I really do love a Katherine Center novel, and this one was no different.

Emma Wheeler as a protagonist was someone who all readers could find something to connect with: the pain from losing a love one, the feelings of unrequited love, being let down by family and friends, not feeling fulfilled in your career, and more. Yet, she does not let this get her down and she retains her endless belief in love and happy endings. She takes this attitude to California to work with Charlie Yates, a famous screenwriter who needs a little help understanding the art of a romantic comedy. As the plot develops, readers can see different rom-com tropes coming to life on the pages: an awkward meet cute, physical comedy, secrets that keep people apart, a nosy ex, and more.

I think it's important to mention that there are a number of trigger warnings needed for this book, so hopefully the final copy makes that a bit clearer.

“The job of a rom-com,” I said, “is to give you a simulated feeling of falling in love.”

Well done, Katherine. Well. Freaking. Done.

I *literally* (in my best Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec voice) cannot stress how much I loved this book. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and could not put it down. I love how Katherine writes in 1 person pov. Like Emma is telling this whole story after it’s already happened. It’s so effortless to read. And she explained how things were supposed to be said. For example: “Kiss, kiss,” I said, in a tone like Get with the program.

And don’t even get me started on the characters. I LOVED Emma. I want to BE Emma. She is so cool. She’s not perfect. But she’s so awesome. And Charlie was the perfect amount of grumpy. He was only a mean jerk for like half a second, and then he was THE BEST. There really was not a character in this book that I didn’t like. Oh. Except TJ. But he got his comeuppance (that word right there? I have been searching for that word forever and Katherine so lovingly put it in her book twice).

I laughed. I cried. My heart rate rose with swoony and hopeful anticipation. And then I cried again because it was over.

Read if you love:
RomComs— duh
Laughing
Crying
Swooning
Opposites attract
1st Person POV

Special thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review!

I was absolutely stoked when I got Katherine Center’s new novel in my email. SHE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT! It was so funny and so cute. It had me laughing and smiling the entire time. My first 5 star ⭐️ read of 2024!

One of my most highly anticipated 2024 reads! Katherine Center is a masterful story-teller. Her love stories are playful and fun while also acknowledging that sometimes these powerful emotions are made more poignant when juxtaposed with more challenging ones. Her stories truly encapsulate the spectrum of human feelings and ultimately end on a hopeful note. I absolutely savored reading this and found myself highlighting countless quotes that made me reflect, laugh or cry to come back to read again later. This story truly felt like a love letter to the romance genre and as a romance reader, I was giddy to feel so seen and understood. My favorite part was the famous kisses scene- this will live rent free in my head forever! Thank you so much to SMP and Netgalley for my copy.

I’m sure this surprises no one, but no wonder this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024! The way I shrieked when I received this book in my email.

It was funny, moving, emotional, and just PERFECT! The characters were amazingly written. They had such depth, and the story was one that made me laugh and then cry a few pages later.

I loved Charlie’s and Emma’s relationship…the banter, the teasing, the support, the grocery store and cooking dates, the line dancing, the guinea pig. Pure magic. Their love story was lighthearted, yet deep, as Katherine Center is known for! She really knows how to give her readers the warm fuzzies!

This book was everything I hoped it would be and more, so definitely pick it up in June.

First arc of the year! And it was a great one! KC is my all time fav!

Her books make you want to sob and laugh and just all the emotions. I cry at like every single one. This one was no different.

I adored Emma. She was such a mess. A very fun and quirky, lovable mess. I wanted all the good things for her.

The one thing that would have made this book better was some Charlie POV. I will always advocate for KC to do dual narration! One day it will come true!

As per usual, 5 stars!

Check this out in June when it comes out!

How does Katherine Center keep managing to write books that get better and better?! Her books are romcoms but they have SO much emotional depth too. I always finish her books feeling reflective about life too! Ugh this books summed up in emojis....😂😭✍️🥰😍😘❤️

If you are looking for a fun, witty, emotional read, you MUST pick this one up! There is so much I could say here but I ADORED this book & I think you will too! This will for sure be a must read book for Summer 2024!!

I loved this book! I have read - and enjoyed - all the books by this author, and this is no exception. The plot, while not unique, was witty and fun. There were laughs and tears throughout. The characters were likeable and the ending? Well, let's just say, "happily ever after." Definitely a rom-com by the book's definition.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. martins press for this ARC 💗

Emma and Charlie are tasked with writing a Rom Com film. Emma is not famous and would be a ghost writer for the project. At first, Charlie was not my favorite person. He was very against love. I didn’t like his ex wife at all either. All of this to say, these two fell for each other (duh ) while writing a script. Some of it felt like an actual script while you’re reading! I would watch this movie!

A quote I’ll never forget: “I would write a hundred happy endings for us if I could.”

Final thought: It makes you want to yell “Love does exist!”

As someone who adores smart and realistic rom-coms, this book felt like a dream come true. Emma and Charlie evolving romance felt natural and kept me eagerly turning the pages.. If you're looking for an escape that will leave you smiling, believing in the magic of love, this book is a must-read.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Center is the queen of tying my heartstrings in a little knot of emotion and anticipation but then manipulating it into a sweet little bow at the end of the book. I love KC reads because you fall in love with the characters themselves - and in this story we get to see the characters fall in love with love. Of course there’s the standard little bit of sadness she includes in her stories, but like the book says, what’s happiness without a little sadness? I binged this little book filled with big hearts in a day and I highly recommend it to readers who want to laugh, smile, tear up, and “aww” at the end.

I won’t say that this is my fave KC book but it was very good! There was grief done so well and a lot of laughter. I’m not crazy about so much of the LA plot details but I did enjoy the overall story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I knew I would love this book! Writers coming together to write a rom com? Yes please. This is very grumpy meets sunshine and for the longest time I thought - will this be the first book where Katherine makes me not give a 4 or 5 star rating? BUT Katherine did not disappoint and I was left on a happy high. So cute. Sign me up for all KC’s books going forward.

I typically don't like celebrity novels, but this was a joy. This is the third novel I've read by Katherine Center, The Bodyguard, Hello Stranger, and now The Rom-Commers.
Things I liked: Charlie, Emma, the banter
Things I didn't like: All of the tragedies. Between Emma's mom dying, her dad's accident and subsequent caretaking, giving things up for Sylvie, Charlie's cancer, his wife leaving, the *almost* car incident, the pool accident, dad's newest accident, more familial strife, etc., by the time we got to Charlie's mistaken metastatic cancer, it felt really ludicrous. I felt that the more poignant parts of the story where the characters dive into their feelings would have been more impactful if there weren't SO many things going wrong at each turn. That said, the characters' levity helped keep it light and I still very much enjoyed the book and was rooting for the MCs to get together at the end. The epilogue was entirely too long, I skimmed.

Love me some Katherine Center so I full on fangirled when I got this arc in my inbox. Romance about romance? Yes, please! My only requests here include a pinch more banter and a heaping of spice.

This is one of the best books that I’ve ever read. I’ve been a fan of the author for a long time. This book had everything; laughter, joy, sadness. I love getting to know the characters and learning about them. Can’t wait for the next book.

In Katherine Center’s latest novel 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘮-𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴, Emma Yates is an unknown, unproduced screenwriter that makes a living by teaching community college English classes and taking freelance work from entertainment magazines. She’s talented, but she’s also devoted to her family—she is the primary caretaker for her father, and she has spent the bulk of her twenties looking after him and supporting her younger sister Sylvia’s high school and college education. But then she gets an opportunity to work with (for?) renowned screenwriter Charlie Yates, one of her heroes.

Though only in his mid-thirties, Charlie has written several critically acclaimed, publicly adored, and award-winning films. However, his latest script—a romantic comedy—is terrible, and Emma is summoned by their shared manager out to Hollywood to help him rewrite it. She manages the trip, but there are a few problems: 1) he’s skeptical of her abilities; 2) he doesn’t actually care about the project, it’s just a means to an end; and 3) he doesn’t believe in love.

What follows is what one would anticipate from this kind of set-up: a sort of workplace comedy between two people with clashing personalities and differing goals. Emma is chatty, caring, generous, and a little immature; Charlie is reserved, wary, mildly misanthropic, and very jaded. Emma wants to finally break into the industry, do the romantic comedy right, and get Charlie to believe both in the genre and in love itself; Charlie wants to get over his case of the yips, finish this writing favor for an acquaintance, and get his other project off the ground.

As expected with the genre it’s named after, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘮-𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 is filled with humorous scenarios, cute banter, and its share of outlandish plot twists and grand gestures. It’s a sweet, fun story, yet I struggled with it at times for a few reasons. First, Center’s occasionally choppy writing style continues to grate and break the flow of narration for me. And second, I found myself unable to 100% buy into Emma and Charlie’s romance due to their power imbalance—not only is he older, wealthier, more accomplished, and more respected, she is also a super-fan of his and occasionally (and awkwardly) vocal about it. It is an imbalance that’s shown throughout the book in certain exchanges between them and with other characters.

What saves the story for me is that Emma and Charlie do have some great banter, and there are several truly beautiful and poignant lines. Overall, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘮-𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 is an amusing and pleasant read. It’s not my favorite Katherine Center novel, but it’s still an entertaining one.

3.75 starts rounded up. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore Katherine Center and the fact that I get ARCS from her makes me giddy. She just has a way of writing that gets you into a book so fast, and this story was no exception. I read it in 4 hours, only taking a break to eat dinner. 4.5/5 stars

It’s HOUR past my bedtime, but this book was so good. Katherine Center is an IMMEDIATE auto-buy author for me, and this one may be my favorite.

Talk about a slow burn, so beautifully done - not that u would expect anything less.

Emma and Charlie are made for each other. The way they instantly become so close, and have some much ease with being around each other. The angst and the banter is brilliant.

Emma is such a loving, sunshine of a person. She reminded me a lot of Katherine. A total joy, a love for writing and wanting everyone else to get this happy ending.

Charlie had a lot to work through, and I’m so glad he did! AND can we talk about that cancer scare - don’t do that to us!

Perfection, as always.

Thank you to Net Galley and St Martin’s for the advanced copy.

Alllll the stars! How does Katherine Cemter keep getting better?! I loved this SO much and I know I will reread it. The pining. The twists. The first kiss. So so good.