Sometimes you just need a book pick-me-up…

Anxiety sucks….plain and simple. It has the ability to take things you love doing and make them difficult. Like reading.

Your brain wants to focus, but it’s zooming in a million different directions. Next thing you know, it’s 3 hours later and you are still on the same sentence of the same page you started on.

I haven’t been able to truly read for well over a month now. My grand total for 2024 completed books was a big ol’ goose egg, nada, ZERO.

BUT THEN….I remembered the ARC copy sitting ever so peacefully in my inbox for Katherine Center’s newest book coming out later this year in June, The Rom-Commers.

Now, you know how we all have our comfort items that always seem to make us happy/lift our spirits? Your mom’s chicken noodle soup, a blanket your grandma knit you, that stuffed animal from when you were 3? You get the point. Katherine’s books have always fallen into that “comfort category” for me. They have never failed in being a source of sunshine.

So, I charged up my Kindle, put aside the book I’d been struggling to make a dent in, and sat outside in the sun to recenter myself with a little Center.

THE ROM-COMMERS WAS JUST WHAT I NEEDED!

I laughed, I giggled, I told my fiancé to go play video games and leave me alone, I uttered the famous words “just 30 more minutes” at the end of each night….all because I wanted to and could actually focus on reading! I lost myself in the story and didn’t want to put the book down until I’d reached the end. Which I did, just 6 days after starting it.

They say the things that are meant for you will find you, and as I was wrapping up the book and reading the acknowledgements, that is exactly what I thought to myself about The Rom-Commers. There at the very end, I saw the word that has been living rent free in my body for a bit now - anxiety.

So thank you Katherine - because in between the fiction, you create characters with very real issues and help them find sunshine and happy ending.

The ROM-COMMERS is another wonderful and fun book by Katherine Center. Center once again is able to weave a tale of fun and flirtatious love. This book has so much heart and is a romantic love story as much as it is about love for one’s family. If you are a fan of books about writers and adore classic rom coms, then this is a book you’ll need to pick up.

I love Katherine Center's writing and <i>The Rom-Commers</i> did not disappoint! It was full of heart and humor and wonderfully genuine characters you can't help but fall in love with.

I laughed, I cried, I laughed while I was crying, and I gobbled it up in one day.

This book did have some similar plot points as Center's <i>The Bodyguard</i>, and I was able to guess one of the bigger reveals, but that didn't take away from my reading enjoyment.

I love reading anything Katherine Center writes. Will recommend to friends and family…another solid book from her.

I absolutely loved this book! Emma Wheeler wants to be a screenwriter but she had to put her dreams aside to take care of her father. Emma gets the chance to work with screenwriter Charlie Yates, who she adores. The only thing is that she has to go to Los Angeles to do it. Leaving her father in her sister's hands, she takes a leap of faith. They are tasked with writing a romcom, which Charlie despises. There are many themes in this book, including love, loss, grief, and hope. I loved the banter between Emma and Charlie. They made me laugh. They made me cry. Charlie is the kind of character you don't like at the start, but grow to love.

This was my third read from Katherine Center and she did not disappoint. I will definitely be reading more.

Katherine Center has become a must-read author for me and The Rom-Commers is a great example of why.

Emma and Charlie team up to co-write a romcom screenplay but end up writing a new story for themselves as well. I loved their interactions, funny banter is always a win. The story had elements of heartbreaking tragedy which was handled nicely. Characters were endearing (even grumpy Charlie) and I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to see them through.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced review copy!

Warning: This book may cause random outbursts of laughter. Use caution when reading next to a sleeping spouse.

With that warning out of the way, I have to say Emma and Charlie were magic right from their first “apocalyptically” disastrous meeting, and I couldn’t devour their story fast enough. Renowned screen writer Charlie Yates needs help overhauling his terrible romcom script. Emma Wheeler’s dream of becoming a romcom screenwriter was put on hold when her father was injured and needed 24/7 care. When Emma has the opportunity to help her hero overhaul his horrific script, she ventures out of her comfort zone to grab hold of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But there’s a reason people say never meet your heroes and their first meeting doesn’t go as planned. Charlie doesn’t care about improving his script. He’s simply writing it so he can get the greenlight on another project. Emma quickly realizes she can’t help him write a quality romcom until he cares about the script and changes his views on love.

Things I loved:
- The story itself was gold. I adored the premise, the witty banter, the characters.
- Emma & Charlie’s first meeting (the first time I laughed out loud)
- Emma finding her voice and the freedom to pursue her dreams
- Emma’s feisty attitude, which was both entertaining and admirable at times
- So many hilarious quotes I highlighted
- Cuthbert the Guinea Pig
- Charlie. Just Charlie.

Things I didn’t love:
- While I don’t mind some occasional swearing, I really don’t like the f-word. And this book had about a dozen of them, along with a wide variety of other “lesser” curse words. Even though Center didn’t use the f-word to describe sex, which I find even more distasteful then using the word as an adjective/adverb, it still lessened my enjoyment of an otherwise well-crafted, closed-door romance. This would have been a 5 star read for me if the language was toned down a bit.

Content Considerations:
- Closed Door
- Moderate Language, including about a dozen f-words
- Moderate Sexual Innuendo (think PG-13 rom com level)
- Sensitive topics: grief/loss, death of a parent, divorce, sickness

Thank you St. Martin's Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Katherine Center with another book that did not disappoint. I love the story of Emma and Charlie. It’s full of all the things we come to love from Katherine’s books. I wasn’t a huge fan of Hello Stranger but I LOVED The Bodyguard so I was hoping this would but just as good. IT WAS. I wouldn’t mind reading it again.

Katherine Center does it again, and this is absolutely in the running for being her best one yet. Rom-commers is the perfect grump x sunshine, forced proximity romance. When aspiring screenwriter Emma Wheeler gets a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ghost write with her favorite screenwriter of all time, she cannot say no. This requires her to leave her father, for whom she is a full time caregiver, but how can she pass this chance up? She is in for a rude awakening, however, when she discovers how truly awful the screenplay is. What on earth is her idol, Charlie Yates, doing attempting to write a rom-com? To make matters worse, Charlie doesn’t seem impressed by Emma whatsoever, and he certainly isn’t invested in this joint venture. Can Emma change his mind about love, or will he always deem it an “emotional Ponzi scheme?”

Any fan of rom-coms cannot miss out on this read. It is swoony, and the banter between Emma and Charlie is top notch. Katherine Center flawlessly creates this incredible push/pull dynamic, and even the greatest romance cynic would be invested in reaching the promise happily ever after. I adored Emma and Charlie and cannot wait for other readers to devour their story!

A very sweet read with very lovable main characters. Despite the title, this book manages to surprise the reader and not give way to expected tropes. A delightful read I couldn’t put down.

While I enjoyed the book, I just couldn't give it 5 stars for a couple of reasons.
1. There wasn't much comedy in Rom-Commers. The descriptions made it seem it would be more light-hearted, and that is not the case. The book was actually fairly heavy with parental caregiving, lost parents, the big C, and some other bits.
2. I had a really hard time in the first several chapters because Logan and Charlie were incredibly disrespectful, manipulative, and outright rude to Emma. Don't worry, it's not a love triangle. But there were nasty things said and talk of career sabotage. Emma was way too forgiving with everything.

The Rom-Commers bought me immense joy. I have no idea how to show that in this review. It was just so good! I felt like I was watching a romantic comedy movie while reading this book.

The plot of The Rom-Commers was fun and unique. Two screenwriters, one enthusiastic and one not so much, falling in love while collaborating on a script provided a lot of hilarious and also surprisingly emotional moments. Katherine Center did a fabulous job of keeping this romantic comedy upbeat and fun while every once in a while, throwing the characters' emotional baggage at the reader. I'm happy to report I laughed way more than I teared up. This was a true romantic comedy and not just a book disguised as one. 

Emma was a little bit quirky, and rightfully so. The past ten years had been tough on her. She was her father's caretaker and a mother figure to her younger sister. Breaking away from her daily duties and going to L.A. to help rewrite a script pushes her out of her comfort zone and brings on her anxiety. I loved how her anxiety was depicted and how Emma's character grew throughout the story. Emma getting a chance at a different kind of life, one where she flourished and enjoyed her talents was rewarding to read about. 

Charlie Yates didn't get his own POV in this book, but I'm not complaining about that. Seeing him through Emma's eyes was more than enough. He had issues of his own. Emma pushing Charlie out of his comfort zone while being out of hers was highly entertaining. These two were awkward on their own. Together, they were one big mess that somehow worked in the best ways. The things they taught and shared with each other were sometimes funny and sometimes special. I fell in love with them as a couple while they were falling for each other.

This romance wouldn't have been what it was without the amazing cast of characters there to support Emma and Charlie along the way. Emma's family was just the sweetest. They had problems like all families do, and I liked that none of them was perfect. I loved Emma's best friend who forced her out of her little life and made her reach for the stars - even though he was kind of an idiot at times. I also enjoyed the people in Charlie's life. It was fun to see Jack make some cameos. 

Thank you to Katherine Center for writing a romantic comedy that was such a joy to read and for spelling out what a romantic comedy is in terms anyone should be able to understand at a time when so many love stories and women's fiction sob fests are being incorrectly marketed as romantic comedies.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for the ARC copy via NetGalley. This was the first book that I read by Katherine Center and I did enjoy the story. I would say the first 1/2 of the story was good and sucked me in. As the story progressed I started to find it very predictable. Did I like the characters? Yes and no. I think the Emma had a lot of growth throughout the novel but there were times were I felt like she needed to have a different perspective on situations and tended to be a little dramatic at times. It is understandable given the grief she is dealing with. For Charlie he tended to get on my nerves at times. I think that he was a very grumpy character (as Katherine, I’m assuming, wanted him to come across as). He did have a lot of growth as well, but it definitely took more time.

I felt like the ending was kind of predictable and I did struggle with finishing the novel. Was this a five star read, no. However I did enjoy the concept of the story and Katherine’s writing style.

I still cannot believe that this was my very first Katherine Center book-- and am I absolutely obsessed? The answer is YES, and now I have to read her entire backlist!

We follow Emma Wheeler- a round the clock caretaker of her father that suffered an accident in the past. She loves him, and is also pursuing a screenwriting career from home. She gets a once-in-a-lifetime phone call from her former boyfriend who she's still friends with, saying that one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood needs a ghostwriter to help him revamp a Rom-Com script (that isn't great...). Emma flies out to LA to meet her hero- Charlie Yates- and he is not happy to see her. His grumpy attitude finally gives in and allows her to stay and help him write. There is forced proximity (since they have to write this things together per their contract) for six weeks. Emma is around her hero- who's also very handsome, and Charlie is forced to figure out what love is again. Does he even believe it? His script doesn't sound like he does!

I love that she is so character driven and created two main characters that I wish I knew IRL. Emma had such a relatable "take care of family and put everything else you want at the bottom of the list" personality that hit so close to home. Charlie had such a grumpy and hard exterior, but the more I got to know him... is it crazy to say that he is definitely my top book boyfriend?!

I always love stories about writers, but the fact that these two are screenwriters coming from difference backgrounds made me addicted to the book. Putting it down was so NOT an option for me. The way that these two fell in love was like watching a friend fall in love. And the irony that the whole thing was a true Rom-Com was the BEST. There were elements of a true rom-com movie sprinkled in with real life.

Center does a spectacular job by not just making this about two people falling in love, but she deals with hard topics head on without treating her audience like they wouldn't understand. I really appreciated that about this book. She touches on family, friendship, grief, moving on, and finding happiness in yourself. Identity is also a huge theme with both of these characters, and especially for young adults this book confronted some really REAL issues in life.

In conclusion... I LOVED this book. Completely ate it up. The banter got me laughing out loud, the deep reliving of trauma made me CRY (it takes a lot for a book to make me cry), and the END. LIKE COME ONNNNN.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me a a digital copy of this book and allowing me to review it! Very very excited for this to be on the shelves!

Katherine Center's "The Rom-Commers" is not just a rom-com; it's full of laughter, wit, and heartwarming moments that will leave you grinning from ear to ear. Our MC Emma Wheeler, an aspiring screenwriter whose life takes a rom-com-worthy turn when she gets the chance to rewrite a script for her idol, the grumpy but brilliant Charlie Yates.

The banter between Emma and Charlie is pure magic. Their initial clashes soon melt into hilarious exchanges laced with vulnerability and self-discovery. You'll find yourself cheering for them to overcome their personal hurdles and embrace the unexpected path love takes them on.

But "The Rom-Commers" isn't just about the swoon-worthy romance. It's a celebration of family, friendship, and the power of believing in yourself. Center tackles complex themes like grief, loss, and self-doubt with sensitivity and humor, reminding us that even life's imperfections can lead to beautiful beginnings.

Get ready for a rollercoaster ride of emotions. You'll laugh until your sides ache, shed a few happy tears, and be left feeling hopeful and inspired. Center's writing is sharp and engaging, and her characters are so well-developed you'll feel like you're right there with them as they navigate their journeys.

Whether you're a die-hard rom-com fan or simply looking for a heartwarming read, "The Rom-Commers" is a must-add to your bookshelf. It's a reminder that love can blossom in the most unexpected places, and that even the most cynical hearts can be touched by the magic of happily ever afters.

I very much enjoyed Katherine Center's The Rom-Commers. It was a quick, relatively light-hearted read with enough emotional content to make you laugh, smile, and shed a tear or two. Katherine does a masterful job of creating characters you fall in love with and a storyline that sucks you in. This book also had a lot of great quotes that make you think about how you view the world. I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!

Wow. This definitely is my favorite Katherine Center book! The writing in this is absolutely beautiful. It’s also filled with funny, witty banter. Emma and Charlie are up there with some of my favorite rom-com couples now! I would recommend this to any rom-com lover, this is one you don’t want to miss!

There were some really nice themes explored in this book, particularly around living life to the fullest. I really liked the beginning of the story. I think that if there had been more of a focus on Charlie and Emma and their relationship, I would have really enjoyed that. I got the impression that the book was trying to show love in a more realistic light, emphasizing that life is not a romantic comedy, but I wish there had been more romance build up, because I really didn’t feel the chemistry.

I’m just not sure that this one was for me. The plot felt a little bit disjointed and I didn’t like the main characters and the way they treated other people, so it was a little bit hard for me to be invested.

I didn’t know how she could top Tne Bodyguard - but Katherine Center may have just done it with The Rom-Commers. This is a five star romance - truly delightful.

This book had me laughing and crying. The characters were so well written and developed that you felt like they were your friends. As usual, Center gives us a romance with all the swoony moments, and all the depth to back it up.

This was my first Katherine Center book and definitely won’t be my last. Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for gifting me the opportunity to read this book.

If you’re looking for a feel-good book where two rom-com writers end up in their own rom-com- then this one is for you!

While the characters dealt with some serious issues , Emma and Charlie’s personalities had me rooting for them throughout their journey. This was a quick, fun read that will be released in June. Keep your eyes out for this one!