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.

Katherine Center has become a must-read author for me. Her books include a wide variety of people and interesting or unusual situations, and it’s always a treat to see where she’ll end up taking us each time a new book is released.

In The Love Haters, Katie is a talented videographer who makes corporate videos for a living (think CEO interviews, brand introductions, etc) but whose passion is documentary filmmaking. She’s found a following on YouTube with her “Day in the Life” series, in which she spends 24 hours filming people going about their normal lives — except these are all people who’ve done something heroic. She blends their voice-over interviews exploring their moment of heroism with footage of daily life, creating a unique series of six-minute videos that are compelling and popular.

Not that that’s going to save her job, once layoffs loom.

But Katie’s company has been selected to shoot a promotional video for the Coast Guard — specifically, her supervisor Cole has been requested by the person the film will focus on, a rescue diver who certainly fits the hero profile Katie so loves to explore. Except… the rescue diver is Cole’s brother, and Cole absolutely refuses to do it. He cajoles Katie into going in his place: It’ll help save her job, and might even give her Day in the Life footage, if his brother Hutch agrees.

Cole describes Hutch as a “love hater” — someone stoic, upright, and with no sense of fun, let alone any sort of human emotion.

“He’s morally upstanding and physically unstoppable. He does two hundred push-ups a day. He can hold his breath underwater for thee minutes. He has never had a cavity. He’s more of a machine than a human. He just goes around all day doing good deeds.”

“So, he’s… too likable?”

“He’s the opposite of likable! He’s perfect.”

“Not sure those are opposites.”

But there’s history between the brothers that Cole doesn’t share with Katie, and as Katie soon learns, Hutch is not at all as Cole describes.

As Katie arrives in Key West, she’s warmly welcomed by Cole and Hutch’s Aunt Rue, a live-life-to-the-fullest sort of older woman who immediately coerces Katie into ditching her standard black jeans and tees and embracing the island, floral vibe. Katie faces another problem besides her dark clothing: Whoever makes this video will be going out on the rescue helicopter with the team, and being able to pass a water safety test is required. And Katie can’t swim.

Naturally, Hutch is there to save the day. He teaches Katie to swim, and patches her up after some unfortunate incidents with his very affectionate Great Dane (who seems to think he’s a lap puppy). Hutch and Katie are quite cute together, although Katie isn’t sure whether the vibes she thinks she’s picking up are actually there.

Meanwhile, Katie struggles throughout the book to overcome a devastatingly damaged sense of self-worth and complete lack of body positivity. After her then-boyfriend become insta-famous thanks to the viral success of a song he’d posted, Katie found herself accompanying him to red carpet events — and the internet was brutal to her. Between the trolls who savaged her appearance, and his then dumping her for a pop star (only to later regret it and continue releasing songs about her), her self-esteem is garbage. With the love and support of her cousin/best friend/sorta sister Beanie, she’s trying to get her mojo back… but it’s hard for Katie to imagine ever finding love again when she can’t find anything to love about herself.

There are plenty of interwoven story threads in The Love Haters. We have Hutch and Katie’s growing chemistry, Katie’s journey to reclaim herself and her body, Cole and Hutch’s relationship, and Katie’s professional life. Late in the book, Cole shows up on the scene in Key West spouting a pack of lies, theoretically to help both his and Katie’s careers, but his timing is terrible. Forcing Katie to go along with his lies damages the trust she’s been building with Hutch, and it’s questionable whether the damage can be repaired.

Without getting too deeply into spoilers, I do want to mention that this is the second book I’ve read in a month in which a houseboat getting lost at sea is a pivotal plot point. (See Swept Away by Beth O’Leary for the first). Just a weird coincidence, but it made me laugh.

Note to self: Stay off houseboats. Second note to self: If you must go on a houseboat, triple check that it’s securely tied to land.

The Love Haters is a sweet, often funny, charming love story, as well as a relatable tale about a woman working to reclaim belief in herself and her own beauty and value. I loved Katie and Beanie’s relationship, and Rue and her gang of Gals are a lovely, lively set of characters who instantly provide Katie with a place to feel wanted and accepted.

I was less thrilled with the plot elements involving Cole and the lies he tells (and forces Katie into) — none of that felt particularly necessary, and seemed like a stretch in terms of needing some sort of 3rd-act obstacle to derail Katie and Hutch’s love story.

Overall, though, The Love Haters is an entertaining, heart-warming book, and will make a great summer read. It does feel a little slight relative to some of Katherine Center’s other books — somehow, it feels like there’s not a lot of there there — but I still found plenty to enjoy.

Recommended for fans of the author as well as anyone looking for a nice beachy, summery escape.