I love Katherine Center's novels. The characters leave me smiling and their adventures keep me turning pages.

Katie Vaughn's video0grapher career is on the line to unemployment when her boss, Cole Hutchinson, sends her to do a recruitment video for the Coast Guard featuring rescue swimmer Hutch, his estranged brother. Lies build on lies and Katie finds herself learning to swim once she gets over her fear of swimsuits. The situations are surface funny but emotionally life changing. I'll be reading this again when I need a reminder to choose to succeed and to ask for help when needed.

The author's notes expressed exactly how I felt reading her novel. Take the extra minute to read it!

Katherine Center does it again with The Love Haters. This is the smartest book I've read in a while in addition to being my favorite. I fell in love quickly with all of main characters. I loved the rich storytelling in this book. As always she leaves me laughing, crying, and falling in love. Kate is so likable and relatable. Hutch is a dream of a leading male golden retriever boyfriend. This books gets 5 stars from me. A MUST READ! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the free advanced readers copy. All opinions are my own

Katherine Center can do no wrong! I was thrilled to receive the email from St Martins granting me early access and I dove right in. This might be my favorite KC yet!

Katherine Center is my go-to for escapist romances. I just know that by the end of any of her books, I'll be having all of the feels. The Love Haters was no exception. Not only did I swoon over the romance between Katie and Hutch, but I fell in love with all of the side characters too (especially the frog loving Great Dane). I also found the Coast Guard angle very interesting since ocean rescue diving is something I know absolutely nothing about. Hutch was a great love interest and the romance was definitely based on friendship first. Katie was ok for me, I definitely didn't vibe with her in the same way as other female leads from Center's past books. There is a ton of negative self-talk and disordered eating, which did feel slightly triggering to me personally. I also couldn't stand Cole and wasn't a fan of the third act conflict involving the brothers and Katie. Otherwise, the book had a lot going for it and will make for the perfect beach read.

I just love K. Center. So naturally when I received a widget for The Love Haters, I pounced like a puma and dug in with unadulterated excitement and a giant geekgasm to boot.
However, starting out, I immediately disliked the FMC, Katie, who initially seemed overtly dense and I wanted to wrestle her in a cage somewhere.

But alas, that all changed as the story unfolds and I ended up apologizing to my new pal, Katie, who turned out to be someone you'd absolutely wanna hang out with & shoot the shiznat with and maybe even some tequila too...

I cannot use enough cutesy words to describe this story. It was positively charming with a healthy dose of rib-tickling. It was endlessly swoon-worthy and I’m willing to wager that it’d bring out the spastic cheerleader in even the grinchiest of grinches. George Bailey, the massive and most adorable great dane, well, he alone will make you laugh out loud and have you petting the pages, hoping against hope that you might feel his fur for even one quick second.
And to anyone who gives a damn: I want my very own Hutch for Christmas, please and thank you very much! Because meowww.

And aside from all that goodness, there’s some poignancy and real life lessons to take with you as well.

For me, this was one of those just-what-I-needed-at-the-exact-right-moment kinda books.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this arc in exchange for review!

Pub Date: May 20 2025

"The thing you're afraid of is never the thing you should be."

I said this when reviewing The Rom-Commers, every new book by Katherine Center is my favorite! I love your books, Katherine! And when I get to the end I'm mad at myself for finishing it so fast that I usually read it again. It's the same with The Love Haters. Katie's self-discovery, her journey with Hutch. Rue. Cole. George Bailey! I loved it all!

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If I get an early copy of a KC you can count on me to drop everything and read it. And I can count on the fact that I’m going to love it. This was no exception. 15/5 stars. If I had to pick a favorite of her books I don’t know what I would do, but I wouldn’t be throwing this one in a fire that’s for sure. Katie was so relatable with her body issues and the way other peoples opinions shaped her actions. Hutch was the sexy search and rescue that’ll make you jump off a boat. This book had family drama and work drama and dog drama. I couldn’t get enough. I was left with the warm fuzzies a KC couple gives you and highly recommend this book.

Katherine Center might be the queen of banter. It was so hilarious and well done. I felt like I was watching a movie. Definitely recommend. Katherine Center has cemented herself for me as an auto-buy author. I love that I laugh out loud and feel good while reading her books. Loved every second and the FMC was amazing.

This is a contemporary upbeat love story that Katherine Center is good about telling. When there’s so much distraction in our world today, it’s relaxing to be able to sit down with a book that takes you away.

As I started, I could picture the beautiful blue water and sunshine where Katie Vaughn was headed. She was creating a recruitment video for the US Coast Guard in Key West, Florida. It’s where people go to relax with cute shops, art galleries, cozy restaurants and bike paths. The description made it seem like the perfect paradise except that this place also comes with unexpected storms and hurricanes.

Katie was filming Tom Hutcheson with his role as Aviation Survival Technician at USCG. He just happened to be gorgeous – well, of course. I could pretty much predict how the story would play out. Yet, there was much to absorb about rescue missions. I would think with climate change, recruitment would be more important than ever.

This story also had some deep issues about body image and how difficult it can be to love ourselves. Sometimes we don’t even realize it until we’re reading about how it may affect us. While I had pictures in my mind of the characters, it would be a fun movie to watch. There’s a reason this author has so many followers. She entertains and grabs our hearts with hopes and dreams.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of May 20, 2025.

Katherine Center is a MUST read and l've been so spoiled to get advanced copies of all of her latest books. She did it AGAIN! Another 5 star read.
I think what I loved the most about this one was how relatable the struggles our main character Katie went through were! Social media and the body positivity mindset do not go hand in hand and those were represented so thoughtfully!
Would 1000000% recommend this to anyone and everyone. And George Bailey was my favorite of all, iykyk.
Thank you to Katherine Center, St. Martins Press, and NetGalley for my advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book. Superb writing and storytelling from this author, yet again! This time, readers are treated to Katie, who cannot swim, but finds herself in the vicinity of water and rescue swimmer, "Hutch". She goes to Key West to profile him for work on behalf of her coworker, Cole, who is also the brother of Hutch. Hutch is a stud, but has his own issues, much like Katie.

This book brings all sorts of fun things melded together really well. The characters do not outwardly seem like they'd be a match, but they click and the chemistry is very real. There are also some great themes here, such as confidence and self-worth, and this is applied to both characters. Secondary characters are also pleasant here, and I loved the addition of the dog. Readers will laugh and feel deeper feelings, which is just a hallmark of this author, and that is why she is an automatic read for me and should be for you, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved! Katherine Center can do no wrong with her characters being lovable, easy to dive into, and quick reads.

Loved this story about how Katie and Hutch get together. Cole ,who is Katie's boss asked her to do an interview on Hutch , who is a coast guard rescuer that Cole doesn't want to do. They are both in danger of having their jobs cut but what Katie doesn't know that Hutch is Cole's brother and they don't talk much. Cole says that Hutch is to perfect. Anyway, Katie takes the job , finding out a lot of things and Cole has been lying to Hutch. This thing between Hutch and COle goes back a long time. There is so much going on in this story that I don't want to spoil it. It is A VERY GOOD READ.

📚ARC Review 📚

The Love Haters⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trying to keep her job as a video producer, Katie agrees to take an assignment in Key West to shoot a promotional video for the US Coast Guard. She will be doing a highlight of rescue swimmer Tom “Hutch”Hutcheson (aka the Pup Daddy). The problem…Katie lied, she can’t swim and now she will be going on rescue missions to film Hutch in action. To make matters worse, Hutch has a reputation of being a love hater and hard to get along with but in order to keep her job, she will have to make this work.

I LOVED this book!! There were several laugh out loud moments and I loved that this was a sweet, closed door romcom with a deeper theme/meaning. Katie has had a lot of downs lately and isn’t really a fan of her body (after her ex leaves her) but during the story she learns to love what she has been giving and to take care of herself better. Hutch is a grumpy MMC but deep down a golden retriever. He’s also had a rough life but tries to make the most of it. I loved Rue and the group of older ladies, The Gals, and all their wisdom and laughs they brought to the storyline. Overall, this was just a “feel good” book that you will want to read again and again.

This book will release on May 20, 2025. Do yourself a favor and add this to your TBR list and be sure to read the author’s note at the end. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for my advanced readers copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

title: The Love Haters

author: Katerine Center

publisher: St. Martin's Press

publication date: May 20, 2025

pages: 320

peppers: 2 (on this scale)

warnings: vomit, near drowning, fatal illness, cheating, binge drinking, death by car crash (described years later), disordered eating

summary: In order to save her documentary-film-making job, Katie accepts her colleague's offer to film a promotional video about Hutch, the Coast Guard rescue swimmer who saved Jennifer Aniston's dog. All she's heard from her colleague is that the guy, whose hobby is frowning, hates love and publicity. To get the job, she pretends to know how to swim because she's going to have to prove that she can escape an underwater, upside-down helicopter safety simulation. I know, what could possibly go wrong?!

tropes:

family troubles
stolen fianceé
cheating fiancé
learning to love oneself
he's perfect and smitten
I can't see how great I am
elderly and smart
lying for the job, gets caught
fake dating
bad boss
saving the dog
out-of-control dog
great best friend
found family
fun elderly ladies

what I liked: all of it.

The narrative voice is wonderful -- funny, smart, likable, honest, and imperfect in adorable ways
The love interest is perfect, an actual hero
the aunt has a great flair
the best friend is a winner
good life lessons

what I didn’t like: Nope. Nothing.

overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)

Center knocked it out of the park again in my opinion!

This cute and quirky love story was so much more than girl meets boy and they fall in love. This was about the struggle to love yourself and how life just doesn’t fit right until you can figure those parts out. This was about the unconditional yet sometimes painful love of family, both blood and found. This was about how love can find you when you’re not looking for it and when you can’t imagine that it could be there.

Readers are going to find Katie very relatable which I think is always the best part when enjoying a book. Her relationships with Hutch, Cole, Rue, and Beanie each showed a different facet of her character and provided beautiful opportunities for her to grow as a person after the horrible heartbreak she endured prior to the start of the novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital advanced copy! I can’t wait for others to read and enjoy this.

Anytime a Katherine Center book becomes available, I charge to read it!! Her books always leave me wrecked emotionally and then put back together again by the end of the story.

In THE LOVE HATERS, videographer Katie Vaughn may be getting fired. But not if her boss, Cole, has anything to say about it. He gives her an assignment she is – honestly – not cut out for in any way, either physically, emotionally, or even spiritually. But she doesn’t want to lose her job so she takes it.

The job? Make a training video of the Coast Guard Recuse swim team, namely one highly visible member, Tom Hutchenson. Who just happens to be her boss’s brother. Whom he doesn’t speak to.

Easy, right, Katie thinks.
So far from easy, the word isn’t even in the same dictionary as the reality.

First, Hutch as he’s known, is ridiculously handsome, Like, seriously – drop your panties gorgeous. Second? He wants nothing to do with this video.

How will Katie get him to agree? How will she earn his trust? Will she?
And just how much is she willing to sacrifice to achieve the goal?
This story had so many themes whirling around, at times I was spinning to keep up: parental death by vehicular accident; eating disorders; body dysmorphia; social media bullying; the traps of fame.

All, though, are expertly woven together by this master storyteller.
I was given this book as an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher, so thank you for that.
5 amazing stars for another powerful story from a master storyteller.

I have three romance authors that I will stope everything for to read their latest books: Emily Henry, Abby J, and Katherine Center. I love that all her books just spark so much joy.
This book had so many things that I LOVE in it: the Keys, a hurricane, a male MC that is straight out of the movie The Guardian, and a tragic story that brought people together.

Because I did get up at 4:30 am to finish this book, I am choosing to overlook some of the issues: the way the body dysmorphia was handled, the fact that a hurricane was approaching and no one mentioned it to her (very un-florida-like), and the brother, OH and the boss. Truly some bizarre things that I think could have been edited to flow better and make sense.

But this book did elicit true happiness from me reading about the great dane, George Bailey. So I am sticking with 4 stars even though I expect a lot of readers to be more critical of this book.

The Love Haters by C. Center, published by St. Martin's Press, is a witty and fun read. A rom com of its finest that had me laughing out loud, made me want to throw the book at some point, and gave alllll the feels.
I recommend the book, 5 stars.
Blurb: It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.
Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.
The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.
Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!
But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.
Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

3.75 stars- First off, the cover is so cute. This is the second Katherine Center book I have read and I flew through it. I was interested in reading about Katie shooting a documentary and how the relationship would evolve with the main subject of it (Hutch). I didn't love the last third of the book/the conflict. I liked all the moments with the dog, George Bailey, and the found family aspect especially with Rue. I liked how supportive Katie's cousin Beanie was.