"The Rom-Commers" by Katherine Center tells the story of Emma, a young woman whose dreams of becoming a screenwriter were derailed by a tragic family trip during her senior year in high school. Guilt-ridden over the accident that claimed her mother's life and left her father permanently disabled, Emma puts her ambitions aside to care for her family. Her ex-boyfriend, now a successful manager in Los Angeles, occasionally offers her screenwriting gigs but this time it is THE dream job: working with her idol and long time crush, Charlie Yates. She discovers it is based on a lie. Charlie never agreed to the collaboration. Despite this setback, Charlie ends up agreeing to let Emma stay to help him rewrite his dumpster fire romcom script because she is the romcom expert and he is a non-believer of love. Can Emma change a cynics view on love?

This book felt like a throwback to classic romcoms of the 2000s. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the timeless charm of romantic comedies!

Also shoutout to Katherine for including references to Ji Chang Wook’s romcom work. She truly sold me on Emma being a romcom expert with that detail haha! Thank you NetGalley and publishers for a copy of this book!

3.5 ⭐️ rated down
It took me a while to get into this book, but I found it entertaining once I found my groove. I didn’t find Charlie to be a likeable character and I feel like that ruined their love story for me. Definitely not my favorite from Katherine Center.

The Rom-Commers

2.75/5 ⭐️

You will like this book if you enjoy;
•rom-com
•forced proximity
•slow burn

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley for the eARC opportunity to read this book!

Set in California, this is a rom-com based in the film industry. Emma is pining for Charlie, but Charlie is just down right awful. And although we find out why, he doesn’t seem to have many redeemable moments for me.

With the higher star reviews I expected this to be very laugh out loud, but it was kind of a miss for me. It might have been the drinking for me, because I am not one that indulges in the spirits. I also do not enjoy the cover 😬

Katherine Center knocks it out of the park, once again. This book was so much fun to read. As a die-hard rom-com girlie myself, I really identified with Emma and her love for rom-coms and her fight to defend the genre. Charlie was a great loveable and softhearted grump. Watching him open up and watching Emma find her confidence was a joy. I really enjoyed the romance and watching it blossom, but just watching these two isolated people find connection and a kindred spirit was really the best part. Emma's dad and sister and her agent/friend Logan were delightful supporting characters.
Readers can expect:
- strangers to lovers
- slow burn
- off-limits
- forced proximity
- insight into a writer's journey

Content warnings: loss of parent, caretaking, divorce, cancer
True rating if allowed to give half stars: 4.5

I really really enjoyed about 80% of this book. For most of it, I was anticipating giving it 4+ stars. I really liked Emma and Charlie and I thought that their chemistry was really great. But the third act conflict is so bonkers, dramatic, and unnecessary. I can't even explain why without spoiling it, but Katherine Center really found the most insane medical loophole shit and pretended it was a fully normal, possible thing (I mean I am assuming it's technically medically possible, but these character reactions are not, I am so sorry, this is not how humans act).

I think if you were really able to roll with it for Hello Stranger by this same author, you will probably be fine with this. But if you're looking for something sweet like The Bodyguard or emotional and grounded like Things We Save in a Fire, this is not it. Which is really a shame because if the third act conflict had been handled in nearly any other way, I think this would have been a real win for me, but it really just took me out of it and kind of cheapened the experience.

I think this was fine, but I'm honestly still fuming from how absurd this ending was.

Katherine Center did it again. In all true Katherine Center fashion, this was a witty, funny, sweet, laugh-out-loud and heart warming story.

Emma, our FMC, is a hardworking loving woman who has set aside her dreams as a screenwriter to take care of her dad after a tragic accident. But an opportunity of a lifetime has opened up new opportunities, that is if she can overcome some struggles with the swoon worthy Charlie.

Charlie, a famous screenwriter has written a romcom, or at least he put words on the paper. The script needs work, and a lot of it, in walks Emma, who has 6 weeks to fix the disaster. Unfortunately for Emma, Charlie doesn't believe in love, and that's where the real work begins.

I couldn't put this book down. The characters really drew you in and made you root for them. Katherine makes the characters so relatable and not over inflated. While The Rom-Commers isn't a sequel to The Bodyguard, Jack makes an appearance. I can't wait for the next Katherine Center book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book.

I loved this book! I got an ARC from #netgalley but I will be buying a copy for my shelf. I was hooked from the start and I loved these characters so much— not just the two main protagonists but all the family around them. It left me feeling hopeful and reflecting my life

This is my seventh Katherine Center book, and by golly, she’s still got it! She remains by far my very favorite Rom-Commer of all time!

Boy, is this a goodie! Emma is a wannabe Rom-Commer, but because she is her disabled father’s very conscientious caregiver, she has little time to devote to her passion. Then two things happen. A big opportunity comes Emma’s way in the form of a possible chance to rewrite a script with her very favorite screen writer (Charlie Yates—THE Charlie Yates), and her younger sister Sylvie can now relieve Emma as caretaker-in-chief for their father. All sorts of fallout ensue!

This novel is sweet, fun, funny, heart-warming, agonizing, surprising, and highly entertaining. Ms. Center is a spectacular Rom-Com writer. This novel is, I would guess, at least 50% dialogue. And she is one hell of a dialoguer. I laughed out loud many times. And I just love her one-word paragraphs. She also is adept at creating wonderful characters who the reader can love and root for. There is a fab twisty twist at some point in the story that caught me by surprise—bonus points to Ms. Center for that. How many Rom-Commers can pen truly surprising twisty twists?

Sigh, it will probably be another year or two before Katherine Center finishes another masterpiece. Fortunately, there are still maybe 3-4 of her early books I can read. And after that, I can take advantage of the big benefit of being old and feeble-minded. I can again roll out the seven I have already read. Though I can’t remember much about them, I did write fabulous reviews for them all. And who do I trust the most when trying to decide what to read? ME!! According to ME, they are surefire winning reads. A pretty terrific example of having my cake and eating it too, wouldn’t you say?!

Thanks, Ms. Center!! You made my week!

I would like to thank Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and Ms. Katherine Center for the advanced copy. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Netgalley for the ARC! 💖

From when I first started listening till the very end I was SO hooked to this story! I loved how different it was- a romcom about screenwriters trying to write a successful romcom? It was brilliant 😂 Emma and Charlie’s story had me laughing out loud the entire time. The tension? The banter? It had me on the edge of my seat and had my heart racing to see what happens next! I loved the characters with my whole heart. I loved the teamwork, although Charlie was adamant about not wanting Emma’s help, they really did make the best team!
I wasn’t expecting the emotional depth this book had but oh boy did I love it! This was truly perfect in my opinion 💖

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Katherine Center for an ARC of this book!**

If THIS was a rom com...I think you'd better consider me a cynic.

Emma Wheeler has stars in her eyes...Hollywood stars, that is. A lifelong devotee to the romantic comedy, she's been working as a screenwriter (with somewhat limited success) but like so many Hollywood hopefuls, she's been waiting for that ONE big break. Her personal life has pushed her dreams to the side a bit, however; her dad is ill and Emma has put his caretaking needs above all else in her life, even turning down a prestigious writing opportunity to be by his side.

But when a friend approaches her with an opportunity for Emma to travel to LA for 6 weeks to work with "I put the hot in hotshot" megababe and screenwriter extraordinaire, Charlie Yates, it seems like this is FINALLY her moment. Emma's little sister agrees to step in and watch over their father, and Emma hops on a plane for sunny skies and La La Land.

The assignment she's going to work on, however? MIGHT need more help than she can give it. Charlie has attempted to write a rom com rewrite of another movie...and to put it mildly, there's a chance it could be the worst screenplay in the history of existence. To make matters worse, Yates is full to the brim with condescension and only wants to even hand this screenplay in so his 'passion project' of ANOTHER movie gets made. (Yawn.) With an unwilling know it all partner like Charlie as the second half of her writing 'duo' and all of her personal troubles weighing on her mind and heart, can Emma find a way to show Charlie the power of the rom com...AND the power of romance? Or will this grumpy, mismatched pair spend too long at one another's throats to get anywhere...at all?

Katherine Center is one of those authors I've been hearing friends rave about for years, and I've been searching and searching for another author to sort of scratch that Emily Henry itch in between her books. When I heard this book was about ROM COMS? I was nothing short of elated. There's a reason I can quote movies like You've Got Mail line for line (for at least good CHUNKS of the movie anyway): I'm sort of an Ephron devotee. So much so that I read a book about the HISTORY of romcoms (Scott Meslow's From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy, in case you were interested), so I think at this point in life I have a PRETTY good handle on what fits the mold of 'romcom' versus....well, not.

And I know I may be an outlier in this opinion...but when it comes to having at least ONE likable lead in this one?

I think Center missed that part.

Charlie Yates, from beginning to end, is essentially a snobby, condescending man child. He is downright RUDE to Emma, over and over...and she just sort of takes it? I don't care HOW much I like someone's writing...if they were a giant tool to me in real life, that's about the last thing I'd find attractive. I'm not just talking gentle barbs or zingers here or there: at times he was just plain MEAN. There's also something about the way his appearance and life status were described that didn't really ring authentic either (especially in light of this cover...THAT is nothing like the person described here). Charlie in my head was sort of stuck in midlife crisis mode, with questionable style to boot, and the man Emma sort of 'wanted' to see him as read more like a hot English professor...so yup, major incongruity there.

It isn't really Emma's FAULT I couldn't like her....at least, not fully. It's pretty obvious that she's spent so long wrapped up in other people's problems that she hasn't had the time or the wherewithal to fully find herself. But I had an even harder time feeling sorry for her when she not only showed very little spine to Charlie throughout the ENTIRE book, but actually even tried to initiate romantic contact with him and sort of fell all over herself apologizing when it wasn't reciprocated. I felt like screaming "He's JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU!" at my Kindle...but then again, I guess that's not exactly the rom-com way.

And speaking of rom com...although I know I've mentioned it already, for a book called THE ROMCOMMERS...I had trouble connecting ANY of this to rom-coms at all. I've read other books that sort of made mention of the genre, the films, etc. (Kerry Winfrey, for instance, has a series that deals with exactly that) but gave gentle nod after gentle nod to specific films, situations, and the like...but there was none of that here. Other than one short section where Emma tries to tell Charlie about different rom com kisses (and to be honest, I had NO IDEA what she was talking about...another instance where EXAMPLES would have been helpful!), there was just nothing there to frame this story in true rom com fashion. The "banter" felt more abusive than not, and I don't think I recorded a single laugh during the entire book. (More than a few sighs, however). I also felt like randomly mentioning Meryl Streep amidst a sea of fake movies and actors was confusing too...why is SHE the only bit of crossover? If anyone should have been included here, it should have been Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, et al...there are certainly a plethora of rom com LEGENDS in the pantheon!

Center also has a bad habit (at least, in this book) of having her characters tell you they're ABOUT to tell you something. And just wait until they tell you because it will all make sense. It will ALL be worth it when they tell you. Just hang on, it'll all make sense. Well, in the time I was told to keep waiting, hanging on etc, the narrator could have just TOLD me whatever it was and moved on to the next point. There's really no need to take four pages to tell me what could have been said in one, ESPECIALLY in a 'lighter' story like a romance. This balance became even more uneven with ALL of the melodramatic family side stories that so often took center stage, and even Charlie's past relationship (which only proved to show, yet again, what an awful person he was) and I felt there was just TOO much content crammed into this 317 page book which STILL felt like it dragged on and on. And no spoilers, but if not for one plot point related to this outside drama, I'm not sure Charlie EVER would have stopped being a completely horrible human towards Emma...so doesn't exactly sound like a match made in heaven if your willingness to believe in love and take a chance on romance is reliant solely on terrible life events occurring. But who am I to say?

And in the end, I think my feelings about this cover sort of mirror my feelings about this book: the bright colors and sunny smiles SHOULD bring to mind the sort of fluttery feeling you get from a rom-com as the two leads lock eyes and begin to fall in love. But instead of a Technicolor Dream...for me this one was more like a Technicolor Nightmare.

3 stars

This book made me feel like a solid rom-com makes me feel. It made me feel happy, emotional, and warm. It wasn't just the possible relationship that made me feel this way. I liked the main character's other relationships. I liked her dad, her pseudo-agent, and her sister. They felt like real relationships that I might actually witness in the real world.

Yes, a few parts felt super unrealistic. A few parts were extra cheesy, but that's what a rom-com is. It's got feelings and makes you feel things.

No x-rated spice. I think people know that going into Katherine Center's books, but I feel like it should be mentioned.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this advanced reader copy. Unfortunately, I didn't get to it until it just got published.

One thing love about Katherine Center is how she breaks the fourth wall and writes to the reader. It creates such a different reading experience that I really love.

Last year I read The Bodyguard and adored it. That book was such a funny, cozy and light read that devoured. The Rom-Commers brought more depth and emotional discovery through the characters and I'm really glad more of that was added in. There are some real struggles brought up in this story that I loved navigating with the narrator.

Overall, highly recommend! Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely adore Katherine Center's books. She is an author that is an automatic read for me and always goes to the top of my TBR pile. The Rom-Commers did not disappoint. I absolutely fell in love with Emma & Charlie. The enemy-to-lovers trope is one that Katherine Center does so well. These complex characters each brought so much to the story and kept me reading nonstop from page 1. I highly recommend all of Katherine Center's books, especially The Rom-Commers.

Another cute rom com by Ms. Center. Traveling to LA to live her dream, and still staying true to her tragic life she left at home, main character gets her happy ending.

This was an absolutely perfect book! I loved the characters and the plot was perfect. It brought out so many emotions from me. I even struggled not to cry in a coffee shop while reading it.

Obsessed with this book. Katherine Center does it again, this might be my favorite of hers yet (I say that every time)! I adored the characters in this book and the banter and relationship between them felt so genuine and real, as did their problems and individual growth. I loved that the side characters were fleshed out and just as charming as the main two. Highly recommend this for fans of her previous works and for those looking for a heart-warming book that is truly a love letter to romantic comedies!!

I’ve always done Katherine Centers books via audiobook and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love how she writes and engages her stories. They’re always so fun and narrated so GOOD. Plot was definitely interesting and maybe because I’ve seen it done before recently. I wish there was more of a connection to Emma and Charlie’s relationship. But opposites clearly do attract though! I really appreciated Emma’s family care and attention with them, it felt too similar to similar to me *ouch*

This book truly was a love letter to rom-coms, maybe even Nancy Meyers should work on it lol.

This is the sixth book that I have read by Katherine Center, and as always, I found her writing in this book charming, heartwarming, and fun—albeit a little cheesy at times. There were some really sweet moments between Emma and Charlie. However, both characters made several decisions that made them and their relationship hard to root for at times. That being said, I loved the last several chapters of this book and the wisdom from Emma’s dad throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Katherine Center for allowing me to read this early!

After absolutely loving her past two books, this one just felt a little bit silly to me.

After being the primary caretaker of her father for the past ten years, Emma gets a huge break in her writing career and leaves him in the care of her little sister. The break comes in the form of a writing partnership with her idol, Charlie, the most popular screenwriter in Hollywood. He doesn't believe in love and just wants to get done with this rom-com that he's been tasked with writing. Emma isn't having it and sets out to prove that true love does exist.

Katherine Center's books usually go down quick and joyfully, but this one just annoyed me. The main character, Emma, was quirky to the extreme. She had a "not like other girls" vibe that I don't like. Her stream of thoughts read like a 14 year old in a 28 year old's body. Charlie didn't make much of an impression on me. He was stoic, but not in the usual romance book charming way. He was just flat. What I did like about this book was its manifesto on why rom-coms are the best. Because they are.

Listen, I know Katherine Center's books are not usually rooted in reality and that's what makes them fun. I mean, I loved the whole face blindness plot from her previous book with my whole heart. This one just didn't hit for me. The reviews are great though, so I'm going to say it's a me problem!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-book in exchange for my honest review.

The Rom-Commers was both exactly what I was expecting and better than anything I could have thought. The characters were easy to fall for, I was convinced of their chemistry from the start, and the entire book flowed very well. I could not stop reading and when I did have to put it down, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Emma was a great character to follow along with on her journey to find herself and her relationship that blossoms with Charlie was so swoon-worthy and easy to fall for.

I think Katherine Center enveloped grief and a feeling of moral responsibility very well. As an older sister, I felt very deeply for Emma's character and her internal struggle with her future and her responsibilities. As a huge fan of both literature and movies, reading from the point of view of a screen writer and the little quirks in her mind was so fun and made her commentary laugh-out-loud!

I will be recommending this to all my customers, and especially as a romance with no spice because sometimes it is difficult to sell romance-lovers on these type of books but I feel confident that everyone will fall in love with Emma and Charlie just as I did!