Book Review: The Love Haters

To keep her job, video producer Katie Vaughn fibs about being a strong swimmer and finds herself on assignment in Florida, profiling a Coast Guard rescue swimmer named Hutch.

Hutch also happens to be her boss’s estranged brother, which naturally adds a layer of awkward family drama to the mix. Add a hurricane, sibling rivalry, and the classic "opposites attract" trope, and you’ve got the setup for a rom-com with chaos at every turn.

Katherine Center and I have a complicated relationship. The first book I read from her, What You Wish For, hooked me completely. It was heartfelt, uplifting, and stayed with me long after I turned the last page. I still think about that story years later.

But here’s the thing: the more of her work I read, the more I’ve started to notice a pattern that just doesn’t work for me. Her recent books, including The Love Haters, often include moments where the narrator breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader, saying things like, “You know I had to do it,” or “Am I right?” It’s a stylistic choice that’s meant to feel casual and chatty, almost like the character is confiding in you. But for me, it ends up pulling me out of the story. Instead of feeling immersed in the character’s world, I become overly aware that I’m being told a story, and that makes it harder for me to connect.

That said, there’s still something about Center’s writing that gets me. Even if the first half feels a little slow or too quirky for my taste, she somehow always hits me with an emotional moment that totally catches me off guard. One minute I’m rolling my eyes, and the next, I’m crying. Then laughing. Then crying again. It’s confusing, but in a way that kind of works. She always manages to make me feel something, even when I’m not sure how I feel about the story itself.

So while The Love Haters isn’t a new favorite, I still admire Center’s ability to blend humor with raw, emotional moments. I’m not sure how she manages to tug at my heartstrings even when I’m not entirely on board with the story, but she does.

If you love character-driven romance with big emotional arcs and don’t mind a direct-address narrative, you’ll probably fall for this one. But if you're on the cynical side of the romance aisle like me, you might find yourself...well, conflicted.