Katherine Center is a hit or miss author for me. Sometimes her romances can come off a little too cheesy for my taste. However, I loved The Rom-Commers. I appreciated the authentic main characters and the level of depth that was achieved in the storytelling. I also love that the author used this story as a love letter to the romance genre - and all the things that make it complex and equally worthy of respect as other genres. The audio and narrator was fantastic as well.

I might be bias in this, but I have always loved anything Katherine Center puts out so this is a no brainer for me. I loved being in the head of our main character and I never wanted this book to finish! I'm definitely purchasing this physically as well, but the narrator did a fantastic job here!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Katherine Center continues to deliver heartwarming and humorous HEA endings in her latest title.
Here are five things I loved about this one:
🍓Emma Wheeler is such an endearing character. Loved her asides to the reader, her relationship with her dad, and her obsession with romcoms.
🍓Charlie Yates is a lovable Hollywood writer who has become so cynical that he thinks only movies with zombies, Mafia dons, and/or aliens are worth watching. He also has a refrigerator filled with pastrami (you will see why this is important below) and has half-time responsibility for a guinea pig named Cuthbert.🐹
🍓The dialogue was so entertaining. Here is a sample from Emma and Charlie's line dancing from a sexy Italian cowboy:
But this was really bothering Charlie. "This guy," he said, "is not sexy. He drove to LA on a riding lawnmower eating fried butter and squirrel nuggets."
"I don't think you can knock his food choices, pastrami man."
"Have some respect for yourself," Charlie said. 😹
BTW, I learned about a new line dance called 'The Canadian Stomp' from that. You can Google it. Looks like so much fun! 🤠
🍓Jack Stapleton! The Bodyguard has been my favorite Katherine Center title so far. Having the leading man from that book appear in this one (and the lovely Hannah) made my day. 😎
🍓At the end of the audio ARC (thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley), there was a bonus scene from Charlie's perspective and an Author's Note continuing her defense of this type of book. A continuation of the conversation begun at the end of her previous book Hello Stranger. Well said, Katherine!

You may be thinking -- what is with the strawberry? Well, Emma's lucky sweatshirt is a hoodie that looks like a strawberry cap. It is her favorite and a reminder of her late mother. 🥰

This is a book that will warm your heart long after your turn that last page. Don't forget to try the audio if it is available. Patti Murin does a fantastic job! 🎧

Besides the digital ARC from Macmillan Audio and NetGalley, I also had a digital ARC from St. Martins Press and Edelweiss+. Many thanks to all!

This is the most Katherine Center book I've ever read and that is an emphatically good thing. The Rom-Commers is joyful, engaging, funny, and utterly lovely. I was able to read it in a day and it was an absolute mood booster. Can't wait to recommend this to my readers!

The Rom-Commers narrator, Patti Murin, is pitch perfect. The character's voices are clear and distinct and it takes an already wonderful story to the next level.

Narrator Patti Murin brings the whole cast of The Rom-Commers to life in this audiobook version of The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center. I really enjoyed the narration of this story because Murin hit the right emotions at the right time. It's not all fun and laughs in The Rom-Commers and Murin hit the depth needed for the serious while provided the light and airy mood during the comedy parts. This is my first book narrated by Murin and I'll definitely look for her in the future!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC.

Katherine Center has easily become one of my favorite authors and anything new will easily be a must-read for me.

The Rom-Commers did not disappoint.

Emma is witty, charming, and has sassy quips that had me laughing out loud more than once. Sure she has some eye-rolling moments, but who doesn’t?

Charlie is sort of what you’d expect from a famous screenwriter in a book about writing a rom-com.

The cast of supporting characters were pretty lovable.

Not sad. Didn’t cry. Not scary. #NetGalley

The Rom-Commers is a romantic comedy about…a romantic comedy!

Emma has been caring for her father for a decade but it’s time for a break when her sister takes over. She gets an amazing opportunity to write a screen play with famous Charlie Yates. Charlie is a grown man who doesn’t believe in love so he’s doing a terrible job of writing about it. I say grown man to remind myself that this was not a preteen boy who won’t admit that he has crushes yet. At 75% in I thought I had lost it seeing the 4.4 rating. I’m in the minority but I mean it when I say I did not like this book at all. The main characters are insufferable. As women, do we not struggle enough with getting the people in our lives to treat us well already?? Why on earth would I want to read about some miserable prick with zero redeemable qualities who is supposed to be in a romance?! I never once felt a connection between these two, just a ton of cringing and wtf moments. This did not feel like two mature adults interacting, it felt like people who had never interacted with others before and were way young for their ages.

“I don’t *like* like you” 😩
The kiss scene?! 😳

To sum this book up in one word: uncomfortable

This audiobook was narrated by Patti Muran. She did a good job at conveying characters.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Katherine Center, and Macmillan Audio for providing this free ARC. This is my honest review! This publishes on June 11th.

I have posted my review on Goodreads, in my Facebook book club, and will post a Tiktok review within the week before it releases.

As I started listening to this audio, I thought oh here is another romcom with a couple that falls in love with a little bit of denial here and there but eventually they will have their HEA. Oh, but was I wrong. This is THE romcom. Did you hear me? THE ROMCOM, I mean THE ROMCOM of romcoms. Of course, the first couple of chapters were standard with the introductions and set up to how the couple was going to meet but be fair warned that when they meet that is when the magic happens. Katherine has a way of words when she explains how Emma feels that makes you feel the same feelings. They were moments of happiness, sadness, excitement, torment, conflicts, distress, disappointments and of course love. Definitely an emotional overload in a very good way. You will be staying up late, forgetting to make dinner, you will be putting your life on hold to find out what happens next. You must go on this journey with Emma and Charlie to see how they get their HEA. The voice was a perfect fit for Emma. The best romcom I have heard in a while and am so glad that NetGalley allowed me to listen to the audio for my honest opinion.

I thought it was cute.

Katherine Center's books never fail to give me all of the warm fuzzy feelings I want from a romance novel. This one is definitely a rom-com, I really loved Emma's sarcastic snarky humor. I loved that she stood up to Charlie and challenged him, she never let him wallow, she told it like it was.

Emma has long held a dream to become a screenwriter, but she has sidelined that part of her life in order to take care of her father who was severely injured many years before. But when she is offered the opportunity of a lifetime--to help rewrite a terribly written romantic comedy penned by her favorite award winning screenwriter Charlie Yates--Emma cannot say no. She enlists her sister to take over dad duties and she heads to LA to help. But Charlie isn't as on board with Emma as she was led to believe...

There were a few things about this book that kept me from giving it the full five stars. One, was that Emma was WAY too much of a martyr and a control freak when it came to her dad. At first, I thought he was a bedridden vegetable the way he was described, but it turns out that other than his health issues, he was mentally very with it. So why did it take him so long to push Emma out to have her own life? I could never do that to my adult child, have them give up their entire life to help me. It eventually works itself out, but that part was a bit puzzling. Also, I never quite got the chemistry between Emma and Charlie. It was missing some of the spark that the characters in her other books have.

That said, this is still a fantastic book and I just loved the interplay between the characters. As with Center's other books, Patti Murin is the narrator of the audiobook and her narration is stellar and on point. I try to make a point to listen to books that Murin narrates because her delivery is fabulous.

Readers of The Bodyguard will appreciate the inclusion of Jack Stapleton into the story, I love that she combined the worlds of the books together.

I ended with a big smile on my face, because let's face it, there's far too much strife and drama in the world and sometimes you just need to feel happy when you're reading.

Reading challenge category – 2024 Flourish and Blotts N.E.W.T.s Reading Challenge: “Defense Against the Dark Arts – Dementors: Includes a kiss”

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC of this ebook.

Katherine Center's "Rom-Commers" follows Emma, a caring, quirky, aspiring screenwriter. Her dream comes true when she gets the chance to work with her favorite screenwriter, Hollywood's world famous Charlie Yates. Charlie wrote a terrible version of a remake of a rom-com and Emma is brought in to help him spruce it up. Little did she know that her life would become a rom-com in itself.

I have loved many of Katherine Center's books. This one was very predictable and just fell a bit flat for me. There were definitely some funny moments throughout the novel. I would definitely classify this as a 'beach read.' I think Center's readers will still enjoy it, but it wasn't my favorite of hers.

I'm the minority but this wasn't doing it for me .I usually love Center's books but couldn't get into this & wasn't invested in the characters at all.

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press
& MacMillan Audio for an advance copy

This was such a fun listen! I flew through this one in a little more than a day. The narration was great. The story was great. Katherine Center has had some great releases, but this one might be my favorite to date! I also loved seeing some old characters from some of her previous books in this book. This one is a great read or listen for the summer, as well as for anyone who loves rom-coms.

This book. It has insight of why I love reading, story construction, hero worship, trusting others, selflessness and letting go of trauma. And yet it was hilarious and kept me chuckling throughout. I've already recommended it widely and I'm so excited for others to read it. It might be my newest favorite from Katherine Center.

#arc
#netgalley
#theromcommers

4 Stars

Katherine Center does it again: she makes us swoon while also feeling big feels in the most delightful and heartwarming of ways.

I'm. not normally a huge fan of Hollywood/Screenwriting/Actor tropes because its a world that I just don't idolize or connect with, but Katherine made me love not only Emma (our driven and classic eldest-child heroine), but her surly counterpart, Charlie (Hollywood's former big hit writing wonder-kid who is struggling).

Charlie doesn't want to admit he needs help from his polar opposite, Katherine, but he doesn't know the first thing about writing a rom-com ass he has always wrote the big and explosive blockbusters. But he really does need help, so Emma is persuaded by her agent to leave her ailing father and embark on a journey of finding herself again.

As Emma lives with Charlie and they start to push the professional envelope as she tries to prove to him the tropes of a rom-com, Emma can 't help but feel torn between herself and her goals, and that of the dutiful daughter who helps care for her father at the sacrifice of herself.

We navigate that tricky journey of balancing our life roles and learning to prioritize ourselves, all while falling for the person we maybe never saw coming in the first place.

If you enjoy listening to audiobooks, the narrators did a phenomenal job capturing the essence of not only the story, but each of our main character's POVs. I highly recommend as this is a dual POV and multiple narrator audiobook!

I truly loved this book and can't wait to see what Katherine delivers next!

I have mixed feelings about this book.

I loved the dialogue and witty dynamics throughout. I was fascinated from the start and stayed engaged until the acknowledgments. The FMC was adorable and hilarious. The MMC was just the perfect ratio of hard shell/squishy center. There was tension, steam and boundless humor! I also highlighted at least a dozen lines of solid wisdom. It was just a beautifully well-rounded story!

So why the mixed review? The characters were wildly immature in how they handled their attraction to each other. So much so, it kept pulling me out of the story. And the FMC repeated the MMC name at least 50 times. I am not normally picky about things like this, so it had to be a LOT to get my attention.

The voice actor is brilliantly talented and deserves a standing ovation for how well she differentiates specific voices. However, I began to wonder if the “immaturity” I felt from the characters actually came from the way they said certain things rather than what they were actually saying.

Overall. I’d call this a tender, endearing summer read that will take your heart from aching to bursting throughout!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the advanced recording.

Katherine Center has quickly become my go-to romance writer. I love her story arcs, characters, and unique (and often emotional!) plots and The Rom-Commers totally hit the mark for me.

The tension between Charlie and Emma was palpable and I loved that Center kept us waiting with bated breath until what felt like the final page to give us all what we wanted and needed! I usually like a little steam with my romance and this book didn't have that, but what it lacked in steam, it made up for in emotion. There was more than one occasion this novel brought me to tears!!

I was so invested in these characters and I particularly loved Emma's dad. He was so optimistic and positive and wise. I loved that his disability didn't set him back and that he was so supportive of his daughters.

I also really enjoyed the writer aspect of this novel. While I have read many books about novel writers, I appreciated that Emma and Charlie were working on a screenplay and that Center showed us the work and research that went into developing it.

While Emma and Charlie were so different and unique, they were still very relatable and I loved how well-developed each character was.

I listened to this novel on audio and enjoyed the narrator, Patti Murin. She has a good voice for audio and it didn't feel overacted but her inflection and added drama had me totally hooked.

Overall, I really loved this book and I highly recommend. Thank you St. Martin's Press, MacmIllan Audio, and NetGalley for the copy.

Oh, my heart! This has to be a top favorite Katherine Center novel for me. I laughed and cried and inhaled this book. It is so good! This one features a super grumpy, reclusive screenwriter who has written the worse rom-com. He needs help but doesn't want help. Unfortunately for Charlie, Emma has arrived to do just that....help Charlie improve his screenplay. This is the dream job for Emma with the dream writer. She has been such a fan....until she meets him. They decidedly do not hit it off. Emma has left her ailing father for the first time to travel to LA to work with Charlie for six weeks only to learn that he didn't ask for her and doesn't want her. They do end up working together but it is fraught from the start.

I think what is so fantastic about Charlie and Emma is how fully formed they are. There is wit, banter, and laughs but there are also real discussions and there is true depth to these two. It was a delight to see their relationship develop through their vulnerabilities. Emma is a lover of the rom-com and Charlie is very much not. Watching these two work through their very different feelings about the work they are doing was so much fun. I did a combination of print and audio and can highly recommend both. Patti Murin narrates this book. She is quickly becoming a top favorite narrator as she brings this book to life so well. I felt like I was in the room with Emma and Charlie as they worked through this screenplay. I smiled throughout this whole book and became a bit annoying telling all of my friends that they had to read this book right now! I will continue this trend by telling you....read it. Right now. You will not be sorry.

Katherine Center is a treasure. There’s not one book she’s written where I haven’t been charmed by the witty banter or impressed by her writing talent. She’s so good at hitting that sweet spot in the emotional tone of her stories, never letting the romance become too cloying or the more serious aspects of the story too depressing. She writes characters that are believable and not always at their best, but you’d still want to know them. She also has the extremely good fortune of Patti Murin narrating many of her books. Murin brings the characters to life perfectly!

Having said and meant EVERY word of that, I will say that just a tiny bit of the shine was missing for me with this latest book, and I can’t tell if it’s the book, a touch of genre burnout with rom-coms/romance lately or both. The writing was still as stellar, ALL the characters still as complicated and charming, the plot was unique and the humor was pitch-perfect. Honestly, it’s a rom-com lover’s dream! I did enjoy it - especially the humor and Murin’s narration. Even if I didn't LOVE it as much as her other books I've read, it's still a very good story!

If I had to pick the one thing that kept me from falling completely head over heels for this book, it would boil down to chemistry. Emma and Charlie were both great characters with a healthy mix of good and less desirable traits, and I laughed frequently at their sarcastic and funny banter, but for reasons that utterly elude me, I just didn’t feel that magical spark between them quite as much as with Center’s other literary couples. They made me smile and feel good in that “Aww, that was nice way”, rather than the “I’ll love this couple until the end of time!!” way. Emma’s story with her family was so touching and sweet, and I loved her dad and sister, Sylvie. If that was the story, this would be an easy 5 stars.

I recommend this to those who love a clean romance, fun, snappy banter, complicated characters, a great family story and, for audio lovers, some fabulous narration!

The Rom-Commers

Out: June 11

Thanks to Macmillan audio for the advanced audio copy!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (5 Stars)
Steam: just kissing

No spoiler review 👇🏻👇🏻

I was so pumped when I got an ARC of this book. I have read two other books by this author and have absolutely loved them, and this book is not different. This was such a great read! This book follows Emma and gets hired to co write a rom com with her favourite Hollywood writer..the only problem is he doesn’t want to write this movie. It’s fun, close proximity, banter filled and swoony! It is also full of emotion and a story that sucks you in. Katherine Center is one of my favourite authors, and I’m excited to read more from her in the future. This is the perfect read for the summer.

CW: death of family member (past), caregiving of family member, family accident, cancer, medical issues

Emma loves all things Rom Com. She watches the movies, reads the books and dreams of being a screenwriter writing her own love stories. She gets the chance to write with her favorite screenwriter Charlie Yates, but don’t they say you should never meet your heroes?

This book was lovely and I liked the behind the scenes details of Rom Coms. Emma is so excited, awkward and relatable. I love her fight for herself and how she wouldn't let anyone think less of her or her life choices. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was great. She sounded much like I picture for Emma, upbeat and happy. It kept me entertained and coming back for more!

Thank you to Netgalley and Mcmillan Audio for the chance to review this book!