The Love Haters by Katherine Center
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Hutch Hutcheson is a Rom Com hero worth almost drowning for!!
Ask Katie Vaughan – who has been tasked with creating a promotional video of the U.S. Coast Guard, featuring the already legendary Hutch Hutcheson.
Hutch is already renowned on the worldwide web for having rescued Jennifer Anniston’s dog from certain death. Now Katie needs to capitalize on his fame by getting him to agree to participate in one of her “Day in the Life” videos (where she interviews and captures the everyday routine of real life heroes.) His story would be the big break that could simultaneously save her job and launch her career as a documentary videographer. What could possibly go wrong – other than the fact that she can’t swim?!?!
Katie has had a lifelong love/hate relationship with her body image. Circumstances (no spoilers here!) conspired to make Katie feel so badly about her weight and her fashion choices that she went on a starvation diet and tossed her entire colourful wardrobe into the trash. Black on Black became her go-to shade on the colour wheel.
When Katie’s luggage goes missing on her flight to Key West, Florida, Hutch’s Aunt Rue takes it upon herself to ensure that Katie is only given access to the most gloriously vibrant and flowery hues that her clothing store has to offer.
Aunt Rue is a loving force to be reckoned with! Before Katie knows it, she is embraced and taken over by The Gals (Rue’s friends and fellow occupants of Rue’s retirement villa.) Katie’s wardrobe gets hijacked and made over, as does, eventually, her self image.
Katherine Center has written a hilariously eye-opening story dealing with body image issues. Katie may have given up on her crash diet and her cheating boyfriend, but a lifetime of body shaming from the media and her step-mother have left her believing that she was unworthy of love – even from herself.
Katie’s gradual transformation will have you cheering for her – even while she is battling seasickness on a houseboat during a hurricane! It’s all a learning curve for sweet Katie – but no more spoilers! That spectacular ending will have you on the edge of your seat – I certainly fell off of mine at one point, I was that frantic!
As I turned the last page, I had to wonder at the choice of the heroine’s name: Katie (…Katherine.) Hmmmm! Authors often write from personal experience. We can only guess at how much of Katie’s journey to self-acceptance was one that Katherine Center had undergone herself? If so, Center’s bravery in writing about her own body image issues has resulted in one of the funniest, most compelling novels she has ever written. I loved Happiness For Beginners: I didn’t think Center could surpass that masterpiece. Well, I think she may have come close to it this time.
All the stars and then some for this hilarious, heartfelt story about self-acceptance and love! My thanks to one of my top ten most favourite authors, Katherine Center, her publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved every minute of it!
(Expected Publication Date: May 20, 2025.)
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