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verahelwood 's review for:
The Love Haters
by Katherine Center
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.
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
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, War