Always a fan of KC’s books. I love the human element she always brings, and the wisdom that comes exploring and then writing stories that include life’s various challenges. This book has some hard-hitting moments but also so much humor and levity. Without spoiling, I think the ending was really beautifully. Thank you to the author and publisher for this ARC (though, I did also purchase and read the BOTM edition). :)

Honestly, I still recommend the paperback version for those into shelfies. It's got sprayed edges! Gorgeous endpapers! A cute cover! I love romcoms. They are my sunshine on cloudy days. Having recently finished The Bodyguard, I already had Things You Save In A Fire in my physical TBR and Hello Stranger in my Kindle TBR, I was pretty excited about this romcom about a romcom writer.

The players:
Emma Wheeler: roughly 28, Emma is an amateur screenwriter who had to pass a prestigious opportunity to become a caretaker for her father after a tragic accident derails her life.
She's also QUIRKY. You can tell because she's got out-of-control curly red hair! It's mentioned roughly 75 times.

Charlie Yates: a very successful screenwriter, with loads of awards stored in a drawer in his huge house. He specializes in everything BUT romcoms.
She calls him by his full name no less than 137 times. WHO DOES THAT?!?!
Charlie is an ASSHOLE with NO redeeming qualities and a tendency to throw money at his problems. He's verbally abusive to Emma at nearly every available opportunity, and I think we're supposed to forgive and forget because the "c" card gets pulled. The resolution is the absolute worst thing I've ever read, and I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to imagine it without snickering.
Emma had so many opportunities to be a strong, independent woman and seize her moment to make her own dreams come true. Having her put up with his insults and trying to fix him was PAINFUL.

Everyone needed therapy.

2.5 stars.

If you're looking for a delightful escape into a world of love, laughter, and a few tears, "The Rom-Commers" by Katherine Center is the perfect pick. I absolutely adored this book and gave it a well-deserved 5 out of 5 stars. The plot is engaging, filled with charming moments and witty dialogue that keep you hooked from start to finish. Center’s writing style is both fun and enjoyable, making it easy to get lost in the story.

Beyond its light-hearted exterior, "The Rom-Commers" also delves into heartfelt and emotional territory, exploring themes of love, loss, and personal growth. The characters are well-developed and relatable, each bringing their unique quirks and depth to the narrative. This book is a perfect blend of humor and heart, leaving you with a warm, satisfied feeling by the end. If you’re a fan of contemporary romance with a touch of emotional depth, don’t miss out on this gem!

Katherine Center’s The Rom-Commers is a delightful addition to the romantic comedy genre, blending humor, heartfelt moments, and an insightful look into the world of screenwriting. The novel follows Emma Wheeler, a passionate writer who gets the chance to work with her idol, Charlie Yates, on a rom-com screenplay. However, the reality of the job is far from what she expected.

The story centers on Emma Wheeler, a writer with a deep passion for romantic comedies, who is given an incredible opportunity to collaborate with her idol, Charlie Yates. However, what should have been a dream come true quickly turns into a challenging and comedic journey. Charlie, an acclaimed screenwriter, is now struggling with writer’s block and an unexpectedly dreadful screenplay. The clash between Emma’s idealistic views on romance and Charlie’s cynical approach fuels the novel’s central tension.

Emma is a character with depth and resilience. Her backstory of caring for her ailing father adds layers to her personality and motivations. Her decision to take on the job despite her fears and anxieties about her own life’s direction showcases her determination and growth. As the story progresses, Emma’s wit and charm, along with her deep knowledge of the rom-com genre, make her an engaging narrator. Her direct interactions with the reader and her reflections on the genre’s conventions provide a clever and humorous perspective on her experiences.

Charlie Yates, on the other hand, is a more complex and enigmatic character. His initial reluctance and disdain for rom-coms create an intriguing dynamic between him and Emma. As they work together, Charlie’s transformation and the gradual unveiling of his vulnerabilities add depth to his character. The evolution of their professional relationship into a personal connection is handled with a blend of humor and sincerity.

The development of Emma and Charlie’s romance is both sweet and believable. The gradual shift from a contentious working relationship to a deep, emotional connection is handled with the right balance of humor and sincerity. The banter and chemistry between them are reminiscent of classic rom-coms, making their story a satisfying and engaging read.

Overall, The Rom-Commers is a heartwarming and entertaining novel that offers a unique perspective on the romantic comedy genre. Katherine Center’s clever storytelling and endearing characters make this book a standout read. For fans of romantic comedies and those seeking a fun and thoughtful summer read, this book is a must-pick.

This was another great book by Katherine Center. It was a cute, romantic and hilarious story that was difficult to put down. The main characters Emma and Charlie are stubborn but likable, and the secondary characters really add to the enjoyment of the story. All the emotions are touched upon from the very start to the end of the book.

The Rom-Commers was so fun and such a good time! However, it also dealt with serious topics, still managing to keep a fun, rom-commy energy throughout the book.

I loved the writing and found myself highlighting constantly. The Rom-Commers is EXTREMELY quotable. It was also interesting how Katherine Center summarized different events and sections of time in the book. I don’t know if what I mean makes sense, but it was a different kind of writing than I’m used to seeing, and I enjoyed that it helped keep the pace steady and quick in my opinion.
I also really enjoyed the main characters (most of the time, but we’ll get to that). I loved the humor in this book as well—whether it was something outright hilarious or just slightly silly, I was giggling and smiling throughout the book. It was also interesting to see how a script came together.

What I DIDN’T like and kept this from being five stars, was the ending (to be fair, I’m pretty picky about book endings). Not to reveal too much, but basically from the point Emma went home til the end was for lack of a better word, weird. I felt like there were a couple questions left unanswered and loose ends. The way everything wrapped up felt a little too convenient and a little too corny for me.

That said, this was my first Katherine Center book, and I’m excited to start her backlist!

4.5 stars
I read this in the beginning of July when I was deep into a romcom mood, and The Rom-Commers hit the spot. Emma is sunshine, but she's been through a lot. Charlie is a grump and in total denial of his feelings. They're both screenwriters, and when a book involves writers, it's immediately being added to my TBR. On top of that, it's set in Los Angeles, which if you know me, you know I love a book set in my hometown. The Rom-Commers checked a lot of boxes for me before I even read it, and then went on to exceed my expectations when I read it. Katherine Center really knows how to balance deep undertones/topics with comedic relief. She also has a way with words. For example: "You had to maximize joy when it fluttered into your life. You had to honor it. And savor it. And not stomp it to death by reminding everyone of everything you’d lost." Okay Katherine, read me to filth. I've read The Bodyguard, Hello Stranger, and now The Rom-Commers, and I have to say The Rom-Commers is my new favorite.

Thank you Netgalley and Katherine Center for the advanced digital copy.

The Rom-Commers is out now!

A sometimes-meta, always-enchanting love letter to rom-coms, Katherine Center's latest romance novel stars a jaded, lonely screenwriter & and an aspiring writer who’s put her Hollywood dreams on hold for her family… until now. The screenwriter's latest script, an alleged rom-com, is a tragic mess, but his pride won't allow him to ask for help. When the aspiring writer's agent brings them together, she tries to show the sexy, grumpy screenwriter the way to an HEA...but can they find their own? Center’s trademark belief in the power of kindness & choosing happiness authentically shine.

Katherine Center does not disappoint and I had no qualms about pre-ordering this book. It is about Emma, who is hired to help her favorite screenwriter, Charlie, perfect a rom com screenplay. Emma is the caregiver for her father who has a chronic illness after a tragic accident. Because of what happened to her parents, Emma is always worried about what might happen if she leaves home or does anything for herself. Meanwhile, Charlie has written an awful screenplay because he doesn’t believe in love after his ex wife left him. Emma wants to work with him and agrees to the deal, even though when she meets Charlie he doesn’t quite live up to her expectations. This enemies to lovers story was sad, touching, and moving, as well as hopeful, as all Katherine Center’s books tend to be! I loved the two main characters and the way they helped each other grow. There is a cancer story line involved in this book, as well as the loss of a parent.

Unfortunately I just don't think Center's books are for *me* - but so many people love them and I highly recommend checking them out!

In this one I had several eye rolling moments and that ending? HARD NO. So weird and unbelievable to me.

Such a fun book! Enemies to lovers/close proximity novel. I loved Emma and Charlie and was cheering them on from the start. There are also great secondary characters. Flawed characters, some parts are heavy but others will have you laughing. All around a good read. 5 stars.

Emma was a promising screenwriter when her father was badly injured in a rock-climbing accident and she became his primary caregiver. Years later, her ex-boyfriend, a screenwriting agent, offers her a once-in-1000-lifetimes opportunity to co-write a rom-com with her screenwriting idol and Hollywood crush, Charlie Yates. Yates writes award-winning films in every genre EXCEPT romantic comedies. Though their first meeting doesn’t go as planned—it turns out he doesn’t actually want to write with anyone else, let alone someone without a resume—he finds her passion for the genre intriguing. As the genre begins to win him over, so does Emma’s charm.

I really liked Emma and her arc of trying to invest in herself and her professional success after deferring her dreams for years. The book is told in the first person, and Emma is a fun narrator to hang out with. While she’s generally a sunshine character, I enjoyed seeing how she navigated the more challenging aspects of her life.

On the other hand, Charlie is a jerk when he first meets Emma. I totally understand his frustration: he did not invite this woman to his house!!! However, I can’t get on board with the way he demeans Emma. Even after he invites her to stay, he continues to be condescending. Charlie’s mood swings took me out of the romance and made it harder to root for them.

Thanks to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review the Digital ARC of THE ROM-COMMERS.

This is my second title from the author. I loved <i>Hello Stranger</i> and this one has similar vibes with the quirky main character. Definitely read this one if you liked that one and vice versa.

Things I liked: Emma's first person perspective was fun to read. I liked how it felt like she was recounting everything to the reader. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes of how a writer might work. The banter with Charlie felt natural and I loved how they fit into each other's lives. Emma's family brought depth to the story too.

Things I didn't like: It felt too similar to the main character of her previous book. I didn't enjoy how some conflicts occurred and were resolved.

I will forgive most of the negatives though, because this book got me out of my reading rut and I devoured it surprisingly quickly. 3.5-4 stars rounded up.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit that I'm not normally a huge fan of Katherine Center's books. I've read quite a few based on the recommendations of friends, but they never quite hit right for me. However, I really enjoyed <i>The Rom-Commers</i>. The characters felt more nuanced than others of hers, and there was a good tension between them. I still was frustrated that another woman is always the bad guy in her books, but it wasn't as obnoxious as it was in other books (although I still wish she'd leave that tired trope behind).

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center was such a great read! Katherine Center has become an automatic preorder when she releases a new book. I appreciate Katherine’s writing style. The characters are relatable and the plot is solid.

I fell in love with the main characters Emma and Charlie. I love how their relationship develops as they work together to rewrite Charlie’s screenplay. Charlie’s need to protect himself from having a close relationship with Emma was heart breaking.

Multiple times while reading I laughed out loud. I truly enjoyed this novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Katherine Center for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my honest review. It truly was my pleasure to have read it and I would recommend this book to all lovers of Rom-Com novels. Great read!!

Thank you so much netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

Katherine Center is an auto buy author for me and I adore her.

This was sooooo good! It made me laugh,swoon, and the ending had me sobbing.

A romantic comedy about writing a script for a romantic comedy - so fun! Emma wants to be a screenwriter but as full-time caretaker for her dad she just can’t take the opportunities life throws her way. Until she gets the offer of a lifetime to write a rom com with her idol, Charlie Yates. Charlie is cranky and cynical and couldn't care less about this script, but then Emma teaches him about love and everything changes. Such a fun, cute read! Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

What happens when two solitary but gifted screenwriters are prodded (coerced?) into collaborating over a rom-com film script when one of the writers is seemingly allergic to romance, not to mention collaboration? A firm defense of the requisite elements of the romance genre, for sure. A grumpy/sunshine pairing that vigorously defends romance for all the wonderful reasons it remains so popular in entertainment. And a very believable case made for finding not just a romantic partner but a writing partner in life too. This charming rom-com is filled with plenty of emotional and engaging moments, and I found it hard to put down once I started.

Both characters, Emma and Charlie, have well-developed backstories that earn readers' sympathies right from the start of the book. Unlike some books that take their time pulling you in, this one is captivating from page one. Emma is the far more transparent of the two, largely since this is her first-person account, and once she shares the sadness of losing her mother as a child, and the emotional toil of caring for her disabled father for over a decade, the brittleness of her rigid adherence to routines and order make a whole lot of sense. Charlie is much more opaque, for better or worse, and so we interpret him through Emma's perception of him, which is often wrong. Little signs do illuminate Charlie's motivations and feelings, but his character is subtle, sometimes to a fault, and I could feel myself getting frustrated at times with his inability to share his thoughts. On the other hand, this is one romance where I sympathized with the heroine's feelings of confusion about Charlie as a romantic partner. No need to fear though; Charlie is quite wonderful as a romantic partner, even if he disowns that role for most of the book

I completely enjoyed the Los Angeles setting where Charlie thrives as a highly successful and important screenwriter. The author handles the disparity between Charlie's status and Emma's struggling artist story really well especially since Emma, despite her star worshipping of Charlie as her favorite writer, is equally talented. We know this more from Charlie's admiration of her intellectual prowess than from Emma's pragmatic focus on surviving her life rather than embracing it.

I am always drawn to books where the writerly or bookish life is front and center, and though it is here in the plot, I did want more at times about how both characters build their relationship through their work together. We are told they do, but I struggled at times to feel that or grasp more fully how they collaborated in ways that helped them to fall in love. Along those lines, their final product left me with questions. I didn't have a clear enough sense of it and why it would be a smashing success. Despite being a romance reader, I rarely enjoy rom-coms on the screen, and so I wanted to know more about why this one succeeds. I also wasn't sure how I felt about the secrets withheld. I get the why of it, but I still wondered if honesty could have been more refreshing.

Still, I flew through this one and highly recommend it.

I loved both of our main characters. The FMC is so positive that she made me rethink my outlook on life lol. She was able to make a man who didn’t believe in love, well… fall in love!

Also loved the cameos from her previous works!!

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?


KC writes incredibly lovable and relatable characters! I loved this so much! I love enemies to lovers so much and this did not disappoint!! I loved Emma and Charlie's banter they had together. I was worried at first but it ended up great.



I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.