The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center. Katherine Center is my go to for light, fun reads. This one did not disappoint. She always throws some twists and turns in there that you won't be expecting - which makes the books even better! This is one of my favorite Katherine Center books! The perfect summer beach read!

While The Rom-Commers isn’t my favorite Katherine Center novel, I still enjoyed it. Miscommunication is my least favorite romance trope, so that is likely why this wasn’t a slam dunk for me, and some of the dialogue was a bit immature. However, I will not hesitate to pick up Center’s next romance, because I love her characters.

Patti Murin did a wonderful job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a delight! I think it was my favorite Katherine Center book I've read. The Rom-Commers follows two screenwriters as they overhaul a new movie script. The banter and writing was really well done, smart and also genuinely funny. Emma, the lead is a die hard romcom fan who has to win over grouchy Charlie. Emma talks about her love of rom coms at one point and says something along the lines of- you always know what's going to happen in the end but it's about how you get there that's enjoyable. I love rom-coms and romantic comedy books, I know that's not a real category but it should be. This was such a well done book in that genre. You know it's going to be an enemies to lovers story right from the start, but the journey to get there is what makes this so fun!

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book to read and review!

This book was entertaining but it seemed to lose focus occasionally from its main storyline. The characters were adults but spoke and behaved like emotionally immature young adults. I really wanted to like it since I so enjoyed Katherine’s last two books, but this one missed the mark for me. I can see that a reader looking for a gentle romance novel without any spice would be drawn to this one, and I would definitely direct them to the author’s two earlier titles.

While I love grumpy sunshine, I hate miscommunication as a trope, and that's all this book was.

Emma has put her life on hold to care for her dad. She gets the opportunity to help a very famous writer with a rom com and goes to LA for six weeks, leaving her little sister as the caretaker. There is a lot of heavy family stuff in this book, as Emma's dad requires full time care and that has been her life for ten years.. However, there is also a lot of funny banter between Emma and Charlie, and, in fact, I laughed out loud many times. Emma and Charlie didn't really have any chemistry though. There was no attraction in the writing, just companionable existence until there was a big needlessly dramatic third act.

I found the writing very good, if a tad overdone. The narrator was good but a bit slow, I found myself wishing I could speed it up faster than the 3x NetGalley maxes out at.

Bottom line, I could not stand Charlie. All the trash talking he does that Emma overhears? nope. And the ending? nope. It did not work for me. He straight sucked and she deserved to be treated better. Be an adult, have a real conversation, the end.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this story. The narrator was perfect for the main character and made it really easy to get into the story. It was sweet and funny. I loved seeing how Charlie and Emma’s relationship slowly developed. And it tackled hard themes like loss and illness of a loved one so well.

I do feel like it minimized the feelings of some of the other characters, which I didn’t love and kept it from being a 5 star read. For example, towards the end, Emma was very upset at her sister for something she said and didn’t want to forgive her. However, she said some equally hurtful things as well, but that was never acknowledged.

I love Katherine Center's books! This one wasn't my favorite of her's but it was still great! Great character development, as always!

Two writers with completely different areas of expertise coming together to co-write one romcom…what could go wrong?!

There is something said in this book about how some readers often view romcoms as “less than”. They are often mocked or looked down on, thought of as too cheesy or predictable. And I admit, I myself have previously thought this. But I have also realized that there are very few books that appeal to my heart and evoke such strong emotions as romcoms do. Yes they can be predictable and cheesy, but who doesn’t love a happy ending?!

This story was SO GOOD! I felt all the feels and was rooting so hard for Emma and Charlie. Even when Charlie was being a total tool, I couldn’t help but still love him. And man, I want to be more like Emma. This was a quick read because I was so wrapped up in the story and didn’t want to put it down. And the narrators absolutely killed it!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

**Review will be shared release week on my site and socials!**

THIS FILLED MY SOUL.

Audiobook thoughts: The narrator was incredible. I mostly listened to this and I looove the way Patti Murin brought Emma to life. I felt like I was a part of this story in all the best ways. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook!

I needed an automatic win kind of read and I just knew this would deliver, and it did that and so much more. Gosh I loved this book. It speaks to the soul of every lover of romance everywhere. The themes are woven in with care and love and EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK OKAY?

I adored Emma and Charlie. From the moment they met you could see the connection between them. I looooved the banter and humor. I laughed so many times and could not stop smiling. Even had some teary eyed moments because the story was as deep as it was light. The perfect combination of both was balanced throughout this book.

You know a romance is good when you love BOTH characters. And while there’s a good moment or two where you want to shake some one, it doesn’t matter because every thing felt authentic. The build up of decision making and past issues made the entire book feel real and a true nod to taking the lemons life gives you and squeezing out whatever lemonade you can.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: low
Romance: kisses
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of divorce, mentions of cancer, loss of a parent (recounted)

4.5/5⭐️ The Rom-Commers is one of my top 5 most anticipated reads of 2024. I’m not easily brought to true tears by a book, but somehow, even just the opening of this book had me both crying and laughing. Katherine Center is such a gifted storyteller and balances emotional depth with hilarious dialogue. Her characters always feel real, flawed but not hopeless. This story is so much more than a romcom.

I take off a half star, because I don’t believe the redemption arc of the MMC, Charlie. I don’t like how he treats Emma, how he handles frustration or disappointment. I refuse to ever give a full 5⭐️ to a breakup trope where one character is cruel to the other “for their own good.” I didn’t find the twist at the end believable either. I feel the need to google whether it’s even possible. I feel like just a little tweaking of these details would have made The Rom-Commers one of my favorite books of all time.

I listened to the audio of this book. Patti Murin gave this narration a truly excellent performance. Her voice is perfect for a romcom, and she gives each character a distinctive and believable voice. At times, the recording includes a lot of sharp inhale breathing sounds that did briefly take me out of the story. But overall, I absolutely loved the audiobook and will gladly listen to it again.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for sending an advanced copy of the audiobook for review consideration. I was thrilled with this opportunity. All opinions are my own, and I’ve already preordered a hard copy for my bookshelf.

A book about rewriting a rom com script with a grumpy screenwriter who is your idol sounds great to me. Emma is a writer and lover of rom com. She gets a chance to work with her idol and goes to LA. Little does she know that Charlie is not aware of her arrival and there's tension from the start. It's a bit enemies to lovers with Charlie's lack of desire to work with Emma and Emma's honest personality. There's some fun moments that you see the real Charlie and I enjoyed these scenes so much. I also enjoyed having Jack from The Bodyguard making some guest appearance in the story too.

Patti Murin did a great job with the narration and portraying Emma and her emotions.

Thank you @smpromance @macmilllan.audio @netgalley for a copy of this book.

I didn’t know a perfect romance audiobook could exist until this one. This story was meant to be read out loud. I loved the point of view. That Emma was telling us all her story in between the scenes. This story captured my heart. I had my arms wrapped around me in a hug so many times listening to this. Katherine really touched every single corner of these characters lives and shared them with us. The good, the bad and the ugly. Also, the so very sweet. I fell in love with each character. The mains and the supporting cast. Well. Except that one. And you’ll figure out soon enough who that is. There’s one in every story. I am going to have to pick up a shelf trophy of this book to not only to look at on my shelf, but to hug.

Do yourself a favor, if you listen to audio, or if you don’t listen to the audio. Patti Murin does each and every character justice. There is no better voice for Emma or Charlie.


Thank you Net Galley, McMillan Audio for giving me a chance to listen to this audio for an honest review.

I was absolutely delighted by this Katherine Center rom com! Ella is a writer that has sacrificed a good portion of her life for her family, when she is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to collaborate with one of her idols, an award winning screenwriter, Charlie. She is tasked with teaching him about the rom com genre and along the way they both learn a little about life.

This is only my second Katherine Center book, but she is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her writing is truly beautiful- heavy but light, fun but serious, emotional but “feel good”… I don’t know how she does it. I find myself almost in tears yet I don’t know if they are from happiness or just from so much overwhelming emotion.

I loved every single character in this book. The MFC is so honest with herself. She is strong and brave and confident yet she is also a little insecure and vulnerable and fragile, but she owns all of it. She overcomes all that life throws at her, and she is far from living an easy life. She makes the absolute best of every situation and she is truly who I would like to strive to be. Ugh, makes my heart happy all over again just thinking about it.

Then there is Charlie. This man is the perfect definition of hard on the outside and soft on the inside. He is much less in touch with his emotions than Emma, but he does learn to
work on himself and as much as he tries to resists he becomes so open to growth, especially when it comes to making Emma happy.

I received this advanced copy on audio and Patti Murin reading as Emma is also, pure perfection. I could go on and on about this book but I won’t, and instead I will just recommend it to everyone and anyone. It is so much more than just another “rom-com”.

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Romance 🩷🩷🩷🩷
Spice 🫑

This was a cute and unique story. The main character, Emma, definitely has ptsd about her past life. The other main character, Charlie, is a liar with his own trauma. Pretty much every person in Emma's life lies or takes advantage of her. Emma has so much to offer. Charlie really doesn't deserve her, but maybe if there is a book 2, she'll fall in love with a handsome ranch owner.

Katherine Center is an immediate go to author of mine, and she has outdone herself!! This book had me laughing, swooning and dancing!

Another great book by Katherine Center! Loved it. I listened to this in audiobook and enjoyed the narrator.

#TheRomCommers by @katherinecenter is what I finished listening to today! Many thanks to @macmillan.audio for allowing me to listen to their fabulous production of her work, and for @netgalley allowing me as well to be a member!

**** PEOPLE I LOVED THIS STORY****

I love a story that tells of the process of something, people working on a project, such as : an audiobook or podcast, or in this case: a screenplay. When Emma (who is a complete sweetheart) is called by her agent to work with Charlie Yates (a famous writer/screenplay writer) she is super nervous yet confident that she would help him rewrite a surprisingly bad screenplay. It seems Charlie can make good out of anything except a love topic. Recently divorced he has no mojo for romance. Or so he thinks! I have to say he was one of my least favorite characters because in pushing Emma away, I found him to be so harsh. But mannnnnn when things take a turn!
What I love about Katherine’s particular romcom books is that her characters always have an emotional depth, and she finds a way, even through the tragedies of life, to make her characters be ok in the end. She has these amazing lighthearted banter between the love interests which delights me and makes me literally laugh out loud with the fun of it all, but this one also made me cry. Katherine doesn’t just give you the light, she gives you a bit of the dark just enough to make you engage and root for the MC and becomes hopelessly invested. She shows the intimacy of family life, ripping the bandaid off of bad situations and showing a path to a fix. The scene between Emma and her sister when they had a falling out was brutal, but the forgiveness scene had me crying! I love that her characters find the BEST in themselves and then they GIVE that to their loved ones. It makes me feel hopeful that things that are broke can be glued back together with love and the right words. Maybe. But this is the magic of the romcom - making you laugh, cry, hope, and then it lets you do something that LIFE itself doesn’t always - it lets you put out a huge SIGH of relief!
I’ll always be a fan of Katherine’s humor and the heart of her characters! Coming out June!!

I cannot say enough good things about this book! I will start with the audiobook narrator- amazing. Her delivery of this story was just spectacular. No notes.
Now the book itself- perfection. Emma and Charlie’s banter was top notch and I could literally feel the chemistry between them. The storyline and the depth to the characters left nothing to be desired.
Overall- another amazing story from Katherine Center! I can’t wait to read her next book and here’s to hoping she comes to Cincinnati for a book signing this year!!!

I thought The Bodyguard was going to be my all-time favorite Katherine Center book, and then I read The Rom-Commers. WOW. I ran the whole gamut of emotion reading this one! Trepidatious, excited, outraged, swoony, angry again, swoony again…what a ride. I LOVED Emma, and Patti Murin is such an incredible narrator…she really brings characters to life. I also appreciate that when she voices male characters, her voice doesn’t go all weird. There was a point I got mad at Katherine, haha, but to divulge any more would be to give spoilers, and I won’t do that!!

I can’t recommend this more highly. This story is such a brilliant defense of rom-coms, and it just makes you feel GOOD. And if I’m not reading to feel good, then why am I reading? Well done. I cannot WAIT for the next KC book, and I hope against all hope that Patti Murin narrates it!!