Katherine Center is a favorite of mine. She has the amazing ability to write romance novels without making it overly spicy. You're able to feel the deep love and connection between two characters without all the smut. I loved the concept of this book. and absolutely fell in love with the characters. Highly recommend this one!

This was a charming surprise! As the main character says, rom-coms are formulaic, always containing certain elements. Yes, this novel has all the elements, but surrounded by a lovely and original structure. Emma narrates this story of being given an opportunity to write a rom-com with one of her idols, Charlie. Of course, it’s a rom-com so we know where it’s going, but full of charm and unusual characters with unusual problems.

So, I do recommend this book to readers of romance/women’s novels. It’s a great way to spend a weekend!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Emma Wheeler is a screenwriter who hasn't been screenwriting much since she's been taking care of her dad for the past decade, a job that requires every minute of her attention. But when her agent sends her a screenplay that needs fixing and it's from her favorite writer, Charlie Yates, she is horrified to discover that the writing is execrable. So bad, she agrees to his offer to hire her to come cowrite with him. Dream come true? Not so much because Charlie has no idea she's coming and no intention of working with her once she's there. Cue: romantic situation.

I think this might be my favorite Katherine Center book yet. There've been quite a few titles out lately explicitly referencing the genre expectations, and so I was a little bit leery about this getting that meta. And as the main characters are both screen writers, there are self-referential mentions of stereotypical rom com plot points, but it was all very fun and well-earned. They aren't just hitting romance beats for some theoretical exercise, Emma wants to make Charlie live through the choices he made in his awful screenplay to show him, for instance, why line dancing isn't sexy. I was also concerned going in about the parasocial dynamic between fan girl Emma and the mega-successful Charlie whom she idolizes. This too was handles super well since their meet cute obliterates that hero-worship and brings them both to a more even-keeled mutual animosity.

Caveats out of the way, what I loved about this book was how much it leaned into the fun of a good romance, the push and pull of an involuntary couple, the delightful banter, the slow-growing respect and realization that, hey, we like each other. This book has so many really lovely moments of play as Charlie's grump exterior gives way. They each bring a backstory that ratchets up the emotion and allows them to connect at a deeper level. The writing is sparkling and witty, and a stable of side characters adds depth and charm. We get a couple of cameos from Jack Stapleton from The Bodyguard. Emma's dad is wonderful. And there's a guinea pig named Cuthbert (as in Matthew and Marilla maybe?).

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

In recent years I’ve avoided books about writers because tbh it feels a little navel gazey. Also they’re usually about the kind of writer I am not, and the added heightened unreality of their situation irks me. That’s why I put off reading this ARC a while even though I love the author’s work. I thought, “mm, maybe I’ll just wait a bit.”

I’m very glad I was wrong.

In a world of books incorrectly billed as romcoms when they are low on both rom and com, The Rom-Commers was a massive delight. Center writes deadpan humor with rapid back and forth banter, inner dialogue that slays, and amazing chemistry. Her books are just READABLE. The voice is engaging and delightful. But even through the humor, her book packs a powerful emotional punch.

Emma set aside her writing dreams to care for her invalid father after a family tragedy and only gets small jobs that a former boyfriend sends her way. But this job he sends her is a doozy—rewrite a script from a massive screenwriting legend that is abysmally bad. After much coaxing, Emma travels to LA to find out that he doesn’t want her there, he didn’t agree to this—but she’s not giving up. She’s going to get this script written—even if she has to teach him how to love again.

I absolutely loved this book. 5 stars.

Heat level: 0. Kissing only!

CW: death of a parent (past), caretaking of a dependent parent (current), cancer diagnosis (past)

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC.

Rating: 5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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If you don’t have an early copy of The Rom-Commers, you need to preorder it. This book was absolutely phenomenal and everything I didn’t know I needed at the current moment. I felt all of the emotions and I laughed and I (almost) cried and this one just left my heart so full that I cant stop thinking about it. I absolutely loved it, I’m sure this will be a contender for one of my top reads in 2024.
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The Rom-Commers is told from Emma’s POV and has a steady fast pace throughout. I loved both Emma and Charlie and the rest of the characters so much. These characters were so raw and their growth throughout the story was awesome. This story is so much more than just a romance. It’s funny and witty and there’s dealing with grief and illnesses and there’s family drama and leaning to understand oneself and so much more. From start to finish every single thing that happened to these characters felt so real. There were multiple “Oh my God” moments that had me audibly gasping and the ending was just *chefs kiss* perfection.
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Honestly, I could gush about this one for days on end, but I’ll keep this one short and sweet. This book is everything. It was incredible from start to finish and its one that you without a doubt need, regardless of if romance is your genre or not.
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I listened to this one while reading my eARC. It was narrated by Katherine Center and Patti Murin and this audio was incredible. To my audiobook fans - this is the way to go!!
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This one comes out on June 11. It’s a must read! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Katherine Center, Macmillan Audio and St. Martins Press for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to @katherinecenter @stmartinpress and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide a review. Is Katherine Center both one of my favorite romance authors and my accidental life coach? The answer is yes.

The last decade hasn’t gone how Emma Wheeler had planned. Still in Houston, instead of being a successful Hollywood screenwriter, she has spent the last decade raising her younger sister and providing round-the-clock care to her father. She’s still writing, and Logan, her high school ex, is her agent (he is in LA and kind of a big deal), although she’s never made him a dime. She has a vision board of all her favorite screenwriters and a mermaid romance script, but she is resigned that her dreams are behind her. That is until Logan presents her the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help action movie superstar screenwriter Charlie Yeats rewrite his most recent script. It is a rom-com, and it is atrocious. The only catch is that she’d have to face fears of leaving her father, spend six weeks in LA, and tell her idol that his screenplay is trash. After a first meeting that doesn’t go as planned, Charlie is surprisingly open to feedback. Emma sets about the difficult task of convincing Charlie of the value of rom-coms and happily ever afters - and they may stumble into their own along the way.

In all her books, Center nails the ability to create charming, wholly engrossing romances with more layers and complexity and makes you think about life. She did it beautifully in Hello, Stranger, and again with this one. Emma and Charlie face real, hard things about life and get honest, difficult-to-hear truths from those they love. They are also so fun as these two, opposites in many ways, seek connection and care-taking but are dorky and awkward. It is a delightful, laugh-out-loud book with powerful messages about risk, hope, disappointment, tragedy, and happily ever afters.

I devoured this story. It’s kind of left me speechless- mostly because it gives you so much to think about. I hated Charlie most of this book- I just couldn’t figure him out and why he was acting that way to Emma.

The last 10% of this book I began to understand him and also cried that last 10% as well. So much wisdom in this book. It really makes you think of all you have to be grateful for.

Thank you, Katherine Center, for making me think of all I have to be grateful for.

Thank you for the ARC for my honest review.

I was very excited to get a copy of this ARC. Who doesn't love a good romcom and a pair of writers who are writing a romcom but not fully accepting they are in their own romcom? Say less.

I immediately fell in love with Emma and Charlie and their quirky banter. I loved how domestic they were after one day of working together. Their connection was instant and I also loved Emma's internal commentary when trying to figure out if their feelings for each other for genuine but how she'd never outright ask him, just keep obsessing in secret like a normal person.

Like any good romcom, real emotions were felt too. I sympathized with Emma's situation with her dad and the guilt over the accident. The last 15% of this book had me right in the feels.

The only thing that took me out of this world was the use of real and not real actors. It broke the bubble a little for me, but other than that this was truly a delightful read with some great feet kicking, giggling inducing moments.

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc.

4.5 rounded up

In this novel, we are introduced to Emma, an aspiring screenwriter who has been stalled in her career because she is the primary caretaker of her handicapped father. Following Emma’s little sister’s graduation, her best friend, who happens to be the agent of a celebrated screenwriter, orchestrates a collaboration between Emma and the award winning writer Charlie. Charlie, skeptical of love and struggling with a lackluster screenplay, finds himself at odds with Emma, who is determined to prove to him the magic of a truly captivating love story.

The Rom-Commers pulled me in from start with its delightful charm. The ensemble cast of characters truly stole my heart. The author's writing style effortlessly transported me into the heart of the story, making every scene come alive and helped me to feel the emotions of the characters. While there were a couple parts that felt a little “over the top” to me, the overall experience was nothing short of enchanting. This book was truly a love letter to all the romance lovers out there.

The Bodyguard still remains my favorite novel by Katherine Center but I did enjoy The Rom-Commers more than Things You Save in a Fire and Hello Stranger.

I did listen to this on audio and the narrator gets a 10/10 from me. She did an amazing job at bringing Emma’s character to life.

Thank you for the ARC of this book!

Katherine Center is one of those 'must-read' authors for me: If she writes it, I will read it. Every new release of hers is my new favorite book and The Rom-Commers keeps with that tradition. In this story, we are introduced to Emma, a talented screenwriter whose potential has yet to be explored due to life's circumstances, and Charlie, another talented (and very famous) screenwriter who helped make Jack Stapleton famous (you may remember him as the male protagonist in "The Bodyguard"). Katherine Center has the uncanny ability to breathe life into not only her MCs, but the secondary characters as well. As I read about Emma working with Charlie to improve his script, I felt as if I was watching these two people fall in love in real life. I laughed, I cried, and then I fell into a book hangover when I finished and remembered that these weren't real people. If you're looking for a book that will wrap you up and warm your heart, do yourself a favor and pick up The Rom-Commers. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Smart, funny, and a little bit heartbreaking, this truly is a love letter to all of the rom com fans out there. I know there are readers who don't enjoy mixing angst or family drama with humor, but that is exactly what makes this such a nuanced, memorable read. It's a rom com first and foremost - our heroine quite literally schools the hero on the rules of the genre - but there's also pain and heartache underscoring so many of the interactions. I loved the combination of the jaded, grumpy, wildly successful hero with the perpetually sunshine heroine who has dealt with so much. Our hero has let a roadblock hold him back, and the heroine comes into his life like a wrecking ball. I loved the way she just absolutely knocked his world off its axis, all while bringing love and joy into his life. We only get her perspective, but it was easy to see the way he was smitten; a delightfully curmudgeon of a hero who slowly softens at the edges. It's rich and complex, entertaining and funny, and genuinely romantic. I loved it!

The story follows Emma, a woman who has been the sole caretaker for her father since an accident ten years ago. Her screenwriting career has been stalled ever since - at least until now. When the opportunity of a lifetime presents itself, her family encourages her to pursue it. Which is how Emma finds herself heading to LA to help her favorite screenwriter rewrite a truly terrible rom com. It's outside of Charlie's typical wheelhouse and he has no idea just how awful the script really is. The good news? Emma was made for this job, and she's determined to help turn things around and possibly jumpstart her career in the process. But meeting Charlie does not go as planned, and Emma soon finds herself temporarily living with her idol while trying to show him all of the ways he's gone wrong.

Center's romances tend to straddle the line of women's fiction, and that was true here as well. It's a multifaceted read that tackles a variety of difficult subjects, with both leads grappling with their own issues. I loved the forced proximity and the way that Charlie and Emma were in nearly every scene together once it got going, which allowed the romantic connection to grow and flourish. I adored watching Charlie slowly change his ways, and there was something so uplifting about a "broken" hero letting love into his life. It's a slow burn with very minimal heat, but it was incredibly romantic. There were SO many great callbacks to beloved rom coms of the past, and it was awesome to see how much Emma cares about the genre. I smiled, I laughed, I swooned, I shed a few tears, and I worried how they'd find their way together. Through it all, I was very, very emotionally connected, and I had such a fun time. This one's going to stay with me for quite awhile.

Emma Wheeler has spent her life both studying and writing romantic comedy screenplays, and she is GOOD at it. She could have a career in it, but tragedy struck her family, and she has spent the last 10 years caring for her ailing father, while her sister went to school and began to create a life for herself. Out of nowhere, she has an opportunity to write with Charlie Yates, a living legend when it comes to screen writing. Charlie wrote a rom-com and it is awful. Her ex and Charlie's manager contacts her to ask her to help fix it. Charlie doesn't want to write with her and doesn't care about the screen play. Emma is determined to help him - not just with the rom-com, but with his lack of belief in love.

Katherine Center has written a fantastic, fun, delightful rom-com. Her main characters are wonderful, relatable people who you want to cheer for and get to know. Charlie is loveable, imperfect, sweet and guarded. Emma is quirky, cute, loveable and hopeful. Together they make a great team. I absolutely loved this novel, and did not want it to end, because I wanted more of these characters. I appreciate that in addition to the fun aspects of the story, Center also tackled some real issues like anxiety, and she did it in a realistic way, giving the reader a taste of some of what that looks like and what things helped her characters. Furthermore, I also loved the winks at some real movie stars in this book, along with a bunch of fictitious ones.

This book is being added to my list of favorites. If you love rom-coms and want to laugh out loud, this book is for you!

Thanks to Katherine Center, St. Martin's press, and Netgalley for providing the e-galley for this book in exchange for this honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was great. It was funny, cute, just like you’d expect from a rom-com movie. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this book.

This book was just what I needed. Emma and Charlie's tension could be cut through with a knife. It was clear to everyone but Charlie that they were in love, pretty early on. Charlie and Emma needed to work to write a RomCom in order for his other movie, his passion project, to be produced. Emma has always put her life on hold while taking care of her dad. Coming to LA to help out Charlie and his Terrible screenplay was a lot for her, and he didn't seem to want the help.
When he conceded and they started working together, Emma did teach him so much more about himself, love and what it looks like to be happy.
This book had a bit of a trigger for me with the Big C being mentioned, and it got a little scary there, but ultimately, this book turned out just like a good romcom should and gave me all the emotions getting there. 4.5 stars!

What a fun book! It helps that What Happened One Night is one of my favorite movies, but I loved the "story within a story" here. Emma and Charlie have a great dynamic and I also loved the cameos from Jack and Hannah of THE BODYGUARD. I seriously hope this becomes a movie because we need more romantic comedies on our screens!

I have come to the conclusion: Katherine Center could write a grocery list on toilet paper, and I would read it. She can do no wrong.

This book! Absolutely fantastic. I expected the writing to be on point, but the banter is unbeatable. You can't help but get wrapped up in the chemistry between Emma and Charlie and root for them both. Their struggles and conflicts are just as good as their sparks and heat.

The story's development and pacing made it difficult to put down. I would read this again and again. Also so on-the-nose to write about writing (here, screen writing), but it was so interesting to get this perspective on the process.

I laughed, I cried, and I cheered. Any book that makes you feel the whole spectrum of feelings deserves all the stars. HIGHLY recommend to the fans of the rom-coms.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the advanced copy.

I was so grateful I was approved for this eARC from the publisher and was half way in the book when I got the audiobook! I loved both! The narrator was Patti Murin and she was great. And Katherine Center also made a guest appearance on the audiobook if you’re wondering and you definitely want to hear it. She shares her thoughts about the romance genre and I was with her on every single point! I love what she said.
Now about the book. This novel was a fun and frustrating romance. It ended up capturing me body and soul and pulled me, giving me that warm, happy satisfying feeling I love when reading a well written romance novel. It was a clean romance and I highly recommend it.

Things I loved:
• Man’s hands in his pockets kisses.
• The [“YouTube “best kisses ever” ] part.
• The HEA
Thanks St. Martins Press and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

I enjoyed The Bodyguard, so was excited about this one because rom-coms are my thing and the galley was appealing to me. Sadly, the Rom-Commers just didn’t come together for me. It felt like a Tessa Bailey book minus the sex: The characters were fairly unlikable, they didn’t grow to become likable, and the nitty gritty of the story just didn’t add up (a woman who spent the previous chapter relating the crushing loss of her mother in a tragic distance fall finds it funny when she is told that diving from a similar height might crush her own innards? Yuck. It creeped me out and shut me down from the character and the story.)
All that being said, a rom-com’s plot doesn’t have to be plausible to work. The true beauty of a romcom is falling in love with the characters as they fall in love with each other. That just didn’t happen here. I was disappointed, but based on her prior writings I will definitely try a future book by the author.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing access to a digital ARC.

Here's the thing about Katherine Center, her stories always make you feel happier in the end. She knows how to fill your heart, how to make you hopeful about the world, and how to smile. They are like a warm, cozy blanket on a cold day or a delicious cup of iced lemonade on a warm day. It's balm for your soul.

And this one is no exception. It's sad, it's funny, it's witty but most of all it's overflowing with heart. You will not regret reading her stories.

with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I've said it before and I will say it again now: KATHERINE CENTER CAN DO NO WRONG! seriously the queen of rom coms. loved this one!!!