This may be my new favorite Katherine Center book! The Love Haters is a witty, heartfelt novel about not only finding love with someone else but learning how to love yourself. (Side note, I loved the author's note at the end of the book).

Katie was such a relatable character and I was rooting for her from page 1. Her journey not only to Key West but also learning how to love her body was so real and something I think most women have experienced at some point in their life. I also really enjoyed Katie's relationship with her cousin, Beanie; we all need someone to provide us with unquestioning support and love.

Hutch was a wonderful love interest for Katie; he was quietly supportive and helped ease Katie's insecurities, sometimes without even realizing it. His work for the US Coast Guard was interesting and I really enjoyed reading about their work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an electronic advance reader copy.

Another great read from Katherine Center. I was just telling a friend the other day that she is easily my favorite rom-com writer. The Love Haters is another unique story with engaging characters. Her books are light-hearted and easy-to-read. Can't wait for the next one!

Thanks @netgalley @smpromance and @katherinecenter for the chance to read Katherine’s forthcoming rom-com, The Love Haters. It releases on May 20, 2025.

I could read Katherine’s quippy dialogue all day. Her stories are reminiscent of old school screwball comedies, and she puts her characters in hilarious situations. I laughed out loud so many times while I read this. But I think her signature move is that her stories also pack a heafty emotional punch.

Videographer Katie has been burned by love after getting cheated on very publicly by her suddenly famous musician ex—and to make matters worse, the Internet decided to take her down a peg or two too making her feel about as attractive as a bridge troll. When she learns she also is on the chopping block at work, she agrees to profile the hero brother of one of her coworkers—a Coast Guard rescue swimmer named Hutch. Besides the not-so-small problem that Katie can’t swim, being in Key West is anything but simple when Hutch turns out to be the most scientifically attractive person she’s ever met and also a bit of a love hater. Through swim lessons, helicopter flights and too many rescues after Hutch’s dog enthusiastically jumps on Katie, they have to decide how truly brave they are.

Steam: 🔥 (only a couple of kisses)
Tropes: cool job, touch her and die, fake dating, caretaking, only one bed, meddling family

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

Unexpectedly deep and unexpectedly action packed, but still an enjoyable romance to boot! I enjoyed this novel and it re-emphasizes my enjoyment of this authors work.

Katherine Center has become one of my favorite authors, and I love when I get to read an advanced copy of her books! Her last book, The Rom-Commers, was one of my favorite reads last year and my favorite book of hers, so I was thrilled to read The Love Haters.

The premise of the book is that Katie is talked into going to Key West to film a recruitment video for the Coast Guard. Her work supervisor, Cole, talks her into this, and it is going to be filming his brother, and he doesn’t want to do it. No work is going to be doing layoffs and he tells Katie this will help save her job if she does it well. There’s just one little problem, Katie doesn’t know how to swim and will be required to do training that involves swimming.

Hutch, Cole’s brother, meets Katie when she arrives in Key West and agrees to give her swim lessons, not realizing she has been sent in replacement of Cole, until she arrives at the Coast Guard station. I like the writing of the book and how their relationship seem to naturally grow as friends. The ending does get a bit unrealistic, but if I can overlook that fact, and just read the story as it is, I really enjoyed it and it is another Katherine Center hit! 4 1/2 stars!

Every single time I read a new Katherine Center book, it becomes my favorite!! The Love Haters is no exception. This book is like a warm hug. While I absolutely LOVED the love story between Katie and Hutch, the true gem here is the love story of Katie and herself. My goodness, it is incredibly refreshing to read SO MUCH body positivity and self love talk!!!

This book is funny, fun, relatable and even a little thrilling!! I laughed, cried, gasped and ended another Katherine Center book in awe. The ending was NOT what I expected and I loved it so, SO much.

10/10 would recommend!!

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of this book. Though it isn’t due out for a bit and I’ve got a fairly prolific stack of staring me down, this jumped to the top of the pile. I adore this author and this book is part of the reason why. A great storyline with interesting and authentic characters, both main and secondary, complex myriad emotions, family relationships, sexy slow burn romance, love, loss, secrets, lies, humor, wit, lots of snark and a fabulous giant dog. Katie is a documentarian who loves her work. Getting people to open up and share their story that goes viral for the right reasons makes her happy and feel satiated. When she is told her job as a video producer is at risk she kind of gets bamboozled into taking an assignment she is ill equipped to handle. She is afraid of the water and cannot swim and her next subject is an aviation survival technician. The people who jump out of helicopters to handle insane water rescues. Um, a few swimming lessons should be good right? I loved this from cover to cover.

I adore Katherine Center novels, and while this one wasn't my favorite, it was still a solid read that I'd definitely recommend.

Rue, her friends, and Hutch's dog were the real stars of this show. I want to go to the Keys and have a kindly older lady take me under her wing. I could appreciate the whole "love yourself" theme throughout the book, but at times I grew a bit bored with it. However, I know that is something a lot of people deal with, so it's gonna be super healing and reaffirming for some readers.

I didn't like how Hutch was always portrayed as being perfect, because perfect can also be boring. There is enough of a backstory and brother drama for him though to keep it interesting.

Also as someone with central heterochromia, it was fun to see it mentioned.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off strong and had a lot of potential, but the last third didn’t quite land for me. While the initial setup was engaging, some of the later plot developments felt a bit far-fetched and hard to connect with. The character dynamics and certain twists were dramatic but didn’t fully resonate with me.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this book through NetGalley, and while it wasn’t entirely my style, it may still appeal to readers who enjoy unexpected turns and high-stakes drama.

I loved this book!! It was the most original and endearing story I have read in a long time! It was such a unique book and the inner monologue of the main character was phenomenal. She hooked you right away! Highly recommend all of Katherine Center’s books and this one did not disappoint!

Rating: 3.5 stars

While it pains me to give anything other than five stars to one of my favorite authors, this book just wasn’t a favorite. One character was utterly ridiculous, and some plot points were absolutely unrealistic. I enjoyed multiple sentences, the author’s note, and warm fuzzies. But this wasn’t her best.

ATTENTION! ANYONE WHO NEEDS TO SWOON, OR A BIG HUG, PICK UP THE LOVE HATERS IMMEDIATELY AND ENJOY YOUR LOVE BUBBLE.

In this book we have Katie who is a documentary maker, whose company is going to through layoffs. She is offered a job to do recruitment video for the US Coast Guard, profiling one of their star rescue swimmers Hutch. One slight hitch, Katie doesn't know how to swim.

I adored this book. The setting of Key West Florida, all of the loveable characters, the banter between Katie and Hutch, and Hutch's lovable dog George Bailey , allhad me laughing and crying.

Katherine Center creates these stories with lovable characters going through emotional stuff but you know you are in good hands with this author. No matter how traumatic the things our characters go through, you know Katherine Center will deliver a happy ending that feels so well earned and a big hug.

Thank you to St. Martin's press and Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy. I highly recommend this book. This should absolutely be on your summer reading list.

Katherine Center has knocked it out of the park again - I absolutely loved every second of this book. One thing that Center does amazingly well is make her heroines 100% relatable. This book is filled with amazing friendships, witty banter and a romance that will have you turning pages just to get to that HEA.

Thank you for the chance to read this one early!

INCREDIBLE! I have loved all of Katherine Center's recent books and this one did not disappoint! I loved every single spect about this book and I would have loved 12 more epilogues to take us through the MCs future over the years. I cannot wait to buy this for my shelves!

This was a really FUN read; I absolutely adored Hutch and Rue and the rest of the gals. And I loved the setting and the way the relationship progressed. Knocking a star because Katie was really annoying, the level of quirkiness was “too much” for me, and the constant obsession with her appearance just wasn’t a plot that I cared for. But I would definitely recommend this, funny and light even though it tackled some serious topics. Even the misunderstanding was entertaining rather than annoying.

KC books always deliver for me, & The Love Haters was no exception. I adored the story of Katie finding her way after an awful breakup. On a documentary shoot in Key West, she meets Hutch, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. He has a Great Dane named George Bailey (Best fictional dog name since Six-Thirty in Lessons in Chemistry). It is a pitch perfect Rom Com with all of the depth and meaning I have come to expect from KC—And also an incredible author's note at the end. Five stars/no notes.

Well now I love Hutch now too :-) This was such a sweet and fun story, I loved Rue, the giant great dane, and all of the fun banter. I laughed out loud in quite a few places. I was very stressed during the great hurricane! Love the characters this author creates and can't wait to read what she does next!

The Love Haters is a warm, silly romance that can thaw even the coldest of hearts. I may be biased as a native Floridian, but reading this was such a fun experience!

A few notes - if you are sensitive to EDs or calorie counting, PLEASE read with caution. The ARC did not contain TWs and it caught me off guard in the beginning.

I also think somewhere along the 80% mark we may have lost the plot. It took me out of the story and seemed a bit outrageous - it felt clear this was added in for a big rescue and I couldn't take it seriously because of that.

Otherwise, Katie and Hutch had an enjoyable relationship. I loved Rue, George Bailey, and The Gals. The dialogue is funny and easy to follow. I think plenty of people will really love this one, especially this summer!

ARC REVIEW (thanks NETGALLEY!)

I’ll always jump at the chance to get an arc from Katherine Center! The last few books I’ve read from her were
so great! I rarely ever read blurbs so I was Super excited thinking this book was a spin off to the book the couple was writing in The Rom-Commers, sadly it wasn’t.

While the writing was great and kept me reading plot was so ridiculous. Katie is tasked to film a documentary about rescue swimmers in the coast guard with “Hutch” being the center of the film. With tons of layoffs happening at the company she basically has to do the job or get shit canned, even tho she can’t swim. It was such a reach to get these 2 together.

There were more conversations between Katie and her cousin Beanie than her and Hutch. There was more physical interaction between Katie and the fucking dog than her and Hutch. I dont know where, when, or how they fell in love with eachother because they were barely shown together.

And omg Katie and her fucking low self esteem- “im like 30 years old and can’t be seen in a bathing suit” get a grip lady it’s 2025 no one cares what your body looks like.

What can I say, I love Katherine Center's writing and was SO excited to read this novel as an advanced reader copy! I loved Katie and Hatch and the plot. Although, I felt the first part of the book was far to focused on Katie's body image issues but the second half of the book definitely made up for that! I want to read more about these characters and what happens next. Will there be a sequel? I hope so!
The pacing of the second half of the book was perfect and the last quarter was a surprise I did not see coming. This will be a perfect beach read and I recommend it to all of those that love rom coms, chick lit and family dramas. I gave this 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the widget, Katherine Center and Net Galley for the opportunity to preview this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

The Love Haters is expected to be released May 20, 2025 just in time for the beach!