Such a cute read! This is for lovers of wholesome romances with a shameless touch of cheese. I love that Katherine Center defends the rom-com genre through her characters' banter and through the plot itself. Her writing style is playful and her characters are lovable. I loved the many ways she had me giggling through typical romance cliches. I'll be referring to this book to stand up for cheesy, happy stories! The audiobook performance was perfection. Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC!

I keep waffling between 4.5 and 5 stars for this one. It truly was so fun to listen to. I just had minor issues with some of the story, but that's my preferences for female MCs.

I think Katherine Center's essay at the end of the book is one that ought to be paired with Stephen King's "Why We Crave Horror Movies" in classrooms. I would teach both in my AP Lang classroom.

I can't believe I'm giving a Katherine Center book one star, but here we are.

1. A "cancer diagnosis, but whew it's not cancer" plot is never a good idea, but especially when it's not executed well. Can a character have a scare and worry? Sure. Should a character get an official diagnosis over the phone and then find out whoops, it was just bronchitis from another phone call later? No. That's not realistic.

2. The female main character spewed several terrible, hurtful, disgusting sentences at her sister, and then she gets pissed and decides not to speak to said sister ever again after the sister retaliates with one hurtful sentence. Then later the sister apologizes to her, and the FMC basically says, "good, you should be sorry," and in no way acknowledges how truly horrendous she was in the first place. I already didn't love this FMC, but this made me hate her. This is what bumped the book to one star.

3. How many times does a character's whole ass government name need to be used? Honestly.

I am glad I got this audiobook on NetGalley and decided to cancel my hardcover preorder. I planned to get the paperback later to match my others, but I won't be doing that now.

I'll still read Center's next book, but this one and "Hello Stranger" weren't it.

I think I’ve found my new fav Katherine Center book and I know I say that about every one of her books but this one for sure rises to the top! I mean, a romcom about romantic comedy writers? Sign me up!
Emma has been her father’s caregiver for the past 10 years after a life altering accident leaves him disabled and her mother is killed. She has been writing in her spare time but she gets an amazing opportunity to write a screen play with the one and only Charlie Yates. Only when she looks at it, it’s a total mess s she breaks down and agrees to get her sister to come home and take care of her dad so she can go to California, only to find out when she gets there that Charlie knows nothing of this whole plan cooked up by their agent to have them work together.
Charlie is a screenwriter who is looking to get his next story into production and to do that he needs to get his romcom fixed but there’s just one problem-he doesn’t believe in love!
Side note: I loved the Jack Stapleton from the Bodyguard cameo!!
Despite this being a romcom, there are a few triggers: death of a parent, traumatic brain injury, fear of water being just a few of them
The audiobook was narrated by Patti Muran who did a great job at portraying the various characters. There is also a bonus chapter at the end that is narrated by Katherine Center
Thanks to Macmillan Audion for this ALC in exchange for my review.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center was a book to make you laugh, cry, and love. I strongly resonated with our female main character, Emma, as an eldest sister myself. I saw so much of myself in her, and it made the story more special to me. I enjoyed reading about Emma and Charlie together. Their wit, humor, and charm together made this book. However, the more emotional aspects of their relationship, and this book overall, made the message and themes hit home. Patti Murin was a fantastic narrator, and I felt that her soft-spoken voice was lovely to listen to while also being able to capture Emma's personality. I highly recommend The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center in physical, eBook, or audiobook format!

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Patti Murin, and Katherine Center for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5⭐️
TW: parental death, trauma, parental illness, caregiver responsibilities, fear of water, divorce

I truly loved this book. It hit close for me as one of my parents had an accident that left them needing round the clock care. I related to Emma as the eldest daughter and to her selfless personality. I love her wit, humor, and humility. Charlie’s charm was everything.

I enjoyed the narration by the soft spoken Patti Murin. When I closed my eyes, at times, I thought Selena Gomez was narrating.

I wish I felt the connection between Emma and Charlie more strongly. Especially, in the closet scene. I don’t know if it was because I listening to the audiobook or what. I wanted to feel more tension in those close scenes. Emma and Charlie are a grumpy sunshine trope, but it works. I do wish Charlie wasn’t so mean to Emma throughout the book. It would have been a turn off for me if I was in Emma’s place.

I can’t recommend this book enough. This was my first read of Katherine Center’s, and I can’t wait to read more.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love books that make me laugh and this one did. What a great story about dreams, family and love.

What happens when you fall in love with someone who does not believe in love? What happens when the writer that you think is the best doesn't want to work with you or even meet you? How do you trust anyone to look after a family member that you love?. The only way to find out the answers to these questions is to read this wonderful book.

My favorite way to finish books is to go back and forth between an audiobook and an ebook. So I read this one and listened. The narrators - Katherine Center and Patti Murin did a great job of making the story come to life. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook.

YES! Katherine Center is here to save our summer. This is yet again another ray of sunshine, warm hug of a book...while also delivering a few gut punches along the way. As a fan of Golden Age Hollywood this was an especially fun treat. References to the romantic classics and more modern romantic comedies abound! Emma and Charlie were both great MCs with serious baggage to sort through and the supporting cast was solid as well. The only characters I took exception to were Logan - he felt like a pretty annoying and manipulative friend in most parts of the book for me, and TJ - no explanation needed.
Content warnings for: death of a parent, serious illness, near death experiences.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It makes me so sad that this is the first Katherine Center book that I have picked up. I immediately need to read her back list!! I listened to this book in one sitting, I could not put this down. This truly had everything I love in my books. Fun, Loving, Humor, sassy female main characters, and broody male main characters. It was just such a fun loving book. Even though this seem like it is just a cutesy romance, there is a lot more emotional topics in this book that actually took me by surprise. I found myself laughing, tearing up, and being frustrated with out characters but all in the best way. I was invested in Charlie and Emma story from the get to and was rooting for them the entire time.

I cannot wait to read more of Katherine's book!

5/5 stars

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

CW: parental death, illness/injury

SYNOPSIS -- Emma Wheeler's screenwriting plans may have been derailed for the last 10 years, but she still longs to make it big writing romcoms. When she gets the chance to write for her screenwriting idol, Charlie Yates, she takes a step back from caretaking for her sweet Dad, passing the reigns to her younger sister and moving to LA for six weeks. They say "don't meet your heroes," and maybe that's a good idea. When Emma shows up, Charlie refuses to work with her, refuses to care about the script, and refuses to believe in love. Despite all that, Emma digs in her heals and steels herself to convince Charlie of her worth as a writer and the worth of rom-coms in this world. When their rom-com becomes a little too.... real... Emma has to reconfigure her idea of reality and break some of her own rules to get there.

Ahhhhh she's done it again!!! I LOVED the premise and the story far exceeded my excitement for the synopsis. The characters were so dynamic and complex, and I loved them, despite feeling SO FRUSTRATED with their denial of their feelings for so long. The romance was cute and felt believable, in a way that not all romance authors can nail. Family was a big feature in this book, and I think this was really well done. Forced proximity like this is soooo fun and I loved Emma and Charlie's banter from the beginning. Katherine Center does an amazing job of weaving complicated themes into her work, and this one wound its way through grief and its complexity in a beautiful way.

PLUS there was a fun crossover with THE BODYGUARD, which I LOVED.

Patti Murin is a fantastic narrator, and really managed to capture all of Emma's chaotic feelings and awkwardness and delightfulness into her voice throughout this book.

This book truly gave me the warm and fuzzies all the way through: from page 1 to Katherine Center's self-narrated acknowledgements at the end. I love her writing style, her characters and her plots. I will read anything this woman writes!!

I was excited to receive an advance copy of this book and could hardly wait to start reading it! Because I have read other books by this author, I knew it would be fun to read with likeable characters.

For the past several years, Emma has been the full-time caregiver for her dad because he was permanently injured in an accident and her mom died. She regularly sacrifices what she wants so her little sister Sylvie can live her dreams, but they switch places when Emma receives an unbelievable job offer. Sylvie cancels her internship to stay with their dad so Emma can go to L.A. for the chance of a lifetime to work with a famous screenwriter she has a crush on and help him rewrite a flawed rom-com screenplay. Her childhood best friend and former boyfriend is his manager and got her the job. The problem is Charlie has writer’s block, doesn’t want her help, and doesn’t believe in romance.

There are some serious issues addressed, but overall the book was very funny, and some parts even made me laugh out loud. The tension leading to the kiss was perfect, but the wet dress scene was way too much. I think the book would have been much better without it. I love the dad’s advice at the end and the bonus chapter in the audiobook. You can’t go wrong with a book by Katherine Center, the writing and characters are excellent. This would be 5 stars if it wasn’t for the language and the dress scene.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for a digital ARC and Macmillan Audio for an audio ARC via NetGalley to use for my review.

Emma's dream is to be a rom com screen writer. While she is skilled and willing to work to make that happen, she has kind of put her goals on hold after her mom passed away and her dad required full-time care. When she gets the call that Charlie Yates, her favorite screenwriter in the world, create a rom com she cannot say no. She worked it out where her sister stays with her dad while she takes advantage of this seemingly once in a lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately, upon arriving to Charlie's house it becomes clear that Charlie did not ask for help nor did he know she was coming. He needs the help though because his screen play is not great. After a bumpy start, they begin working together.

Emma starts to feel the whole don't meet your heros when she learns more about Charlie's plans and her reason for being there. Still, the money is good and the opportunity could be a game changer, so she stays and aims to develop the best rom com she can.

In the beginning Charlie may not believe in love, but by the end of their time together, he is singing a different tune. Our main characters experience joys and hardships in their time together and learn more about relationships (romance and family) through the process.

I felt connected to the story and honestly felt a lot of the emotions as I was listening. I listened to this book in basically one sitting and would probably say it is my favorite Katherine Center book I have read. It goes from fan and famous screenwriter to enemies to friends to lovers. It was quite the journey, but I enjoyed the ride. I got an ALC of this book and definitely recommend the audio.

CW: Death of a parent (details of the event included on page), full-time caregiving, cancer, panic/anxiety attacks/disorders

Struggling screenwriter Emma Wheeler writes romantic comedies between caring for her father full time. When she’s given an opportunity of a lifetime to work with THE Charlie Yates—her idol and screenwriting legend—she can’t pass it up. Her younger sister takes over caregiving for six weeks while Emma flies off to L.A. But this opportunity isn’t anything she expected, nor was Charlie expecting her at all. Emma must either make Charlie believe in love or go home empty handed.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center, narrated by Patti Murin, is a romance comedy woman’s fiction that will have you snorting and swooning.

This was so adorable! They’re basically trying to fix the most awkward rom-com ever and, while doing so, create their own. ❤️ I love the support system and family Emma has which is honestly so refreshing in romances.

Charlie first comes off as a jerk, but he slowly grew on me as he developed. Patti Murin really brought the characters to life too! I have yet to find a Katherine Center book I don’t absolutely adore.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC! ❤️

Let me start by saying, the audio of this book is fantastic!

This is a romcom lovers dream. Humour, complicated and charming characters, witty banter and all the feels. My heart hurt for Emma so many times and you can't help but fall in love with and route for her.

I found Charlie's character to be a teeny bit hard to route for. While there was great banter and ultimately a happy ending, I never felt that magical spark of chemistry between the two main characters. There just seemed to be something lacking, though I don't know what that was.

Overall, this was a cute romcom with amazing narration!

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and the author for the advanced audio of this book!

I immensely enjoyed this book! While both characters need to attend therapy for their traumatic experiences, I thought that the author did an amazing job at describing their flaws. However, I do wish that I had more depth from the characters. This was a fun, quick, light romance. It was just what I needed and I couldn't stop listening. The MC was witty and smart. The love interest was predictably moody and difficult. I would have liked a little more character from him, but it all worked for me.

<i>thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me an arc of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>

**the audiobook was a 5/5! the narrator did such a great job of bringing these characters to life.**

now to the actual story lol. i fell in love with the bodyguard by katherine center when it came out a couple years ago and nothing she's come out with has lived up to it since. unfortunately, this was a complete miss for me and one of the most disappointing releases of this year. despite the actual story, i still love katherine's center's writing and storytelling. however the characters in these were awful.

emma and charlie yates (and important to full name him as emma does every other line in this book) were completely insufferable. emma had a savior complex that could not be broken. she was a self-wallowing person because of it, not allowing herself to move on from any of her trauma which in turn causes her to act like a bull and SPRINT towards red flags (aka, charlie yates). she was a total c*nt to her sister over something that she had no control over and never even apologized.

charlie yates? biggest red flag - which is apparently emma's type. he was an ASSHOLE to her. he was rude to emma's face and totally berated her and kept being condescending towards her behind her back. the fact that emma overheard him talking shit about her multiple times and doing nothing about it? girl...lol. he honestly had no redeeming qualities.

katherine also made some questionable choices, having charlie misdiagnosed with cancer only for it to be a case of bronchitis??? HUH???? ummmm cancer's not something you just happily throw in as a plot point???

they were shitty people who shouldn't have gotten together and there's no way they lasted after the epilogue. no way in hell.

such a disappointment!

This was such a cute, sweet, and well-written rom-com! It felt exactly like I was reading a book version of the classic rom-com movies of the 80s and 90s (can we bring those back!?).

Patti Murin was a great narrator for the audiobook and especially for the leading lady, Emma Wheeler.

This was my first Katherine Center novel, and while I think she is a fantastic romance writer, I didn’t realize that she was known for more wholesome stories. This is a closed-door romance with no steam. It is 100% sweet! Not knowing this, I was waiting the whole book for something to happen 😂 As an audiobook though, this really worked for me because I tend to cringe at spicy scenes when they’re narrated. Also if you have teenager who is interested in reading romances, this is one I personally would 100% think is appropriate.

Thank you Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC! The Rom-Commers is out 6/11!

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up. How will Mr. Grumpy and Miss Sunshine write a romance, can they keep it professional?

This book was a 5 star for me. I am a huge Katherine Center (KC) fan. This is my new favorite by her!! The banter she portrays between her main characters is truly perfection. They were hilarious. I was laughing and crying in this latest KC. If you love a grumpy and sunshine trope this is the book for you. In true KC form she gives enough intimacy to leave it closed door but you don’t feel like you are missing out. There is so much chemistry between Emma and Charlie.  Lastly, I loved the Easter egg she left for us in this one. It took me far too long in the book to realize it and once I did I couldn’t stop smiling, well done!

I can see this absolutely being a summer favorite. 

Thank you Netgalley & Macmillian Audio for this ARC. This book arrives on shelves June 11, 2024.

Okay, let's get real about this book. Emma is a total gem - relatable, lovable, and just a burst of sunshine. She's like that friend you can't get enough of, and I could listen to her all day. She's a hoot, but there's so much depth to her, especially when she opens up about her fears. But what really got me was her bold passion for the romance genre. It made me stop and think about all the great points she brought up.

Now, Charlie is the polar opposite of Emma. He's grumpy, set in his ways, but surprisingly sweet. You'll see what I mean when you dive into this book. It's hard not to spill the tea while writing this review, but I'll do my best.

This book had me laughing most of the time, but there's also some drama as we uncover more about Emma's past and her relationships with her father and sister. Charlie's situation is a bit concerning, but this isn't one of those novels that leaves you in tears.

Oh, and guess what? It ends with a HEA (happily ever after). I won't spoil it further, but "The Rom-commers" was an absolute delight as an audiobook. Patti Murin's narration was spot on. If you're into audiobooks, Katherine Center's reading is a bonus with an extra scene. The book is engaging, funny, emotional, and full of hope - everything I adore and expect from a Katherine Center novel.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley, for my free audiobook for review.

I haven't read a book by Katherine Center that I have not enjoyed. This one is no different. I laughed, I cried. I felt everything. A cutesy rom com with raw and real emotions. A very sweet and hopeful story.

4.5 stars rounded up

What to expect in this book:

-Grumpy/sunshine
-Screenwriters and Hollywood life
-Exploration of grief and medical diagnoses
-Feel good/comforting characters
-Father/Daughter relationships
-Fantastic on audio!

Thoughts

This is my seventh and now FAVORITE Katherine Center book. Katherine's books are always such feel good reads with likable and relatable characters. This one is for the eldest daughters! Emma Wheeler longs to be a screenwriter but circumstances have prevented her from being able to live out her Hollywood dreams. After her father had a terrible accident, she became his sole caretaker. When she gets the chance to re-write the script on a romantic comedy for her long time screenwriter idol, Charlie Yates, Emma knows that this is an offer she cannot refuse. Until... she meets Charlie and realizes that he does not believe in rom-coms or maybe even love at all. Emma is set to convince Charlie that love stories matter.. maybe so much so that the love story they are writing might actually come true?

If you are looking for a sweet, clean romance, Katherine Center is always an amazing choice. I love the depth that she provides to her characters' stories and the connections that they form. I had such empathy for Emma as she cared for her father and had such a close bond with him. Emma was optimistic without being annoying and Charlie brought a sense of sadness that I think was a great balance to the story. I loved how the author spoke about suffering in many different forms from health to loss. There were so many beautiful lines that I think many of us can relate to. I really saw this book in my head and can imagine this being an amazing movie!

I loved how Emma had to teach Charlie about love and romance, in some ways it reminded me of some of my favorite rom-coms like 27 Dresses. But also, we need to talk about how there was a guinea pig and I loved Cuthbert so much! I enjoyed the mentions of mental health and processing of grief and loss as well. Ultimately, I know this is one I will be recommending to all my friends, especially those who love a happily ever after. Thank you so much to #NetGalley and McMillian audio for the advanced copies of this in exchange for an honest review.