THE LOVE HATERS. Katherine Center is an auto-buy author for me, so when the Netgalley gods smiled upon me and gave me an ARC of her newest, I all but bounded out of my little hovel of depression and immediately read the whole thing (still in a hovel, but, like, a good one). And while it would take a monumental feat to dethrone the Rom-Commers, this one DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

The novel follows down-on-her-luck Katie, a videographer/journalist with a toxic boss, toxic ex, toxic colleague…you get the picture. But then she gets sent to Key West to shoot a promo video for the Coast Guard, luck finally shows up in the form of what I pictured as a seven-foot-tall, aviator-wearing manifestation of Disney’s Hercules cartoon. And we all know he was the hottest Disney MMC.

I tend to like my MMCs with a little grit, and Hutch is pure goodness. That said, if Hutch rescued me from the ocean and swaddled me in a rescue basket like a newborn fawn, would I pee myself and then propose to him? Absolutely. This book beckons you to vicariously live out all your rescue fantasies, with a side plot of redemption and self-love.

One thing Katherine always crushes is the design of her secondary characters, and LOVE HATERS gives us some great ones. The Gals—a group of retired women who quite possibly rival the Coast Guard in coordination and efficacy—make me want to move to a 55+ community in Florida. George Bailey, dog of my heart, is the perfect sidekick. There’s even an inspiring toad. What more do you want?!

Grab it on May 20th and bask in some @katherinecenter perfection. Lord knows we all need it!

I thought this was a very fun read overall. I kind of loved Katie's inner monologue except for the sheer amount of body positivity self-talk. I'm not normally one to love that stuff in books anyway, but I get what was trying to be done here - body positivity issues are really real for some people so I can understand the representation, but that kind of overshadowed all other relationships in the book. I just needed less of that portion of her inner monologue. Otherwise, I thought she was hilarious. I also loved the idea of Hutch, but I don't think it was super well executed. He was great in the first half of the book but when all the drama started happening I couldn't get a grasp on what emotions he was supposed to be conveying. Very all over the place. And the end had a LOT going on. Fake dating. Drama-y rescue type situation. Miscommunication. Terminal illness. Famous Ex. Tragic Past. It was just lots of stuff. Also there was no spice, which I'm pretty glad about because it really wouldn't have fit and would have seem almost forced with all the other plot stuff going on. To me it was definitely a romance but almost more of a Katie-finding-herself-type book where she doesn't actually need the man at the end to feel good about herself. Definitely appreciated that. Overall, I'd recommend it for a fun summer read!

Katherine Center fans will like this one. Fluffy banter abounds, but content warning for diet culture and body image issues.

I think I might be a love hater when it comes to this book. Although I gave it 3 stars I felt like there were some moments that felt flat or could’ve been more elaborated on.

Obviously it’s a romance book first, any other problems second but at times I felt like we just glossed over Katie’s body image issues or Hutch’s grief. Don’t get me wrong Katie’s body image issues are talked about a lot with her person Beanie and at the end when Katie realizes that she does love herself flaws and all was a beautiful moment. I think I was just expecting more out of this book than what I got.

Coming from the Romcommers which was so amazing to Love Haters it really did just end up reading flat for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC!

I haven't read all of Katherine Center's novels but the ones I have read, I've absolutely loved. Up until "The Love Haters" I was considering reading the remainder of her backlist. Now I'm not sure.

"The Love Haters" was a mess and convoluted. It focuses on a woman named Katie who has severe body issues due to a messy relationship with her ex-boyfriend who became a famous singer over the course of their relationship. We meet Katie after they have broken up and she is working at a video production company. She quickly gets sent on a job to film promotional content for the coast guard with the star of the content being her colleague's estranged brother. She goes down to Key West and meets an interesting cast of characters and the future star of her content, Hutch.

Overall, the story was messy. Katie's occupation, Hutch's occupation - it felt like such a stretch to make those two jobs work. The descriptions of Hutch's coast guard duties were interesting but it felt too outlandish for Katie to be there. The little enclave on Key West Katie finds herself in is also strange - a bunch of retired women living in a set of cabins? Okay. And don't get me started on Cole and Hutch's backstory - that was wild. So convoluted. The third act twists were just weird.

Katherine Center threw too much at the wall and let everything stick. Too many tropes, too many odd plot twists. If I hadn't received an eARC, I wouldn't have finished this.

Thanks Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

This is my 7th novel from this author, and the opening chapters honestly read like a Katherine Center parody. The silliness was off putting, but being a fan of her work, I pressed on. Katie’s body image issues were relatable & heartbreaking, but she came across as childlike and helpless, needing rescued by the “hero”. Center and I are both aging, but her novels are catering to an ever younger crowd. This just felt like a more exaggerated rinse and repeat of her recent novels - helpless girl, unrealistic male lead, a misunderstanding trope, the end. I will say the writing style had an easy to read quality and I absolutely love the colorful cover.

The beginning was a little slow. I enjoyed the book much more after Katie met Hutch. Her grappling with her body issues got to be a little long. I also thought the premise with Cole was kind of odd. I rated this book 3 stars because I liked the writing and the relationships that Katie built.

5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

I feel like every component of this book deserves the five stars like, really and truly fully.

Let me start with the obvious, the main romantic love plot—phenomenal, next level, so much yearning. *Will hold back remaining thoughts to avoid spoilers.

AND THEN THERE’S A DOG. Not just mentioned and sometimes brought up, but an honest to goodness inclusion of a pet as a character in a way I haven’t seen in awhile. George Bailey the Great Dane has my heart 💕

There’s also a so defiant plot line in this story about the FMC (Katie)’s journey with falling back in love with her body. As someone who live through the early aughts, I get it. And her journey of self-love was something that really hit for me.

Finally, familial love. This was also very prominent through the story.

There were just so many intertwined and well-thought out love stories in this book that I couldn’t rate it less than 5 stars. Frankly, George Bailey alone could have done it but then Center went and added all this fantastic plot surrounding the main character’s too?! I just loved it. Hutch is a permanent book bf and this book completely captured my heart. Whole thing, a must read.

Just finished the book “The Love Haters” by Katherine Center.

Katie is still getting over her breakup with Lucas (a rising pop star) and all the trauma she faced from their breakup. He cheated on her and her self confidence took a nosedive.

She now has to interview Hutch, a coast guard rescue swimmer, in order to keep her job.

What follows is a funny, laugh out loud book about letting people in and learning to trust in yourself again.

I enjoyed this book. Sometimes I found it difficult to read her thoughts about herself and how hard she was on herself. But overall I enjoyed it.

I normally adore Katherine Center books - her last few releases have been some of my favourite books! Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. Ultimately the body image issues were too much for me for a rom-com book (had this not been an ARC, I probably would have closed the book and quit). This storyline was unfortunately a heavy focus of the book and handled poorly by the author. I also found the cast of characters a little flat and just plain unexciting. Overall, a little disappointing after I was highly anticipating this release - but I will still be checking out Katherine's release next year.

Katie is a woman jilted by an ex fiancé, that caused her to feel body shamed. Her ex fiancé, a now famous singer, cheated on her with a famous star that caused her to bring herself down. She find her job at risk as a video producer and she is presented with an opportunity to save her job by a colleague. She is sent to Florida where she is to shoot a promotional video for the coast guard where she meets Hutch, a hero and a “love hater”. She must find a way to save her job, make this video, all why overcoming her own body shaming.

I love how relatable Katie is as a woman in modern society. The images that the media portrays women as needing to be thin, pretty and perfect at all times is an unattainable standard. Katie struggles with her own body image as her fiancé strides into stardom as the media bashes her outfit and her weight. This book is about self love, acceptance and finding happiness. I’m a lover of side characters and I fell in love with the FMC’s cousin Beanie, who encourages her and helps her find self love. Another side character I love is Rue, the MMC’s aunt, who’s a free spirit and helps bring Katie out of her shell, all while trying to set her up with Hutch.

Overall, I had a great time reading this and once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. It was a fun, easy, quick read.

I just love everything Katherine Center does. It’s all so magical. The woman can do no wrong. I love Katie and I Love Hutch. It’s a yes from me!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another K Center for the win! Ever since I read the Bodyguard, I seek out her newest books (my favorite might still be the face blindness one). I loved the main characters, especially Katie just setting herself up hilarious disaster with her lies.

I’m such a sucker for that feeling of finishing a book with a huge grin on your face. Or when you get sucked into a story and forget that the real world exists. That’s what happened to me with The Love Haters (well, towards the end at least), and, I mean, what did I actually expect? This is a Katherine Center book. That’s just how it works. You smile, you giggle, you tear up a bit.

For this one, I REALLY enjoyed the last 20ish percent, but honestly didn’t care too much about most of the stuff before that. I didn’t not enjoy it, but a lot of it was just *there.*

I also didn’t feel super connected to the romance. I liked Katie. I liked Hutch. I liked them together. But I still felt like so much of their time together was told instead of shown, making it harder to see the actual sparks and tension there.

But, really, George Bailey was the star of this show. Every scene he was in, I was invested. Dogs in books are the best, but this goofy little (well actually, huge) Great Dane was truly THE BEST.

And the storm situation with Katie and George Bailey had me HOOKED.

I also really resonated with Katie’s body image struggles and that aspect of the story.

And I would like to go to Key West (although I have been there before hehe) and hang out with Rue and the Gals STAT.

Okay, enough blabbing. Giving this 3.75 stars 🏝️🛟🩱🐕


~ I owe a big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Imagine the joy I felt when I got approved for a Katherine Center ARC ☺️ ~

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC and giving me the opportunity to write my honest review. I had high hopes for this book because I enjoyed reading The Bodyguard and The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center, but I am sad to say that I didn't love this particular story.

The concept for this book had a lot of potential. The entire premise of Katie not being able to swim, but she has to do a profile about a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, who happens to be her boss' brother, is great. The execution of this idea didn't quite hit the mark. The romance between Hutch and Katie started off strong - I enjoy a slow burn - but the characters lacked chemistry throughout the second half of the book. There was also a lot of miscommunication, which is something I personally do not enjoy in romance books.

More important than the romantic love is the book's main love story, which is about loving yourself. Katie embarks on a journey of self-love while she is stationed at her new work assignment. I appreciated this self-love theme a lot because it is so important to be kind to yourself and your body. This is a story about healing and moving forward, and I think elements of this were very written well in Katie's point of view. However, there were inner monologue moments about body image that went on too long or came at odd times in the story, and this took away from the seriousness of this theme. Other plot points, especially Cole's character, also detracted from the main romance and quality of the story.

The character I enjoyed most in this story was Rue. She is hilarious and detrimental to all of the growth we see in the main characters. George Bailey, the dog, is also a highlight of the book! There is an author's note at the very end of the book that explains all of the different love stories this book has to offer: loving yourself, love between siblings, and love from parental figures. Reading this helped me better understand some of Katherine's writing choices, and I think this note would have been more meaningful if it started off the story.

Although this book was not the book for me, I definitely want to continue reading Katherine Center stories in the future!

I was so excited to get this ARC! I love Katherine Center. This was a departure from her usual style in some ways, though. Body image plays a huge role in the book, especially the first 50 percent. There were also times when my heart was pounding from the adventure of the storyline - that’s all I will say without spoiling. I wish there had been a little less time in the first 1/2 focusing on her past hurts so that we could have enjoyed more dialogue between Katie and Hutch. We were told that they were having long conversations in the car getting to know each other, and I would have liked to witness them.

Review for The Love Haters by Katherine Center. I was really excited for this book since I love The Bodyguard by her but I felt a bit disappointed. I had a hard time getting into this book! It felt incredibly slow and the pacing was so off. AlthoughI really like how the topic of dealing with societal views on woman's body was brought up. This personally wasn't for me but I would recommend it to someone else. A good summer read!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book! I’m a big fan of Katherine Center but this book fell a bit short for me. I was left wanting more from the two main characters relationship. It felt way too under-developed for me unfortunately. Just wasn’t my cup of tea!

The Love Haters featuring a video producer, Katie Vaughn, and U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimming, Tom "Hutch" Hutcheson sparks an intriguing enemies-to-lovers situation. Katie is offered a job to film the USCG for marketing/recruitment, ny her boss Cole Hutcheson. Hutch has a history in heroics and is finally ready to be interviewed for his job. He has refused in past, but will do it if it can be done by his brother. The drama here is a bit much.

Katie learns to love herself thoroughout the story. She was jilted a year prior to the beginning of the story. In her previous relationship she was torn apart by the media and online bullies. Big TW for anorexic and orthorexic behavior here.**

Katherine Center is an auto-read author for me. This book felt split between Women's Fiction and Romance. It definitely wasn't light-hearted enough to justify being a Rom-Com. Maybe the dual focus between themes split the book too much for me. I felt like the romance between Katie and Hutch lacked that "Katherine Center magic". Not to mention, the banter wasn't as strong as it usually is in her books. Overall, enjoyable read but some things to consider.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this eARC!

I think this was such a fun romance, and I enjoyed the journey, the change in location (TX vs this one in the FL Keys), and most of all I am a full-time video producer like Katie so I LOVED this premise! KC always has such fun jobs for her leading ladies and this was no different!