

If you are an audiobook lover, I can affirm that Patti Murin's narration was top-tier. Honestly, when isn't Murin crushing the game? She always delivers an outstanding performance, and I listen to anything she narrates. --->Trust me. I am an audiobook expert (per me)

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review the ARC and ALC.

AS always, Center brings great lead characters with some good banter, this Male lead I really loved and enjoyed.

Katherine Center is back with another sweet and heartwarming romantic comedy. "The Love Haters" is a fun enemies-to-lovers and forced-proximity romance. I loved the Key West setting, the unique plot, and the charming characters. Hutch is a swoon-worthy MMC and one of my new favorite KC men. Rue, Hutch's aunt, and George Bailey, his Great Dane, were especially lovable and provided a lot of comic relief. As someone who struggles with her own self-esteem, I resonated a lot with Katie. It was tough to read about her body image struggles, but I loved how much she grew and became more confident.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Patti Murin. She is such a great narrator and makes every story so much fun to listen to. She did a great job bringing the characters to life. She is able to give each character a distinct voice and personality. Highly recommend this one on audio!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the
ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Oooff hmmm okay.

Let’s start with the first 20% of the book. (Where I almost DNF’d) Girl. We get it. But if I hear you talk negatively about your body one more time…..just put on the dang swimsuit.

I kept reading simply because I hadn’t even med the MMC yet. Was it worth it? Eh. He was the saltine cracker of MMCs.

But his dog?! 10/10. What an all star. He can stay for sure.

Ultimately everything tied up nicely….I guess?
I feel like I have a bit of whiplash due to the fact this felt like 4 different books.

This was a quick and fun listen! I enjoyed the main character and her journey. It was refreshing to see how she evolved throughout the book, and the setting was lovely! Would definitely recommend!

Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors! Unfortunately, I had trouble connecting with the characters and story. The mains characters lacked chemistry. I also found the FMC to be annoying. At times I felt the story was bogged down with too many coast guard details. Overall, this wasn't my favorite KC book but I highly recommend all of her other books.

First I love all things Katherine Center. All things. This book included.

I mean FMC TAKING BACK her life?! Here for it. Misunderstood brooding MMC whom does water rescues?! Hello Glen Powell cast for anyone else??

This characters have had tragedies in their past dealing with grief, guilt, shame, toxicity, etc, but I loved going from beginning to end with them.

And Cole. I mean honestly. Seriously. This guy. The worst.

BUT RUE. and The Gals. Are the actual best. Love them.

There is A LOT of body image insecurity in this book, just know that going in.

But anyway. I really enjoyed this, not my favorite Katherine but still so good.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

First I would like to thank Netgalley, St. Martin’’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and early audiobook.

I really wanted to love this book. I loved The Rom-Coms so much but this one didn’t work as well for me. There were so parts of this book I really loved. I loved all the early interactions between Katie and Hutch. I thought there banter worked really well and I was rooting for them from the beginning.

What didn’t work for me was all the focus on body image. I’m all for overcoming body image issues but it just felt like a running commentary in Katie’s head and I just felt like it got a little repetitive.

I also really enjoyed the story until Cole showed up and I really, really didn’t like the turn the story went. I didn’t understand Katie’s decisions. That just didn’t feel like a response that Katie or any rational person would make.

I mixed both the book and audio and I thought the narrator was fantastic.

3/5 stars

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was so good! Katie, a documentary filmmaker by weekend and corporate commercial filmmaker by week, learns her job is on the chopping block and agrees to film a recruitment commercial for the US Coast Guard in Key West. The main contact and star of the commercial is a thirst trap rescue swimmer who went viral for rescuing Jennifer Aniston’s dog from a cliff. You do the math. Loved it!!

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Katherine Center for the advanced audio of The Love Haters (May 20, 2025).  I am not new to Kathrine Center’s or narrator Patti Murin. Kathrine is a wonderful writer and Patti is a wonderful narrator, and it really showed in this book, The Love Haters!  I absolutely LOVED this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5, for me! 

Patti Murin is the sole narrator for The Love Haters audiobook, and she did a really wonderful job! This book is told through the FMC, Katie’s POV. Throughout this book I felt like I was Katie, listening to this book through her eyes. I finished listening to this book in 2 days, that is how much I enjoy listening! Not only was I smiling the entire time while listening to this audiobook, but a few times I caught myself laughing out loud! This audiobook was easy to follow along with and the story was fast- paced and kept me on my toes the entire time. Katie does have some inner monologue thoughts throughout this book, and Patti did a great job with narrating these as a listener, I never got confused or lost in those moments. 

In the Love Haters, we follow Katie, a video producer take a job in Key West, FL. The catch, she has to do is profile her co-worker's brother, Hutch, who is a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer. Seems easy, right?! Fun fact about Katie, she doesn’t know how to swim even though she told her coworker, Cole she knew how! Katie is now living in FL with Hutch and Cole’s Aunt Rue, taking swim lessons, wearing brightly colored caftans (Katie’s favorite color is black), and how could I forget Georege Bailey. She finds herself crushing hard on Hutch, in a web of lies, her first hurricane and learning to love herself again. 

I couldn’t stop listening to this Audiobook, this rom-com book is going to be a great summer read!

3.5⭐️

This was a cute and easy read. I really enjoyed the FMC and her love interest, as well as the other fun characters (not you, Cole). A lot happens in the last part of the book/epilogue, and I wish that had been spread out a little more. Still a fun, warm, and witty book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

BIG THANKS to my besties at Macmillan Audio for the approval to read new Katherine Center! I've become a fan of this author's stories over the last few books. This one is no different, I loved Katie and Hutch's story! Anticipated pub: May 20th!

Let's start with my progress updates because they tell a lot about how I felt while reading this:
May 5, 2025 – 21.0% "OMG as a Great Dane Mom x2 I'm crying listening to Hutch tell George Bailey's story 😢"
May 5, 2025 – 26.0% "mini story time: My "Oddly Specific Bookish Ick" (as the wife of a helicopter pilot) is when authors refer to helicopters as 'choppers' -- this character just did but the Coast Guard guy schooled her that they don't call them that and it made my grumpy little bookish heart SO HAPPY. THANK YOU FOR THAT KATHERINE CENTER."
(After reading the Author's Note it seems the thanks also goes to the Coasties that worked with the author during her research for this book. My husband is AF, not CG but they still call them birds :) They actually use a lot of the same terminology and acronyms so that part was fun to read already knowing a lot of those things.)
May 5, 2025 – 81.0% "OMG KATHERINE YOU HAVE ME SOBBING thinking about George Bailey being all alone and scared on the houseboat in a storm 😭😭😭"

So, let's just start with how much of a heartbreaker this was for me (don't worry, no harm comes to any animals, including the toads, lol). I found myself crying reading this more than any book I can remember in recent history. SO GOOD and the narration brought out all those emotions even more as the narrator did a great job of conveying those too.

This story was also really fun. I laughed out loud so much during parts with Rue and The Gals, when Katie first meets Hutch (the mannequin thought was toooooo funny), the bathing suit 'incident' -- HILARIOUS. Katherine Center is always good for making a story heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure.

My absolute favorite aspect of this story, though, was the relationship between Katie and her body. The GROWTH at the end of this was honestly amazing and wonderful and inspiring and made me want to be more like Beanie <3

The audiobook is FANTASTIC and I'd 100% recommend if you're an audio reader to grab this one! The narrator's voice is super pleasant to listen to and she makes emotions come across really well. Even the tone of voice for the characters depending on their situation came across perfectly in the narration. I loved this and can see myself re reading this one on audio.

Another charming romcom from Katherine Center. Katie is tasked with filming a promo for the US Coast Guard, featuring Hutch, a viral hero who also happens to be her coworkers brother.
I always enjoy Katherine’s writing and humor. I enjoy that her books often tackle other more emotional issues. I related to Katie’s body image issues and was able to reflect on my own self image. I loved Katie and Hutch together, but have to say that Rue, the gals, and George Bailey were the real stars of this story!

I loved this book! It was a great story and lesson on positive body image! Katie had two loves in the book. One in the traditional sense and another with herself. All she needed was a push from her friend and a very special lady who I would love as a supporting character in my own life.

Highly recommend!

This was such a good book and would make a really fun beach read. Katie is a completely lovable and relatable character. I really liked how her and Hutch banter and how clueless she really is about him flirting with her. Rue and the Gals were a hoot. I do love the underlying message about learning to love yourself and to be kind to yourself. Love this one.

This is my first Katherine Center book and I was immediately drawn into the storyline.
I was invested in Katie and Hutch from the beginning. I also liked that the story followed Katie's growth.

There were many moments that I just didn't like and the pacing felt weird to me.

My favorite character: George Bailey 🐶

I did receive this as an ALC and the narrator did a great job. I just don't know if this is the author for me but I'll definitely try another one of her books to see if that works better.

Thank you MacMillan Audio and Netgalley for this ALC!

Decent romance but overall not too much of a fan. The main character was very self deprecating about her body throughout the story causing me to become slightly disinterested in her. Events that happened along the story were semi-interesting at best. Very predictable.

Would recommend for a beach read for vacation or something!

A Katherine center book is not only a heartwarming, amazing story, but it’s also the best life lesson you didn’t even know you needed.

When I finish one of her books I sit in awe of the beautiful, wonderful writing. Next, I can’t stop thinking about the amazing lesson this author is trying to tell us. In this one, she taught me that life is too short not to love yourself. Loving yourself is the most important thing because we are all worth loving!

The character growth was perfect. I loved the tension between the characters. The conflict kept my air pods glued to my ears! There was humor and heart exploding from this book. There wasn’t anything I didn’t love about this book. The narrator did an amazing job bringing this book to life. If you want to laugh, cry and feel all the feels then I highly recommend this story!!!
I received this audiobook from Macmillan audio and Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

There’s something about a completely over the top, kind of unrealistic rom-com that I just love so much!

I really enjoyed all of our characters, and especially our FMC, Katie! While her character does have some serious body-image and self-esteem issues, I appreciate her development over the course of the book. I will say, if you have a hard time reading about these topics, including mentions of disordered eating, you might want to skip this one.

Even though the romance is a little insta-lovey, I still enjoyed it because it was still pretty subtle! And while Hutch isn’t the most memorable MMC, he’s still pretty great!

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review 🩵

Overall Rating | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨