My favorite Katherine Center book yet & that's truly saying something because I love all of her books!! Charlie is grumpy but quirky Emma brings out his best + sweet side. I loved their connection & undeniable chemistry--SWOON! So many beautiful parts to this book. As someone who experiences lots of anxiety about the hard parts of life, Emma's dad & his outlook on life was a breath of fresh air. I will be buying this book for my favorites shelf as soon as it releases on June 11th! Thank you for this gem of a book, Katherine Center!!

The Rom-Commers is a delightful slow burn with tons of witty dialogue. I imagine it was intended to feel a lot like some of the rom com movies it references, and for me it didn’t disappoint. The banter and pacing were engaging and immersive, and I had no problem envisioning the (light) physical comedy as it unfolded. I was tempted to give it a five because of the dialogue alone, but the ending was a bit too neat for me. Plus, I’m not sure my sister and I could come back from that kind of fight- not going to lie. Some savage things were said. Regardless, I really liked this book, and the main characters left me wanting more. Read it! Thanks to the publisher and NetGallery for the e-arc.

Emma Wheeler has put her life and dreams on hold to care for her father. But when a dream come true opportunity comes available the want to be screenwriter knows she needs to take this chance. She takes a six week assignment to re-write a script for her all time life long idol, the famously successful Charlie Yates. And there’s only a couple of problems. The brilliant action movie screenwriter has written probably the worst rom-com Emma has ever read. And he doesn’t seem to care. And he doesn’t even believe in love. Emma has her work cut out for her, and her future depends on it!
As these two totally opposite characters try to work together to write a romantic comedy, they are a trope themselves. And as grumpy and rude as Charlie can be, I couldn’t help loving him. You can just feel the vulnerability and hurt bubbling underneath. Katherine Center once again gives you tenderness, heartache, loving gestures wrapped in a humorous bow!

This book is a journey. It's full of witty banter throughout with literary puns thrown in that will make any book nerd smile!

I found this book to be very endearing. I won't lie, there are some heavier parts in this book that left me confused with how I felt about the book. In the end I decided I really did enjoy it, and the Rom-com aspect of it was great!

This book does deal with some heavy topics: death, accidents, injuries, cancer. So keep that in mind if you have those are your trigger warnings.

I received a courtesy ARC copy of this book from NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Katherine Center. All thoughts and ratings of this book are my own, and without expectation.

Katherine Center won my book loving heart with How To Walk Away and I've been reading everything she's ever written ever since. I went to her older works and dived in and then she's always been a preorder author for me automatically. Until I read The Bodyguard. Now.... I will say I enjoyed that book but it felt like we started to hear a different voice. Less woman's fiction and more "campy" rom-com'ish writing. Again... I'm so in love with almost everything she's ever written that I just chalked it up to not for me but perfectly fine. Then Hello Stranger came along and it was as if the KC I've come to know and adore was trying WAY TOO HARD... was a total miss. I won't go on any further. When I was granted an advanced copy of Rom-Commers I was hopeful but a little afraid. See the aforementioned "rom-com" comment. She writes brilliant woman's fiction! Superb! As a matter of fact, if you have not read Everyone is Beautiful or Get Lucky.... run out fast and scoop them up. They are funny, poignant and full of strong females that learn to overcome.
So let's discuss the latest novel by Katherine Center. Emma is the FMC that I didn't know I needed. She's full of heart, she's smart and oh so incredibly sarcastic that it makes me want to take lessons. She's a writer that has had to put her career on hold to take care of her father. This entire story about her family has so many layers of grief, heartache but gifts to glean that you just feel even more proud of what she's been through. Then there is Charlie the famous screenwriter who Emma has idolized her whole adult life. The synopsis of the book gives you some good plot points to get you started on where this book is headed but the part that I feel is most important to note is SHE"S BACK!!! at least in my heart! She wrote a story full of laughter, tears, heart and angst. THIS is the type of story I want to read over again and again! I can't wait for the release date to grab the audio version and I hope that you will consider picking up this book for yourself! I believe you will thrilled!

Utterly delightful! I flew through this story, and when in any given moment I wasn’t reading it, I wanted to be. The Rom-Commers is peak Katherine Center, with complex characters with complicated backstories, chemistry that jumps off the page, meta-commentary, and Easter eggs from her other stories. I loved every minute of it, so much so that when I finished reading my advance copy, I immediately jumped online to preorder a finished edition. Whether you’re a fan of rom-coms like Emma, or you’re struggling to believe in love, like Charlie, there’s good stuff for you here.

Thank you Katherine Center, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a fun read! I am not usually one to read a rom-com type book but I really enjoyed it! It was fun and kept me entertained until the end. A 5 star read, anyone would love this book!

Absolutely the best romance book I have devoured.  I read this in one day!  I laughed out loud so many times as I read this book. Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors.

Emma Wheeler put her dream of becoming a screenwriter on hold when her mother died and her dad had an accident that required 24/7 care.  After 10 years, her dream may just come true.  Emma moves to Los Angeles to re-write a script of her idol, Charlie Yates.  Charlie doesn’t want to write with anyone. Emma has to convince him that rom-coms are love stories, and in the process, these two begin to discover themselves.  

Katherine does an amazing job of bringing these two characters to life.  The banter between the two main characters is hysterical.  The book is written from the perspective of Emma.  We have a wonderful view into her thoughts and feelings.  Katherine is my go-to for romantic comedies. 

I highly recommend this book.  It will be released on June 11th.  Order your copy for the start of summer. 

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and the author for the e-arc.

Katherine Center does no wrong in my eyes. She will forever be an auto-buy for me.
The banter, funny antics, but also loss, grief, illness, and anxiety just make this binge able. You really feel for Emma and are rooting for her the whole time, especially with Charlie’s first impression. This was super cute and a very fast paced read that I definitely recommend.

This book deserves a Million stars! I love this Author’s writing. This is another super fabulous book. The Best of the Best. I love Emma. I love the story. The characters are so wonderful. This book had me laughing and crying. My favourite so far and I have read them all. I highly recommend this book and everything this Author has written. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.

👏👏👏 I *rarely* give rom-com books 5 stars. I love them. They delight me and make me happy. But there is the whole, you already know who is going to end up with who aspect, plus all the cliches and the cheese factor and so I a solid 4 star on a rom-com book is high praise from me. I’m making an exception to my rule. 5 FULL STARS.

Emma is a dutiful daughter, devoted sister, community college instructor, and aspiring screen-writer. Charlie has a drawer full of Oscars, famous friends, and writers-block. Their manager, Logan (who also happens to be Emma’s high school boyfriend), thinks that putting them together on a Rom-Com project is just what they both need! Two problems: Emma’s family life is complicated and she holds it together AND Charlie doesn’t believe in love. Moments of hilarity and romance ensue.

LOVED: The characters were well-developed and just delightful. I even sorta liked the villain! The points of conflicts felt real and raw, not superficial (as they sometimes do in rom-coms). The THEMES! When a rom-com not only throughly entertains, but also makes you self-reflect, it’s a winner! The perfect amount of steam for a fun, playful novel.

DIDN’T LOVE: The epilogue. I mean, I LOVED how the plot wrapped up, but the writing wasn’t as engaging. Also, IMO the character of Kenji should have been introduced sooner. Fake actors vs. using real names.

THEMES: grief, anxiety, self-preservation, childhood trauma, resilience, hope, love conquers all!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for an ARC e-book in exchange for my honest review. This book is scheduled to be published this summer and I can’t wait for my friends to read it.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Katherine Center knows how to create tension in a relationship better than just about any newer author around, and I loved watching these two try to figure out how to get out of their own way.

I love love Katherine Center and this was no exception! She's always got something magical to tell and this story, while it felt like a departure from her normal, was still just as amazing. I had a great time.

Bold statement ahead - but dare I say, this is Katherine Center's absolute best book. So much heart, feeling and substance - Charlie and Emma have officially become one of my all time favorite fictional couples.

I just know this one is going to be a blowout hit in June come release day!

Thank you to St. Martins Press for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley, publisher, and author for this ARC. I absolutely adored this book and was swooning for the last half. This book also brought out a lot of different emotions and essentially consumed my life. A must read!

This one just wasn’t it for me. It started out pretty good, honestly. I wasn’t a big fan of the writing but I was pretty invested in the characters and how their story would play out. However, around 70%, it just sank. The MCs turned super immature and I could not handle how they were communicating.

Emma was incredibly gullible and naive. Which I kind of understood since she constantly put everything for herself on the back burner so she could take care of her family. Charlie was described as a slob and I just couldn’t get myself to like him. Especially when he started being negative and woah-is-me.

This would’ve been a solid 3 stars for me until how that “third act” played out.

I will start off by saying that typically, this is not my favourite genre of book because sometimes I find them so cheesy that my eyes cannot roll back any further. BUT this was a quick/easy read and I felt connected to all the characters. Were some parts cheesy? Yes. But it wasn’t giving me the annoying hallmark vibes. I did find Emma to be a bit much and pushy at times but then remembered her backstory.
Overall it was cute and my favourite character was actually her dad:
“Choose a good, imperfect person who leaves the cap off the toothpaste, and puts the toilet paper roll on upside down, and loads the dishwasher like a ferret on steroids—and then appreciate the hell out of that person”

This book delivered on everything I hoped for and then some! If you’re looking for a read that fits the grumpy/sunshine energy of a classic romcom this is such a fun read. Emma is an incredibly likable, yet humanly flawed, lead. Charlie is the classic cynic who is actually a cinnamon roll. Together this duo had excellent banter, swoon worthy moments, and excellent declarations of love. I laughed, I cried, and I absolutely loved ever second of it.

First, huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this book as an ARC! Any new Katherine Center book is a book I will always beg to read early.

The plot - meet Emma, the “sunshine” of our Grumpy/Sunshine duo who is an aspiring screenwriter stuck in Texas as a caretaker for her chronically ill father. Emma’s pal Logan is an agent for some Hollywood stars, including (unbeknownst to Emma), Emma’s favorite super famous screen writer, Charlie. Charlie is, of course, the grump of this duo who has written a truly abysmal romcom to curry favor from a network exec. Logan brings Emma into the picture to get Charlie’s writing on track, moving her across the country for a six week stint at Charlie’s mansion. Write a beautiful rom com, cash that mega check, and then Emma will be on her way back to her home town. Or will she?

My thoughts - this book was delightfully cliche, and I say that in the nicest way possible. Sometimes it’s okay that something is a cliche - it works for a reason. Grumpy/sunshine is not my favorite romcom trope, and variations on this plot have been done before (Jasmine Guillory’s “By the Book” comes to mind), but this one worked for me, because of course it did. Because no matter how suspicious I am of the plot or the tropes, Katherine Center makes you FEEL things about her characters in a unique way that I think is really difficult to find with modern romance writers. The plot is sickeningly sweet, but I will sign up for the cavities because I love her characters so much.

The one major downside for me was the absolute onslaught of traumatic medical content (more on that below in the content warnings section). It was inescapable and truly there at every turn throughout the book. One of the medical plot lines would have been enough to further the storyline, but the three major accident/trauma plot points was rough. It felt like we were being cracked over the head with a baseball bat to remind us that bad things happen to good people.

Other than that, I feel like there were moments that felt a bit obvious to me and I would have loved a bit more insight into Charlie and what made him tick, but I can’t wait for all of you to read this one. You’ll laugh, you’ll shed some tears, and you’ll walk away feeling just a bit lighter than you’d felt before you read it.

Important content warnings: there is a LOT of medical content in this book, and that’s something you should be conscious of if you’re sensitive to that. There are discussions of traumatic accidents/death, near death experiences, loss of a parent, cancer, and a lot of talk of caretaking for a loved one with a disability/chronic health condition. If any of these issues are weighing on you, I’d encourage you to take a take a beat on reading this right away.

Plane reads are sacred. I pick out a book that I want to give my full and undivided attention to. And this time I specially saved this upcoming release! I literally flew 😉 through it and read 95% in 5 hours and stayed up until I finished ! This is the second KC book I’ve read in (almost) one sitting and love how easy reads her stories are 🫶🏼

What I loved about this one:
🧡 The fun and colorful cover!! Also helped me to visualize Emma and Charlie
💙 Two screenwriters makes for The PERFECT banter and dialogue!
💛 The meta conversations around rom-coms were so good!! I loved their research of rom-com ingredients 🥰
🧡 Learning how to forgive oneself and that guilt and fear shouldn’t keep us from chasing our dreams !!
💙 Just randomly bumping into celebrities at restaurants and coffee shops because it’s Los Angeles 🙌🏼
💛 There will be always be tragedy in life. Our goal is to LIVE in perspective from it.
🧡 Remembering the time I went line-dancing with friends in college, learned I was terrible at it but had so much fun anyway!!
💙 Emma’s saved collection of the best kisses of cinematic history
💛 Katherine Center is the CHAMPION for joy and fiction and romance.
🧡 A guinea pig named Cuthbert 🥹

And now I want to watch “It Happened One Night” !

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital advanced readers' copy. All opinions are my own.