thank you SMP and NetGalley for the advance sneak peak! This is my first book by this author - and I loved it. It's romance with depth. The messages in this book hit so close to home for me - body image, self worth, confidence etc. Alright, so this book is about Katie. Katie was jilted by her fiancée and on the edge of losing her job filming documentaries. To save her job, she omits some truths and signs up to do a promo for the Coast Guard - mainly on one of their rescue swimmers, Hutch. Tom ("Hutch") is a serious, broody and perfect specimen of a rescue swimmer. Not interested in fame or being filmed, he is hesitant to Katie. But with a meddling aunt and her gals, a large dog and some bad weather - the tide starts to turn. Until someone comes to town who turns everything on its head. Will two "love haters" become believers?

Right when I saw this book up for grabs, I had to get my hands on it. I love Katherine Center and her clean romance books. However, I have to say that this might be a little lower on my list of favorites.
First, I felt like the characters weren’t fleshed out all that well. Second, I was hoping for more chemistry or sparks that’d support any ongoing chemistry between Katie and Hutch. Third, there was quite a bit of drama from Katie’s prior relationship but it was only an indirect issue (regarding her insecurities) and never really became a plot point. Finally, there was a ton italicized writing which personally bothered me.

The storyline is cute and I feel like there is a lot of potential to have fleshed out the characters and the romance more. Idk. Maybe the book was too short? Haha that being said, I think I still read it in 1-2 days and enjoyed it as a quick read.

When life feels chaotic, having a new Katherine Center book to become immersed in is a perfect cure. You know that her characters are going to be facing some real challenges and struggles, but you also know they’re going to make you laugh, make you feel warm and fuzzy feelings, and make you fall in love. They’re also going to find themselves in some of their own chaos, which feels good to experience secondhand instead of firsthand for a change.

Katie was a character that I saw myself in, and she’s one I believe many women will relate to as well. She’s in, as Katherine describes in her (superb, as always) Author’s Note, and enemies-to-lovers trope relationship with her own body image. The love story she ultimately finds with herself was quite possibly the most important romance of the book. As someone who has struggled over the past year to adjust to newly prescribed anxiety medication and the effects it’s had on my metabolism and physical self, I want to absorb the messages conveyed throughout this book into my soul. It never came across as being something that is easy or conveyed in a condescending way. It came across as hopeful.

As for the romance between Katie and Hutch, there was also a lot to love there too. Katherine Center’s couples are always so endearing and heartwarming to me, even as they face interference after interference of the universe simultaneously throwing them together and keeping them apart. Hutch was a golden retriever of a man with a touch of Eeyore (we’re mixing animals here but it’s *fine*) and I just wanted to squeeze him. He also had the greatest Great Dane, George Bailey, who was a great character on his own.

I can’t neglect to mention Rue, who had me in Katherine Center’s DMs to say I loved immediately after meeting her. She was a fantastic character and a special woman. The way she was connected to Hutch spoke to her soul and the way she became a mentor to Katie was lovely.

Katherine Center never lets me down. This book came to me at the perfect time and it was such a wonderful escape. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.