Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I'm a huge fan of Katherine Center. This felt more in the middle of the pack for me. Katie goes on assignment to make a promotional video for the Coast Guard, without even knowing how to swim. Of course, romance and comedy ensue when an elder friend takes her under her wing, and when Katie starts to fall for the subject of her video.

What I really liked: Aunt Rue and her circle of friends who make the most of every day. George Bailey, an adorable Great Dane. Hutch really seeing Katie.
What I didn't like as much: There was a lot of self-talk about weight near the beginning that almost had me close the book. This could be triggering for some. I felt the plot raced along where I didn't get to feel as much between the two main characters as they were getting to know each other. The life-threating situation at the end felt a bit unrealistic.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press and Katherine Center for access to the ARC of The Love Haters. I confess, I did plan to just start this book as I was heading to bed and, while I did stay in bed, I did not sleep. I spent those 7 hours devouring this book rather than sleeping! No regrets! It was well worth it. I love Katherine Center! Her words, her stories, her characters, they are a part of my DNA now. If you haven't read a Katherine Center story, go do it now. I loved getting to know Katie and Hutch as they struggled to overcome their pasts to find their happily ever after. Katie is a heroine whose story is so relatable and sadly so very common; the internal battle with self-image and body-image and self-love is so very hard for so very many of us humans. If only we could each see ourselves the way our loved ones see us. Thank you, Katherine, for teaching us all to love ourselves more and better through Katie's journey. Your stories make the world a better place.

Absolutely astonishing read! Easily 5 stars. Katie was so relatable in every way. As females, we have expectations for ourselves and our bodies, Katie does, too. We are our own worst critics. This book showed me what it's like to truly love myself and the skin I'm in. To stop holding myself back from things because I'm so hard on myself for me, weight or shape of my body. I teared up twice reading this. But I laughed during so many moments. It was the perfect blend of romance, comedy, and deep topics. I love Beanie!!! I absolutely loved Hutch! But the dog George was top tier. He was such a smart fella. Rue was a beautiful soul, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the depth to her character and understanding how brave and kind she was. I loved her character all around! This was just such an amazing read for so many different reasons. I will be gushing about this for a long time, and I plan to try to take Beanie's self-help wisdom into my own personal life. To love myself without comparison to my expectations or others. To just enjoy life and the colors of it like Rue does. To be brave and help others any chance I get like Hutch. And most importantly, to love myself and find the silver lining like Katie did.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for giving me this ARC to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

Another truly lovely romance read! This will be a wonderful summer beach read. Loved the quick and easy read that this was! Such a good romcom that I’d recommend

Katherine Center's romances are like a drop of sunshine!

There’s just something so addictive about the way she writes romances and the chemistry between her characters. I didn't want to put this book down. It was sweet, lively, hopeful, and endearing. I found myself laughing out loud and, of course, gushing over the love interest. The atmosphere was fun, bright, and compared to where I live, tropical.

I really enjoyed this, however, the events that take place at the end of the book threw me for a bit of a loop. Nonetheless, reading this was an amazing time.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the advanced reader copy.

Katherine Center’s The Love Haters has me just reeling. It’s so unbelievably GOOD and yet I am sitting here, still having all of the feels from this binged book. I literally couldn’t put it down…and stayed up until 7 am to finish it, and now, I am sad that it’s over.

Katie has had the Worst luck with all different kinds of love in her life. She is finally shakily on even ground again after finding her fiancé cheating on her with a gorgeous celebrity that she tells herself that she can never compare to. She was bullied into an eating disorder by her family and social media, and this has also led her to try to be an inconspicuous as possible.

During the assignment that she took to try to save her career, she met her subject’s aunt Rue, who slowly started introducing color back into Katie’s life. That assignment was so eye-opening and soul-searching for Katie. But would it be enough to ever make her feel like she’s enough for the first time in her life?

This book was beyond amazing, and so universal in its themes and metaphorical prose. It really resonated deep within me, as I am sure that it will for countless others. Thank you, Katherine Center, for this gift!

And thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this outstanding ARC!!!

3.75 ⭐️ I have some quotes that I absolutely loved and that spoke to my soul within this book, but I’ll wait for permission to share and likely after the book is released. I love Katherine’s books as there’s always a heartwarming story of love and understanding amidst the trials that the main characters seem to face. There were parts where I really connected to Katie and understood her fears and desires. The lies in which she found herself caught up in with Cole really bugged me. It was a much bigger mess than it needed to be. And him and Rue finally telling Hutch the truth in the middle of a hurricane by calling the coast guard base seemed wild. But overall the story was sweet and a great reminder of body positivity and overcoming our own self doubt. I loved Rue from the moment she was introduced and she made the story for me. And don’t even get me started on the way Katie had be smiling with the way she was talking to George Bailey during that hurricane into trying to reason with him. And Beanie is what all friendships should be made of. Thanks Katherine for a good read.

This. Ok was a fun romcom read, heavy on the com side. The characters are so likeable. Well, except for Cole but eventually he’s understandable. Hutch is just hit, you can feel him smolder. Katie is sweet and Rue is so funny. I smiled through most of the book, I laughed and I also worried when a hurricane threatened everything. No spoilers but I love that even George Bailey saved his friend.

I really wanted to enjoy this, but unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. From the start, I found the way body image was addressed to be quite insensitive, and there were moments I had to skim past because it was just too frustrating. The romance didn’t click either—it felt rushed and lacked the depth or connection I was hoping for. Don’t even get me started on Cole; his constant lies made him almost unbearable to read about..he just drove me nuts. That being said, Rue was definitely the highlight of the book. I adored her character and the dynamics with her gal pals—they brought a much-needed lightness to the story. I did enjoy the occasional witty dialogue, and the Coast Guard setting was a fun backdrop that added some unique flavor to the plot. Overall, this just wasn’t the right fit for me. It's disappointing, but it happens.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a charming story about learning to love yourself. Be your own best friend and advocate. The Great Dane, George Bailey, was the absolute best.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book was a delight. Even if I set aside my bias for Key West and Great Danes, it would still be the fun, laugh out loud book I didn't even know I needed. Katie took a gamble agreeing to an assignment to shoot a promo video for the US Coast Guard featuring Tom "Hutch" Hutcheson to save her job and to say that it paid off would be an understatement. But honestly, how could you not fall in love with Hutch and his stubborn, goofy rescue dog? And then there was his Aunt Rue - a true gem of a human being bringing color and life and spunk to the story (and to Katie). I could feel Katie's heart mending as she slowly learned to love herself and then ultimately learned it was okay to love someone else.

Unfortunately, there was also Hutch's brother and Katie's co-worker, Cole. I realize that he had a relevant role in the story, but I could have done without him and all the frustration he caused with his short visit. He was constantly trying to meddle to force situations to work in his favor and really brought down the whole vibe of the book which is why I deducted a star.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early!

Rating: 5 stars
Katherine Center blessed us with the perfect blend of a military man, family drama, self-help, and a savior complex.

Katie, our main protagonist, has a lot to overcome. Then a job-saving opportunity pops up in the Florida Keys and she does what she needs to do. Traveling to the Coast Guard’s military base to shadow the perfect specimen, so his brother doesn’t have to, could only create an incredible plot.
The setting was perfect for a fun beach read. As a Florida resident, I’m usually not a fan of books taking place in my home state, simply because I know it too well. But, Katherine Center absolutely did her research in all aspects of this book. Plus, the compound of cottages with some extra grandmotherly figures made it feel like she ran away to a remote cottage in the Sims 4. As for the military base, the casual atmosphere (outside of disaster scenarios of course) was so soothing in comparison to the chaos of our main character’s inner thoughts.

Katie deals with a lot of inner turmoil that she causes for herself, though not her fault. Her journey throughout the book is well-paced, as goes for the entire book, and her progress gave me hope (Honorary mention to Beanie who carried the self-help regime on her tired back.). As for Hutch, with his chin dimple, he was a dream man and his devotion to helping anyone in need was impressive, if not a wee bit concerning. Not to mention, he’s got a Great Dane.

The only even slightly negative thing I can say is that I wish we got to see more of the filming and interviews. But, if my only complaint is that I wanted more content, I’d say this is a win.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with this Arc. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 stars

In this book, we follow Katie who makes films for her job. But she’s on the verge of potentially losing her job, so Cole, her supervisor, offers her a project that she can’t refuse. She is to go to Florida and make a documentary about this super sexy, grumpy, now-famous coast guard who saved a famous person’s dog. And this guy happens to be Cole’s brother (named Hatch) who he doesn’t have a good relationship with. And in order to follow Hatch around, she needs to be prepared in case an emergency happens, so she needs to learn how to swim and how to act in this emergencies. Fun!!

I quite loved this book. Yes, it’s a romance, but I actually loved seeing Katie come out of her comfort zone. Katie had an eating disorder (or was very close to having one, I don’t know how these disorders get diagnosed) and was practically starving herself. She used to be engaged to a musician who got famous (therefore everyone on the internet judged her). She became really self conscious and did not eat right. So this book, while it is a romance book, is really about Katie learning to love herself as well. For example, she only wore black because that drew Elsa attention to her; now she wears colors.

I also loved how the side characters were there for the romance but were also there for her character development. Her cousin and best friend Beanie was so supportive and encouraged her to label one thing ahe liked about her body. Aunt Rue saw that Katie was struggling and decided to be extra kind and helpful to her in her own way.

In terms of the romance itself between Hutch and Katie, I liked it. It wasn’t my favorite part of this book, but the relationship felt organic and thoughtful. The little wrench in their romance that happened with Cole was a little weird, but I can get over it. Also, I love hatch’s dog.

Overall, this was a really good book and I would recommend it to people! But obviously if you have a trigger for ED, approach this with caution.

Thank you to NetGalley for this review copy of this book.

I truly enjoyed it and it was just the sunshine-y (mostly!) light, thoughtful, hopeful read I needed in January. I enjoyed learning more about the Coast Guard and traveling with Katie to the Keys.

Hutch, Katie, Beanie, and Rue are all likeable characters while also showing capacity for change and growth. George Bailey and Lucky provide comic relief and the entertainment that comes from animals in a plot.

Katherine Center books are like my favorite comfort foods. I know I can always count on them to fill me up and make me feel good.

The Love Haters did not disappoint. I was intrigued by the plot and was pulled in from the first page. The story was fast paced and engaging with a (mostly) lovable cast of characters. I read the last 20ish percent in one sitting (because once you hit a certain plot point, you will not be able to put it down). While the love story was (of course) a hit, underneath it all is a journey of self-discovery, self-acceptance, and self-love.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of the ebook.
My first 5 star read of 2024! I absolutely loved it. It made me laugh out loud, delight in the witty nature of the writing and the main characters' banter, year up with it's impactful message regarding body image and self esteem--and so much more! Highly recommend.

Katherine Center does it again!

LOVED this one and think it was my favorite of hers since "The Bodyguard"! Just such a great story, loved the characters, loved the romance, loved how the story went and the side characters also. Just delightful and cozy and romantic.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

This I maybe such a good read. It’s Katherine Center at her finest. It’s a nice light romantic rendezvous that takes us to Key West. I appreciate her tackling body acceptance issues too. I loved it and will recommend!

Witty, charming, feel good and actual laugh out loud! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and all the characters within it (Cole, kind of pissed me off, though not gonna lie, like there had to be a better way for him to do what he was doing).

I loved how this book not only had the main relationship, but it also explored many different types of relationships, siblings, foster parents, boyfriend, and girlfriend, and friends. How each of these relationships brings something new to a person and how they can help them grow and change.

I think Katherine has found a way to write books where there’s no stupid third quarter trauma for no reason she writes really really well and I will continue to read all her books

Katherine center is one of my top authors, so I thank you NetGalley for giving me the arch of this book!

While this wasn’t my favorite Katherine center, it was still fast paced, and quippy. Definitely excited for this book to come out