Books
What I'm reading — mostly listening to, really. Audiobooks from the library, the odd ebook, and a paper one now and then.
Audiobook · Finished
The Love Haters
by Katherine Center · read by Patti Murin
- Status
- Finished
- Format
- Audiobook
- Released
- May 20, 2025
- Publisher
- Macmillan Audio
Subjects
Tags
About the book
Patti Murin skillfully narrates this engaging romance, capturing a wide range of emotions...Murin deftly adapts her narration to match the shifts in tone. - AudioFile
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.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
Audiobook · Finished
The Bodyguard
by Katherine Center · read by Patti Murin
- Status
- Finished
- Format
- Audiobook
- Released
- July 19, 2022
- Publisher
- Macmillan Audio
Subjects
Tags
About the book
Coming to Netflix November 18: Guarding Stars, Netflix’s film adaptation of The Bodyguard, starring Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki.
Author’s note read by the author.
Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard is “My perfect 10 of a book. As funny and sweet as all the very best nineties rom-coms, but with Center’s signature heart-tugging depth. I wish I could erase it from my mind just to read it again for the first time. A shot of pure joy.” - Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers
She’s got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.
He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name - captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.
They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he goes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah - against her will and her better judgment - finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, says no one will believe it.
What could possibly go wrong?
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.
Great rollicking fun! Prepare to laugh and swoon and grin your pants off. - Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author of The Heart Principle
Absolutely, unequivocally delightful! - Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were HereA Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
Audiobook · Finished
The Rom-Commers
by Katherine Center · read by Patti Murin
- Status
- Finished
- Format
- Audiobook
- Released
- June 11, 2024
- Publisher
- Macmillan Audio
Subjects
Tags
About the book
This program features a bonus scene and an author’s note - both audio-exclusives - and acknowledgments read by the author.
[Patti] Murin’s portrayal of Emma is captivating - a blend of sass, humor, and empathy with impeccable timing and nuances. - AudioFile
She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies - good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates - The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god! - it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone - much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script - it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter - even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But… what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much… more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules - and comes true?
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.