Some books are just meant to be read while curled up with a cup of your favorite beverage underneath your favorite cozy blanket. Lucky for you, I have just the book! 🙃
What do you get when you put a romance writer who loves love and a screen writer who hates it together? Answer: The Rom-Commers!
This book was everything I had hoped for and more 🥰 Emma and Charlie were so fun to love. They embodied so many tropes within the pages of this rom com which made it even more fun to fall for them.
From a dash of enemies to lovers, a sprinkle of friends to lovers and even close proximity they’ll melt your heart and have you believing in love all over again!
What I really loved about this story though was the reminder that love isn’t always sunshine and rainbows.
Katherine Center does a wonderful job of painting a love story that isn’t tied up neatly in a bow. In fact, we get the real day to day life that most real life love stories go through.
Loss, tragedy and sickness are just a few of the hard realities Center covers and it makes the end result of Emma and Charlie’s love story that much sweeter.
So go grab that favorite beverage and cozy blanket and cuddle up with this book that’s sure to be a top five of your reads this year! ❤️
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I’m trying to think of how to describe just how much I enjoyed this. I guess it’s a good sign that I was getting fed up with my family/job/life etc when I wasn’t getting the time away from the chaos to binge this book as much as I wanted. Somehow doing the dishes for the third time in one day was just really hitting different… you know? 😂 Thankfully our family had a 6 hour flight and I finally got the time I was craving to dive in to it and never let go.

This book is so binge worthy and chocked full of laughable, goosebump inducing, tear filled moments. Most importantly, it was filled with so much heart. The book realistically depicts how one experiences grief, how life can change one’s path and the love of a strong family bond that can come from challenging situations. I highlighted so many great quotes that I know I’ll circle back to… but I can’t share them without fear of giving anything away. I guess you’ll just have to pick this one up! I know I’ll for sure be grabbing a copy when it releases to add to my shelf. @katherine my 40th bday is June 7th... Just throwing it out there that it’s a big one and if a signed copy were to show up at my door I would be ecstatic 😂🥰

Thanks you so much @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the advance copy!

Gah what a beautiful story! Katherine Center has this ability to make you cackle one minute and then cry the next. The banter between Emma and Charlie is on point. The story was great. The backgrounds and the family side stories were relatable. What I LOVED about this story is how optimistic it is! It makes you want to see the good in everything knowing we only have so much time on this earth. Emma was such an awesome character and I loved when she was vulnerable and true to herself. I loved how Charlie took such good care of Emma however he could. I also loved that this was a deep rom-com about rom-coms. Seriously if you love rom-coms, deep family stories and stories about love, you will not want to miss this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my ALC of this story which publishes on 6/11/24

This has all the feels! I laughed, cried, screamed and cheered! Every page was a joy. The relationships between the characters were so touching and we so relatable. Emma and her Dad were so amazing, Emma and her sister so fun, Emma and Logan so funny and Emma and Charlie so adorable! A fun rom-com filled with singing, dancing, a little sadness and plenty of tug on your heartstrings moments. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 5 Stars!! Available June 11, 2024. Thank you to St Martin's Press and Katherine Center for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley.

Katherine Center has the Midas touch. Everything she writes is perfection and the Rom-Commers is no exception! This was such a sweet and honest story of belief and doubt and of letting others in.

The energy between the love interests was so good and they occupied my mind when I was away from the book.

The themes and circumstances that bring the characters together figuratively and literally are somewhat heavy but told with such honesty and optimism that I found processing a welcome experience.

As always the banter and hi-jinx are so good. This book is fun to read and hard to put down.

This book was…ok? It was good, if maybe a little forgettable. There wasn’t really anything special or very memorable about it. I didn’t really feel like the relationship was fleshed out enough between the two main characters. They definitely had their moments, but it was kind of like, well how did we get here?? Just sort of jumped into it without showing how they got there. All of a sudden there were feelings, but none of the build up I was hoping for.

Katherine Center is an automatic buy author for me and I was so excited about this book. It was everything I was looking for! I laughed, I cried a little, and I swooned as I read it. I did have to get over the fact that the man characters are Charlie and Emma, the same names as my brother and sister😂 I give this was a definite 5 stars! Thank you Netgalley, Katherine Center, and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book.

The Rom-Commers gave me a favorite rom-com author.

It also gave me the best, most natural rom-com story I’ve read. The progression of the story was perfection. It was natural and not forced. It was satisfying and rewarding. It made me laugh and cry. It made me celebrate.

This was my first Katherine Center book and definitely not the last. I’m on my way to download another one right now!

PS: I’d love to watch this movie.

This was a choice....that's the best way to sum up my thoughts on this nivel.

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy and audiobook. I hate to say this...but I was rooting for the book until the 75% mark...and then I was rooting for it's downfall...

Charlie sucks...and he has no redeemable qualities. Emma also needs to grow a backbone.

But quite frankly...if I only dedicated myself to the audiobook and did not finish the book through the epub...maybe I give it 4 stars.

It is an entertaining read, and it is better if you listen to the audiobook.

But I do not wish for Charlie and Emma to be together...not one bit.

For my full review, please see my post.

http://michelleardillo.com/2024/04/08/book-reviews-the-rom-commers-and-hello-stranger-by-katherine-center/

Center is on a self-proclaimed journey of defending the genre of Romance and I'm here for it. She wrote this truly amazing line in the book that I wish I could share but she argues that every genre makes a promise to the reader. The mystery will be solved, the battle will be won, the universe will be saved, etc. In Romance, it's that the two leads will end up together. If the audience doesn't get that then the writer wasn't doing their job. And I just love the predictable package deal and the journey of how we will get to the happy ending.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 4.5 stars. This is my fourth book of Katherine Center's and they just keep getting better. The heroine is an aspiring screenwriter and believer in love stories who is partnered with a non-believing famous screenwriter who has written a truly terrible rom-com. You can't help but love the main characters, flaws and all. Emma is giving to a fault and learns to recognize that and how playing that role has sheltered her from her fears. Charlie has been hurt and is cynical but is very cute and is eventually open to realizing his wrongs. You're rooting for them the whole time.

Read if you like:
•Forced Proximity
•Celebrity Romance
•Sunny vs grumpy
•Coworker romance

🌶️- Acknowledges the existence of sex but in my opinion very clean.

I liked this one a lot! Though, the ending seemed kind of rushed? Dad hurt, dad better, dad married...Charlie doesn't have cancer. I think some of the middle time could have been used at the end. Otherwise, would recommend to friends!

I'm a big fan of Katherine Centre, and I especially fell in love with her book "The Bodyguard" so I was excited to read this book. While not a sequel, this does have a few characters in common with "The Bodyguard".

While I didn't love this one as much as I loved "Then Bodyguard" it was still a great read. I loved main characters Emma Wheeler, who gave up her dreams of writing when she committed to taking care of her father full time, and Charlie Yates, successful writer with a secret. The two together were a fun combination of sweet and surly and I enjoyed watching their story unfold.

As Emma tries to convince herself that love IS still possible in the wrold that has only shown her heartreak lately, and Charlie tries to overcome his own demons while falling more in like with Emma against his will, their story unfolds. The characters were sweet and easy to root for, the writing and plot on par with what I expect from Katherine Center, and the ending was sweet without being sickly sweet. All of it came together to make one really enjoyable book, and one that will mke for great beach reading this summer!

4.25
A not-so “surprise blockbuster” that will be “resuscitating the Rom-com”!

I’ll admit that I found last year’s “Hello Stranger” a bit too far fetched to be as enjoyable as it should have been. This book is right kind of far fetched. You know, Texas girl with tragic backstory has former high school boyfriend who is British and now a major Hollywood agent and gets her a job in LA writing with an Oscar-winning screenwriter, her celebrity crush and hero. Chaos ensues as they slowly realize they love each other amidst a major communication failure, followed by a grand gesture.

This is just a good old fashioned rom-com where the romance trope and interactions are classics, even if the circumstances and setting are over the top. You know whether that is your kind of thing. If you don’t—because this is your first potential rom-com and you’ve also obviously be living under a rock—give it a try. Yes, there annoying character traits and character interactions, but it’s still enjoyable. The only part I didn’t enjoy was the author’s note and the end where she goes on some sort of rampage to argue the importance of the romance genre or something, forgetting that we, unless we are reading someone else’s choice for book club but are equally committed to finishing it, are obviously already fans of the genre

I listened to the audiobook because it looked like I wouldn’t be getting access to the ebook. I found myself with the ebook too before I finished the story, so read some, as well as read back through for some clarifications, not easy to do with an audiobook.

Patti Murin is a familiar voice of the genre, especially if you listened to another Katherine Center or the last several Christina Lauren novels. I find a lot of the American rom-coms and “women’s fiction” have annoying narrators and I’ve been known to abandon several right off the bat. Though I usually prefer British narrations, Patti is one who allows me to get into the story and not cringing at the sound. That’s praise in my book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and MacMillan Audio for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book and audiobook in exchange for my unbiased review.

Katherine Center delivers another hit! Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC. This book is funny, sweet, and full of rom-com delights.

Katherine Center and I just aren't a perfect match. I have read a few of her books now, and none of them have been especially bad, just not amazing for my reading tastes. I struggle to connect to her characters, and in turn struggle to root for their romance. I also feel like this book fell into a few stereotype holes, such as the dramatic depictions of LA and leaning too hard in the mean guy trope with Charlie (he never got nicer?).

I will definitely recommend this to friends whose tastes better align with Katherine Center's writing, it just wasn't for me.

A cute novel with a fairly predictable outcome.
My favorite character was the father of the leading female character, Emma. While not strong physically, his wisdom and big heart is strong enough for the whole family.
Emma, the writer struggling to become a successful author, while caring for her disabled father, is presented with the opportunity to collaborate with a well know author , Charlie Yates, also happens to be Emma's favorite author-win, win!
So, yes, it is clear from the onset that these two authors will eventually chip away at the walls that they each have surrounding their lonely hearts. Katherine Center does wave in some interesting back stories that are unique and fuel the tension needed to make make these would-be lovers second guess everything they thought to be true about themselves and one another.
A solid three star read.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC .

Very cute! I found the relationship realistic and relatable. I thought the made-up movie titles were so cute and a creative addition to the story. Thank you for the ending that showed the HEA. Will recommend to romance readers who are intereated in relationship over smut.

This book was so good. It was such throwback to the early 2000’s romantic comedy. It had absolutely everything that you would expect from that time period of rom-com: forced proximity, enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine dynamics, emotional growth and so on. There were times that I was so mad at the MMC I was sure I would never forgive him. (I did). It was interesting all the way through with no dead zones. I would recommend it to anyone.

Katherine Center is truly one of the greatest authors of our time! Ever? Always! She is incredible!

I found The Rom-Commers to be a lighter side to KC - this still had the heart, the guts, the raw, the real, the banter and fun, but this felt lighter and I loved it! The way I tabbed ang highlighted so many quotes was insane. She just truly encapsulates my entire life philosophy: seek joy, hold onto it, celebrate it. We control what we do with what happens to us. It isn't easy, but it is OUR choice and I LOVE THAT!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's for this advanced copy - this was a highly anticipated read for 2024 and it did NOT disappoint! I loved it!