📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @stmartinspress for an early copy of The Rom-Commers by @katherinecenter. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Release date: June 11th, 2024

Blurb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑

The Rom-Commers, as the title suggests, is a delightful romcom about two screenwriters, Charlie, a famous screenwriter who mostly writes for adventure, sci-fi, and action films, and Emma, a writer herself but has postponed pursuing her career full-time to take care of her father. She loves romcoms, but Charlie doesn’t, which is reflected in his screenplay – it was worse than terrible according to his manager, Logan, who then enlists Emma’s help to rewrite the screenplay as a ghostwriter.

For two people with different opinions about the main subject of their project, Emma and Charlie seemed to work very well together despite those differences. It’s refreshing to see both characters in a book exude professionalism and maturity as I don’t see that in some romance novels where both MCs usually bring out the worst in each other and bicker non-stop initially, which comes off to me as immature and unprofessional, especially in a workplace setting.

What stood out for me in this novel is Emma’s selfless character, who has given up ten years of her career to take care of her partially disabled father. Despite her lack of experience in the industry, she’s brilliant and passionate, and not easily intimidated by those more experienced than her like Charlie. She’s headstrong and isn’t afraid to voice out her opinions, even if her idol Charlie’s work is terrible. Plus, I found her reactions hilarious when she encounters celebrities, her POV is gold!

I wished we had Charlie’s POV as well and not just Emma’s. I feel like there was more to explore with his character, especially with his cancer and his separation from his ex-wife. I also wished the ending didn’t feel rushed, and I hoped we could see at least a part of their finished screenplay.

The Rom-Commers, like Center’s previous books, was a fun and delightful read but also tugged my heartstrings during some moments in the book. Make sure to pick this one up when it releases in June!

Katherine Center’s books always take center stage in the TBR list!

Emma has spent her entire life writing romantic comedies. Most went nowhere, but she has written them. Emma’s track was interrupted a while back when her mother died in a climbing accident and her father was injured and needed her round the clock care.

But her sister is home from college and it’s Emma’s turn to go out into the world and chase her dream.

The dream comes in the form of Charlie Yates. According to her best guy friend, Logan, he wants her help to rewrite a screenplay. A Rom-Com!
Emma has read it and it’s one of the worst things she ever read! So of course, she is going to meet her writing hero and show him how it’s done.

Only they clash from the beginning. They could not be more different if they tried!

But Emma is no shrinking violet. Oh no, she will fight for this screenplay and all romantic comedies.

As they fight it out, this may turn out to be the greatest romcom ever!

A smart, and funny and very satisfying story that I loved!

NetGalley/ St. Martin’s Press June 11, 2024

I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend reading it. It was a pretty fast read and one I had trouble putting down. It was equal parts funny and heartbreaking and a true rom-com written about writing rom-coms. Katherine Center knocked it out of the park with this book!

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. In short, I’m obsessed with this book. Katherine Center does an INCREDIBLE job at balancing the romance with uncomfortable topics, I.e. death, illness, anxiety, etc. I adore her writing and her characters. At first, I was unsure if I’d like the first person POV, but came to love it. The realness of the situations her characters go through make her stories that much more relatable. Ugh I want to re-read this already.

I truly wish this book would be made into a movie.

Content warnings - death of a parent, illness (cancer, ICU), almost drowning, anxiety, bar fight

I loved this book. It was such a quick read, and had me feeling every emotion. The only thing I would have liked more of was Charlie's insight. But it was such a great book, Katherine Center is an automatic read for me.

Katherine Center can do no wrong. I love her books because I know what to expect. Safe to say, they’re my comfort stories! While she’s perfected the HEA, she brings to light harder hitting topics that can be quite educational.

The dynamic was fascinating. Enemies to lovers? Under one roof? Family drama states away? I don’t know if we’ve got a classified romance trope but either way, I was cheering Emma and Charlie on to just kiss already. It didn’t disappoint, but the build sort of did. It took a while to get there, but also, Emma is the only character to overhear SO much in such a short time. Had it not been for everything she overheard, would this story have happened!? LOL JK yes it would have. But for real, she overhears a lot.

I think my biggest peeve was how the “reveal” came so close to the end, when as readers, you know it wasn’t going to be the actual end and there would be one more twist. Had it been a little more drawn out, I think it would have been a little more satisfying. Also, the dialogue at times was a bit unnatural? There were definitely conversations that felt too formal given the setting.

Don’t let my peeves distract you from THE Katherine Center and all her glory. I still recommend this book as I do all her books because they’re just pure warm fuzzies.

Big thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. This will be available on June 11, 2024!

Content warnings: cancer, death, grief

This book had me giggling and kicking my feet nearly the whole time! I read it cover to cover in one day and could not put it down. I enjoyed the first half more than the second, just because all of the building tension and family dynamics. The second half slowed down a bit for me & I was ready for certain aspects to be resolved a bit sooner. I see fans of Emily Henry's Book Lovers and Beach Read, as well as lovers of Katherine Center's other work enjoying this! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishing group for letting me read this ARC!

God do I love Katherine Center’s books. They are always such a quick read and that true romcom story. These are my guilty pleasure and this book was great. Loved the characters, their story and development. Letting go of the past is hard for anyone but it’s the only way to move forward. Loved Emma and Charlie, wish there was a sequel!

Katherine Center really knows how to write a damn romcom! I absolutely enjoyed Emma & Charlie’s story. I loved the playful banter and budding friendship before admitting to all the feels. But the familial love in this book didn’t play second fiddle at all! Emma’s family was so beautiful and full of love. And so nice to see “Jake” Stapleton too!

I have really enjoyed Katherine Center;s books, however this one connected a little bit less for me. I did enjoy the concept of them being writers- but I didn't feel the connection. I think I really wanted to feel the spark of collaboration and of creating something together that you KNOW is great, and I feel like it got lost in the constant Mood swings.

I'll continue to pick up Katherine's books- they are always good and certainly have an audience, but this one was missing a spark for me.

Can I just say I will read anything Katherine Center writes? She’s a contemporary romance genius in my opinion. The Rom-Commers was addictive from start to finish! I finished it in just over a day. As usual, her writing was funny, clever, emotional and sweet. I enjoyed the character of Emma (even though she occasionally made choices that made me want to shake her), and Charlie was cute, although I did find he lacked some character depth compared to some of the romantic leads from Center’s previous books. Regardless, I still really enjoyed the book and will be adding it to my Katherine Center collection when it is released!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the eARC of this gem of a story!

Katherine Center has done it again. This is BY FAR my favorite that I’ve read from her.

Emma is/was a writer. Life circumstances didn’t allow her to pursue her dreams. So when her ex-boyfriend calls with an opportunity to help her favorite screen play writer, Charlie, rewrite his (horrible) rom-com, she agrees to help. Once she arrives in LA, she learns things are not as they seem. Charlie does not want any help and more than that, he doesn’t believe in LOVE.

The banter, the flow of conversation between the two, the fact that Emma never really backed down, I love a strong FMC. This book was just perfect.

I love when books physically make you feel something and this one did, I laughed and truly cried. I couldn’t put it down!

Katherine Center has become an author that I instantly add to my TBR. I just see her name and immediately want to read whatever it is, without even checking the synopsis, which was the case when The Rom-Commers appeared in my netgalley feed. As usual, I wasn't disappointed.
Emma, an aspiring rom-com screenwriter, has to help Charlie, a cynical, anti-romance, action writer, fix his rom-com screenplay in 6 weeks in order for his producer to greenlight yet another action story. The rewrite requires them to be roommates and it soon becomes clear to the audience that Emma's impromptu romance immersion course is working very well, even if the MCs don't realize just how well, themselves.
I loved everything about The Rom-Commers, the storyline, the flawed and relatable main characters, the sad moments, the ending. I felt like the novel was believable and the tension and little misunderstandings were just enough to move the story along without becoming frustrating.
This will definitely end up on my have-read-more-than-once shelf in the future.

*received digital ARC from netgalley

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the characters’ build up to a relationship and that tension that could break at any moment. I loved the dynamic and background of Emma and her family. It was so tragic yet so unique and vital to the story. I loved the character growth and rooted for her throughout the story. I highlighted so many great lines and quotes to save for later that I know will stay with me long after. Overall, I definitely recommend this book!

This book was hilarious and sweet. The exposition is so good, it's easy to forget you're in between plot points. Emma's thoughts are just so rich and funny and deep. Two tropes I find tiring are "this trauma is my fault" and when one character blows up the budding relationship to save the other MC from them. I really think the tension of his metastatic cancer scare and the anxiety around the father's fall and argument with the sister is enough excitement that the reunion between MCs and reveal of his upgrading their hospital care and reveal of the new screenplay getting bought by Donna Cole could all exist without a third act break up.

Also, "power move" and "jedi mind trick" are overused and stand out the second and third times they appear...

Last year, I had the displeasure of giving Katherine Center, one of my favorite authors, a less-than-favorable review for "Hello Stranger." But "The Rom-Commers" is a delightful return to form; I breezed through it and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Emma has spent the past 10 years taking care of her disabled father and putting her own future on hold. When she gets the chance to co-write a screenplay with award-winning, super-successful screenwriter Charlie in L.A., and her sister offers to move in with their dad in Texas, it seems like Emma's own dreams will finally start to come true. But the last thing Charlie wants is a co-writer, even though his rom-com script is a dud (the reason he's being forced to write it is pretty funny). There are SO many twists and turns along the way; at times, it reminded me a little of Emily Henry's "Beach Read," as Charlie learns that there's more to life than movies about Mafia bosses and macho pursuits. This novel warmed my heart!

Thanks to St. Martin's Publishing Group for the advance copy, via NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of the Rom-Commers.

I really loved this book! I thought Emma and Charlie were both flawed main characters and that added to their believability.

I enjoyed watching them evolve through the book and discover what they had been missing.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an eARC of this book. I have really enjoyed the books I’ve previously read by Center, but unfortunately I just didn’t like this one. I really wanted to love it but I had a hard time seeing the chemistry between the two main characters. I thought that Charlie could be very harsh towards Emma and lacked emotional intelligence. It frustrated me that instead of calling Charlie on this, Emma just let it slide and let him take his frustrations out on her time and time again. I get that Charlie was going through some stuff but I don’t think it excused his behavior. I also think Emma had some trauma to work through and these struggles were mentioned but I didn’t feel like they were adequately resolved by the end. I felt like she still had some growing to do and that left me a little unsatisfied. I think if her and Charlie were real people they both would need therapy. So, all that being said, it made it pretty hard for me to root for them to be together. I still excitedly await whatever Center writes next even though this book wasn’t for me. I think some of my friends and followers will still enjoy this book but I didn’t :(

Katherine Center provides another cute but thought provoking rom com. Emma Wheeler has become the sole care taker for her only living parent and has been forced to give up her dream of becoming a screenwriter. She then gets the chance to work with a famous screenwriter, known for his alien, mafia, shoot em up bad guy moves, on none other than a rom com script.

The main character can be a tad annoying, but overall this work is funny, heartfelt, and worth a read.

Katherine Center does it again!! I love her writing. It’s so witty and funny and relatable. Emma is such a likable character. After putting her writing career on hold for 10 years to take care of her father she gets to work with her favorite screenwriter, Charlie Yates. I loved how the story developed and it left me feeling so happy! Thank you netgalley for the ARC!