Reading a Katherine Center novel is guaranteed to make me smile, laugh, and usually cry a little, and The Rom-Commers was no exception!!
Emma, a family oriented aspiring screenwriter, is given the opportunity of a lifetime when she's asked to help rewrite the screenplay of a beloved screenwriter. Charlie, the jaded screenwriter, is in a writing slump but he's not looking for help...
I loved how Emma and Charlie's relationship progressed, and I had to stay up far too late to finish it as the tension was building! I wasn't sure how I felt about the storyline of this book when I read the description, but I can tell you now that I wholeheartedly enjoyed The Rom-Commers!!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It’s an exciting romance. Check. It’s funny. Check. It’s delightfully entertaining. Check. It deals with some real issues. Check. It’s the next wonderful book by Katherine Center!! Check, check, check!!

Special thanks to NetGalley, Katherine Center, and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy of “The Rom-Commers” out in stores June 11th, 2024.

This is such an easy review to write. I have loved every Katherine Center book-she is amazing! This latest offering does not disappoint at all!

Emma is an aspiring screenwriter and also a full-time caregiver of her father. Her life is smaller than she imagined, but she has taken on this duty of the last ten years to give her little sister the opportunity to go to school. An offer arrives from an old high school friend in the form of a once in a lifetime screenwriting collaboration. The only problem is the other writer, brilliant, aloof, and atypical Charlie knows nothing about it.

This story is told very well, and it’s so nice to see flawed and complex characters in romance novels. I thoroughly enjoyed “The Rom-Commers” and think you will, too.

Katherine Center did it again! Her newest book is just as amazing and enjoyable as all her other books. Emma is a writer who doesn’t have time to write. Not with caring 24 hours for her dad. When her agent and friend offers the opportunity to go to LA and help to rewrite a Rom-com for her favorite screenwriter she decides to take the chance. With Centers usual ability to combine serious topics (cancer, caring for a parent, etc) with the joy of two characters falling in love she completely had me completely invested in this book. She did a masterful job of looking at the hardships of caring for a loved one and guilt that comes with surviving tragedy. I can’t recommend this book enough and can’t wait to see what Center comes out with next.

Katherine Center is my go-to author when I want a book that will make me giggle uncontrollably, sob occasionally, and renew my faith in humanity. The Rom-Commers takes these expectations of mine and multiplies them by a billion. It was THAT good.

Emma is an as-of-yet unsuccessful but very talented writer who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when her oldest friend introduces her to her screenwriting idol, Charlie. Her job is to make his atrocious attempt at a rom-com more.... romantic. And comedic. Because his forté is everything but love stories.

So Emma lets her sister take over her role of caretaker for their father - who may be one of my favorite characters ever- for six weeks so that she can save Charlie's screenplay. Together they face some hilarious obstacles, some devastating heartbreaks, and some life-changing realizations that will restore your belief in love and the power of a real romantic comedy.

I love that Katherine Center writes in a way that takes you on a ride of emotions even within her romcoms. She has a way of really bringing the reader on a journey to experience the sadness, loss, love, excitement joy, heartbreak, pain, and through it all the lessons they have learned. Those lessons always translate to something that can be applicable to my own life. The spirit of hope, and seeing the positive of life is present in every one of her books which is lovely to read and a testament to her own character helping to teach us.

Read this one for:
- A bit of a celebrity romance since he's a famous writer
- Disability rep
- Forced proximity
- Illness rep
- Roommates
- Workplace
- Optimist vs the Cynic

Emma Wheeler is getting her big break to help ghost write a romcom with her favorite writer Charlie Yates. The only issue, Charlie does not believe in love or romcoms. Emma must also leave her disabled Dad and family for this job and after ten years of caretaking its a big challenge.

Then the fun begins because Emma decides she is going to convert Charlie into a believer. There are movies to watch, kissing clips, and of course activities like line dancing they must do in order to research and have the experience to write on it. As they embark on their research and do their rewrites, the two end up growing closer. The only problem is will life's problems hold them back from their chance to be together, or can they move towards the future with hope, love and one another?

I enjoyed the message that really came through from Emma's father to her about having to be grateful and happy with what you have now and not always looking for the problems and issues. It's a choice that we all have that we can make.

Emma really brought Charlie back to life and in turn he wanted to be the person to take care of her and support her since she did that for everyone else. The sweet moments Charlie did things for her like get her the flowers she kept wanting at the grocery store but thought was too expensive, or kneel to tie her shoes were so tender and lovely.

I loved seeing how they became a family with Emma's family as well as Charlie's friend Jack Stapleton. You will get some fun cameos with Jack from The Bodyguard which is fun to see but not a must read before you read this one.

Leaving this read with more optimism for my day and I love that!

Thank you to the author for providing a traveling ARC and to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Katherine Center’s storytelling in “The Rom-Commers” is pure magic and reminded me why Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors. What I love most about The Rom-Commers is the way she explores the human experience - the messy, complicated, beautiful human experience. Emma and Charlie are so relatable, and their struggles and triumphs feel so real. I also love how she uses internal dialogue to reveal her characters' thoughts and feelings. Emma often has these hilarious and insightful inner monologues that make you feel like you're inside their heads, experiencing their emotions and struggles alongside them. And of course, the romantic plot is swoon-worthy, as always!

✨pub date 6/11/24

bookish things:
- screenwriting authors
- grump + sunshine
- witty banter
- illness/caretaker rep
- hilarious internal dialogue

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for sending me your ARC to review! 💕

Katherine Center does it again! She has been and will continue to be an auto-read author for me. I love a good story with “fame” meets “normal” with lots of drama, heartbreak, and love.. So many good quotes from this one,, too! 4.5 stars

Yes, yes, all the yesses!

A book about writers writing a screenplay about a romantic comedy while researching what it means to fall in love. There’s so much meta-fiction here!

Katherine Center posted a while back about why some readers gravitate toward HEAs. It was spot-on and validating. Katherine Center is a master of feel good stories (always with a side of heavy $h*+, TW- cancer in this book) and this book delivered. I devoured it in one day.

Put this in your TBR, especially if you like rom-coms !

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for an advanced digital copy of this book. Look for this on 6.11.23. And if you don’t follow @katherinecenter , you are missing out on all the good vibes she is throwing out.

"You had to maximize joy when it fluttered into your life. You had to honor it. And savor it. And not stomp it to death by reminding everyone of everything you'd lost."

How is it possible that every new book that Katherine Center writes is my new favorite? Please keep on writing books, Katherine, I promise to keep on reading them and telling others to read them, too!

The Rom-Commers was soooo good.

It's only January 22nd, and I already know that The Rom-Commers will be in my top reads of 2024. I usually wait until closer to a pub date to read advanced copies, but there was no way I could let a new Katherine Center book sit in my inbox, burning a hole for almost 5 months.

The Rom-Commers has exactly what she does best. It's not just a romance story. The characters are all wonderfully messy, and you'll be just as invested in Emma's family as you will be in the romance. It's a tale of two people who had hit rough patches and had put their own needs and dreams aside. I rarely cry reading, but the last 25% of this book just had me. Katherine Center's books are just pure joy, and this was no exception.

P.S. It even includes a cameo from Jack (The Bodyguard) in the most delightful way.

Bottom line: The Rom-Commers will definitely be in everyone's beach bag this summer.

With The Rom-Commers, Katherine Center has officially cemented herself as one of my must-read authors. Am I a sucker for romcoms about writers? Yes. Will I read hundreds upon hundreds of stories about writers falling in love while they're writing? Also yes. (What can I say? I'm predictable like that.)

Even so, there was something so endearing, amusing, and surprisingly moving about this story featuring two screenwriters - one, an amateur named Emma Wheeler who has put her dreams on hold for a decade to be her father's sole caretaker only to now land the writing opportunity of a lifetime with her idol; the other, a Hollywood legend named Charlie Yates who has won multiple literary awards but can't seem to write a good romcom because he doesn't believe in love, because he thinks it's nothing more than a senseless, distracting affectation.

All in all, this was a grumpy-sunshine, opposites attract, workplace DESSERT of a story. Not only were Emma and Charlie stuck together inside the same house for six weeks, but there was witty banter, line dancing, swimming pool antics, kisses for "research," and an adorable but food-resistant guinea pig called Cuthbert. On top of that, there was nuanced sensitivity paid to issues surrounding ailing health, devastating loss, and family, which I felt added significant weight to the story as well as to the characters.

This was so cute, so sweet! Funny in spades, too. It's definitely the sort of book that makes readers believe, with their whole hearts, that love stories matter. So three cheers to that!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I loved this new rom-com novel from the start. The plot that has both highs and lows just like life. The main characters - Charlie and Emma were so likeable and fun - flaws and all. The supporting characters were well written and important to the story. Keep writing them Katherine. I couldn’t put it down once I started. Thanks for the advanced copy NetGalley. Highly recommend this book! #NetGalley #TheRomCommers

Katherine Center has quickly become one of my favorite authors! Her newest book, The Rom Commers is one of her best yet. The book is self-aware and heartwarming. Its theme: while life has hardships, you can still have love and happy endings that make those hardships easier to handle. This theme was not just great for this book, but was a nice theme for the rom-com genre itself. While there were no “spicy” scenes in this book, I didn’t think it was necessary because the plot and characters were so well developed.

This book reminded me somewhat of the hit comedy Hacks if you were to make the main characters more likable and instead of a friendship between the two comedians/writers it was a romance. Both the book and the show have great one liners and chemistry between the main characters. I thought it was a great idea and Katherine Center really nailed the witty dialogue between the two characters that made the book shine.

Also, those that read and loved The Bodyguard, you’ll be happy to see that Jake Stapleton makes an appearance in this one!

Overall this book was a hit and I’m excited to see what Katherine Center does next! As a Katherine Center fan, I am grateful to have gotten early access to this book thanks to St. Martin’s publishing!

These days, it's not often that I find a book worth staying up well past my bedtime and into the early hours of the morning to read. It's not often that the characters and plot worm their way into my head until all I can focus on is finishing their story! Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Katherine Center for allowing me to absolutely DEVOUR this book over the past day. Will I be recommending it to everyone and their brother? Absolutely. Will it be ranked in my top five reads of 2024? Probably.

The Rom-Commers is everything to love about Emily Henry's Book Lovers and Elissa Sussman's Funny You Should Asked wrapped with a perfect bow. Emma and Charlie's chemistry jumps off the page as soon as the meet, and with the help of forced-proximity, only grows throughout their story.

I love Emma's character growth. She starts as an eldest sister who has given up her dreams to serve as the backbone of the family. Often with this sort of storyline, the MC will regret taking care of her family and the family will tell her they never needed her to give this sacrifice. Throughout The Rom-Commers, Emma's sacrifice is not once belittled, and never is it something she regrets making. She loves her family, and her dreams. Because of this, Emma finds a way to have them both.

Meanwhile, Charlie is everything you could want in a broody, needs-to-be-coaxed-out-of-misery love interest. After a series of sickness and abandonment issues, he has decided that love must only exist within the spray-cheese stories Emma writes. By the end, Charlie is definitely singing a different tune.

Read if you like classic rom-com films, guinea pigs, and shenanigans. Better yet, still read it even if you don't like any of those things.

Katherine Center should have her own section of the romance genre for her ability to write a romcom that makes me weep from almost the beginning. I was only 10% in when I realized I'd need a box of tissues by my side for this sweet, funny, and heart-wrenching story.

Emma sacrificed following her ambitions to be a screen writer to take care of her father after a traumatic brain injury. A high school friend who works in Hollywood gives her work now and then, but she is a full-time caretaker and teaches English at a community college. The story opens with that Hollywood friend asking her collaborate with a famous screenwriter on a romcom script in need of a rewrite. The screenwriter is known for blockbuster action films, not romcoms and he clearly isn't truly interested in the project himself - it's a means to an end, a way to move another project ahead. Through Emma's work to rehabilitate the script, she gets to be away from her caretaker role for six weeks and she thrives...but also falls for her writing partner.

Emma is instantly appealing as the underdog who is getting a "big shot." She's regularly put down, both to her face and within hearing distance. You can't help but root for her as she tries to make it through the six week project. The pace is fast and the writing is compelling...so much so that I burned through this story (and the aforementioned box of tissues) in a day.

Another gem from Katherine Center! Bonus: There's crossover with The Bodyguard.

Katherine Center does it again with this awesome book! I was all over the place - laughing, crying, feeling like I was right there in the ups and downs of someone else's life. Center's got this way with words that just makes you happy, excited, and totally into the whole reading experience.

I love how much she dug into the research for this one, and that guinea pig cameo was just too cool. It's like she pays attention to the little things that make a story pop.

This book isn't just a good time; it's also got some real talk about love and the struggle of putting together a romantic comedy. Katherine Center, you're forever my go-to author. Thanks for hitting us with another winner!

Emma has spent the last ten years of her life taking care of everyone but herself. After her father was severely disabled and her mother passed away in a tragic hiking accident, she was left to take care of her father and raise her sister. When she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime to work on a screenplay with legend Charlie Yates, she can’t refuse.

I’ve loved Katherine Center’s other books so I was beyond excited to read this one and it did not disappoint. So well written and the main characters had so much chemistry! My favorite of Katherine Center’s books yet.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

Katherine Center is on the list of authors I will always read, and this book is one of her best. I loved the main characters, and the cute cross-overs from The Bodyguard. The story arc is sweet and the enemies-to-lovers trope isn't too drawn out. Fellow rom-com readers: this is a good one!

[Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!]

Katherine Center truly is one of my favorite authors in the world, I absolutely love how she writes a story!!! I am so thankful to have received this arc, thank you Netgalley and Erica Martirano for giving me this opportunity.

The Rom Commers is about two screen writers, Emma Wheeler and Charlie Yates. Emma is an inspiring romance writer, she knows all there is to know about rom coms and love on screen. The only problem is that Emmas life doesnt allow the time to dedicate to writing scripts as she is her fathers full time care taker. Charlie is one of the most famous screen writers in present day, everyone ADORES him for his charming and hilarious personality. He is on his newest project, writing a rom com when his agent, Logan, realizes he has to get Emma to help. This rom com Charlie wrote SUCKS. Logan knows that Emma is the perfect person and writer for this job but also knows that Charlie wont be so easy to convince. After ten years of caretaking, Emma sets off to Hollywood for this once in a life time chance to work with Charlie. When she gets there, its not what she expected at all.

I adored Emma the entire story, she really feels like an extension of Katherines personality. She was hilarious and so relatable at times. Charrrlliieeee, listen- one of the best character growths I have read. I wanted to hate him so much and every time there was something telling me that I need to love him. He really is perfectly written because I feel like he is a real life person and im so sad hes not.

Again, this just solidified my love for Katherine Centers books!!!!!!!! She really knows how to write characters that are so lovable and enjoyable. I love her ability to write a romance book that feels totally unique. I highly recommend this book to romance readers.

I was so excited to get my hands on a copy of this book! Katherine Center’s books have never disappointed me and the Rom-Commers was no exception. Her books always mange to tackle heavy topics in manageable way which I greatly appreciate. I related to Emma’s devotion to her family and Charlie was swoon worthy. Especially, when he was caring for the grieving Guinea Pig. I am a sucker for a man you takes care of animals. The Jack Stapleton cameo from her previous book, The Bodyguard, was also a nice surprise. I love this book and highly recommend it! Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Katherine Center for the ARC.