This is my first read from Katherine Center and I am charmed! This is an opposites attract workplace romance.

For a decade, aspiring screenwriter Emma cared for her sick father post-accident. When her high school boyfriend, now managing Hollywood's elite, offers her a job she can't refuse, Emma heads to L.A. to re-write a rom-com with her favorite screenwriter, Charlie Yates. However, Charlie Yates is unaware of her arrival and doesn't want her help mainly because he doesn't believe in love. Emma makes it her goal to change his perspective during their 6-week collaboration on the screenplay.

Katherine Center's writing style is a breath of fresh air—witty, engaging, and easy to follow. It took until about chapter five to get into the story, but then I was hooked. While I usually prefer multiple viewpoints, Katherine Center's execution is so well done that I didn't miss them.

She truly captures Emma's voice with funny comebacks and insights. Emma's journey delves into hope, healing, and rediscovering joys, recognizing how grief can hinder living fully. The book tugged at my heartstrings often, and Emma and Charlie's banter adds humor to their challenges, creating a rich and enjoyable love story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC.

thank you netgalley for the ARC!

oh i have so many things to say about this book and all of it starts with the word Love.

I love love love the characters, all of them.
I love the writing style, the humor, the conversations, the way of describing places things and people.

i love the love that evolves in this book and i even love the way they’re writing about how there’s no way falling on someone can be romantic and THEN THEY FALL ON EACH OTHER ROMANTICALLY.

this had my heart thumping and my face laughing and crying. Katherine Center might be the queen of Rom Coms.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I ADORE Katherine Center's writing! She is one of my all time favorite authors and I absolutely love her writing. I about screamed when I got the ARC for her new one and of course, I devoured it and loved every minute of it! I love how easily KC can bring out every emotion in a book and then wrap it up at the end so perfectly. This was such a great + entertaining book! 5 stars!!

Thank you to St. Martin’s for the gifted copy The Rom-Commers, my most anticipated read of the year. I’m happy to report that it lives up to the hype - there’s nothing I don’t love about this book!

Sometimes the books you love the most are the hardest to review. For The Rom-Commers, it’s probably faster for you to just read the book than for me to list out all the things I love about it and why. The TL;DR is that it’s a sweet, relatable story chock full of character growth and witty banter. It funny, highly quotable, and will make you forget you’re reading.

The long version of why I love it:

The characters:
* Emma’s head is a nice place to be. Have you ever read a book where the first person POV was immature or obnoxious and you just couldn’t stand to be in their head? This is the opposite of that.
* Emma really goes for it with Charlie. She’s upfront about what her feelings and what she wants. There’s nothing more frustrating than reading a rom com and yelling at the character through the page to say what they mean.
* There’s undeniable chemistry between Emma and Charlie and their banter is absolute fire.

The writing:
* It’s funny without trying too hard. It’s not chock full of colloquialisms trying to imitate your hilarious off-the-cuff IRL BFF. It’s a perfect mix of how people talk in books and real life.
* The writing itself is beautiful and evocative - Katherine is the master of “showing” instead of “telling”.

The story:
* There are so many quotable moments about working through grief, embracing joy, and how to get back at the one who breaks your heart (spoiler: it’s by diving off his high dive in your sister’s fancy dress).
* The Rom-Commers has major Nora Goes Off Script vibes and I mean that as the highest compliment to both books (celeb-normal trope, stagnant/resigned-to-caretaking FMC who is also a screenwriter, adorably clueless celeb MMC). If you loved NGOS, you’ll love this one too!
* Per usual for KC, there’s a lot more going on in The Rom-Commers than just a love story. Emma is going THROUGH it. She’s on a journey of self discovery and learns how to live her life without fear. I always walk away from Katherine’s books feeling wiser and more grounded, having learned about myself alongside the main character.
* Being about writing - and writing a rom com, at that - it’s fairly meta, which I love.

Other random things I love:
* A moment for the cover! It’s a perfect representation of Emma and Charlie… down to the wide wales of his corduroys to her wild red hair.

There’s nothing I didn’t love about this book.

Favorite quotes:
* “A great rom com is like sex. If you’re surprised by the ending, somebody wasn’t doing their job”
* “Why can’t you just have a conversation? Tell him you like him and see if he likes you?” - please, if human relationships worked like that, I’d be out of a job.

"So if I say, This terrible thing happened, and it ruined my life' —then that's true.
But if I say, 'This terrible thing happened, but, as crazy as it sounds, it made me better,' then that's what's true."

Katherine Center does it again, writing the most beautiful, heart-wrenching story that makes you believe in beautiful things again despite how circumstances can be.

Charlie is an incredible screenwriter - the most incredible. Emma is a caregiver to her father and an aspiring screenwriter who gets the opportunity of a lifetime to rewrite a script for a ROMCOM that Charlie doesn’t care about because love is a Ponzi scheme. Emma has her work cut out for her, convincing Charlie that love stories are real.

4.5 - Another fun, engaging rom-com from one of my favorite authors! A good mix of levity and seriousness, and a fun plot. I also really appreciated the Jack Stapleton cameos. Would recommend adding to your summer beach read list!

4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the ARC. I screamed in excitement when I got this one!

#HowToWalkAway was my first Katherine Center book and ranks among my top reads of all time. Because I loved it SO much, I’m always a little worried when I crack open one of her new books that my expectations are too high and that I’ll be disappointed.

But I never am. She delivers.
Every.
Single.
Time.

In her latest, we meet Emma, a writer whose screenwriting dreams have been put on the back-burner for a decade while she functions as the sole caretaker for her father.

But then she gets the opportunity to ghostwrite a rom-com for THE Charlie Yates. It takes convincing, but she finally agrees to let her sister Sylvie step in as caretaker so she can go to LA for six weeks to work with Charlie Yates. Her idol and her favorite genre.

But nothing goes the way she planned. Meeting Charlie is…worse than terrible.

Emma was so relatable. I cheered her when she had moxie. I felt her pain when she suffered rejection. I understood her guilt. And I loved when she found ways to be brave despite everything else.

Charlie was complex and confusing, yet thoughtful and charming at the same time. He was so frustrating, but built up so much angst!

The banter between Charlie & Emma was delicious! I wanted to read this as fast as I could, but at the same time never wanted this book to end.

#TheRomCommers #KatherineCenter #BookReview #ARCReview #Netgalley #StMartinsPress

I loved this book! Read three books from Katherine Center and this is by far my favorite. Charlie won my heart with his grumpiness and the build up of her not knowing how in love he was with her. I am so glad I got a chance to read this early!

I have read other books by this author but this one quickly became my favorite! All my favorite tropes were in this story enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and grumpy and sunshine. The chemistry and character development was what stood out to me the most! The heavy themes that were mentioned in the book made the story seem more real life and relatable which I enjoyed. Would definitely recommend this book to everyone!

I really enjoyed this book. I’m a sucker for a good rom com and this one did not disappoint… the witty humor made me laugh out loud.

The traumatic death of her mom and false cancer diagnosis made me knock a star off. But Katherine Center never disappoints.

May more writers take to writing about writers who write together and fall in love because that shit gets me EVERY. TIME. With her usual heart and flare, Catherine Center creates yet another lovable and messy duo that will have you cackling with delight and shaking the page in exasperation (in the best way). Pick this one up, you won’t regret it.

4.5⭐️

**big big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC**

3.5/5 This was my first book by Katherine Center and I was so pleasantly surprised! I had no idea what to expect going into it but it really captured me right away! The first 50% or so was really intriguing and fast paced and then in the latter half I felt it really slowed down and was a bit harder to get through. I enjoyed the conclusion and how everything wrapped up and I am still looking forward to reading more of her books! I don’t want to say much because it is still an ARC but I will probably come back and add a bit once it’s published! Thank you to MacMillan for sending me this ARC!

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. Look, I'm a big Katherine Center fan. I've loved almost everything she's written-however, I was willing to point out some flaws in her previous book The Bodyguard so I think I'm a reliable reviewer. I LOVED this book, it was full of a lot of things to make you feel good-the dialogue is amazing, I felt like I was right there. The story reminds us to look for the good-and while I know that phrase gets bandied about a lot, there's a reason why. It does work-it's how we rewire our brains. Even in the face of heartache and limitations and heartbreak we acknowledge the bad and find the good. Read this, you won't be disappointed!

I greatly enjoyed this one. Katherine Center is an absolute master author, and appeals to the mind, heart, and soul with The Rom-Commers. Predictable and sweet, this hits all the major feels for a dedicated romance reader, and does not disappoint in the happy ending(s) ;)

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm fairly new to the Katherine Center hype but when I saw the ARC was available for The Rom-Commers I immediately clicked download.

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She's spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies. 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! It's too big of an opportunity to pass up.

The Rom-Commers is a masterful ode to its genre, done so with care and love. The characters are angsty with incredible chemistry and banter. I do wish we had Charlie's perspective, but I understand that keeping the narrative focused on Emma's POV was deliberate to the plot. For fans of rom-coms that aren't afraid of life's hardships.

TW: death of a parent, caregiver storyline, cancer storyline

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the advanced copy of #TheRomCommers 💓

TLDR; failed rom-com screenwriter Emma gets hired to help her idol, Charlie, edit (ahem, fix) his first romance screenplay.

This was such a fun read! I’m convinced I need to read more Katherine Center books asap because her writing is so entertaining!

The Rom-Commers was super bingeable and easy to read. It felt veryyyy heavy on dialogue (like a screenplay?? 🤭) and so it was quick to zoom through!

I had such a great time with these characters. They are lovable in their own ways and seeing them come together in the end after a somewhat crazy journey was so fulfilling. I’m not going to lie, Charlie was not nice in the beginning and I was left feeling like this cannot be our MMC. But slowly, as the plot continued, my soft spot for him grew bigger and bigger.

The plot felt so strong! I felt so many emotions while reading and while sometimes things felt a little too predictable, they still hit you in the intended spot aka tears, laughs, or sometimes both.

I looooved seeing the characters from another one of KC’s books show up and support the main characters.

You’ll love:
+ grumpy/sunshine
+ forced proximity
+ laugh out loud dialogue
+ witty banter
+ no spice

Welcome to another therapy session courtesy of Katherine Center.

I loved this book. Everything felt so real and raw even if somewhat unbelievable. It feels as if the tragedy these characters face is too extreme and extraordinary but the more life I experience the more I feel how much tragedy affects us and how truly naive (or lucky) I was as a young adult.

Emma gets the chance to work with her screenwriting idol Charlie Yates. She has to leave behind a medically dependent father and travel halfway across the country. It’s only then she discovers Charlie had no idea she’s coming and has no desire to work with her.

This is truly a character driven story with themes revolving around their personal growth. Ironically I loved this book even though the characters drove me crazy most of the time. Emma is a know-it-all control freak who I completely identified with and Charlie is just a jerk. But believe me this book is amazing.

Katherine Center NEVER misses!! I absolutely adored this story. As someone who loves love, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about a character who also loves love and tries to convince our other character to believe in love. So much love I love it! I also loved how we were given little peeks into the lives of Jack Stapleton and Hannah from The Bodyguard a couple of times and got to see how they’re doing . It made me so happy to see that they’re doing well! Did I also mention that celebrities falling for normal people is like one of my favorite romance tropes ever? Because that also made this book a fun ride for me. 4/5!!!
Thank you SO much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! I felt so honored to be reading a book by the queen herself so early!!

Katherine Center has done it again! I was immediately pulled into The Rom-Commers!! While this story mixes the glamorous (on the outside) life of Charlie a famous writer, and the low key life of failed writer Emma, their experiences are so relatable and engaging. We all know the typical romantic comedy plot but the meat is what gets us from the meet cute to the epilogue. This story has heart and will make you both laugh and cry. It’s a must read for the romantic comedy lover.

Thank you to St Matin’s Publishing group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of this story for an honest review.

A Katherine Center book revolved around a rom-com? Say less please!

Charlie Yates- THEE Charlie Yates writes the best scripts known to man, but he wrote a rom com and it’s terrible, worse than terrible, what’s a word worse than terrible? Emma Wheeler writes great rom coms, award worthy rom coms but she’s home bound to take care of her dad who needs round the clock care. She can’t possibly go to LA for 6 weeks to rewrite his script, can she?

Katherine has you laughing at her inner monologue, crying at the heart wrenching video, and holding your breath from the morning phone call until the plane ride. This book has everything, a slow burn, grumpy-sunshine, swoony research scenes, and banter that will give you a never ending smile. That triple “third act” form of breakups hurt a lot but that speech with the special handkerchief at the end makes all the pain worth it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review! The Rom-Commers is out June 11, 2024