Katherine Center is an auto-read author for me! I absolutely love her writing, characters, and storyline. The Rom-Commers is my favorite novel by her. I loved the banter, fell in love with the characters, and the storyline. I also enjoy how her novels are more than just sweet romances - there is always a deeper component to her novels. I thoroughly enjoyed Jack Stapleton and Hannah's cameos from her other novel "The Bodyguard".

4.5 stars!

Definitely check out the Rom-Commers when it comes out June 11th.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest 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.

Emma is finally getting the chance to make her dreams come true & work on a script with famous screenwriter Charlie Yates. Emma has been working & a caregiver for her father but when she gets the opportunity to refresh a rom-com script by the esteemed Charlie Yates, she takes it & moves to his LA home to work on the script. Charlie & Emma have a connection & it grows over time but Charlie is reluctant to take things to the next level.

I liked this book but what I didn’t get was why Emma (chronic eavesdropper) keeps hearing Charlie say bad things about her & she still sticks around.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for the ARC.

I received this book for free from netgalley and publisher for my honest opinion.

Charlie is a famous writer who’s going through a writers block and Emma goes to help him fix a romcom he wrote.

Charlie doesn’t want Emma around but he warms up to her quickly.

Honestly I love grumpy sunshine but Charlie was just downright rude at times but then he was super sweet. He’s a sour patch adult.

Also if I’m being honest, I don’t love the “miscommunication trope” like you’re adults.. tell each other you like or dislike each other.

I love Katherine Center books but this one wasn’t my favorite from her. I’m not actually sure how I feel about it but I feel like the ending redeemed itself because I wasn’t overly impressed with how things were going but in the end, I rated it 4 stars because of the ending.

I absolutely adored this book! Full of sexy banter, double entendre wit, and honest to goodness love... love of family and romance. Emma and Charlie were nerdy and imperfect which made them all the more loveable. Katherine Center was on point in how she incorporated the medical aspects of this story, and I was happy to see she acknowledged her numerous consultants at the end. Some authors only write what they know, some authors poorly write what they don't know, and others do the right thing through research and expert validation. Bravo to the author for being amongst the latter!

The Rom-Commers is a book that made me laugh out loud and shed tears of sadness and happiness. It gave me all the feels in the best way!

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

I •SQUEALED• when I was I received an ARC of The Rom-Commers! Shout out to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for making my reader heart ❤️ so happy.

I love Katherine Center and she’s an automatic must read for me. I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for quite some time!

I found The Rom-Commers harder to really get invested in but when it turned into a love story, I was sold!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#bookstagram #NetGalley #netgalleyreviewer #booksbooksbooks #bookrecommendations #stmartinspress

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts expressed below are mine alone.

My first Katherine Center book was last year’s Hello Stranger and I really liked her writing style. There was witty banter and clever meet-cutes and she had a way of balancing women’s/contemporary fiction with romance to create an entertaining yet meaningful read. The Rom-Commers continued this winning formula and did it even better, in my opinion.

Two writers writing a rom-com together while also being the subject of one? What in the Inception is this? This book is perfect for fans of the following tropes:

- Enemies to Lovers
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
- Clean Romance

There were many really cute classic moments between Emma and Charlie that I could envision playing out in a rom-com movie - hiding from Charlie’s ex-wife in a pantry, learning line dancing, watching famous kissing scenes on YouTube to perfect their script, writing across from one another with the guinea pig, Cuthbert, sleeping in his plush barn between them. The romantic tension and buildup was well executed. I also enjoyed the side characters quite a bit. There was a twist near the end that seemed a little too far-fetched. Because I had to suspend my disbelief and it pulled me out of the story briefly, I couldn’t give a full five stars. But I still highly recommend this for all my fellow rom-com lovers.

If you’ve been following along, you know that, generally, I’m a big fan of Katherine Center. After not loving Hello Stranger, I’m super happy to report that I absolutely loved The Rom-Commers. As a person who is fascinated by screenwriting (in another life, that’s what I would have liked to have done with my life), it hits all the right notes.

What didn’t work for me

The title: I don’t know why, but the title just didn’t hit with me. If this wasn’t a Katherine Center book, I wouldn’t have given it another look based on the title. These people are movie writers, for goodness sake…and no one could come up with anything better?!

More process: This could just be me because I love it, but I wish we got a bit of a bigger glimpse into their screenwriting process. We got little tidbits here and there, but I wanted to see how they worked together better—and learn more about the project they were writing.

What I liked

Emma’s family: Honestly, they were so cute. Yes, there was a lot of tragedy, as is almost a Center specialty, but they felt honest feelings (and said them out loud), fought and came out on the other side. It was so nice that it was such a developed part of the story. I do wish we learned more about Charlie’s family though, beyond his ex-wife.

The plot: I know this is super vague, but I really did just love the whole story. From the side characters to how the main characters interacted, I really enjoyed it. I could barely put it down…and I paid the price with sleep!

4.5 STARS

“Love stories had lifted me up, delighted me, and educated me on the power of human kindness for years. I knew a lot about love. A lot more, I bet, than all the people who took it for granted.” —Katharine Center, The Rom-Commers

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Who doesn’t love a good Katherine Center book? And this one does not disappoint,

Emma Wheeler dreams of becoming a successful screenwriter and Charlie Yates is a successful screen writer but he is writing a romcom and that he does not do well. Emma is hired by his manager to help him out.
As Emma and Charlie get to know each other you are going so root for them. Everything was just so hard for them but slowly Charlie changes with Emma being around.

The story is funny, chaotic, full of love and heartbreak while also having those laugh out loud moments. This even occurred when Charlies was being an ass. End the end will there be heartbreak for Emma or will she and Charlie live and be happy?


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC for this wonderful book!

Oh, Katherine Center. I just love her books. Every book of hers not only has wit, humor, and cute romantic moments, but they also deal with life’s struggles and hardships in an honest yet hopeful way. The Rom-Commers is her newest book, and quite possibly my favorite (Things You Save in a Fire has held the top spot for me, but this one may have just upset the ranking).

Emma is a struggling screenwriter who put her career aside to take care of her father after he had a life-altering accident ten years ago. She’s suddenly given the opportunity of a lifetime by her manager - to help the esteemed screenwriter Charlie Yates rewrite his script for a new rom-com. Charlie is known for his prolific skills as a screenwriter, creating scripts for blockbuster after blockbuster…except this script is atrocious. But when she arrives, she soon realizes that Charlie doesn’t want her help. He wants this script to fail so that he can get his dream project accomplished instead. Being a lover of all rom-coms, Emma can’t let this stand. She decides to teach Charlie the ways of a great rom-com, by showing him what needs to be changed and having him experience some elements that he placed in the script firsthand. But as they work together to rewrite the script, little moments begin to happen between them…and Emma begins to wonder if this working relationship may have the potential for more. The problem is…how does Charlie feel? And should she take the next step to find out?

I absolutely loved this book. Emma and Charlie’s banter is so enjoyable and witty! I love how they counter each other; how Emma doesn’t back down when Charlie challenges her. I loved every little situation they found themselves in and my heart just swooned throughout most of the book. My rom-com loving self was so happy throughout this one!

Both of their backstories speak to the difficulties they’ve faced and the heartache they’ve endured. Emma and Charlie have faced devastation in their lives, and finding their way out of that devastation to trust and be vulnerable with someone is one of the hardest things to do. I loved the honesty and emotion that both of them have as they grow closer, and how that speaks to the human heart. Without giving too much away, this particular element of the book truly spoke to my heart, and made me feel seen and understood.

I found myself highlighting whole sections of this book. The quotes are amazing. I want to include them here, but I decided not to. Because you just need to read them and let them speak to you and your life, like they spoke to mine.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC, in exchange for my honest review.

This review may be slightly biased because I love Katherine Center so very much. She just nails the balance of love / loss / humor that I personally adore.

So yes, this book made me swoon at parts, cry at others and laugh throughout.

I actually read the first two chapters in between meetings and just knew I was going to LOVE Emma. And I was 100% correct. She's just the kind of character you get and root for.

After being in a bit of a reading rut, this was such a joy to read! There were just so many scenes that I want to go back and read again, from the sisters discussing their job opportunities to when Emma shows up to meet Charlie to her NOTES on his screenplay to the diving board to the awards ceremony, gosh I loved it all.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“Love is something you can learn. Love is something you can practice. It’s something you can choose to get good at. And here’s how you do it…Appreciate your person.”

Emma Wheeler has had dreams of making it big as a writer, dreams she hasn't let herself think about in years...until her big break comes along: she's offered the chance to write a screenplay with the legendary Charlie Yates. The catch? It's a rom-com...a rom-com Charlie is only writing to get his big Mafia movie made...a rom-com penned by a man who doesn't believe in love.

I mean what could go wrong?! 😆😆 Loved it! Loved. It. This book is both laugh-out-loud funny and extremely endearing. It’s a grumpy meets sunshine, set in Hollywood. THE most perfect backdrop for a grumpy award winning Hollywood-ite and a naive, yet strong, ball of sunshine with wild curly hair.

I loved these characters so much! They are so real they were jumping off of the page and straight into my heart. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them yet. And isn’t that just simultaneously the best AND worst feeling?!

I also really enjoyed the bonus scene in the audiobook. That was such a fun look at one of the best scenes in the book from Charlie’s perspective. Such a fun addition! 10/10 recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and the author for the ALC and ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this one— it was a ton of fun! I honestly wish this would’ve been a dual POV but overall it was a fun ride.

Emma Wheeler has spent the first part of her adult life taking care of everyone around her. She let her sister go off to college so she could pursue her dreams and stayed back to take care of their father full time. When the opportunity of a life time comes up, her family will not let her turn it down. Charlie Yates, Emma’s favorite screenwriter, is in need of a ghostwriter for one of his upcoming films. He wrote a romantic comedy script and it was… not good.

We love a rom-com about writing a rom-com!

Read if you like:
• fantastic banter
• workplace romance
• movies
• he falls harder
• celebrity (famous screenwriter) romance

Elevator pitch:
Emma has one chance to make her dream of writing a romance screenplay come true. Unfortunately, that one chance means living with her writing hero in his mansion after discovering he wants nothing to do with this project and writing romance.

My thoughts:
Katherine Center is on my automatic recommend list. I feel like I name every new book she writes my favorite. Before starting Rom-commers, it felt impossible to like this one more than her priors, but I did. Rom-commers is easily on my top reads of 2024 list and potentially on my all-time favorites list.

The characterizations in this story made it for me. Katherine Center creates unique voices for characters, and within very few chapters, the reader feels like they’ve known the protagonist for years. The Rom-commers main character, Emma, breaks the fourth wall, pulling the reader into the story without the narrative feeling forced or cliché.

The budding romance between the bookish, hopeless romantic MC, Emma, and her curmudgeon co-writer, Charlie, made for the perfect storyline. I loved how Katherine Center intertwined insight into an author’s mind through Emma and Charlie’s partnership. It felt like a behind-the-scenes tour of the making of a screenplay.

Katherine Center never disappoints where hope is concerned. I loved this book's careful reminders that there is always room for finding the light. As always, I’ll be looking for the next Katherine Center and wholeheartedly recommending this to anyone who asks.

Recommended to readers who love:
📚Emily Henry, Jojo Moyes, Abby Jimenez
📚laughter, hope, curmudgeons, and awkward moments
📚writer MCs, character arcs, & redemption arcs

Rating: 5.0

Disclosure:
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the Digital Review Copy of The Rom-Commers. All opinions are my own.

Katherine’s books are always a fun time. They are super easy to read and I never want to put them down. This had the best banter had me laughing out loud. The tension in this book was so good I was up late finishing this book. It also has a super unique premise of screen writers writing a romcom. I loved that they were writing a script inside a story. I highly recommend adding this book to your tbr. It comes out June 11th!

The thing Emma wants most is to be a screenwriter, and when the opportunity comes along to write for her hero, famous screenwriter Charlie Yates, she decides to go for it. However, her bubble bursts when she meets Charlie, and he ends up to be not quite like she imagined. And even worse, he doesn't even believe in love.

Emma sets out to prove to Charlie that yes, true love does exist, and in this grumpy-sunshine, forced-proximity romance, you can imagine where this ends up.

I loved the dynamic of all the characters- Emma's family, her ex-boyfriend agent, and even a cameo appearance of characters from one of Katherine Center's other books, to name a few. This is the third book I've read by this author, and I admire how she takes difficult topics and weaves them into a sweet story that lingered with me long after I read the last page.

This book is just the perfect one for your summer reading if you're looking for a romance that's not just fluff but has substance with some laugh out loud moments.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital advance review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely loved “The Rom-Commers” by Katherine Center! This story gave me everything that I want in a rom-com. It was funny, deep, and it gave me all the warm fuzzies.

Many thanks for an advance copy.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center is a fantastic romantic comedy.
The characters are well developed and flawed.

The story is funny at times and endearing.

My favorite book by Katherine Center and I have read all her books!

Such a feel good story.

I received an ARC of this book and let me tell you it is a must read! It is everything a rom com book is and more. It was such a fun read and I love the celebrity aspect to the story. I loved reading this and didnt want it to end.

Emma wants to be a screenwriter but family circumstances have kept her in Houston as the primary caregiver for her Dad. When an unexpected opportunity arises for Emma to co-author a romcom movie script, she takes it, but the path isn’t smooth. Brilliant screenwriter Charlie Yates doesn’t work with other writers and didn’t know Emma was even coming to LA. He’s reluctant to co-write, doesn’t believe in love, and questions Emma’s commitment to writing due to her passing up past opportunities.

The Rom-commers is my 2nd book by Center, after loving The Bodyguard earlier this year. My feelings toward Emma shifted throughout the book — I felt she was too self-righteous at times and was glad her sister stood up for herself. I felt indifferent about Charlie. That said, I ultimately enjoyed the story and appreciate its message about forgiveness and living for “the now” more so than the romance itself.