ALC Review: The Love Haters by Katherine Center
The Love Haters
Author: Katherine Center
Narrator: Patti Murin
To Be Published: May 20, 2025
Audiobook: 10 hours 33 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: March 31-April 6, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
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.
Jessica’s Review:
The Love Haters is far from my favorite book written by Center, but I did still enjoy it! It’s a rom com and will make for a great summer beach read, especially if you are vacationing in the Florida Keys this year! I’ve never been to Key West, but now I would surely like to go!
We have Katie Vaughn who is at a crossroads jobwise: Take a job in Key West featuring a Coast Guard hero who saved Jennifer Aniston’s dog (Yes, that Jennifer Aniston!) or risk getting fired. The catch is: Katie can’t swim. Being this is a romcom, of course Katie takes the job. And chaos in many forms appears throughout the story! With chances of being fired still popping up throughout the novel
The Coast Guard hero Hutch is her boss’s brother and Katie’s type. Katie meets Aunt Rue and a Great Dane named George Bailey (Yes, that George Bailey!) Aunt Rue and George Bailey enhance the story and at times steal the show! And Aunt Rue has some friends, so it’s like The Golden Girls at times!
There is some seriousness to the novel: Katie has body image issues. Seemingly like all women, but Katie’s tends to be worse due to her stepmother and a previous relationship where the media was all over Katie. Over the course of the novel, we see Katie go through a transformation with her body issues.
Katie’s body issues did seem to overshadow at times, but we get some potential romance and coast guard training in as well! Hutch was a ‘bit dreamy’ too. You can tell the Center did some research on Coast Guard training. Did she go through training like Katie did???? I enjoyed the ending and this is a fun read.
Patti Murin is the narrator. She is one I will listen to and she delivers on her narration every time!
Many thanks to the publisher Macmillan Audio for granting me an alc to listen to and review! I enjoyed it!
ALC Review: Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
Hello Stranger
Author: Katherine Center
Narrator: Patti Murin
To Be Published: July 11, 2023
Audiobook: 10 hours 39 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: May 30- June 3, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Love isn’t blind, it’s just little blurry.
Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.
But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.
If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.
Jessica’s Review:
I enjoy Katherine Center and enjoyed Hello Stranger! It’s far from perfect but if you want a fun rom com/chick lit/ book where you know that it will go, then this is your book and Katherine Center is your girl to read! Sweet but not spicy reads, she is an author that is becoming an auto-read for me.
We have Sadie who is finally getting somewhere in her career with becoming a finalist in a competition and then…life happens. She has to have brain surgery and after she wakes up she cant see faces anymore! And what is a painter who paints portraits of people to do?
I admit I was a little leery when I saw the book description and saw that there is a love triangle, but it really wasn’t. This was a fun little journey to go on and see what happens with the competition. We have some supporting characters that I totally adored as well! And of course, Sadie has her oldest friend: her dog Peanut!
I called the twist early on in the book, but this isn’t a thriller, it’s a romance. Even if you ‘call it’ like I did, just sit back and enjoy the journey! I did have some issues, but can’t go into because that would involve giving away spoilers and if I ultimately don’t have to, I won’t!
Patty Murin is the narrator and she is another one of my favorites! And it seems like she and Center are two that just go together so well! I look forward to future and past Center novels that they have worked on together.
This is the one time I wish I had a physical copy so I could share a line I absolutely loved towards the end of the book. I listen while I drive, so finding it is next to impossible! I tried. It’s a line that makes sense with the story and what I believe Center was trying to reach her readers with.
Be sure to read the author’s note and acknowledgements to learn about the real disorder that Sadie has: Prosopagnosia. I had never heard of it and this was a way to learn about this disorder. Center very much did her research for this novel. Not just on Prosopagnosia, but research on painting and veterinarian work. Center also gives some insight to the romance genre that just makes sense as to why we even pick up romances in the first place!
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me an ALC to listen to and review!
Pre-order Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
ARC AudioBook Review: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
The Bodyguard
Author: Katherine Center
Narrator: Patti Murin
To Be Published: July 19, 2022
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: June 9-14, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
She’s got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindgerten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.
He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.
They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.
What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.
Jessica’s Review:
I have loved most of Katherine Center’s novels that I have read, and I really enjoyed The Bodyguard! Center does romance right for me. It’s fun, sweet, clean and more! In The Bodyguard, we have Jack, the hot and famous actor who has dropped off the radar. And he also has a stalker. And we have Hannah, who is a Executive Protective Agent (AKA Bodyguard) but she does not even look like someone who could kill you with just a pen, but she can, and will if she has to. And she is really good at her job. Then she finds herself having to protect Jack and going to see his family because his mother is sick. But Jack doesn’t want his family knowing about his stalker, so Hannah has to pretend to be his girlfriend.
As with Center’s other novels, you know how the ending should be, but going on this adventure with Jack and Hannah was a lot of fun! It is a fun, quick read with some hilarious moments that ensue (there is one with a cow….) And let alone the information that comes out and about with this stalker. The banter between Jack and Hannah is fun and the story could 1000% not happen in reality, but it’s such a fun and feel good read! Center has been called ‘the reigning queen of comfort reads’ and she really is! It’s a perfect summer read to get away from the mundanity of real life. I must read more of her novels!
The narrator is Patti Murin, who is one I have enjoyed in the past and she did a great job with this novel!
Many thanks to the publisher Macmillian Audio for granting me an early audio copy via NetGalley to listen to and review!
Pre-Order Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK