Member Reviews

I love this author so much and this was another hit! I'm so glad I got this copy! Totally made my weekend as I devoured the book quickly

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When Emma Wheeler's dad suffered a life-altering injury that left him in need of around-the-clock care, she put her dreams of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter on hold to take care of him. She's spent her life on the side-lines, idolizing other writers and directors who are making it big in TinselTown. One day, her friend calls her with the offer of a lifetime: to work alongside her biggest idol (and star crush), Charlie Yates, doing a re-write of her all-time favorite film.
Her sister has just graduated from college and agrees to come take her place as dad's caregiver to Emma can spend 6 weeks in LA with Charlie.
Unfortunately, she finds out upon arrival that Charlie doesn't actually want to work with her, and doesn't care at all about the project they're supposed to work together on.
Will she stay or will she go? Can they find a way to work together, and will the man of her dreams turn into a dream or a nightmare?

This was a cute story with beautiful writing and an interesting story. It didn't knock my socks off, but kept me interested and wanting to find out how it played out.
Solid 4 stars. Another good, clean, love story suited for both teens and adults.

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Katherine Centers. is an auto-buy author for me- if she writes it, I’m buying it! At I have yet to read a book of hers that I did not enjoy! The rom-commers was so good and may just be my new fave of hers!
This book was hilarious (I found myself giggling as I read it), but it was also emotional and raw at times.
Emma gets the opportunity to write a script with her hero screenwriter, Charlie, but things don’t go quite as expected.
Charlie could care less about the awful romance he’s written and sees it simply as a means to an end, but Emma wants to make it amazing and convince him that love stories matter.
I loved seeing Emma stand up for herself, the romance genre and even love itself! 🥰

I listened to the audiobook and loved it! I totally recommend!

My Rating: 5/5 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️ No explicit content

Read this book if you love:
💕 Real-life Issues
💕 Grief Journey
💕 Forced Proximity
💕 Humor/ Banter
💕 Grumpy x Sunshine
💕 Disability/ Caregivers
💕 A Come-Back Story

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This was good! I wasn’t blown away, I felt like the plot was a little too on the nose. But the characters felt whole and had depth to them.

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This book was so cute!! This is about Emma and Charlie. Emma is a screenwriter who has yet to find success and Charlie is a big name in screenwriting. Emma's old friend is Charlie's agent, so he hooks her up with a job of helping Charlie write his new screenplay for his first ever rom com. His attempt was awful, so he needs Emma, a romance junkie, to help. However, when she gets there she realizes Charlie is a major grump who had no idea she was coming and he's not really happy to see her. He reluctantly agrees to 6 weeks of working together to revise the screenplay and the book goes from there. The 2 have such a sweet grumpy/sunshine interaction and I normally don't love that trope. I think the reason it didn't bother me here is because Emma is just so loveable. She has been knocked down many times but just keeps popping back up with her bright red, poofy hair and her optimistic attitude. However, she's also self aware and realistic. I really liked her. I hate when one partner makes a decision for the other to protect them, thinking they know whats best for them, and that definitely happened in this book, but I binged it almost in one sitting so I felt like it concluded quickly enough that it wasn't too drawn out. This book is free of steamy scenes and overall just really sweet. It's a little cheesy, didn't make me cry, and is not going to stay in my head forever, but Katherine Center has a way of writing a book that sucks you in and makes you love love. So cute!

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Having read and enjoyed two previous books by Katherine Center (The Bodyguard and Hello Stranger), I requested a review copy of both the ebook and audiobook versions of The Rom-Commers from NetGalley. The story centers around an author/aspiring screenwriter named Emma. Emma has long been a fan of a screenwriter named Charlie Yates. When she gets the chance to help him rewrite a failed script, she jumps at it. However, Emma feels a lot of worry and guilt for leaving her disabled father in the care of her sister while she jets off to LA to work with Charlie.

At first, Charlie is a jerk. He doesn't believe in love, much less rom-coms. Emma is determined to change his mind.

There were a few things that I enjoyed about this book. I have one of the same medical conditions as Emma's father and my husband is a survivor of the same disease that Charlie was recently cured of. I also loved Emma's relationship with her father and sister. The author's audiobook narration was enjoyable as well. The drawbacks for me were that Charlie remained kind of a jerk for most of the book and overall the book was pretty slow-moving for me.

This was a 3.5 star book for me, rounded up to 4. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for review copies of the ebook and audiobook versions of The Rom-Commers.

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I chose to listen to this via audiobook and the narrator, Patti Murin, did a phenomenal job. The way she presented each characters’ personalities and voice was amazing and made it easy to follow along. This story had me laughing out loud and had amazing witty banter. The character development was spot on and they each came with in-depth backstories that made me so invested in each of their journey. It was also fun to watch a romance book within a romance book being developed.

I highly recommend this book, as it will be a great summer read.

𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕂𝕟𝕠𝕨
💎 Single POV
💎 Forced Proximity
💎 Grumpy X Sunshine
💎 Witty Banter
💎 Workplace Romance

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This is another delightful book from Katherine Center.

Emma is a writer of romances and screenplays, but she is also caring for her Dad who lives with her after suffering an injury many years ago in the accident that killed Emma’s Mom. Being a full time caregiver has left her unable to follow her dreams and take up opportunities many times before. But when her agent gives her the chance to re-write a script with a famous screenwriter, Charlie Yates, Emma decides she has to give it a go. Charlie has been one of her favorite authors for years. She persuades her sister to look after her Dad, while Emma heads of to LA.
Charlie, however, doesn’t want to work with anyone, and is completely unimpressed with Emma. He is not shy about telling her so. Emma is so upset and finds him a rude and disappointing person. He doesn’t believe in love, and has written a truly appalling remake of one of Emma’s favorite romantic comedies. As Emma gets ready to leave and return home, she decided to tell him everything that’s wrong with his screenplay – an honesty that Charlie finds refreshing.

A lovely plot, well written characters, and the usual twists and turns of a romantic comedy where the path to true love never runs straight, this was a quick and enjoyable read.

I was not a fan of Charlie though. He was rude and so badly behaved on so many occasions that I wasn’t sure, no matter how he fell for Emma, that she would have trusted him to be a good guy in the end.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Patti Murin and I enjoyed the way she read it. The pacing was good, and her voice kept me interested.

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Audiobook ALC 5 stars!

Katherine Center is the queen of quirky characters and romantic comedy, and this book lived up to those high expectations. This book is about an undiscovered screenwriter Emma, who has put her dreams of writing for the big leagues aside to take care of her chronically ill father. She is set up by her ex-boyfriend/gay best friend/manager to help the famous Charlie Yates fix his terribly written rom-com. Oh, this also happens to be the man she has been obsessed with for over 10 years.

Of course our MMC Charlie does not believe in love and discovers it along the way after forming a bond with Emma. Their relationship was so cute to follow and showed that even the coldest hearts just need the right person to come along to warm them.

The banter and character development was captivating and kept me listening all the way to the end. This book covers issues of grief, chronic illness of a parent, caregiver fatigue, illness recovery and anxiety.

I would definitely recommend this book for those who are looking for a low spice rom com!

This advanced listeners copy was provided by Netgalley.

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Such a cute story! I really loved Charlie! He was a grumpy guy, and a little bit clueless, but he was adorable.
I fully expected there to be a big tragedy at the end, because Katherine is know to bring out all the tears.
Color me surprised when everyone got their happy ending, though it was a little touch and go for a minute there.
Really great read, with fun tropes like grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, celebrity crush, mental health rep, disability rep, and all kinds of yumminess in between.
Also, narration was perfection!

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Emma dreams of getting her big break as a screenwriter. She gets an opportunity to work with Charlie Yates, one of her favorite screenwriters of all time! Upon meeting him, his sparkle starts to fade for Emma. His writing in this new-to-him genre was lacking, and he was acting like an ass towards her. Despite everything, this was Emma’s dream and she would do what it takes, even if spending time with Charlie was not at the top of her list anymore. After time working together, is it possible their feelings will change?

So I know this one has been getting a lot of praise lately and I was super excited to experience my first Katherine Center book! I did enjoy the premise, because falling in love while writing a rom com together is so cute. There were a few times I chuckled at things Charlie would say as well, and I loved the narrator. Unfortunately the characters in this one really set me back. I have a lot of thoughts about both of them, but especially Emma and her personality. For Charlie, I didn’t find him to be consistent. Happy to share more in depth over DM! Would love to hear from people who really enjoyed this too, as it has a high rating! Just wasn’t for me.

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This was such a fun romcom! I love the set-up of acting out romcom tropes in real life to introduce a screenwriter to the wonder of romcoms. - it brought about a lot of adorable situations! The characters were so good - flawed and funny and emotional. There were a couple gut punch moments that really got me before I made it to the happily ever after. I especially loved hearing a character describe what a romcom is and what the purpose of a romcom is, as well as seeing some anxiety representation. I listened on audio, and the narrator did a great job bringing this story to life!

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I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!

A little love, a little sadness, some hard breaks in life, lots of self determination and a family geared love bond that is just wonderful! What’s not to like??

Emma was going to be a phenomenal screenwriter. She moved through school and did so well, and she even earned an internship that was IMPOSSIBLE to get.
And then…
The accident happened. (That’s all you’re getting on that. If you want more, you’ll have to read it!)

So, Emma’s dream was put on hold…and somewhat forgotten. She wasn’t screenwriting, but she was writing rom-coms…and doing pretty well. And doing some teaching on the side…

Then one day she gets a call from her old friend/ex (Logan) …and he offers her the chance of a lifetime. An established screenwriter, (Charlie) one who’s VERY WELL KNOWN, has written something… All of his stuff, everything he touches, is GOLDEN…so why does he need help?

Well, apparently, THIS script is way out of his wheelhouse, but falls directly in hers…

So she does all kinds of maneuvers to make this work and get out to LA to meet with Charlie.

Oh, and did I mention that HE is her IDOL? She knows everything he’s ever written! And LOVES it all!

Can this really be happening? Is she really going to meet and work with Charlie Yates??

Well, all is NOT as it seems…and when Emma goes to meet him, there’s a bit of a snafu…. And, in person, he’s not what she thinks he is. At. All…

Can they work together to fix this? Does she really even want to try?

Maybe, just maybe, they can make it work…

I’ll leave you all here, but this is where the story really picks up and starts to get juicy! And what a ride it is!

If you love romantic stories with quirky characters, this one is definitely for you!

5+ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫💫💫💫 for me!

This one just had a little bit of everything to love!! Oh, and did I mention the Guinea pig??!! ❤️❤️

Thanks so much to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
It is due for release in just a few days on 6/11/24!!

#TheRomCommers by #KatherineCenter. Narrated wonderfully by #PattiMurin and #KatherineCenter.

⭐️ Wonderful FMC in Emma. Loves her family. Loves her work…even though it’s not exactly what she wanted to be doing…
⭐️ Wonderful MMC in Charlie. Independent. Quirky. Angers quickly…but is able to be tamed by kind words…and a Guinea pig. Also **he’s a rom-com writer who does NOT believe in love!?!?
⭐️ Logan, the ex. Well, what won’t he do to get what he wants?? 😮
⭐️. ❤️ Emma’s Dad. He should be made a Saint. Beautiful character with all the harshness that life has thrown at him, and yet he’s still smiling, and grateful!
⭐️ Love how Emma is the total optimist in ALL things, even though her life thus far has been so limited…
💫 Love how Emma’s enthusiasm can melt even the coldest of hearts…like Charlie’s!
💫 Loved all the shenanigans…especially in the closet, and line dancing!!

Feel free to like, follow and friend me on: Goodreads,
IG @ #BookReviews_with_emsr or
My Facebook Book Club: Book Reviews With Elaine.

Thanks so much for reading! And if you ‘liked’ my review, please share with your friends!! 📚⭐️

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Katherine Center is absolutely an autoread author for me, and I adored her newest book The Rom-Commers. I’m so, so grateful to @stmartinspress for an advanced copy and to @macmillanaudio for an ALC. The Rom-Commers comes out June 11, so there’s time to preorder. I can’t wait to pick up my copy at my first in-person @katherinecenter event (insert many squeals!).

The Rom-Commers stars writer Emma Wheeler who has put her dreams of being a screenwriter on hold to care for her father who needs round-the-clock care in Texas. When her manager calls with an offer she can’t refuse—help screenwriting legend Charlie Yates rewrite his terrible romcom in California—she almost refuses until her younger sister cancels an internship to stay with their dad. But when Emma gets to California, Charlie Yates is not the delight she’d hoped, and he has no interest in writing with a “failed nobody screenwriter.” Can Emma change his mind? I don’t think I’m breaking any of Katherine Center’s rules if I say probably, but you should read to find out.

I loved this book. It was joyful and funny and sad and had me on the edge of my seat with nerves more times than I typically like. But when it’s a Katherine Center book, I trust her not to break my heart in any way she can’t fix. I wish I knew more how to bring this level of positivity in my life despite things not going my way, but I’m not always great at it. Reading her books, however, is one tactic I’ve got.

A couple reviews of this one I’ve seen thought Charlie was too mean. And, okay, I guess he was a little acerbic—maybe even mean—at times, but that made it all the better when we saw his sweetness come out in little ways. If you’re looking for a perfect love interest from the get go, maybe Charlie isn’t your next book boyfriend, but he’s absolutely one of mine.

The audio for this one was amazing. Patti Muran brings so much life and levity to Emma and there’s a bonus chapter and author’s note read by Center that make the audiobook absolutely the way to go. But I still need a physical copy to add to my Katherine Center collection.

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Emma has been her father's primary caregiver for 12 years. He is a survivor of a traumatic Brain Injury in an accident that also took Emma's mother's life. A chance of a lifetime, she is able to travel to Los Angeles to ghost write a romantic comedy script with a famous, academy award winning screenwriter. I LOVED this book! I really believed the love story, I loved the narrator (this review is for the audiobook version) and the dialogue is believable, natural and funny. This is one of my favorite romances of 2024.
-PG rated
-working together to lovers trope
-younger sister, Sylvie, steps in to take care of Dad so Emma can travel to LA.
-Wedding at the end (won't say whose wedding, for spoiler reasons)

If I have a criticism, it is that the narrator has more of a east coast accent, while Emma is from Houston.
Great epilogue, walking us through the difference between "happily ever after" and what we think that means versus what it does. That we work on our love, that happiness is only happiness when you also have a little sadness.

If you like contemporary romances, this is a good one.
Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for the ARC.

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Okay, now that I'm sitting down to actually review this book, I can no longer remember why I didn't bump my 4.5 rating up to 5 . . . so I'm just going to do that right now. There. Fixed. (To be clear, this is still a 4.5 until I can re-read, but it's living so pleasantly in my mind right now and I'm still laughing about the pool/drunk/dress scene.)

So this is a romance book about romances. Our main character, Emma, is a screenwriter, and she loves rom-coms. But her favorite screenwriter is phenom Charlie Yates, who has never written a rom-com in his life. But now he has to! In order to get his gangster movie made, first he has to write a vanity project script for his director's mistress. The script is supposed to be a rewrite of It Happened One Night and it is an utter and complete disaster, a terrible, terrible piece of writing. So Emma's agent (who is also Charlie's agent) finagles her the chance to co-write this rom-com with him. They butt heads immediately, and their bickering/banter was so good.

The plot of Emma trying to get Charlie to appreciate the joys of romance and rom-coms would have been enough on its own, but both characters have something deeper going on. Emma has been the caretaker of her disabled father for the past ten years and hasn't had the chance to actually try and become a professional writer, but the chance to work with Charlie is one she can't pass up (and one her family won't let her pass up). Charlie has his own stuff going on as well, which I won't spoil.

I just loved this so much. It's my favorite Katherine Center book, easy. I love the open-hearted defence/apologia to love stories. I love the characters. It was really frickin' funny. This one might end up being a stealth fave of the year. Highly recommend.

[4.5 stars, rounded up]

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I had such high hopes for this since I've loved every other Katherine Center book, but this just wasn't it for me.

Charlie is so mean, and Emma just lets him treat her so badly. I love a good grumpy/sunshine trope, but Charlie is just mean. I know she couldn't have just made him be honest with Emma, but he didn't have to be as mean and condescending as he was.

Emma was better than Charlie, but I just wanted her to stand up for herself. Also, the way she talks to her sister in one scene (when you read it you'll know) is so awful. I understand that she gave up so much to take care of their dad, and why she felt like she needed to, but she was just as mean as Charlie to her sister.

There was some great banter and I felt like it could've been such a great book, but I just can't get over how terrible Charlie is, and his redemption is just not enough for me. The narrator might be one of my new favorites though! I could listen to her voice all day! The bonus audio only content by Katherine was fun, and I always love listening to authors read their own stories, even if it is only one scene and an author's note.

Thank you to NetGalley and McMillen Audio for the advanced copy! Overall 2.5/5 stars

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A cute, funny, and smart romance novel. The aspiring writers among us (guilty!) will be especially charmed by the story of a writer meeting her screenwriting idol, who has fallen just a little bit from his lofty pedestal of late. Katherine Center has a unique voice. Her heroine is intelligent and appealing. Definitely interested in reading more of her work!

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4.5 Stars

Katherine Center always writes grown up love stories and I am here for it. I absolutely loved Emma and Charlie. Charlie is a famous writer and Emma is aspiring to be one. When she gets a chance to help him with a Rom-com she is thrilled. Turns out Charlie is not a fan of Rom-coms and Emma is in for a challenge. This book gave me all the feels. The narrator was wonderful and I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the opportunity to read this book.

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Gosh, I do love a grumpy x sunshine. I laughed, I cried, I told my husband he doesn’t love me enough. You know you can write a good story when I give it five stars and there is NO SPICE! Emma and Charlie were perfect opposites who I couldn’t help but root for. I loved watching them try to grow their partnership and write a great script. Emma was everything I love in a FMC - spunky, unique and hard working. I loved how much she loved love and how much of a caretaker she was. Just read this one - I don’t think you will be disappointed!

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