Content Notes: reference to disordered eating and body image issues, parental death (off page, in the past)
Dear Katherine Center,
Katie Vaughn is a film-maker. She works in mid-level video production, mostly making corporate/promotional videos, while, on the side, making short, six-minute documentaries about a day in the life of a “hero”. A recent shakeup of the company she works for has made everyone’s job precarious. There are rumours that a third of her department will be laid off and she’s desperate not to be one of them. Her immediate manager is Cole Hutcheson. He gives her the assignment of making a recruitment video for the Coast Guard featuring a rescue swimmer in Key West, Florida -Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson – who is also Cole’s brother.
There is clearly some estrangement between the brothers. Cole is extremely resentful of how “perfect” Hutch is. Hutch became internet famous some years before when he rescued Jennifer Aniston’s dog. Hutch is gorgeous and he rescued a dog. I mean, what’s not to love? The video of the rescue went viral but Hutch did no other media about it, preferring to be as out of the spotlight as possible. He’s only agreed to do the recruitment video because he believes Cole will be the one coming to Key West to make the film. Only, Cole doesn’t want to go and is sending Katie instead.
Katie knows this is her chance to save her job. Cole suggests she try to convince Hutch to do one of her YouTube documentaries while she’s there as well. There’s a big problem with the plan however: Katie can’t swim. Telling Cole that will be the kiss of death to her job though so… off she goes to Florida.
In Key West Katie stays (at a discounted rate) at the Starlite Cottages operated by Cole and Hutch’s Aunt Rue. Rue is colourful and bright and sunny and has collected a number of women of a certain age who live permanently in four of the Cottages. In addition to renting out the remaining six for an income. Rue also owns Vitamin Sea, a boutique which sells beachy Florida clothes. Katie’s flight is a disaster so she arrives with no luggage and covered in someone’s Venti latte. The thing is, Katie is not a colourful girlie. She used to be but she was dating, and then engaged to, a musician who struck it big and when Katie accompanied him to the Grammys, the internet savaged her. After that, Katie began starving herself to try and fit social media’s ideal of beauty. Her eating became very disordered until her best friend and cousin, Beanie, staged an intervention. Also, her fiancee cheated on her while he was touring and they split up – and the internet blamed Katie of course. Katie is now healthy and less worried about her body but she stopped wearing colours and patterns after the Grammys incident. She wears black or shades of grey. So, Vitamin Sea is a very confronting place for Katie.
Katie was also traumatised as a child by her stepmom’s dumb ideas about female beauty, which explains why she hasn’t worn a swimsuit since then.
Of course, Katie has to learn to swim to be able to do the documentary. Part of the requirements is being able to demonstrate the ability to escape from a submerged helicopter before she’s allowed to go up in one with the Coast Guard. She has to be able to swim. And to do that, she has to wear a swimsuit.
“Look,” I said, “normally I’m fine. I don’t go anywhere near swimsuits, and I’m fine.”
“A life spent avoiding bathing suits? This really does sound like a phobia, right?”
That sounded a little strong. “It’s not a phobia,” I said. “It’s a normal female reaction to having an ordinary, imperfect body in a world overrun by Photoshop and AI.”
“Normal for you, maybe.”
But I defended myself. “The point is,” I said, “I’m here for work. I’m here to film a kick-ass promo and save my job. I’m not here for a swimsuit competition! Or to sign up for some kind of Sports Illustrated parade! Or to release my thighs out into the wild!”
But now Beanie was googling. “Question,” she said. “Do you know that it’s crazy to be afraid of a swimsuit?”
“Of course I do!”
“Well,” Beanie said, “at least it’s not psychosis.”
“Beanie!” I pleaded, glancing at the time. “This is serious.”
“I am serious. What you’re describing really sounds like a phobia.” She got quiet for a second. “And I’m just double-checking, but I’m pretty sure the cure for phobias is . . . yeah. The cure for a phobia is to do the thing you’re afraid of.”
“To do it?”
“Yeah. The fact that you’re afraid to put on the swimsuit means you have to put on the swimsuit.”
I dropped my shoulders. Classic Beanie.
“It’s called exposure therapy,” Beanie went on. “You have to do the scary thing over and over until it’s not scary anymore.”
“But . . .” I said, trying to make my voice sound reasonable, “I don’t want to.”
I stared at the swimsuit, and it stared back.
“Look,” Beanie went on. “Before, you were just scared. But now, you have a diagnosis from the internet. And a higher purpose. Now,” she said, like this changed everything, “it’s a hero’s journey. You are conquering your own long-held fears.”
As it happens, Hutch has a weekly swim class with the gals at Starlite Cottages and Rue bustles Katie into the next one. Before you know it, and after an unfortunate incident involving splinters, Hutch has agreed to give Katie swimming lessons.
Hutch is not at all what Katie expected based on what Cole told her. He’s not grim and taciturn at all. He’s friendly and talkative and obviously very close to Rue. He’s over at the Cottages for dinner most every night.
Katie and Hutch have a bumpy start only because he was expecting Cole and is every disappointed Katie showed instead. Honestly, Cole is basically an ass but he’s not all terrible. Just… mostly, for most of the book. Ultimately, we find out that there are reasons for Cole’s bad behaviours. Not excuses, but explanations and there is hope for him by the end. Probably.
As Katie gets to know Hutch and Hutch’s enormous dog (George Bailey – who is responsible for the splinters incident) and as she spends time with Hutch at work filming the video and outside of work, learning to swim and socialising with Rue and the Starlite gals, they become very close and my eyes were starry on their behalf. While the story is told only from Katie’s POV, it’s clear that Hutch is deeply smitten. There is plenty of dialogue and banter that lets us know how he’s feeling. It’s also clear that Hutch thinks Katie is sexy and gorgeous and magnetic. Katie would say that Hutch is objectively extremely handsome and, while she feels better about her body than she used to, she doesn’t see herself the way Hutch does.
Hutch sees Katie. He, alone, notices what colour her eyes are (seriously) and the little “pie piece” of brown in one of her eyes. We romance readers recognise that what that noticing is. Beanie does too.
“I knew it!”
“Knew what?” I asked, with that feeling of suppressed hope you get when somebody else might think the thing you also keep wanting to think.
“He likes you!” Beanie shouted.
I gasped. “He doesn’t!” I said, my voice all scoldy. But I had to turn the phone camera away while I squinted an unbidden smile off my face.
“He noticed your pie piece, and he redefined the color of your eyes,” Beanie said. “I don’t think it’s up for debate.”
“I don’t have time to debate, anyway,” I said. “I’m late to go drown in a helicopter-crash simulation.”
“That’s today?” Beanie said.
“That’s today.”
“You should definitely almost drown,” Beanie said. “But not all the way. Just enough so he has to give you CPR.”
“Hanging up now,” I said.
“Make him put his mouth on you!” Beanie ordered, as I tapped the red X.
I also loved the secondary love story about Katie coming to love her own body and appreciating it for it’s beauty and function. Beanie challenges Katie to list things about her body she loves and to defend why she does. It’s something Katie struggles with at first but she gets better at it. By the end of the book, she loves her body because it’s hers.
I enjoyed the stuff about the Coast Guard and rescue swimmers and about documentary making, all of which were clearly well-researched and felt grounded in reality. (May I just say, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer is a very uncontroversially heroic kind of job and that’s becoming increasingly rare. It was so nice to have no conflicted feelings about Hutch’s job.)
Cole and Hutch eventually work out what’s at the heart of their issues and begin to resolve it and that was poignant and meaningful and gave Cole unexpected nuance. (Which he really needed because he was so often an ass.)
I loved the ladies of the Starlight Cottages, especially Rue, adored Katie and Hutch and melted over George Bailey and his “thunderphobia”. Right up to about the 75% mark, I was just so delighted by the book. It has the humour and personality I’ve come to expect from Center and the romance was building to something very swoony.
And look at you!” Hutch gestured at my whole vibe, and then he took a few steps closer. “You’ve got that—mouth, and those . . . lips. And you’ve got this—I don’t know—brightness that radiates out, and, this effect on people.” Hutch was closer now. “I can’t figure out what it is, but it’s something about the way you laugh, or maybe the curve or your neck, or . . .” He paused, just inches away now, and took in the sight of me. “It’s just a fact. It’s just reality. You’re just . . . You’re like a human hot-fudge sundae or something.”
But. Then the thing happens which forms the basis of the conflict and is what keeps them apart romantically until the denouement. And I didn’t really like it. I can see why it was there. I can see the work it did in the story. But I didn’t like it. Without giving away too much, Cole tells a story that is not true and, for reasons, Katie goes along with it. Katie goes along with some things which felt to me like they were there only for plot purposes. The drinking contest infuriated me. I actually yelled out loud at one point during the listen.
I did enjoy the last section which was mostly just Katie and George Bailey until Hutch comes along and does what he does best. That part was very exciting and tense and high stakes in a way that made sense in the story and, it fortunately didn’t have anything to do with Cole.
Of course, things do get sorted out and Hutch learns the truth, as well as the reasons for the lies and we do get our HEA.
The narration, by Patti Murin, is again fantastic. She is just so perfectly suited to read Katherine Center novels. Murin gives voice to Katie’s quirky humour and the closeness of Katie and Beanie. I could hear the devotion Hutch (and even Cole) has to Rue and Murin’s light and shade – when it came to the death of Hutch and Cole’s parents, Katie’s childhood and relationship history were pitch perfect.
Probably 85% or more of The Love Haters was excellent. 10-12% was very good and the rest had me disappointed or gritting my teeth in annoyance. It makes the book a little hard to grade but I’ve landed on a B+, as opposed to a straight up A (which is where the book was heading until the thing). I’d still recommend it because what was great was really great but the core of the conflict didn’t work that well for me. It’s possible the reason for that is all me though so YMMV readers.
That first 75% and that last 10%? SO. GOOD. Worth it.
Related
Kaetrin
Kaetrin started reading romance as a teen and then took a long break, detouring into fantasy and thrillers. She returned to romance in 2008 and has been blogging since 2010. She reads contemporary, historical, a little paranormal, urban fantasy and romantic suspense, as well as erotic romance and more recently, new adult. She loves angsty books, funny books, long books and short books. The only thing mandatory is the HEA. Favourite authors include Mary Balogh, Susanna Kearsley, Joanna Bourne, Tammara Webber, Kristen Ashley, Shannon Stacey, Sarah Mayberry, JD Robb/Nora Roberts, KA Mitchell, Marie Sexton, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, just to name a few. You can find her on Twitter: @kaetrin67.
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