I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Rom-Commers" and all opinions expressed are my own. I listened to the audiobook. Not one of my favorites by this author, I found the story just ok. I have really enjoyed her past books and I would say she is a go to author for me but this one just miss the mark.

This novel was an absolute delight! I loved the characters Emma and Charlie, the situation they found themselves in, the banter and dialog between them, the teasing and the lovely prospect of watching two very different people fall in love and then having a 'happy ending'. Emma Wheeler is hired to help ghost write an abysmal rom-com novel written by her all time favorite writers crush, Charlie Yates. Emma has worshiped Charlies work for years and jumps at the chance to fly to L.A. and help resuscitate his latest abomination of a novel. Charlie has never done rom-com and it shows. Unfortunately Charlie didn't know he has been given a writing partner and the introduction between them in a bit of a disaster. From there the real fun begins as these two characters, destined for love begin to learn about each other, their quirks, fears and strengths. This novel is so much fun. It made me laugh out loud and also had some very serious elements regarding life, death and grief. There are a lot of important and meaningful life lessons wrapped within this little gift of a book. I listened to the audio version of the book and the narrator was excellent, full of joy and very believable. I especially liked the bonus chapter at the end of Charlie's perspective of an event at the end, and the author Katherine Center encouraging people to read love stories. She states that no one takes love stories seriously theses days, but they are the very stories that hold humanity together. She said it better than that, but she got my attention and I heartily agree with her.:). Don't let this novel pass you by, it is rom-com at it's best. Very highly recommended. 5 stars.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for a chance to read/listen to an ARC copy of this delightful novel.

Katherine Center writes beautiful rom-coms and this certainly fits in that category. Emma is wonderfully complex; she is incredibly giving while still knowing who she is as a person. Charlie is hot-shot Hollywood and he knows it. Emma does not back down from the challenge of writing with him and the chemistry is absolutely palpable. There is such wit, humor, and genuine feelings that build between the two of them. I love that it’s so incredibly rom-com-y that the concept of romance and love spills from every page. A book that is a rom-com about writing a screenplay for a rom-com with a writer who needs to be conceived that love is real. Emma and Charlie go through some classic romance maneuvers to determine if they are possible for actually falling in love and all the real awkward moments are included. It’s refreshingly honest with the characters without having them feel like characters - all of this feels like it could really happen outside a book or movie. I was happy with the overall ending, but one giant plot point pissed me off - when you read this - which anyone should - you’ll understand what I mean. This book was a delight to listen to and as always, Katherine Center is the queen of rom-coms. 4.75⭐️, 0.5🌶

While I enjoyed the wittiness of Emma, I did not feel a connection between the characters. The story seemed to jump along with loose threads holding it together and the plot wrapped up very fast and neatly for a this type of trope.

It’s the book she was sent here to write; she has been writing joy-filled romance books for years but this particular story just experiences all the emotions. I laughed. I cried. I laughed a lot more. I got nervous. I cried some more. And I laughed a lot more. Also: there’s a scene with Meryl Streep and a fork that I will just leave at that 🤣😝

The Rom-Commers tells the story of Emma, a rom com obsessed hopeful screenwriter, with the goals of making it big- and she gets offered the deal of a lifetime to move to LA for 6 weeks and rewrite a rom-com manuscript for an Oscar winning screenwriter that she’s always admired and looked up to; but who has no idea what he’s doing writing something romantic or funny. The novel is just pure bliss. I loved every page and now I’m off to go sit on a cloud of happiness.

Patti Murin delivered another beautiful audiobook performance; it was hilarious and cute and just so much fun to listen to!

How do you know when a story is good?
If it can sway your emotions. If you feel what they feel. Not many writers can do that in my experience.
This is my first story that I have read by Katherine Center. I listened to the audiobook version with the talented Therese Plummer. As always, Therese brought the story to life and executed it perfectly.
The characters!! I fell in love Emma instantly. She is relatable, her situation is far from ideal and yet she is brave enough to fly to LA.
Enter the famous Charlie Yates. Emma is a huge fan of his. When Emma meets her favorite writer her entire life starts to shift.
The Aithor Katherine Center writes so well you feel like you are on this journey with them. I had tears streaming down my face at one point. I want all my Rom Coms to be just like this one.
I am running to read all of her titles.

I recommend Katherine Center's books for anyone who is looking to try romance but all of it just sounds too cheesy or all spice, no plot...

Katherine Center DOES IT RIGHT! Its real life, relatable, imperfect people who just happened to fall in love. We watch her characters grow together as well as watch them go through a ton of personal growth.

The third act conflict was fantastic, I honestly wondered if this would end with a happy ending even after all the screen writing talk about happy endings being so necessary.

Katherine Center is an auto buy from here on out!

I loved this book! I listened to it in one sitting and it had me feeling all the emotions. The characters were dynamic and charming, and I completely understood where they were coming from. They had to learn to love and trust each other as the book went on. It made me laugh out loud more than once and had a MMC who was entirely obsessed with the oblivious FMC the whole time. Even better, the MMC was not pushy at all with being in a relationship with the FMC, if anything, it was the other way around! The book had me on the edge of my seat and more than once I had to sit down with a box of tissues in anticipation of what was coming next. The narrator did a great job with this book as well. She had a voice that fit the character wonderfully, and her voice acting made me feel what the FMC was feeling. This was a book that made me run around screaming into pillows, and I will likely read it again within the year.

This book is so fun and the audiobook is excellent! The banter was phenomenal and the two MCs were really well suited (once they found their rhythm). I loved all of the side characters as well (except Teej, screw him) and they all served really well as a background for this love story. Emma gave up so much for her family and it is nice to see her finally getting out of her shell, even though she's terrified at first. She is likeable from the first moment and Charlie Yates doesn't know what to do with her, which is very fun. Listening to them both pull the other out of their shells is really nice and even the breakup is done really well and is justified. They're both a bit broken and finding how to peice themselves together while falling in love with one another is really well done.

Also, shout out to Meryl Streep for existing in all universes real and otherwise. :)

Read Completed 3/26/24 | 3 stars
Wow, I'm incredibly disappointed that I didn't enjoy this one more. The ratings so far (this is a June release date and I read it in March) are very high with mostly 4 and 5 stars, but this one just didn't do it for me. If this was my first Katherine Center book, I probably wouldn't have picked up another one.

My main disappointment was that I felt zero chemistry between Emma and Charlie. ZERO. I didn't feel any butterflies, I got not emotion from Charlie, and it felt very one-sided and disproportionate to have Emma infatuated with him a little bit in the beginning. I've read plenty of rom-coms where the affection is unrequited at first and then they fall in love, but I don't know. For some reason, it didn't work here for me at all, and Charlie is so closed off that I didn't EVER feel like they were falling in love. There was a point about that in the book, kind of, but as a reader, I just never really felt it at all.

There was just something about the characters too... I didn't like any of them. I actually really didn't like Emma right from the beginning. Charlie was a jerk when they first met. I didn't like the randomly British best friend. I didn't like her sister. Okay, her dad was sweet. We'll give them that one, but everyone else I just actively didn't like. This is SO WEIRD because I adored THE BODYGUARD and really enjoyed HELLO, STRANGER.

One of the things I really appreciated has to do with something Charlie reveals to Emma that becomes something important to the plot. MINOR spoiler but I'll put it in tags in case you don't want to know... [Charlie reveals his ex-wife left him when she found out he had cancer. He was going to celebrate his 5-year anniversary of being cancer free with Emma and that it was basically cured at 5 years, which I appreciated like crazy being that my husband had cancer and hitting that 5 year remission mark is huge, amazing, and also the same for his type of cancer where you're basically considered cured at 5 years. (hide spoiler)] So that was a big thing for me and I appreciated the heck out of how that was written. But THEN... more major spoiler since it's a thing that happens in the end.... [ I HATED that she gave him a cancer scare. Charlie had bronchitis and is coughing a lot throughout the middle of the book. They think he may have lung cancer because they can see something on his scan, but it's just bronchitis. I absolutely hate that it was used as a cancer scare and that it was used as a turning point for the characters to profess their love. That ruined the magic of him being cancer-free and as someone who has also had that feeling (a plain old boring cyst that didn't show up well on a scan and then we had to wait to find out what it was), I hated that moment and it ruined things even more for me. (hide spoiler)]

I also didn't really like the asides to the reader, breaking the 4th wall, essentially. I would rather Emma just tell the story and not like she was telling the story to you, dear reader. It got like, cheesy movie rom-com instead of cute book rom-com. I don't know. Something about it just really took me out of the reading experience.

Clearly others loved it so I will be the outlier opinion here (hey, did you also not like HAPPY PLACE by Emily Henry? Let's join this lonely club) while others gave it 5 glowing stars. You'll just have to read it for yourself! But if you find you're feeling no chemistry, maybe we feel this together.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Patti Murin was the narrator for this audiobook and normally I usually love her. I've listened to many of her narrations and she voiced both THE BODYGUARD and HELLO, STRANGER and I had no issues with her narration. I guess combined with this book, it just didn't work for me. She was fine, but I didn't like the characters and that just all compounded. I really hated her voice for Charlie? It didn't feel attractive or like much of anything at all. Again, probably the character's fault, but I just didn't connect with that.

Katherine Center is one of my favorite Romance authors, her stories have depth and vulnerability while still being full fun and joy. Her characters face all that this messy adventure we call life throws at them and find people that value them to love along the way. The Rom-Commers is another wonderful story that teaches us to chase after our dreams and passions, to be true to ourself and find fulfillment in the things that bring us joy. I loved watching Emma teach Charlie to appreciate and understand Rom Coms and the joy and wonder they bring to the world. I loved watching them both learn to love and be loved in open and healthy ways, to see that sharing your struggles and sorrows doesn't make you weak, but does allow you to find the strength to face hard things and to go on with the help and support of those who love you. As always, I loved the supporting characters. This is a gem of a love story! The beauty of romance is that readers are guaranteed to come away from the story glowing and joyful and lifted by the HEA and by characters figuring out how to love and connect deeply. A romance about teaching others to value romance, even better!! I'm on board 100%

I especially LOVED the author's note at the end of the audiobook that shouts from the rooftops that Romance is not a genre to be scoffed or belittled or ridiculed, but should be valued and appreciated as the most pro-social genre out there. Love stories are actually the most hopeful and healing stories. The world will always be better with more love and kindness and people learning to connect and appreciate others and treat others well. I LOVE romance and I'm always thrilled to support the authors and stories that put more hope and joy and love into the world. Katherine said this in her author's note, "If you've been shamed away from reading love stories, hello friend, come over to the fun side, the ridicule is wrong...come hang out with me on my hill of love stories." Thank you so much Katherine for adding this wonderful story to the hill of love stories that fill me up and let me soar! The Rom-Commers will speak to the soul of every hopeless romantic and closet romantic out there; come join us romance readers, writers and lovers on the fun side!

The word that keeps coming up for this book is delightful. I truly felt delighted while listening to the book for so many reasons.

Overall, the book meets your expectations of the name. Quirky heroine, Emma, embarks on a journey to write a romcom screenplay with a serious Hollywood screenwriter. Emma’s love of RomComs feels so familiar as my own and it made it feel like I was relating to a friend.

Reflecting back, I didn’t particularly fall in love with the MMC, Charlie. He definitely is the grumpy to Emma’s sunshine. Even though he may not have jumped off the page for me, they do have some good dialogue that did make me laugh out loud at least once. There is zero spice but you do get some good tension in places.

There are deeper themes of sadness and difficulties because of Emma’s role as her father’s caretaker. They help even out the more ridiculous parts of the story (as any true romcom would have).

The narration really adds to the overall feeling of delight. Patti Murin is so charming and makes it feel like your friend Emma is telling you her story.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Whatever story you tell yourself, that’s the one that will be true”🥺

OKAYY. So this book didn’t follow the usual Katherine Center comfort chick-lit formula we all know & love. But I was ok with that. And I think you will be, too!

Emma & Charlie have a slow-burn relationship with open communication but…just enough mystery to keep you wondering😉 It’s also definitely further on the romance side for a KC book, but has just enough chick-lit to keep it multi-dimensional👌🏽 KC doesn’t included any comically evil characters or frustrating misunderstandings in this one—just enough drama to keep the story realistic & moving.

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Which is this: if you’re a fan of Chick-Lit or Romance, this is a must-read👏🏽

An adorable rom com indeed! I listened to the audiobook ahead of release date and had a lovely time listening to the amazing Patti Murin tell such a charming story.

The first half was a bit slow, but then it really sped up and captivated me in the last half. I was giggling and kicking my feet and audibly reacting at every turn! The characters were so endearing. Emma and Charlie feel very real and well rounded. The other characters feel less so, but it didn’t bother me.

This was my first book by this author and now I’m about to binge them all! Bye! :)

Interesting Facts about Space by Emily R. Austin was a quirky, fun book with a bit of a mystery and it tackled such topics as mental health, dysfunctional family, trauma, LGBTQ+ issues, and neurodivergence. I love it all the way to space and back!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced digital copy of the book.

I LOVED this book. It was exactly what I needed and an absolutely perfect story that I hope to someday see turned into a movie. If you want a fun, adorable, quick romantic story - choose this one!

Such a fun book! I loved this book about 2 screen writers writing a rom com movie. The narrator did a great job at bringing Emma to life. Everything was done really well… the writing, characters, banter, relationships, tough subjects, the ending…I really enjoyed it all.

Title: The Rom-Commers
Author: Katherine Center

Emma Wheeler's existence is consumed by being a caregiver to her father, who needs round-the-clock care when she is presented with an opportunity to live out her lifelong dream of being a screenwriter. Adding to her dream situation, she would work with her favorite A-lister screenwriter, Charlie Yates. Her years of obsessing over crafting the perfect romantic comedy have finally paid off. However, when she arrived in L.A., things were different from what she expected. She decides to make her dream happen despite her roadblocks at every turn.

The title says it all. This book is fun, silly, and the essence of a Rom-Com. I absolutely loved Emma Wheeler. She is caring, giving, intelligent, and funny. She has sacrificed so much for her family, but it is all out of love. That is it. She is a character who loves love. She is someone who only knows how to love BIG, ALL IN. That is what makes her so endearing. In most romance books, people don't express their feelings, but that is not Emma.

Aside from the characters, the story was satisfying. The premise was unique and created a fun and joyful experience. You find yourself cheering on the characters and smiling through the read. I never felt bored or that the story's pacing was too slow. Remember, this is a romantic comedy, so there are the usual tropes. Don't let that stop you from having a good time and falling in love with the characters.

This is my honest review based on an ARC copy of the audiobook from McMillan Audio and Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.

3.5 stars rounded up. While this wasn't my favorite Katherine Center book, I did enjoy it. I just didn't feel like I connected to the characters in the same way I usually do with her books. This book is emotional and full of tension but the development of any sort of relationship wasn't really there until the very end. Besides the romance, I really enjoyed Emma finally getting to free herself and do things she's never even been hopeful about doing, since she has been cooped up so long being the primary caretaker for her dad. The guilt she carries was so hard for her and I love that she was able to overcome some of that. Charlie has a lot of issues and guilt himself and really sucked at communication. I think if the book was another couple of chapters with more of their actual relationship together, this would've really been great for me. It was just a lot of build up and not talking to each other but secretly pining to them then admitting feelings and having hard conversations and then the book was over.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Katherine Center can do no wrong. I loved this. I love her writing. Just a fantastic story. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.