I love all Katherine Center books and this one was no exception. Her characters seem like real people and her books make you feel like you are a part of them. I laughed a lot while reading this book but also felt the struggles that Katie felt in relation to her body. As for the romance I like that it was not so steamy and the book has a lot of other things going on and for it. 4.5 stars!

Katherine will forever be one of my favorite authors! The Love Haters is bound to be one of your VERY favorite books you read in 2025! You will laugh and cry and fall in love! I’m so mad I’m already done reading it! You are lucky, preorder it and get excited!!! 🏊 🩷 🌺

This was such a fun one. Unexpected romance and ridiculous situations, definitely a feel good story.

📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @stmartinspress and @smpromance for an early copy of The Love Haters by @katherinecenter. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Release date: May 20th, 2025

Blurb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑

The Love Haters, despite the title, was surprisingly full of love and character growth, especially for the main character Katie, who’s been through a lot as a child and even as an adult, and in turn, had a lot of insecurities and fears in adulthood and after her ex-fiancé cheated on her with a celebrity. When a career-changing opportunity was offered to her, she took it despite not being qualified, as the job required filming a Coast Guard rescue swimmer named Hutch in Key West; yes, the job required swimming, which Katie did not know how to do.

Her time in Key West was life-changing for her though, as she learned to conquer her fears and how to appreciate and love herself just the way she is, with the help of Hutch and his adoptive mother Rue and her friends The Gals. Katie’s character is very relatable, but there were some parts of the story about how pessimistic she views herself that was quite triggering. I loved how much her best friend Beanie supports her despite being so far away, though, and how much she gives Katie some “assignments” to figure out what else about herself she loves and how she pushes her to expose herself to her fears.

Katie’s romance with Hutch feels like a side story in this novel, to be honest, with Katie’s journey in loving herself first being the main objective; but I enjoyed their budding romance and chemistry, nonetheless. I loved their conversations about getting to know one another, and how Katie had a part in Hutch and his brother Cole making up after a long time of resentment.

There are loads to unpack with this novel and I feel like this review doesn’t do justice of how much I really enjoyed Center’s new novel. Just know that this is something to look forward to for a heartwarming novel that will make you appreciate yourself as a person and human being.

I am holding a small grudge against the MMC. there’s a scene where the FMC needs to wear a swimsuit and he specifically tells her not to wear a flowered one. She wears a black one and he is affronted when he sees it, telling her it’s too sexy. I’m sorry, but it’s 2024. Why is a man policing what a woman is wearing based on his discomfort? It really turned me off from being able to enjoy the love story. I get that he’s supposed to be a protective, hero type, but I really didn’t take kindly to this scene.

Otherwise it was a cute story. I like the journey of self love Katie goes on. And I continue to adore Katherine Center.

LOVED this sweet story! Katherine Center's newest book does not disappoint!

Katie works as a videographer in Dallas. Cole is her coworker and assigns her to make a documentary video about his brother, Hutch, a Coast Guard rescuer in Key West. As she takes on this task, she learns a lot about Cole and Hutch, and a tragic accident that happened when they were kids. While filming the docu, she becomes quite enamored with Hutch, but she's not really sure if he has feelings for her or not. Excitement on the water, and in their souls ensues. The ending was perfect and satisfying. This is a precious rom-com that swallowed me up and left me with a huge smile on my face!
Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Love Haters.

Loved loved loved just like every book she writes. This one particularly has layer after layer of meaningful messages that hit so close to home! Highly recommend

3.5 stars rounded up

If I read romance, I like it to have a little something extra, and this one delivered on that front. Besides the main romance, there is a found family element in a fun group of side characters who are all older widows or divorcees living their best life by the beach. I also loved learning more about the rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard, especially the hunky main character Hutch. The behind the scenes of investigative journalism was also an interesting addition. The romance itself was just the right amount of tropey and spicy. One of the parts of the book that I didn’t care for was the over emphasis on body image at the beginning. Some of the comedic parts bordered on outright silly. Overall this was an enjoyable read for those looking for a sweet romance with some entertaining characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.
Publication date: 5/20/25

Yay! Another Katherine Center novel to get me through the week. Coming out in May of 2025, The Love Haters is a classic Center book with a relatable and interesting heroine that is funny, romantic, and heartwarming.
Katie is a documentary filmmaker who might be about to lose her job when her colleague Cole sends her to the Florida Keys to film a promo for the US Coast Guard and specifically work with Cole’s brother, Hutch. I learned so much about sea rescues (not a topic I thought I was interested in, but it was in fact very interesting!) but ultimately this is a story about self-acceptance and friendships.
There is a whole fake dating section – my least favorite trope – that was slightly annoying because anything that can be cleared up with one honest conversation should not take up ¼ of a book, IMO. Other than that, it was a fun read and I enjoyed it a lot. Also, dog characters… the best.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy!

Katherine Center delivers excellent romance once again. I have and will read anything this author publishes thanks to her consistently engaging plots, relatable quirky characters, and her love of the genre itself that shines through every page. The Love Haters explores the nuances and complexities of many relationships but most provocative here is our heroines relationship with herself. It's a figurative warm embrace set in the magical Key West amongst heroes and introverts with zany circumstance and so much fun. The intimacy Katherine Center conveys through her first person point of view main character fully immerses readers into her story. I found the book hard to put down and was catching pages whenever I had a spare moment only to get lost for an hour at a time. Another Katherine Center story full of joy and hope amongst such common struggles. Another big win for me from this gifted story teller.

Once again, Katherine Center writes a masterpiece of a rom-com. I loved it so much! The chemistry between Hutch and Katie was so intense that I was hoping she might throw in a little spice for the first time. :p

You could tell that she went and research the Coast Guard and how they do things. I loved the suspense at the end and the crazy brother and boss.

Absolutely loved it!!!

Katie has been burned by love in the past. She also has low self esteem about her body. When Katie agrees to take an assignment that she hopes will save her job she gets in over her head, literally. The job is in Key West, which she falls in love with. She also falls in love with the man she goes there to interview. Throw in a hurricane to make it interesting and you have an interesting read. This was not my favorite Katherine Center book, but I still enjoyed it. Thanks to @NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I randomly received a copy of this ARC, and I don’t even know or why, but to say that I was overjoyed and extremely grateful, would be an understatement! Thank you so dang much to St. Martin’s press and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this novel early. I had even been searching for it on Netgalley before it landed in my lap, so this was the nicest surprise.
And the cutest read! I will devour anything Katherine Center 😍. This book had it all, as usual - such a feel good romance. And not to mention the dog…but infinity stars for the Great Dane George Bailey! My favorite breed, that I know all about and it was fun to compare George’s fear of thunder to my own’s fear of thunder. That was as real as it gets!
Way to go KC on another perfect read. Thank you so much again to all for this opportunity!

This book is precious, as all her stories are. Bonus content: lots of (perhaps too much?) body positivity and learn-to-love-your-imperfectly-perfect body messages.

Overall, a great story! 4/5 for me. The characters sucked me in and I really enjoyed Hutch and his story as well, and how he navigated his insufferable brother. Definitely a necessary read for any Katherine Center fans!

Another winner from one of my favorite writers!

Katie Vaughn needs her job as a video producer, so she accepts an assignment profiling Tom Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

Between the stress of not knowing how to swim and losing her luggage, Katie second-guesses the wisdom of agreeing to this crazy trip. However, encouraging words from her best friend, Beanie, convince her to put herself out there, and it turns out to be the best decision of her life.

This is a story about learning to love yourself, and the lessons are taught with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and a toe-curling romance.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This one is out May 20, 2025!

Rom-Com. Katie was burned in spectacular fashion when her struggling musician fiancé suddenly turns into a huge pop star and publically cheats on her. And a year later she’s about to be burned again at work when she hears they’re downsizing, so she immediately agrees to produce a video promoting the US Coast Guard in hopes of keeping her job. The problem? Katie can’t swim, which is a pretty vital part of the job description. Once she arrives in Key West, her helpful proprietor of the place she is staying arranges swim lessons for her. The catch: it’s with Hutch, the hot coast guard rescue swimmer who is also her superior’s brother. As her life becomes more enmeshed with Hutch’s, lies start stacking up and her feelings grow. Can Katie come clean, or will it ruin her relationship with Hutch and lose her job?

I am a Katherine Center STAN and so I of course loved this one. The banter is great, some unexpectedly sweet/vulnerable moments were mixed in with some LOL ones. This was such a quick, easy, FUN read and the setting in Key West will make for a perfect book to kick off the summer season in May.

Another adorable rom com by Katherine Center! Maybe not my absolute favorite by her, but still a wonderfully warm and engaging read. What did I love? George Bailey, Rue and the Gals, beanie, the research spent on the coast guard, Hutch’s sweet sad eyes, and the care and attention given to body image and self love. What I didn’t love? Cole, the drinking competition, Cole again, the miscommunication( although this was more a lack of willingness to stop someone else from lying) and did I mention Cole? Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy and to the author for another fantastic read.

I was so excited to receive an Advanced Readers Copy of The Love Haters and am thrilled to share what a wonderful read it is.
We all know that Katherine Center writes great romance, but the fact that she also embeds real-world issues into her novels is what I appreciate more than anything. It brings a realism to her stories, even though we know that the chances of actually having one of these picture perfect romances isn’t likely.
The story in The Love Haters is about Katie, who was cheated on and is having trouble moving on, and Hutch, the Coast Guard rescue swimmer hates love (or so we are told). Katie’s assignment is to interview Hutch and create a documentary-style commercial marketing the Coast Guard, but her lack of swimming skills throws her into the deep end with the main man, himself.
This is The Beach Read for 2025!

I love the book's premise and honestly could have enjoyed it being longer so the build-up of their relationship could have been a bigger part of the book. It felt like they were into each other super quickly but it wasn't rushed to the point where it wasn't believable. I also loved the ending and the rescue premise. It was a really unique, and cute story.