ALC and DRC Review: The Love Haters by Katherine Center
- Story Eater
- Apr 7
- 3 min read
Release date: 20 May 2025
Rating: 5/5
Narrator: Patti Murin
Synopsis: 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.
Review
I only have a few comfort read authors, and Katherine Center is one of them. I’ve read every one of her books, and I expect disappointment each time, but I never get it (hope for the best, but expect the worst and all that). I still hold Hello Stranger as my favorite Center book, but this one comes to it closely. The Love Haters is number two in the most recent grouping of stories, which I think has a jilted theme, with Charlie from The Rom-Commers not believing in love and Cole having similar aversions to the feeling as well. I love seeing what new spin on all the romance tropes I’ll find in Center’s books; this one’s got some clever ones for sure.
Two things readers can most definitely expect in a Katherine Center rom-com are actually funny comedic parts and seriously emotionally hard-hitting aspects. While Emma has to lie to keep her job (she can’t really swim) and suffer a notoriously grumpy and video-resistant film subject in the meantime, she gets to hang around with cool folks who constantly throw funny banter around. Though Cole has a bristly exterior, he seems to be a giant softie to everyone else, especially the older ladies who hang out at the pool, his aunt, and his giant ninny dog. The irony made comedic gold and the dog took the cake.
Characters in Center books are no less awesome, and usually the side characters have some serious appeal that threatens to overshadow the mains, which happened here in spades. Cole’s aunt needs her own book or something, and I need an origin story of ninny dog in the form of a picture book stat. Dog and toad are friends. You'll see when you read it. You'll read it, right?
Just about everything about this book tugged on the heartstrings. If Katherine Center keeps writing, I’ll gladly take regular breaks from SFF books to come back to the real world. But just for a bit. I must be about my magical business.
Murin’s narration the voice matched so perfectly the tone of the story and the characters. I read this as an ebook first and then listened to the ALC. The narration didn’t change a thing about the story; it only enhanced it, as any good narration should.
Overall, 5/5 for all of it. I love Center’s writing, and her romance has the added bonus of the complete lack of explicit sexual content.
My thanks to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for the DRC and ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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