Katherine Center

The Love Haters

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment
The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: love-haters.jpg

By Katherine Center

Katherine Center’s bright and sparkly authorial voice captured me right away, as it always seems to. Her heroines, who narrate their stories, are instantly relatable and likable. I also am a sucker for “direct address”, where the narrator speaks right to you as if she expects you to answer. The usual humor was present and accounted for. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Katie, who narrates her story, started to get on my nerves and I got very impatient with her.

The agenda in this book (and I don’t mean that in a bad or critical way) is to encourage body positivity. When Katie’s former fiancé became a big music star, she was exposed to the cruelty of social media commenting on how fat and ugly she was, when of course she was just a normal nice looking girl. If I remember correctly she starved herself and got really thin. Her fiancé cheated on her and dumped her, and then she started putting on the pounds until she became a little plump. Katherine Center is pretty vague about the weight loss and weight gain, and I understand why.

Katie makes corporate videos and posts mini-biographies of “Heroes” on her own YouTube channel. She agrees to go to Key West to interview and film her boss’s brother who is a hero in the Coast Guard, having famously rescued Jennifer Anniston’s dog who fell off a cliff. To do her job though, she has to get in a bathing suit and learn to swim. She is used to wearing black inconspicuous clothes that do nothing for her, so this prospect of what she has to do to do her job and get material for her personal YouTube channel fills her with horror. For me, her inner struggles with bathing suits and learning to swim got very tedious very quickly. And since her luggage got lost on the plane, she is “forced” to borrow clothes from her boss’s and his brother’s beloved Aunt’s store which are all brightly colored and very loud. Again, this is torture for her, as she is afraid of being seen and judged. Her fixation on her body came across as silly and shallow. “Oh the Humanity!”

I didn’t get what the heroic, beautiful, kind, and smart hero saw in her. She was kind of a cute nonentity. She was naive and she didn’t seem to be too bright either. On almost the first page she states to the reader that she couldn’t locate Key West on a map or know what the Coast Guard or a rescue swimmer was. Was she trying to be funny? I don’t think so. Because later in the book she is corrected when speaks of forming an “allegiance” with someone when she meant “alliance”.

**Spoilers**

Shortly before the halfway mark she is magically cured by a kiss from “Hutch” the coast guard hero and the love interest. Frankly, I was OK with that, even though I’m not sure what message that was sending. She decides to disagree with the ghouls on the internet and “be the kid who stands up for bullying victims-for myself”. My relief didn’t last long however. She knows her boss Cole, Hutch’s brother is a liar, but when he unexpectedly shows up in Key West, believes and lamely goes along with all of his lies to Hutch and his Aunt Faye. **End Spoiler**

It’s all a tempest in a teapot until a real tempest descends on Key West and Katie is blown out to sea in Hutch’s houseboat trying to rescue his beloved dog, George Bailey. Will she prove her mettle and come into her own?

This was well-written (of course) and perfectly enjoyable. It seemed lighter and fluffier than the four other books I’ve read by her. There really isn’t anything really serious at stake, as with her other books. But sometimes that is just what one is in the mood for. Since I’ve been reading Katherine Center I’ve enjoyed each book more or at least equal to the previous one. This one is a slight step back. But still 3 ½ stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an Advanced Review Copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. It will be published 5/20/2025

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Hello Stranger

/ Rebekahrox / 5 Comments

By Katherine Center

So funny. So witty. So romantic. So enjoyable. I had read two Katherine Center books before this one, and enjoyed them but with reservations. The stories and concepts were good, but I found the heroes boring and almost nondescript although they were both lovely. The heroines were, in one case, flat-out annoying and in another just meh. In both cases, their situations seemed intriguing and the stories full of possibilities but they ended up seeming a bit contrived to me. They were both immensely popular highly rated books, so it was a personal problem, apparently.

But this one! Yes, the heroine was flawed and frustrating at times and had some major issues to conquer and grow past. At first, I found her a little off-putting and I had a hard time getting a handle on her. But I liked her. She really spoke to me. Literally. Sadie tells her story in the first person and she establishes a close relationship with the reader. It is as easy and natural as if she is talking to her best friend (you). I was drawn in immediately. You listen to her telling you her side of the story, but you can also see her flaws and things she may be wrong about. Early in the book, I thought we might be dealing with an unreliable narrator situation. As it turned out, she wasn’t really, but confirmation bias is a theme.

“Anyhoo.” (and I quote.) As a result of minor brain surgery, Sadie develops face blindness. When she looks at a human face the features do not come together as such. It is as if they are “puzzle pieces spread out on a table.” Difficult and disconcerting for anyone, but alas she is a struggling portrait painter who has secured a place in a prestigious contest and is on a deadline to complete a traditional portrait. Even being asked to compete is an honor. Doing well will finally give her choice of profession much-needed validation. Sadie had a very painful childhood thanks to the death of her beloved mother, who was also a painter, and her subsequent relationship with her father, stepmother, and stepsister. She was victimized. It has caused her to always put on a brave face, never admitting vulnerability or need for others’ help. As Sadie works to deal with her new disability and complete the portrait to enter the contest, she learns and grows. Unfortunately, The North American Portrait Society folks cater to the Norman Rockwell set rather than the Pablo Picasso crowd. Her condition forces her to treat other people differently and accept help. The self-protective layers start to peel off. Meanwhile, we meet some interesting characters, both good and bad. Her long-term friends and landlords, the Kims, their daughter Sue, her wise doctor, her beloved old dog, Peanut, and his veterinarian, who she decides will be her future husband. Her troublesome family arrives on the scene and we learn that some step-sisters really are evil. And we meet Joe, who turns out to be the, at first, unlikely love interest. He is quirky, funny, and adorable.

Near the conclusion, there is a surprise appearance and an interesting twist I did not see coming but probably should have. But no, I take that back. It was so well disguised that when I started to suspect what was going on, I went back to review some parts to see if it could be true. Yes, the clues were all there, but I still didn’t see how it could be. To Katherine Center’s credit, the exposition of all of the reasons I (wrongly) didn’t believe it made sense. I bought it. Or chose to buy it. It made the ending even more satisfactory and joyful. No, her life and family relationships weren’t all perky sparkles, but as I’ve said before in a previous review, Katherine Center really knows how to end a book. My ratings of both of her books I read previously were bolstered by her climaxes and wind-ups. This one didn’t need bolstering.

There are two Author’s Notes at the end. One is about acquired prosopagnosia. The other is a defense and appreciation of The Romance Novel as a genre. Any reader who has ever felt belittled or apologetic about their tastes in reading such novels needs to read this. Anyone who has thought less of someone’s tastes in reading “Chick-Lit” or romance needs to read this as well. Though they probably wouldn’t. Brava Katherine Center.

Thank-You to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an uncorrected digital galley of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Bodyguard

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

by Katherine Center

I listened to this on audio, and it was an entertaining romantic comedy. Our heroine is a female bodyguard hired to protect an A-list movie star (male, of course) from a female stalker/corgi breeder/sweater knitter. It was fun and funny with lots of both comedy and snark. There was some drama-our heroine, Hannah, has some self-esteem issues which she tends to over-compensate for and the hero, Jack Stapleton, is estranged from his brother due to the tragic death, blamed on Jack, of their youngest brother. Hannah is put in charge of Jack’s security while he is visiting the family ranch. His mother is recovering from a bout with cancer, and not wanting to put undue stress on her, it is decided that Hannah will pose as his girlfriend rather than his “executive protection agent”. It was a cute concept. Let the romance begin.

Written in first person, the book was narrated by Patti Murin who, with her tomboy-ish tone was perfectly cast as Hannah. I love Katharine Center’s authorial voice, as I did with the other book I read by her, Things You Save in a Fire, about a female firefighter. She has a real talent for establishing an intimate, “best-friends” relationship with the reader which puts you right in the midst of things. The heroines in the two books are similar, in that they both are a little too anxious to prove their badassery. Hannah started off very cantankerous to the point that I was a little put off at first. Once she settled into her role at the family ranch she calmed down, and we are taken up with Jack’s relationship with his family and what was going on there. Not to mention Hannah’s reluctant attachment to the Stapleton family. And Jack, of course.

This was a straight-up rom-com. Nothing more and nothing less. For the com part, we are treated to a lot of funny banter, and fish out of water scenarios. We have some pretty entertaining cheating ex-boyfriend and beautiful mean ex-girlfriend action added to the mix. As for the rom part, it’s never smooth sailing (it can’t be, can it?) but the roadblocks to the relationship between Jack and Hannah were entirely of her own making. Her determination to not believe in Jack, who was perfectly lovely by the way, didn’t sit too well with me. Especially as Hannah goes to great pains to tell us what a genius she is at reading people. Her obtuseness almost leads to catastrophe.

The final wrap-up made up for the quibbles I had as a whole. Katherine Center really knows how to end a book. There was one part that was even quite moving but it involved a very peripheral character we barely know. So. The Ballad of Jack and Hannah was an entertaining story but didn’t go very deep. No thrills or chills for me, but that’s OK. It accomplished what I think it aspired to. It was fun. I can’t blame it for not being what it wasn’t even trying for.
3 1/2 stars I’ll round up thanks to the ending.

Thank-You to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

June 4, 2022

Things You Save in a Fire

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

By Katharine Center

The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: things.jpg

This was about a 3-star book until the last 20%, which is about the time I had to change to the Kindle version because my audiobook was due back to the library. Cassie was a remarkable character. As the book opens, she is a 26-year-old woman who was abandoned by her mother 10 years earlier on the same day she endured a sexual assault. This had crippled her emotionally although the double trauma has led to her being an award-winning fireman and nothing less than spectacular at her job. She is forced to leave her progressive and modern fire team in Austin, Texas, and take a position in an old-school Boston area firehouse. To put it mildly, the Boston guys do not hold with women being firefighters. She has to move in with her estranged mother who is ill, and plus she kind of loses her temper at an old enemy at a very public ceremony, so she really has little choice but to move.

I was afraid, at this point, that we were going to be put through the wringer of anger and frustration as we watched Cassie deal with prejudice and chauvinistic attitudes. But Cassie earns their respect pretty much right away, and she is not subjected to a lot of cruelty and harassment. There is a problem with one of the firefighters that starts over halfway through the book and she is not fully accepted as part of the team until the end. But I am glad I, the reader, was not subjected to a lot of unremitting angst and injustice. Also, humor is used pretty effectively throughout.

There is a romance with a fellow fireman which I was not all that invested in, unfortunately. Much of the book is devoted to Cassie coming to terms with her mother and learning to understand and forgive not only her mother but others, including herself. Also, she feels like she has to demonstrate her physical strength and mental toughness to her peers time and again. At times I found Cassie’s physical prowess and toughness towards others a bit grating and unrealistic. By the end of the book, in which she triumphs over everyone and everything, she is a “legend.” I felt like a folksong about her was imminent, so it is a little over the top.

The last 20% is pretty white-knuckle reading and her ultimate vindication from scandal and false accusations is pretty epic. It lifted a 3+star book up to 4. Though this might have been because I switched to reading instead of listening. I’m sure some readers will roll their eyes over the “girl needs man and babies to be happy” epilogue. But I chose to take the message that human love and understanding are what make life worth living. It does include romantic love (after all, this is kinda chick-lit) but love for family, friends, yourself, and your fellow man as well.

I even read a whole book on the psychology of post-traumatic growth, and how, in the wake of the terrible, traumatic, unfair, cruel, gaping wounds that life inflicts on us, we can become wiser and stronger than we were before. Am I wiser and stronger now? Without question. Even in the wake of it all. I’ve spent so much time wishing that what happened never happened. But it did. And the question I try to focus on is, What now?

**4 stars out of 5**

Rating: 4 out of 5.

January 1, 2020