Member Reviews

I can’t get enough Katherine Center! She was born to write! I adore all of her books. This book was amazing. The writing. The characters. The conflict. The angst. The journeys. It was all 5 stars! The emotional pull of this books wraps you up in your grandmother’s afghan and lets you forget all the real stuff for a while. I’m already ready for the next one. Huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book!

Was this review helpful?

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

This was my first book by Katherine Center and I am obsessed!

The characters, the writing, the development - all of it. I stayed up way too late finishing the last 3 hours of this book as I just could not stop reading. If you like fun romances pick up this book! I am adding all of her other books to my wishlist!

5 stars, I wish I could give this book more!

Was this review helpful?

I loved the premise of writers falling in love while writing a rom-com! The heroine was so endearing and the themes will definitely hit you in the feels in the best possible way. I love all of this author's characters and will read anything she puts on a page.

Was this review helpful?

What an incredible book! I was hooked from the very first page and loved the dialogue between the main characters. Katherine Center always has writing that makes me laugh and feel connected to the characters. I was so sad when the book was over, the story was so good!

Was this review helpful?

I can’t quite explain why, but I was hooked with Emma and Charlie’s story immediately. I loved their banter and the will they, won’t they of the relationship. I didn’t love the twist at the end, but I was still happy with the resolution.

Was this review helpful?

This book. THIS BOOK - is the rom-com for rom-com-lovers. It’s the perfect encapsulation of everything that makes a rom-com so excellent, and it’s been done in perfect Katherine Center style.

My daughter had the stomach flu yesterday, and so I needed something comforting, fun, and distracting to sink into while we were snuggled up together on the couch all day. This book was the *perfect* fit - the kind of comforting, heart-bursting, life-affirming read I needed to escape with. I loved how Center wrote rom-com tropes into this plot in such a fourth-wall-breaking, self-aware way, while also still being the comforting, hilarious, and HEA-required plot line we’ve come to expect from a great romantic comedy. I inhaled it in just over a day, and I think this one is officially up there with Happiness for Beginners as an all-time fave. My gigantic thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read an early copy!

Was this review helpful?

Katherine Center does it again! I squealed when I received an ARC of The Rom-Commers and it surpassed my expectations! This was a grumpy-meets-sunshine romance, and the main characters Emma and Charlie were adorable. I adored their love story and banter. This book was emotional, heartwrenching and hard not to love. Katherine Center fans will love this one! Just go read it!

Was this review helpful?

My ALL-TIME favorite Katherine Center book. Holy emotions. This book had it all. Amazing banter, heartfelt characters, tragedy and HEA romance.

Emma was an aspiring screenwriter and got the once in a lifetime chance to ghost write for prestigious award-winning screenwriter, Charlie. He was her Hollywood crush and she couldn’t believe her luck. Only catch? She was going to need to move to LA for a few weeks and leave her disabled father who she’d been caring for for the last 10 years after a tragic camping accident that killed her mother.

Sister to the rescue, Sylvie came to help with Dad and Emma went to LA where she would soon find out that she wasn’t wanted. Charlie had no idea she was coming to help him write his Rom-Com nor did he want the help. He was grumpy as grumpy could be and Emma was accepting her fate and ready to go back home to her father.

Lo and behold, after some deep thinking, Charlie wanted the help after all. Emma and Charlie were picture perfect. The exact definition of Rom-Com. They grocery shopped together, cooked together, wrote their screenplay together, shared their deepest darkest thoughts with each other, etc.

But love wasn’t what Charlie was after. After all, he was dying of cancer. Charlie was an extremely troubled character who went through trauma after trauma when his mother left him after his near-drowning as a child and his (ex) wife left him after his cancer diagnosis. Emma saw the trauma and wanted to help him through it because she was in love.

This book PULLED at my heartstrings. I haven’t felt this way about a book in so long. The characters were amazing and so relatable. Katherine Center always represents medical trauma so accurately. I’m almost sure I uttered the same words as Sylvie when she saw the imaging of her father’s brain bleed when I saw the imaging of my own. How would they get it out? Only one way out, surgery. As I celebrate my 12th year as a stroke survivor this month, this seemed like an appropriate book to read! I highly, highly recommend this book.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

The Rom-Commers was a sweet romance story that you can’t help but swoon over. Center is a master at the slow-build romance, and this is her best work to date! I really enjoyed Charlie and Emma as individuals; it really felt like they were each other’s missing piece. I would love to see these characters again in the future!

Thank you again for the ARC!

Was this review helpful?

3.5⭐️! Katherine Center’s writing is always so much fun to read and easy to follow. I love the funny wit in her writing and always enjoy my time reading. The only thing that fell a bit flat for me was how some of the story felt a little redundant and dragged out. I also felt myself going a bit back and forth over how I liked the mmc. I had a bit of a hard time understanding him and his actions. I did like him by the end though and I really enjoyed reading about what it’s like to be a screenwriter and the hardships and demands that come with it. Although this was not my absolute favorite by her, I still had a fun time reading it!

Was this review helpful?

Katherine Center does it again!

I fell for these characters within the first couple of chapters. I related to Emma’s independent lifestyle and her commitment to always putting her family first. I was drawn to Charlie’s desire to always work by himself and his aversion to romance. Put the two of them together and you get an enemies to lovers x forced proximity trope. Not to mention that their banter made me so giddy!

There were certain parts of the story that I was wondering why they just couldn’t be together. But everything came full circle in the end, and I was happy with the resolution.

If you loved The Bodyguard by KC, be sure to check this book out, as Jack Stapleton and Hannah Brooks make a few appearances!

Was this review helpful?

I love Katherine Center's writing and the way she breaks the fourth wall by telling the story TO her audience, instead of allowing them to just watch it unfold. It's unique and interesting and is the reason I continue to pick up her stories, even though they don't typically work for me.

Unfortunately, The Rom-Commers wasn't the exception to that rule.

Just like Center's previous novels, the banter was bantering and because it was so dialogue heavy (another thing I love about her books!), I absolutely flew through it. But the characters? I just didn't connect to them or their relationship. I rolled my eyes a lot.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of The Rom-Commers.

This was my first Katherine Center book and the hype is definitely worthwhile! I thought this story was so sweet and I was full of joy while reading it. The main character and the love interest both have so much personal growth from beginning to end, which made me fall in love with the characters. There were funny moments, tear-jerking moments, and loving moments and they all tied together beautifully. The rom-com tropes in this book were great: enemies to lovers, friends, to lovers, forced proximity, grumpy sunshine. Their love story was complicated but I enjoyed every aspect of it! I am looking forward to reading the rest of Center's rom-coms after reading The Rom-Commers!

Was this review helpful?

An easy 5 stars!! Just absolutely wow. First of all my heart was doing the whole bird suicide thing the entire time. I don't even know what to say othet than you need to read this. Centers voice in this is absolute perfection. It read like a best friend just talking to you. The little twists absolutely stilled my heart. I truly loved every word of this book.

Thank you netgalley for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Every Katherine Center book I read gets bumped up to my favorite Katherine Center, but I SWEAR THIS TIME. THIS IS MY FAVORITE KATHERINE CENTER BOOK. First off, there's not even a single drop of miscommunication in this entire book. Yes, there is a very valid fear the characters face of speaking their feelings out-loud, but even that doesn't last long. I didn't think grumpy-sunshine was my thing but then I met Charlie. If the witty banter, the scenes that had me giggling out-loud, the strong family ties or watching Charlie and Emma slowly fall in love all didn't have me already rating this 5-stars, Charlie alone would be bumping it up the list. His demeanor at the beginning made the ending feel even better. Every character has so much personality I felt like I was living the experiences with them.

Okay okay, aside from the romance which I clearly loved, I also appreciated how strongly Katherine Center writes family relationships. Emma and her sister is so cute and realistic. I love how this family continuously shows up for each-other and supports each-other. Although I will say I do think Emma owed her sister and apology she never gave and that's my ONLY complaint. Katherine sprinkles in some harder themes in here, like cancer and death of a parent, but she always handles the tougher aspects of the book with grace and care and this book is no different.

For fans of Emily Henry, Denise Williams or any other Katherine Center book: this is one you NEED TO READ.

Was this review helpful?

Emma has put her life on hold to take care of her dad, but when an opportunity to work with one of the best screenwriters is dropped in her lap, she decides to make it work. Emma is determined to write the best rom-com with the award winning Charlie Yates. However, Charlie hates rom-coms and is determined to do as little a possible to make a passable screenplay. Emma and Charlie are at odds in every way, but they have to find some common ground to accomplish their goals. No one said it would be easy.

I adored this book. It was a perfect Katherine Center book - thoughtful, funny, and heart wrenching. This is the perfect book to curl up with and read in one sitting. One of my top picks for the year.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of The Rom-Commers.

Was this review helpful?

Katherine Center writes like a goddess! All her books immediately go on my TBR, and they always live up to every expectation. This book was no different and I ate up every single word. Although not spicy, this was entirely swoony and sweet.

Was this review helpful?

THE ROM - COMMERS - KATHERINE CENTER
4.5⭐
PLOT
Emma Wheeler wants to be a screenwriter and waiting for her big break but she is a full time caretaker for her father and now she gets a chance to re write a script for famous screenwriter Charles Yates whom she idolizes and an opportunity too good to miss.
But Charlie doesn't want to rewrite the script it's just a way to get another of his script a green light but Emma has sacrificed a lot leaving had dad with her you her sister and come to LA for 6 weeks. She ill convince him that love stories matter and even if she has to prove each and every stage to him and while doing so they inturn write their own rom com.
MY THOUGHTS
I really enjoyed this book. Esp the part where Emma and Charlie work together how a cynical Charlie starts believing in love once again. The writing was easy, fluid as if Emma was narrating the story to us, plot which has real life issues and problems incorporated well to make it relatable. Characters were well rounded though I just wanted a chapter from Charlie's POV.

Was this review helpful?

Well this was such an (expected) delight! I always know I’m in for a good time when I pick up a Katherine Center book, but this is most definitely my favorite one so far. I adore rom-coms (duh), and I loved these two exploring the genre and teaching Charlie the basics of what makes a rom-com good (including a heavy amount of “research” which means oh so many things ). Charlie started out as a big ol’ meanie and I found myself thinking he had a LOT of work to do to make this up to me (okay fine, to Emma)- but woooork he did. He won me (and Emma) over swiftly and swoon…ily (?) and I was rooting for them from the get-go.
I was pleasantly surprised by some of the more serious topics that this book tackled, and it just made me even more invested in these lovebirds and their story as I watched them tackle their personal probs and get through them together (well….mostly).
As with all great rom-coms, this one comes with a lot of banter, almost-moments, people falling on top of other people, and gives us a perfect final act. If you want to laugh, cry, and swoon your way rapidly through your new favorite book, this is the one for you!

Was this review helpful?

She did it again! Hello Stranger was one of my top books last year, and I was so excited when this one was announced. Boy, did it live up to my expectations.

Emma is an aspiring screenwriter who’s never gotten her chance to follow her dreams due to her role of caretaker for her dad. One day, an opportunity falls into her lap: a gig helping re-write a rom-com script that has been written by her favorite screenwriter Charlie. But when she gets there, she realizes he had no idea she was coming.

After a bit of back and forth, Emma stays with him to work on the script and teach non-believing Charlie the magic that is romance. There’s even a melancholic guinea pig! This book truly has it all.

I read this book so fast, and I was saddened to finish it because I wanted more! Katherine is truly becoming a must-read author for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Was this review helpful?