Author: Katherine Center
Year published: 2025
Category: Adult fiction (romance)
Pages: 320 pages
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (FL)
Summary: It’s a thin line between love and love-hating in the newest laugh out loud, all the feels rom-com by New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center.
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 pretends that she can.
Plus, Cole and Hutch are brothers. 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 maybe 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.
Review: Oh, Katherine Center. You've done it again. I've also read the following by Center (links to my reviews: The Rom-Commers; Hello Stranger; The Bodyguard; What You Wish For; Things You Save in a Fire; How to Walk Away; and Happiness for Beginners) and enjoyed them all.
I love a three-day weekend for many reasons, but one of the biggest is that Sunday isn't really Sunday. It's an extra Saturday without all the errands. One of the things I did was to bring this novel in one day and past my bedtime. Bliss.
What I like about Center's romance novels is that they are more about the friendship, the issues, and the build-up rather than the steamy scenes. In other words, they are novels that happen to have a wonderful romance in them rather than the sole focus being the romance.
This novel is about what it takes to appreciate oneself (I loved the conversations between Katie and her best friend/cousin), the importance of friendship and family (and color! I am vindicated!), the role of truth and honesty in all sorts of relationships, and what it means to be a hero.
Of course, I wanted the two main characters to get together; it is a romance, after all. And, no spoiler here, they do. But Center is so good at the slow build and the friendship of it all. And, I love the cover. It makes me happy.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Diversity--secondary characters who are not white
No comments
Post a Comment