Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - The Love Haters: A Novel

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Love Haters: A Novel by Katherine Center

52 reviews

mj_86's review against another edition

4.0

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

verahelwood's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I am having a hard time rating this book because I am truly just in shock. I finished it last night and I'm still not certain what I read. I was listening to the audiobook, literally screaming every time something new happened. I'm a big fan of Katherine Center's previous books and was excited to see this new one come out - and set in the Florida Keys, no less! I thought I knew what I was getting into. A lighthearted romance with a few tear-jerking emotional breakthroughs sprinkled in. And, yes, that is exactly how the first half of the book goes. And then.
At some point, and completely without warning, the book somehow shifts into a thriller with a first-person narration of my actual greatest fear that lasted 1.5 hours with me listening at 1.5 speed. I truly don't know how to properly explain the visceral experience of listening to/reading this book without spoilers, but I promise this is only scratching the surface. The main character spends hours coming to terms with her own mortality while also trying to keep an injured animal alive in a life-and-death emergency scenario. Every aspect of this emergency scenario is explained in gritty, terrifying detail and every eventuality is taken to the ultimate extreme. Surviving a hurricane on a houseboat isn't enough - we need that houseboat to go adrift at sea and eventually sink, leaving her to tread water in the open ocean. Oh, and she has an injured dog with her who is leaking blood into the water and making noises to summon the circling sharks. Every additional detail from that point of the book on only grew more and more bizarre. Even the epilogue and happy ending was strange and unpredictable. This book was a wild ride and I need to find more people who have read it so I can scream about it with them.

Content Warnings

bookrecsbyjess's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny inspiring

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC and to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of The Love Haters by Katherine Center. All opinions are my own.

The Love Haters follows two people that have issues but are such lovable characters. Katie, while good at her job, had such a poor view of her own body. It was beautiful to see others lift her up about her appearance, but I especially liked how she lifted herself up. Hutch was such an amazing character, but he didn’t seem to see himself the way others saw him. Not only did he literally rescue people for a living, but he also was just such a kind person overall and made sure others were taken care of.

One of my favorite aspects of this story was Hutch’s dog. He was such a sweetheart, and I loved his interactions with Katie and Hutch. I also appreciated the story behind Hutch rescuing him.

While the conflict bothered me a bit, I liked that it wasn’t super drawn out. I also liked that the characters were quick to forgive.

I listened to the audiobook, and I loved Patti Murin as a narrator. She did a great job with her inflection and overall tone. I would recommend this format if you like audiobooks.

Overall, I just really loved this story. It was sweet, and I loved the character growth. I’d recommend this book!

Content Warnings

lawoodworth's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I received a galley from @netgalley- The Love Haters by @katherinecenter; this book comes out on May 20th and I am telling you to preorder this one IMMEDIATELY! I absolutely loved this one- Katie and Huck are a great combo, but I fell in love with Rue and The Gals! Center is one of my favorite authors because her romance books are so deep- the character development and side stories feel like a warm hug and always make me feel introspective. Her characters are relatable and when you see them healing, a part of you heals too! This story is so deep and the characters work through so many complex emotions and relationship dynamics. This book is my top read of the year and I’m so excited for everyone to get to read this next month!

Content Warnings

bexbooklover's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Katie is still getting over the trauma of a very public breakup with her now famous ex. She is trying to keep her job and agrees to do a profile on Hutch a coast guard rescue swimmer who went viral for saving a celebrities dog.

This book was full of extremely relatable moments and conversations that we've all had in our life, But I was kind of disappointed in the fact that this really is a very little romance. Not even like a slow burn. Slow buildup just pretty much none. And I get that that might be on me. But with the title of this book I was kind of expecting a little bit more romance.

I loved the conversations throughout this book around. Loving yourself being happy with who you are and the career that you have, and how true friendship really can be a great love. Like every Katherine Center Book the writing in this was just
beautiful. I still highly recommend it and she will always and forever be one of my all-time favorite authors.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book.

Content Warnings

jaklyns_library's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for my digital advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.

I love Katherine Center because her romance books are so much more than romances. They include very real, authentic characters who are well rounded. They go through hard times and have challenges they need to overcome. They learn about themselves throughout the book and yes, they do end up having a happily ever after with the male love interest. But they grow so much in that time as well. I think romance books like these are so important because of the authenticity and how much readers can get from the story. Katherine Center shares so many words of wisdom within her books that I always come away from them feeling like I've learned more about myself.
*I love the author's note at the end of the novel and one quote in particular really encapsulates what Katherine Center's books are all about: "Stories take us out of ourselves and deeper into ourselves at the exact same time. They are specific and universal. Big and small. Something and everything."

The Love Haters is no different than other Katherine Center books in this regard:

Our main character Katie is a video producer but is in danger of being laid off from her job. Her coworker Cole asks her to take a job following and documenting a Coast Guard rescue swimmer "Hutch" (who happens to be Cole's brother) in Florida's Key West. This is the perfect job to show the boss that she deserves to keep her job. The only problem is that she will need to undergo specific safety training as she will be filming on a helicopter over the ocean as "Hutch" and his team are sent out on rescue missions. Katie doesn't know how to swim, but she can't let this job opportunity go. So, she pretends. She also has major body issues that she is actively working through throughout the novel. Her best friend sets her a challenge to name 1 thing she loves about her body every day. At first, these are small things and Katie doesn't seem to take it very seriously. But as the story progresses and Katie is faced with different instances where her insecurities are really put to the test, she starts loving bigger parts of herself for very real reasons. Her growth with this was incredibly healing for me as a reader with similar insecurities too. Katie of course starts falling for the handsome Hutch as she gets to know him better and spends most of her time with him while "on location". While flawed, Katie was a really strong character and I was really rooting for her throughout the novel.
Aunt Rue was colourful and vibrant and just so lovely. She and her gal pals were quite the side characters and I would love to read a book just about them and their dynamics honestly.
Hutch is gorgeous and also hates love. I swooned for him. Some of the things he said, the looks that he gives Katie... I was a goner.
"'Because every time I'm around you- and today was the worst of all- I want...' He shook his head. 'I just want...everything.'"
Key West is such a perfect backdrop for this novel. It is picturesque and so atmospheric within the story. At times, the setting felt like a character.

One aspect of the novel that I really didn't love was a lie that Katie went along with even when it felt like there was another way out of the situation. I don't want to spoil anything for other readers, but this part of the book really didn't make sense with who Katie was becoming at the time. I just really didn't understand why she went along with it instead of using her own agency to stand up and say no. That said, I'm glad it was resolved the way it was. The book started one way and then it took a turn with this lie and it went in a direction I wasn't expecting. Katie was put into some wild situations, including a hurricane and it started to feel a bit over the top. However, I think Katherine Center still managed to create a relatively believable love story and one that included a lot of growth for her characters.

One quote I loved:
"I won't say that one kiss fixed every broken thing in my life. But I will say this: having someone stand up for you and then kiss you senseless by the water at sunset is a hell of a thing. Something quiet and forgotten and neglected in my soul got an undeniable dose of healing."

Content Warnings

jefferz's review against another edition

4.0

funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Swimming lessons, a hot coast guard rescuer, Key West charm, plus a 160 lb great dane? The Love Haters by Katherine Center has a recipe of elements perfect for a sweet and bubbly summer cocktail of a read. Featuring a fun and light-hearted plot with a bit of added substance from heavier topics like body image and public scrutiny, The Love Haters delivers a solid romcom experience, despite being a bit formulaic and predictable. Although I had a few minor nitpicks regarding the overall pacing and how the novel executed some of its more dramatic moments, I still found it very entertaining and worth reading.

Mixing the tropes of a fish out of water (or in this case, surrounded by water) with the disheartened and romance skeptic, Katie’s story is one that’s both fun to read as well as one that’s quite relatable. Apart from the main plot involving Katie trying to produce a promotional film featuring an unwilling real-life hero in an effort to keep her job, there’s a secondary storyline involving body image and self-acceptance. While the former serves as the main hook, it’s the latter that I found pleasantly surprising and effective. While the two storylines seemingly have little to do with each other on paper, they both gradually begin to play off and eventually compliment each other, providing great character development as Katie discovers her own self worth next to the unsmiling yet perfect Hutch. Rather than merely settling with just being funny, Katie’s time in Key West quickly becomes a journey to self-appreciation and love, adding additional intention and depth to the story, albeit executed in a casual manner without the ambition or finesse to make it a standout feature. I went into The Love Haters having previously read Center's The Bodyguard which I considered to be an excellent romcom, and unsurprisingly got a few good laughs in this book as well, though the humor isn’t quite as funny here (Hannah is a more amusing and entertaining MC). However when compared, The Love Hater’s back-half definitely had a bit more substance while The Bodyguard was mostly just a good fun time.

Immediately obvious from the get-go, one of The Love Haters’ highlights is the sunny and pastel-tinted portrayal of Key West and its far-removed, relaxed feel. Despite only one sentence of the synopsis advertising the story’s setting (along with the Coast Guard, another element incorporated well), I found Center’s choice of Key West to not only be a great narrative choice given its proximity to NAS Key West, but also for flavor and quite literally extra color. Having lived in “paradise” for the majority of my life, I’ve become accustomed and quite tired of how generic and all-encompassing tropical vacation locations like Key West are often portrayed in media. In The Love Haters however, Center’s approach and descriptions of Key West goes much further than what I was expecting for the story. Obviously romanticized for the feel-good nature of the novel and genre, I consistently found the descriptions and movements around the island to feel truly lived-in and well-researched, particularly Key West’s signature building style and distinctive colorful fashion. While not necessarily being the most lyrical or poetically beautiful descriptions I’ve read, Center captures the lifestyle and image of the island perfectly and many important plot elements simply could not work without the Key West location and warm portrayal.

Another aspect of The Love Haters that I enjoyed was the portrayal and inclusion of the Coast Guard rescue operation that was cleverly integrated into Katie and Hutch’s story. Although it provided a lot of great slapstick comedic material and a narrative reason for pairing them off outside of “work”, I was impressed how Center was able to connect the military angle back to Katie’s personal demons. Aside from the obvious and overdone inability to swim element (providing plenty of Hutch eye candy scenes), I found a particular rescue helicopter flight protocol requirement very cleverly utilized for Katie’s self image storyline, particularly it’s takeaway message. While stereotypical, Hutch’s Coast Guard background also worked in the story’s favor as an understandable layer to his resistance to initial attraction, rather than merely being another generic standoffish aloof love interest. And while completely predictable and almost obligatory for the genre, the rescue motif near the conclusion also provides excellent romance opportunities if you know what I mean.

While I enjoyed reading the novel which went by very fast, upon completion I felt that pacing and the overall focus of the story to be a little misplaced. While the first two thirds of the story was entertaining enough and Katie/Hutch had good chemistry, it mostly felt like fun in the sun slapstick fluff. That may seem like an odd thing to point out considering some of Center’s other novels mostly consist of quality, yet still slapstick content. However, once the novel hits the 60% mark, the real meat of Katie’s character story begins. The final third of the story abruptly shifts the tone and focus, which felt quite jarring compared to how relaxed the rest of the story felt. Additionally, the “lies” highlighted in the book’s synopsis and character relationships honestly started to feel quite chaotic, particularly nearly all of Katie’s coworker Cole’s character motivations and the conflict with his older brother Hutch. Their strained relationship, uncomfortable reunion, and all the conflict that follows felt quite manufactured and unusually forced due to a lack of foreshadowing or context clues (the exact same note I had with the love interest and familial discourse featured in The Bodyguard). The deceptions and plot progressions felt progressively more over the top, not to mention rushed and out of left field. To Center’s credit, the progressions were unexpectedly twisting and certainly amped up the story, invoking the worst thing that can happen trend. I fully believe that the plot and developments in the back of the story could’ve completely worked if more of Hutch/Cole/Rue’s backstories were incorporated into the first half of the story instead of revealing all of the cards in the moment, or if this narrative shift occurred far earlier in the story. Its current placement causes the chapters before it to feel like wasted pages underutilized while everything afterwards rushed and excessive.

While Katie is given good character growth potential which culminates in a dramatic and unexpected ordeal with Hutch’s great dane George Bailey (while the good, it could’ve been great with more time), Hutch on the other hand didn’t feel as developed. While there’s a lot of interest revolving around his Coast Guard career and image-breaking moments with his dog and Rue’s gal pals, I was a bit disappointed that his character ultimately ended up simply being Mr. Perfect and morally flawless. The novel’s entire setup revolves around the world finding him attractive and perfect after a rescue video he’s in goes viral (much to the ire of Cole), but I was surprised that the story didn’t actually capitalize or twist that public image for narrative purposes and greater depth. While that’s slightly to be expected given the story’s feel-good tone and genre, this is again another point of criticism I had with The Bodyguard and its love interest Jack Stapleton; both male love interests felt too perfect and by extension, bland and forgettable.

The side characters are another area that I felt hindered the novel’s enjoyment and the author’s ambition to be more than just a romcom (see Center’s extended author notes). While I found Rue to be lovely, decently developed, and having great character moments with Katie and her worries, Katie’s relative and friend Beanie (forgot what their relation was, perhaps a sign of what little impression she left) felt noisy and distracting to the story. Their girl talk gossipy phone calls about Katie’s time in Key West constantly felt like interruptions to the flow of the story and didn’t feel like they added anything of value. I realize how this sounds given I’m a male reader criticizing gal pal banter, however other reviews by female readers also share similar opinions of Beanie and her phone calls. Beanie’s narrative purpose in the story was clearly intended to be a foil to Katie’s self-image doubts and to help her reframe her opinion of herself, but the execution of their conversations felt underwhelming and lacking depth, given the weight of the topic. This is made all the more noticeable when Katie finally has her “ah-hah!” moments which feel less than satisfying when her support from Beanie all feels so trite. I almost would’ve preferred if Beanie was axed completely and her contributions to Katie’s growth were left solely to Rue, or less predictably, maybe even Katie’s boss Sullivan (the one who may fire her constantly). There’s a perfect opportunity near the end of the story where Katie and Sullivan have a brief heart to heart that could’ve strengthened both Sullivan’s character and the story considerably had it been fleshed out more. The same could be said about Cole whose lies and motivations felt all over the place. While the plot developments and conflict technically make sense on paper, the actual execution and my reaction to them while reading ranged from bafflement to confused amusement due to the lack of setup. The ARC version obviously may be different from the actual published version, but the ebook copy is not very long and certainly could’ve been longer if it allowed greater development to make Cole’s actions more believable. As it currently is, Cole becomes the scapegoat for every plot twist that feels like a narrative stretch under the guise of “I had to do it for you to keep your job”. The story falls back on this explanation far too many times, particularly since the initial reason for Katie taking on the Key West job in the first place is for that same repetitive reason.

Despite some concerns about the pacing and side characters, I found The Love Haters to still be an entertaining read and an above average romance novel that’s awfully close to being an excellent one. The vibe and content is very much on-brand for what readers have come to expect from Katherine Center’s novels. The vibrant Key West setting and constant swimming-related events paired with a sexy tall Coast Guard also makes it a perfect summer vacation read, likely intentional given its announced late May publication date (also on-brand for me reading the summer story in Winter much like my Xmas themed reads in July). Overall, The Love Haters is a very easy book to pick-up and is a safe recommendation for most romance or chick lit readers.

Content Warnings

treesreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Check back later, I will post my full review closer to the release date!

Pub Date: 05/20/2025

Content Warnings

baileydouglass's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous emotional funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This story is about a woman who works for a video production company and is assigned a job filming a promotional video for a coast guard search and recuse company with a rescue guy who is basically superman. They have a whole dynamic

Katherine Center is one of my absolute favorite authors and I was so excited to be approved for this ARC. I usually rate her books 4 or 5 stars and eagerly await the release of every new one. She is an expert on writing relatable female characters, funny circumstances and just enough adrenaline to have you spellbound and she absolutely nails that with this book, like all the others of hers I've read. There was an early moment where the romantic lead has to remove splinters from her butt that had me literally laughing out loud.

The core of the story is great, unfortunately this one missed the mark for me for a few reasons that I found too distracting to get over:

1. Huge focus on weight/body image from the female main character. It came up so many times and felt like a real focus of the book and I don't find that to be an enjoyable topic to read about, especially when it was clear that this woman was super attractive and in good shape. I understand that the whole thing is that that's what dysmorphia is, but it was just not what I signed up for and is not referenced at all in any of the blurbs.

2. Secondary female character who is a successful woman in her 40s is an offensive stereotype of an overly sexualized boss woman/"cougar" with no other salient characteristics. At first I thought this was going to be something where a lesson was learned about not judging or stereotyping people. Nope! That was just this character's arc. At least she isn't punished for this, but it felt like a huge miss and was also very distracting for me.

Ultimately I still love Katherine Center and have read 8 of her other books very enthusiastically, I'll keep reading everything she writes, but this one was not it for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reading copy for an unbiased review.

Content Warnings

thecourtofnovels's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Love Haters by Katherine Center (ARC)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Katherine Center brings a tender love story between Katie, a filmmaker and her documentary subject named Hutch. He is a hero rescue diver with muscles for days… Unrelated: I binged this whole book in a day. 🙂‍↕️😂

I was a huge fan of the dynamics between MCs; both really complimented each other in different ways. Hutch is my favorite type: tall, dark and quiet 🙊 I love a shy MMC!! Such a fun change up from the usual formula!

One really big trigger warning I think should be included is for EDs. This subject is handled very well for the most part in this book, with the MFC going through a healing journey learning to love herself. But it is a large overarching book theme and starts off with some pretty triggering behavior. Hopefully when published, the book will include TWs but that is not the case for the ARC.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to a 4 because I couldn’t put it down!

Huge thank you, as always, to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review🫶

Content Warnings

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