Review: The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

This rom-com dives into what makes a rom-com great while creating a pretty adorable one. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and often did not want to put it down. While the initial few chapters took me a minute to get into, I fell in love with Emma and then the banter between her and Charlie.

I highly recommend The Rom-Commers to readers of Emily Henry and Courtney Walsh, and readers who love:
▪️Quirky characters
▪️Amusing banter
▪️Reading about writers
▪️Deep emotions
▪️Coming of age / character growth stories

This delightful, closed door romance is a perfect summer read. Check it out on June 11th.

4.25 stars ⭐️! I’ve been devouring Katherine Center’s books lately so I was super excited to get an advanced copy of her new one. Her books are definitely comfort reads for me and this one made me feel all the warm fuzzies like usual. It was cheesy at times and utilized all the genre stereotypes (which is expected in a romcom about romcoms 😂), but it also somehow felt fresh and fun at the same time. Lots of LOL moments and witty banter, and I loved the chemistry between the two MCs! I felt myself truly rooting for both of them.

Katherine Center books always put me in a feel-good mood. This was no exception. I really liked Emma’s family dynamics, the look at why her career was placed on hold, the representation of chronic illness and anxiety, and the story of Emma finally chasing after her dreams. Charlie’s own story and reasons for stepping “out of the limelight” as a award-winning screenwriter was also compelling. Their interactions and working-relationship turned friendship turned love was humorous and full of top-notch banter. The only things that pulled me from the story just slightly were the moments of second-person perspective when Emma addressed me, as the reader, directly. And while I absolutely loved the statements Emma makes about romantic comedies, her championing them and convincing Charlie of their importance, it did all feel a bit meta at times. I suppose it would have to in a romance book about a romantic comedy screenwriter teaming up with a famous screenwriter of anything but. In some ways, it was like the author’s note from Hello Stranger (sidenote: so worth the read) came to life in this story.

The bottom line: I loved this wonderfully fun book and the undercover defense for the genre within it.

Taking a deep five point five second breath before I start this (read the book, you’ll get it).

Both Charlie and Emma were sometimes a little too quirky for my tastes… is what I would have said before I read the last 10% of the book which ultimately changed my entire perspective on the whole thing. Emma and Charlie are charming, and this is a heartwarming story about what comes after tragedy, and beginnings and endings (and how they’re the same), and also importantly, love.

Thank you to St. Martin’s and Netgalley for the early copy.

Best rom-com of this decade…. Century… ever!
Seriously, this wonderfully delightful book is a MUST READ! It will pair perfectly with a beach chair or a comfy blanket at home. This hug on paper had everything you could ask for: relatable characters, laughs, tears, love, animosity, forgiveness, career, and family.

5 stars! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you Net Galley for an opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My review includes telling every single person I know to read this book as soon as it’s released.

Romance isn’t my genre, so I was hesitant to read a rom-com about a rom-com, but this book really won me over.

Katherine Center managed to create the perfect balance of sweetness, sadness, resilience and joy. Humor and a healthy dose of sarcasm round the story out.

Loved the plot and the characters. I found Emma, the main character, funny and relatable (though I wanted to shake some sense into her at times!).

This book is a little predictable but I sort of liked that about it. The underlying theme of finding lightness in the dark is a good reminder for us all.

I finished this book with a smile on my face. What more can you ask for in a rom-com?

This was my first Katherine Center book but it won’t be my last. Can’t wait to check out her other titles.

3.9 rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

As always great book. I loved everything about it. She builds the BEST characters, and every book is fresh. Katherine Center will always be an immediate buy for me without even knowing about the book.!

A delicious blend of angst, humor, and undeniable chemistry. As a talented screenwriter, Emma faces the daunting task of rewriting a script for her idol, Charlie Yates, whose skepticism towards love adds an extra layer of tension to their dynamic. The enemies-to-lovers trope is executed flawlessly.
I couldn’t put it down. I think this might be my new favorite Katherine Center book!

Thanks so much to netgalley and St Martin’s press for the digital copy!!!!!

Katherine is one of my absolute favorite authors so I went in with high expectations and they were met! 👏🏻 Her newer books are so light-hearted and fun and this one is no exception!

I’m going to start off by saying that I don’t think this book will be for everyone, but I loved it! You have two quirky characters at the center of it, and at times they both frustrated me, but I also dearly loved them. I can see why these two and the choices they make won’t be for everyone, though. So people will dissect them too much, but I just let the book entertain me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

For me this was such a great nod to rom-com movies and I could definitely envision this on the big screen. The banter between these two was hilarious, and I loved the addition of all of the physical comedy, as well. It had me laughing out loud several times. 🤭 Towards the end, Katherine also made me shed a few tears. There were some absolutely beautiful quotes woven throughout this book. She excels at bringing the laughs, butterflies and heartfelt moments that end up being so touching.

⚠️𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴⚠️
🤬There was more language than I anticipated.
🌶️ There is zero spice, but there are mentions of it.
😔 Storyline does talk about loss of a parent and cancer.

ARC REVIEW
The Rom-Commers
BY Katherine Center

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Publishing date: 6/11/24
What you need to know?Emma is given the opportunity to be a ghost writer with her favorite Hollywood writer, Charlie. She travels to LA to spend 6 weeks with him and rewrite the awful rom com he has written. (And he is NOT a willing participant in this...at first)

REVIEW: This was sooo gooooood! This was my 3rd Katherine Center novel and my FAVORITE by far!

Charlie is such a good grump that becomes soft in the best way! 🥹🥹Emma was such a sweetheart that made me LOL numerous times.

I really love celebrity and faux celeb books? And the LA setting was perfect! I went into this one blind and loved every minute!

Emma's family is also a cast of supporting characters. Her father has suffered a traumatic brain injury, her sister is taking over as a caregiver, and giving Emma her first break after 10 years....all while Emma is trying to handle writing with her idol? It's just. SO good.

And let's talk about the ending?!** CHEFS FREAKING KISS!!! ** que the tears!!!

DEFINITELY add this one to your TBR and pick this up next month.

Thank you, @netgalley and @stmartinspress, for this ARC. Always a pleasure!

Loved this book! Sweet, funny, and had wonderful life lessons from Emma’s dad. I loved the characters. Katherine Center is a national treasure.

I really enjoyed the Rom-Commers! This is the second book I’ve read by Katherine Center and she’s now an auto-buy author for me. The Rom-Commers centers around Emma Wheeler, the FMC, who is flown out to LA to help Charlie Yates, a famous screenwriter who doesn’t believe in love, re-write a rom-com script. I really liked Emma—I thought she was such a fun, little quirky, sweet, relatable character who has a positive outlook despite the trauma she’s had in her past. Charlie starts off a bit stand-offish and grumpy and I was a bit unsure of him for some of the book, but ended up liking him by the end. He does have a sweet side for her, and similar to Emma, does have his own trauma he’s working through himself. I liked the banter between Emma and Charlie and the slowburn of a romance. A couple of fun romance tropes in here: grumpy x sunshine and famous x non-famous person. There’s also a little cameo from one of the main characters in Katherine’s other book, The Bodyguard!

While I think the Bodyguard is still my favorite, I really enjoyed The Rom-Commers! If you are looking for a romance that’s lower on the spice this is a great one. The Rom-Commers will be out June 11, 2024. And yes, of course I pre-ordered the physical copy with the neon pink edges haha.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was embarrassingly my first time reading a Katherine Center book. Don’t throw stones please, I beg of you! I promise it will not be the last! The Rom- Commers is so deliciously delivered like the old rom com movies we all fell in love with years ago. It had me laughing so hard with the banter between Emma and Charlie! I could just picture them right there on the imaginary tv in my mind. Katherine does a fantastic job of writing comedy while also hitting on the deep stuff that finds you wiping a tear from your cheek without even realizing it is there. But then bringing you right back into the whit you need to pull a smile back on your face.
I cannot wait to read more by this author. I am absolutely hooked!

Thank you to Katherine Center, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with this arc read!

Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Wow! Every time that I read one of this author’s books, I like them more. This book had a love story, but with an unexpected twist that had me wondering how things were going to end. Center had me caring so much about the characters that I was invested in the conclusion. You will want to pick up this rom-com when released in June. ❤️

I was soooo excited to receive this ARC! I coincidentally finished Hello Stranger the same day I received this! I really loved this book and the shared universe with The Bodyguard. Katherine Center never fails to make me laugh out loud with her dialogue while also not making it tooooo cheesy. Her books have the perfect balance of seriousness mixed with the right amount of goofiness that comes with a romantic comedy, and The Rom-Commers was no different. I cannot wait to recommend this to others. Rated 4 stars only because I felt it was a bit too slow of a burn to feel so rushed in the last 30 pages. I would’ve loved more time with Charlie and Emma being on the same page (no pun intended) with their feelings.

My Rating: 4.25 stars!

First and foremost thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC! I was super excited to be able to read Katherine Center’s new book early.

She did not disappoint!

A few little qualms that I’ll point out now before I get to all the good stuff. Charlie and Emma are a grumpy x sunshine couple, but many times Charlie felt too mean to me, especially at the beginning of the book. He was less of a grump and more of a jerk. He did have his arc, but my main issue is that Charlie and Emma never talked about the rude stuff Charlie said for the most part.

Another note, Katherine Center LOVES to put (sometimes obscure) illness and diseases in her books. This time, it felt a little overdone. There were multiple characters who had more than one illness/disease over the course of the book and it just felt like a lot and it did take me out of the book at points!

Now for the good stuff!! I have so many positive thoughts about “The Rom-Commers.” I love how Katherine Center writes, and how easily she can suck you into a book. I had so much genuine fun reading this book and I didn’t want to put it down!

The concept itself is so unique, and so fun. I also loved some cameos from one of Center’s other books! Also that ending??? Absolutely too good. Like I 100% would have been on team Charlie if they discussed his earlier comments simply with how this book ended. CHEFS KISS!!

I genuinely had a great time reading “The Rom-Commers” and I would absolutely recommend it!!

As a reader, I do think we all have a certain inborn directive intuition that leads us to or away from books. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center is one of those books for me. My heart lead me straight to it and I just felt this was a book I would truly enjoy… one that I had to read.

The Rom-Commers is both unlike anything I’ve ever read and at the same time, was simmering with this underlying vein of familiarity that stayed ‘til the very last word. There’s something cosy, warm and moving about this story of a young amateur screenwriter who’s talented but pushed to a corner in life, who then gets something of a break when asked to work with her favourite (and very famous) screenwriter.

The Rom-Commers reads like an interesting and perfect blend between a book and a movie. The author has, somehow, pulled in elements you’d find in a movie and tied those with the aspects you’d find in a book and managed to pull it off. The best kind of books are those that play on the back of your mind until you finish them; so any quick break you need to take from them only further fills your mind about them. The Rom-Commers was one of those books for me and perhaps that’s why I finished this book in nearly one sitting.

I would describe Center’s book as a heavily character driven narrative. Written in single person perspective, The Rom-Commers delves into the psyche, circumstance and life of Emma Wheeler, the FMC of this story. With humour, anxiety, courage, and emotion, Emma draws the reader in with every single thought in her mind, telling her story in a non-linear fashion that works with a charm that I’ve found only in some other romantic comedies I’ve read thus far. Her story is tinged with a note of sadness and pain that you can’t look past, even before you discover the reason for it. However, her voice is coated with grit, smart quips and a strong sense of duty that will touch your heart without doubt.

The MMC, Charlie Yates, was a wonderful character to watch interact with our heroine. The book—almost like a movie here—showcases a bunch of snippets of their interactions; each one building on its predecessor until there’s almost a beautiful canvas of friendship painted before the reader. One of my favourite tropes in a book is watching two strangers becoming friends and then something more and The Rom-Commers truly hit the mark for me on that front. Another aspect of this book that stood out to me was watching the main characters interact with one another with what’s-evident-to-the-reader as an imbalance in power (work experience-wise) and how beautifully that was handled. This encapsulates a large part of the first half of the book.

It took me by surprise that there were quite a few secondary characters in this story. The surprise was because I didn’t realise it; as each and every one of them was so well defined and fit so wonderfully in their roles, it never felt like there were too many. I would say they were definitely props in their own way to the primary characters and their story (I mean, who isn’t?), but they bring their own little something to their scenes that’s hard to miss or forget. There’s lots of interesting relationships that The Rom-Commers has, from siblings to exes, to friends and rivals and the characters working with and around them is an equally important part of their journey in this book.

The plot of this story is as simple as it’s complex. Just like any other book in it’s genre The Rom-Commers is about two very unlikely people finding out just how likely they are to never want to spend another day without the other. This, of course, is an over-simplification of any rom-com. The emotional complexities that make them who they are, the circumstances and fears that pull them apart, the traumas and vulnerabilities that bond them and how all this is written is what makes or breaks any book. There were many of these in The Rom-Commers and the way some of them squeeze your heart…you may not be ready for.

Center did a fantastic job creating, developing and nurturing the many plot threads that make this book what it is. I followed each and every thread with anticipation, sometimes fear and most times excitement and couldn’t wait to see where they would lead us. The pace at which all these threads drag us along is wonderfully even—dare I say, fast—and builds with the promise of a mighty conclusion. However, this is the only place for me that the book felt like a movie in a way that didn’t work 100% for me. Like in a movie, there were some gaps in the way some things were resolved. Big fights or drastic decisions that dredge up a lot of past trauma sometimes fell a little on the side of swift resolution that bordered on not being dealt with, both internally by the character and externally within relationships.

However, what I’m very grateful for is a good parent representation that I will forever hold close to my heart. The Rom-Commers is a sweet clean romance with lots of fluff, however it deals with many difficult topics including, but not limited to, emotional trauma and major health struggles that I hadn’t realised was a part of it. Please read all the trigger warnings before starting this book.

The Rom-Commers is the first Katherine Center book I've read in which I struggled to connect with the protagonists.

I found it difficult to read about Emma constantly listening to Charlie speaking poorly and dismissively about her to others - even if only because he was in denial about his attraction to her - and yet she continued to pine for him; it became frustrating quickly.

The fact that Emma was a big fan of Charlie's work may have explained her initial attraction, but after a while his actions should have been off-putting to her. The reason Charlie turned Emma down (again and again) was not disclosed until literally the second to last chapter and it explained his hesitation to start a relationship with Emma but did not (in my opinion) justify his hot and cold attitude towards her.

Katherine Center books always pack an emotional punch, and I did feel so much for Emma and her complex relationship with her sister, her stress over being her father's caregiver, and her hopes of finally fulfilling her dream of becoming a writer. However, the romance in The Rom-Commers simply did not feel believable to me.

Loved it. I laughed. I cried. An engaging and entertaining story. The tale references "It Happened One Night," which is one of my favorite movies. I have two favorite scenes. Now I am trying to figure out which are my favorites in this book. Many from which to select. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Emma is hired to help the famous screenwriter Charlie Yates fix his first rom-com. She is obsessed with romantic commedies, and he wants nothing to do with them or love. She’s also obsessed with Charlie as a screenwriter. However, he doesn’t want to work with anyone and doesn’t even care about his script. How is Emma supposed to not only fix his terrible script but change his mind about love?

Katherine Center writes books that just make me happy. I found myself smiling and highlighting so many favorite lines. This might just be my favorite book of hers yet.