Katherine Center has certainly found her voice, and it is seriously very funny, relatable and romantic. The Rom-Commers is a poignant love story about two emotionally damaged writers who have different opinions about what a love story should consist of as well as a love-hate relationship with the opposite sex. But, by reluctantly working together not only do they learn so much more about themselves, but each other and well, life.

Emma Wheeler is a writer. Unfortunately, not many people know this. You see, Emma is the primary caregiver of her father who was seriously injured years ago. Although she has a younger sister, she has chosen to take care of him so her sister can pursue her dreams. When Emma suddenly gets the opportunity of a lifetime to help a writer she has always admired work on a screenplay, a romcom no less, she says...no.

She feels like she can't leave her father in her sister's hands. She just knows something will happen. Her fear overpowers her ambition. But, when the two of them gang up on her she has no other choice but to go. How bad good it possibly be?

Charlie Yates is an every award winning writer. He has written many screenplays before, but never a romance. He thought he had done a great job, until he was told he hadn't. He decides he doesn't need any help and he will figure this out by himself. Until this woman named Emma knocks on his door.

Meanwhile, Emma realizes she has been bamboozled. The great Charlie Yates not only did not know she was coming, but had never read anything by her! Initially, she decides to go home, but after some thought, Charlie realizes he probably could use "a little" help and convinces Emma to stay for one week only. Fine by her!

As Emma begins to realize Charlie knows nothing about writing a romance story or about love or even about happiness, she realizes he's not exactly the man she had put on that pedastal. But why does he seem so damaged?

Emma decides she is going to stay as long as it takes to write the best romcom ever written. But convincing Charlie of what that looks like is not going so well. As they butt heads, they also each begin to see what they thought were flaws in each other, were really past traumas which were never resolved.

Will love conquer killing each other? We will see in this absolutely adorably smart, charmingly romantic novel, The Rom-Commers. You will want to stay and visit in Emma and Charlie's wonderfully awkward delightful world.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.MartinsPress #KatherineCenter #TheRom-Commers for the advanced copy.

Katherine Center is such a consistent writer. Her books are memorable and sweet. The closed-door romance is well-done. Readers looking for a lot of spice won't find it here, but there is a lot of heart. This book is laugh out loud funny and times and is reminiscent of Annabel Monaghan's Nora Goes Off Script-I couldn't think of a higher compliment if I tried. I look forward to sharing this one with readers.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader's copy of this title in exchange for my honest feedback.

I've enjoyed Katherine Center's books in the past, so I was very excited to see that she had a new book coming out! "The Rom-Commers" is centered around Emma, who has put off her dreams of writing screenplays (particularly in the romantic comedy genre) because of an accident that resulted in her mother's death and her father's disabilities. After her sister graduates from college, Emma finally has the chance to realize her dream when she's given the opportunity to help famous screenwriter Charlie Yates edit his screenplay. Unfortunately, upon meeting Charlie, he makes it very clear that he doesn't want her help. However, as the two spend more time together, they realize they have more in common with each other than they ever imagined.

While I typically enjoy the enemies-to-lovers and enclosed spaces trope, the chemistry/feelings between Emma and Charlie didn't feel authentic to me. I've also read several books recently with a similar co-writing storyline, so it didn't feel as fresh to me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I am a fantasy lover. First and for most I always go fantasy. But they can get heavy and I like to pop in a romance to cleans the pallet if you will. I have read several other books by Katherine Center and truly I loved them. This was no different. I find it so much fun. I love how the author makes the characters relatable and have just enough depth you quickly become invested and almost obsessed. I dont want to put the book down I want to keep reading it. I always have a moment of laughter and then soon a awe misty eyed feeling. This book was fun, cute and all the things you want in a cute rom com. I mean the title is truly very fitting. If this is your first book by this author. Its fun.

Absolutely loved it!!! Katherine Center nailed the romance in this book: it was swoony and full of the best banter!! I laughed out loud and even cried a bit… I think Emma’s dad needs his own book!!

4.5 I loved this book a lot more than expected. It was heartwrenching, witty, funny and just plain good.

I love Katherine Center books, this one though, for me, was a little slow and I couldn't finish loving the main characters. I tried my hardest but I had to go several times back because I got lost. I know this is an unpopular opinion, and believe me when I said that it hurts me making this review cause I really wanted to love it. I have to say that some parts were funny and I couldn't stop laughing, but other parts were like "wait, what just happened?" I will totally recommend this book if it is their first encounter with Katherine Center, cause it will get better from this book and I'm sure they will enjoy all her previous work.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin Press for this ARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

This was cute! How could someone who loves rom-coms not love a book centred around writing one? While there was a little bit of chemistry between the two main characters, I would have liked more. Writing was fine (this had zero eye-rolls from me, and KC often features eye rolls for me). Cute Easter eggs from characters from previous books. Also, mentioning the power washing game was a super win, as a wife to someone now plays one fairly often. Overall, not a bad read.

This is my first book by this author and I had to DNF. the wiring style was like a middle grade, it reminded me of Percy Jackson but more cute-sy. Maybe she’s just not the author for me.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Katherine Center books… this was my least favorite so far. I really didn’t love the attitude of Charlie even tho we find out why - it was too much before I knew him and that was hard to get over. Emma was cute and tenacious but I also didn’t fully connect to her. All that being said, this was still a super fun read! I’ll take a least favorite Katherine Center over a lot of other books!

✩2.5

✦What to Expect✦
•Hollywood setting
•Screenwriters
•She is a fan of his/has crush on him
•Forced proximity

✦Characters✦
•Charlie Yates
•Emma Wheeler

✦Fav Quotes✦
“I think,”
“that you’re my favorite person I’ve ever met.”

“He turned out to be disappointing.”
“Most people are.”

“I would write a hundred happy endings for us if I could.”

✦Thoughts✦
Oof
I was excited to see where this was going to go because the premise had a lot of promise. I actually liked Emma right away, I was rooting for her and thought she was great … until the emergency with her dad. I don’t remember her even apologizing to her sister. But I’m a firm believer in you need to choose your words carefully and think before you go off on someone. I don’t care what’s going on, you simply can’t lash out like that. I’m glad they worked through it.
As for Charlie. Sir you were not it. When he was bashing her at the beginning, I immediately disliked. He barely redeemed himself in the end I felt. But also I wasn’t feeling any chemistry between these two at all.

Unfortunately this was a miss for me

This book was very good. I really liked how the story developed between the two characters. The chemistry was so good. Katherine Center can’t seem to write a bad book.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
PUB: June 11th, 2024
Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martins Press, & Katherine Center
5 ⭐️‘s

Triggers: cancer, mental health, loosing a parent, trauma, family relationships

Absolutely LOVE that she dedicated this book to her father!
Absolutely LOVED the ABBA references!
Love the Hollywood vibes!
Love the Meniere’s Disease mention!
Love the Meryl Streep references!
Love the way Katherine Center writes characters and character building!
Love the way Katherine wrote Emma and Charlie’s relationship and how they fell in love
Loved everything about this whole Hollywood Love Story!

#NursesWhoRead #TeachersWhoRead #AutisticBookworm #RomanceLovers #RomanceNovels #KatherineCenter #NetGalley #BookObsessed #Bookworm #BookNerd #DeeTheBookReviewer

This was so cute and fun!!! It wasn’t my favorite Center romcom but it didn’t disappoint! I loved the main characters and the quips exchanged between them

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for early access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

The Rom-Commers follows protagonist Emma at a crossroads in her life. She has always aspired to be a screenwriter, and when a potential opportunity arises to work on a screenplay with her favorite screenwriter of all time- Charlie Yates, her world is flipped upside down. When she is not giving her all to writing and studying the art, her life is filled to the brim with caring for her father, exemplifying the role of an older sister to the max. In letting loose and handing some of her control and responsibilities off to her sister, she is met with defeat when she is told only after completely altering her life, that Charlie does not want to work with her. Being the strong and full of fight girl that she is, she will not take no for an answer, fighting in the name of love for Charlie to recognize the importance and beauty of rom-coms. The story is full of fun, silliness, a tinge of heavier, real world topics, and lots of smiles.

I was so excited to be able to receive another ARC of a Katherine Center book, because she does so good at writing fresh and fun rom-coms. From a very objective stand point, this book is structured and written very well. I loved the banter, the turns, and the way that the novel touches on more serious topics such as a family death. I can always count on having a good time while reading Center's books, and will continue to keep coming back for more. There were 2 main reasons why this one in particular did not get a higher rating for me. One was simply the general screenwriter/hollywood vibe. Books about famous people or adjacent topics just usually do not peak my interest, and sadly in those ways I was less interested and enjoyed it less than her other books. The other was in the build up of Charlie. While I felt that Emma was very real and I could relate to her, he just seemed a bit rude to me, and I could not exactly feel the chemistry from him. I think that this book could have been a bit better in building up him and his character/chemistry if we were in his head and had his perspective. Both the famous aspect and his character as a whole, just had me not falling in love with the romance as a whole.

I will always read anything Katherine Center writes — She is the best! And a great book once again! It was so fun and such a quick enjoyable read!

I love the growth that all of the characters go through in this book. I'm not a huge fan of Hollywood love stories because the characters can sometimes feel fake but Emma and Charlie are very relatable that you forget we are in Hollywood.

There is also a cameo and as a super fan of Katherine's books - I love seeing old characters pop up!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

This is one of my favorite romance novels in awhile. It is so heartfelt and warm, even though some of the characters are "inaccessible" in so many ways. There was one thing at the end of the book that I rolled my eyes about, but honestly, I could forgive Katherine Center anything from the rest of the story. Emma's dad was absolutely one of my favorite characters, even though he was minor. Probably my favorite from Center so far!

This workplace, grumpy sunshine romcom was such a fun read! While it dragged a bit at places (I thought the end was close and then realized I was just at 63%), I still enjoyed it.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I just love books about books, or well, the writing of books. I also like when people who are destined to not be together fall for each other. This book was so well written just like all of Center's other books. Thank you for the review copy. I highly recommend this book to all! Narrators were perfect!

Emma leaves behind her ill father to follow her dreams and work with legendary screenwriter Charlie in LA, who is contractually obligated to write a rom-com. Grumpy Charlie begrudgingly agrees to work with selfless Emma, and the rest is predictably cute in the most rom-com of ways.
I overall enjoyed this book, but sort of had a hard time falling in love with either of the main characters. The ending was actually very cute and well done and made the book for me.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for this ARC.