I read this book in one day and loved every bit of it. I love when I get lost in a book and the characters and this was pure perfection for me. I am sad it’s over.

Wow. This book has taken over as my favorite book by Katherine Center. Yes it's a rom com and yes I loved the characters and yes I loved the romance but I feel like I really connected with the main character, Katie. She navigates something women often struggle with - our body. Her journey was amazing and I truly loved it! I connected to it. Her growth is what I strive for. The romance, the funky aunt, the tropical setting and the adorable dog make it all better.

I couldn't stand Hutch's brother Cole. While he was the "villain", he gave me the ick.

I also usually skip the authors note but I read this one and it made me love Katherine Center even more. Thank you for this book. Thank you for Katie.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my thoughts!

Katherine never fails me to just absolutely fly and devour every word she writes. I don’t have to think too hard about the storyline, there is depth in the characters, growth, and love. Every page has me wanting more and it’s just so easy to fall for her characters. She really brings them to life and this was no different. I read this in 1 day as I usually do her novels, if you love slow burn, lies, heartbreak, depth, and growth read this book you will not regret it
Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this in advanced in exchange for my honest opinion

Another amazing read by Katherine Center. I loved Katie and Hutch so much. The plot and character development throughout the book was phenomenal. I finished the book in a day! It was so good.

This book is an absolute delight. Yes, it is extremely heavy-handed in its messaging, and yes, it is wildly ridiculous in some of its plot events - but I loved it anyway. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy this feel-good story. It addresses some heavy topics, but is also funny, charming, and hopeful. It’s a great read for anyone who enjoys contemporary rom coms, heroic male leads, and goofy dogs.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Katherine Center for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions. This review is posted on Goodreads and will be cross-posted to Amazon upon the book’s publication.

Content notes: readers may wish to know that this book includes mentions of body dysmorphia and disordered eating; discussions of death and grief; some profanity

To say I was estatic to receive Katherine Center’s newest romcom as an ARC is an understatement. As one of my favorite authors, I always look forward to everything Katherine writes.

Read “The Love Haters” if you enjoy:
*** Self-love and discovery theme
*** Witty and charming banter
*** Strong female friendships
*** The swoonworthy first kiss
*** A loveable dog that steals the spotlight

There was so many things to love about this novel. Describing someone as a “human hot fudge sundae?” I will never forget that speech. The hottest first kiss? No one writes them better than Katherine Center. I also appreciated the ongoing theme of self-love and confidence throughout the novel that our FMC grappled with.

All and all, I enjoyed the novel. Was it my favorite novel of the author’s? No it wasn’t. The drama that began halfway through was sort of silly, and actually kind of frustrating. I also wanted a little bit more on the page involving our couple.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

This was a fun and cute romcom! It was a great quick read for the summer. I have really enjoyed Katherine Center's books in the past and this one was very fun to read. Overall, I love the author's idea of a love story between the two characters and with oneself.

I’ve only had a chance to read one of Katherine Center’s novels, The Rom-Commers, but it was one of my top 5 reads from last year so The Love Haters was one of my most anticipated reads for 2025. The Love Haters did not disappoint! Hutch was swoon worthy and Katie was likable with more to her character than just a love story. I couldn’t put this book down, the key west vibes make this a great summer read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Love Haters is a charming rom-com that explores themes of self-love, confidence, unexpected friendships and love. In an attempt to save her job as a video producer, at the request of her co-worker, Katie Vaughn heads to Key West to profile Coast Guard rescue swimmer and known “love hater” Hutch Hutcheson. Unfortunately for Katie, she is underqualified for the job and is forced to dive head first into both the water and her co-worker’s complicated family dynamics.

The writing is fast-paced and witty making it fun and easy to consume. The text also manages to explore darker issues such as body-image, eating disorders, depression, female friendship and more. Some of these themes could have been explored further but given that this is a rom-com Center manages to touch on these themes while still keeping the text mostly lighthearted.

While Katie’s inner monologue and most of the dialogue is fun and relatable, the romantic relationship and chemistry between Katie and Hutch is lacking and seems underdeveloped. This could be due in part to the absence of the male POV, however many of their interactions are recounted rather than shown on the page, making it difficult to believe in their feelings at times.

Overall, this is a fun and quick read, available just in time for summer! I am new to Katherine Center’s books but thanks The Love Haters, I will be diving into more in the future!


Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Katherine Center is a go to author for me. Her books always make me feel, and are compulsively readable. This one is no different. I really enjoyed the characters in this book and that at the center of the story was really the idea of loving yourself first. The book was funny and the banter was enjoyable. The only reason it didn't get 5 from me was I felt some things were a little rushed. But as I said I still loved the book and will always pick up anything by Katherine.

Solid 4⭐️’s. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. Felt like a rollercoaster of emotions on this one. The first 25% I was really not resonating with the characters, kinda disliked them, and didn’t get the storyline really. Something happened once the storyline in Key West grew some more that pulled me in and the last 75% made up for the tough start. I also did not see the last 10% being something that happened in the book, so that took me by surprise in a good way and added to my respect for Katie. Things I could have done without: the brother Cole.

This book focuses on two plots, an obvious love story as well as a journey for self love. While I can appreciate a self love journey, for me it was over done and to heavily focused on. This book is a fun addition to Centers growing list of titles but it was a little bit of a miss for me.

TW: eating disorders

So kick-your-feet cute at times, and at other moments cringey and on-the-nose. The banter is top tier, but the dynamic of *perfect* man (I mean, really, Hutch was described as "scientifically" hot an exhausting number of times) and woman with body dysmorphia was just frustrating. Every moment with Cole the brother just felt like an AI insert of a character. Why is he doing what he's doing? Why is everyone around him responding this way? How is there not an ounce of truth or affection in his assessment of his brother? At one point he's like, no, please don't reveal my big secret/lie, and especially not on this day, and then on the day he's just decided its fine and reveals it? I am more okay with the very movie-magic-like moments of her and George Bailey (the best dog) adrift at sea, than I could tolerate the family dynamic that Cole brought with his weird lies and drinking contests. All in all, a fun weird time if you can really hold off questioning anything.

This was a fun read and I appreciated the portrayal of the main characters struggles with body image. The romance was predictable and anti climatic, but I am unfamiliar with this author and not aware of her romance style.. Rue and the ladies were the best part of the book. I also liked the details about the Coast Guard. I would recommend this to patrons.

I’ve always wanted to give Katherine’s books a chance. I’m not sure why it took me so long to read one but i love the one I picked. Katie is a girl who wants to save her job and Hutch is a guy who just wants to help others with little to no attention. He refuses to let anyone interview him. Will Katie be able to change his mind? Katie works with Cole who is Hutches brother. It’s seems like Cole really had no idea who is brother really is. Katie was seeing another side of hutch, she sees how chatty and kind he is, maybe a said Cole never sees. You can tell Katie felt comfortable around Hutch.

Why is her cousin/friend Rue just greatest?! When she tells Kate, “My wish for you, is a vibrant, bright and glorious life.” Tears 😭 absolutely the sweetest cousin/friend!

The idea of jumping out of helicopters terrifies me. I was getting a lot of anxiety when they were in one/talking about how hutch jumps out of them.

When Noah Kahn was mentioned, I think I screamed.

I definitely like how relatable Katie is. I suffer from an anxiety disorder so I can definitely relate to worrying about bad things happening. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! I was routing for Katie and Hutch the entire time!

This is the first book I’ve read by Katherines and I’m disappointed that I didn’t start reading her books sooner. I really enjoyed this story and how it ended. If you are looking for a feel good rom com, I would definitely recommend this book!

Thank you so much NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Katherine for the ARC!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication: May 20th 2025

#NetGalley

I am a through and through Katherine Center girlie, and I have loved parts of all of her works through the years. My one complaint has always been the use of language. This book has the least language of any of her titles to me! It is also the most closed door of all of them. I loved this shift in the narrative.

Okay, Hutch and the mystery around him are just so good. He is a frowny friend. You know the type. Approach with caution, because they’re probably so lovable? Poor misunderstood super human.

Katie is in her head and hating her body. She is every millennial woman that watched a slim fast commercial growing up and went so far as to only take those shakes to school for “lunch.” Sometimes it felt like a reach, the loathing that she felt for herself, but then I’d remember how many summers I didn’t wear an actual swimsuit to the pool. Her struggles were very much my own and I could vibe with her.

Someone made the comment that her humor is too “slapstick.” 🏆 THATS THE BEST PART. Maybe people just aren’t accident-prone enough? Because this humor does not strike me as absurd so much as honest. Like hey man that’s just Monday. 🫡 The wardrobe malfunction had me in actual tears laughing. A sense of humor is how we cope, alright?

A dog with a Christmas name? SOLD!

The ladies in waiting at the cottages? CHECK!

I loved this. I flew through it.

This was a much needed burst of light-hearted reading. The characters and their friendships are likable and fun to read. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a good rom-com story.
Thank you to the publishers for an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed it!

When I saw that Katherine Center's new book was available for read now on NetGalley, I got here as quick as I could to download it. Katherine has been one of my favorite authors since I first read one of her books a few years ago. Her romance novels are perfect stories about how love should be and feel and her new book, The Love Haters, was just that.

Katie is one of the most relatable characters I've read in a long time. After going through a breakup, she starts to question her "worth" and relates it to her appearance which she hates. The personal relationship she has with herself and developing her own self-love makes this story even better.

Watching Katie and Hutch's romance unfold is entertaining and fun. It's a slower burn romance with little spice but lots of fun banter. Throw in Rue and the Gals and it makes for a fun quick read.

One thing I like about Katherine Center's novels, is that she always introduces a new career or diagnosis or situation that we get to learn about - in this case, learning about the coast guard water rescue team was an interesting addition to the story.

I don't always read the Auther's note in books, but I saw another review that mentioned this particular one was one to read. Often times being a romance reader is looked down upon or made fun of, pointing out that we have a false idea of love and thus unrealistic expectations for love. Her note summed up why more people should read love stories when she said "Love stories make us better at love. And getting better at love, of course, means getting better at life."

After Katie Vaughn is given a career changing gig, she heads down to Key West to create promotional material for the Coast Guard and on Tom "Hutch" Hutcherson. Falling into a web of lies from the beginning, Katie soon discovers more about herself and love.

If you love miscommunication, messy family dynamics, and tropical settings, this is for you.

However, if you are a fan of KC, this book will give you so much whiplash. You will finish the book and question if it was a fever dream. As someone who has read almost all of her backlog (all but The Bright Side of Disaster), this did not feel like anything else she has written.

Typically, her stories include well fleshed out characters. This story had only one truly thought out character and that was Hutch. While I know that self-worth and body image was important to Katie's character, it really didn't sit well with me. We have one paragraph about the step-mother commenting on her body. Nothing else. Then, we have the internet who did as well. However, that should have been more ironed out if it was key to her. Katie felt more 18 than 26, too.

Beanie. Beanie. Beanie. If Beanie was as amazing as Katie thought she was, Beanie should not have been toxic towards Katie. My biggest gripe: If Beanie knew about Katie's insecurities, past, and current struggles with her image, WHY DID SHE SEND HER A LINK TO AN ARTICLE ABOUT KATIE'S BODY? Why did she send the song about Katie to her after Katie moved on? And having Katie list off things she loved about her body on the phone each time they talked... No. I wish Beanie had more of a positive relationship with her.

Cole. I've never wanted to punch a fictional character more. And let me tell you, I felt the same feeling with Wickham in Pride and Prejudice. I get that there is a lot of immaturity and miscommunication, but using a female to buy you time, or to save your job.. ick.The fact that you have a character written pretty much forcing his brother to get drunk after saying "no" multiple times really isn't it. Overall, he was doing too much.

Loved the Gals and Rue. I wish there was a novel about Rue and her life.

When to comes to the story itself, there were things that didn't line up. I thought Katie was going to help Hutch get closer to Cole while they were giving swimming lessons? Why is that even in the book if that didn't happen at all? With that being said, I think that there was too much going on.We didn't need an Adam Sandler movie moment halfway through the book when Cole showed up. It felt too slapstick for a Katherine Center novel. She could have leaned more into her women's fiction style of writing with characters and minimized the plot a bit and it would have been better.

Last thought; I don't know if this was specifically written to be a movie, but if it was, it was trying to hard.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Reader Copy and to Netgalley.

I needed this book to start 2025 right. Katherine Center never misses. Every book I read from her always pulls me in and I always end up enjoying whatever she writes.

I loved the characters in this book, their development, their relationships, the storylines and everything in between. The ending was super far fetched and unrealistic, BUT it’s still exactly what i would have wanted to happen and i ate it right up with a big smile on my face. Finishing the book, I gave it 4 stars. After reading the authors note, it auto bumped it up to a 5 for me. In the note, she writes “Stories have a unique kind of magic. They aren’t real life - but they’re kind of the next best thing.”
That quote is exactly why I read, and her books bring me so much joy.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.