This was super cute but also FULL of trauma. 🥴 This is only my second Katherine Center book and I enjoy her writing so far. It’s refreshing to have a romance with low-no open door scenes that is still entertaining and draws you in. (I do love me some smut don’t get me wrong, but it’s nice to be reminded it’s not necessary.)

Charlie! What a prick am I right?! lol I hated the way he hurt Emma’s feelings. Heck he hurt MY feelings! 😂 But truthfully, I would have loved more than one bonus chapter of his perspective.

Sweet and salty Emma! What a fun main character. Super sassy and sarcastic. But also feels all the feels. I enjoyed how she wasn’t just telling her story but she was talking TO us, the readers. Great narrator for this audio. Highly recommend!

I have read many books by Katherine Center and this one is probably my most favorite one of all so far! I laughed, I cried, and I experienced many different emotions that were quite relatable throughout. The main female protagonist gives up all of her career aspirations to take care of her father with health issues while the main male character makes many assumptions and statements that end up getting corrected in time. Both struggle with not feeling lovable and fight to overcome their own complex mental issues. I did not really like the way that Charlie put down the main character, Emma, so much throughout the book and tried to deny his feelings and ended up pushing her away. However, that is pretty much true to real life. People will say and do things that they don’t really mean to say and do, and yet somehow this couple finds their way back to each other anyway. The book was a tad bit unrealistic in places such as how the sister and the fiancé just made their lives work out perfectly fine while trying to take care of a father that needed around the clock care. However, the main point of the book is to keep pursuing your lifelong goals and to not give up on love and on the people you care about the most, which is a strong and powerful message. I’m not a huge fan of romance, but this writer has made me want to read more romances.!

This is the best romance of the year (alongside The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce)!!!!! I cried so bad during the epilogue it shouldn’t even be legal. It’s the most realistic romantic romance I’ve ever read I don’t even know what to say apart from : perfection.
Guys the slow burn was so amazing, the banter 10/10, it made me giddy, it made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me yearn for them to kiss, for them to say they love each other. It is just pure perfection, pure entertainment.

I loved the narrator for the audiobook, i was really into it. Ugh i need the physical copy ASAP

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center is the best rom com that I have read this year. Is it perfect? No. The characters could possibly be a bit more likable, but this did not bother me at all. This book was honestly so fun, from start to finish. I read it as both an ebook and as an audiobook. The audiobook had some of the best narration I have heard. It was so fun to listen to but just as fun to read in print. The characters worked so well together. I think the falling in love with a famous person trope worked so well in this novel. It felt realistic and vulnerable and just right somehow. Parts of this book really touched me deeply. I have always enjoyed this author’s books, but this is now my new favorite. I cannot recommend it enough. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

I am withholding my review and rating in solidarity with the SMP boycott. Netgalley doesn't allow you to not rate books so that's why I gave it one star,

Katherine Center has become an auto-read for me. I have enjoyed each book better than the previous. I felt so much for Emma who was trying to do her best by everyone, blaming herself for the accident that killer her mother and injured her father. She make the choice to go to LA to assist her idol, Charlie with a screenplay, and finds out, she was set up by her best friend and Charlie does not want her help, She sets out to show Charlie what romance and love is. What will happen? Keep reading to find out. Kudos to Patti Murin for her perfect narration.

So excited I got an ARC for this since I’ve enjoyed every Katherine Center book I’ve read so far and this one was no different! Katherine really knows how to take the most improbable scenarios for us normal people, but then allows you to feel every emotion by making the characters so relatable. I can always expect to be kicking my feet and giggling reading her books!

Emma & Charlie’s story made my heart so happy! I typically don’t rate romances with somewhat predictable endings so highly but I think the amount of times I laughed and smiled during this story bumped it up in the ranks for me.

Thank you NetGalley, MacMillan Audio & Katherine Center for letting me get an advanced readers audio!

WTF.

This is my least favoirite of KC's books. WHAT HAPPENED? I don't know, I just know the male MC was not a kind person. The female MC was so blind, I wanted to shake her. How many times does he have to treat you badly or talk behind your back for you to realize you should have left the first day?

I was frustrated the entire book and how it played out. I don't know what happened, but toward 80% i literally tuned out the rest of the story because I didn't care how it ended :(

The narrator did a decent job, but I think this book was just a miss for me.

If Katherine Center wants to make it her mission to turn me into a romance reader then sign me up. This book was utterly DELIGHTFUL! Center broke the fourth wall, the main character Emma engaged with the reader directly. The dialogue between Emma and Charlie was just adorable. Each of them had experienced hardships and had made choices that impacted their lives and relationships. Even with the times where Emma and Charlie were having those hard conversations, the book's lighthearted tone made this a very enjoyable read. I am definitely going to read more of Center's work.

Katherine Center has done it again. I smiled, giggled, swooned and grinned with glee. While lighthearted and fun, this book had some incredible messages about gratitude and perspective that I wanted to highlight at the end. I loved it!

I loved this audiobook! The story was so well written and the characters relatable. There were real-world problems happening within a relationship dynamic that really tore at your heartstrings. Truly just a fun, witty rom-com that I would read over again in a heartbeat. The narrator of the audiobook was skilled and I enjoyed it, when normally it is tough for me to enjoy a female producing a male voice.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Narrated by Patti Murin
Standalone Contemporary Romance
4.5 Stars rounded up
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy for review purposes. Ana’s Attic accepts no compensation for reviews, and all reviews contain my honest opinion. This post contains affiliate links.

I adored The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center . When I finished it I thought it was 5 stars all the way, but as I sit here writing my review and looking at the notes I took while listening, I can’t really give it a full 5 stars. For me, there can be nothing in the dislikes column for a 5-star read, but there were a few little things I didn’t 100% vibe with in this book, which you will see in the dislikes section below.

“If you wait for people to light you up, then I guess you’re at the mercy of darkness.”

Emma Wheeler has spent the last 10 years as her father’s caregiver after he was disabled in an accident. She put her dreams of being a rom-com screenwriter aside and had to turn down some amazing opportunities, but she loves her dad and is devoted to his round-the-clock care. Her sister is now graduating and can step in if needed, so it’s perfect timing when Emma gets the opportunity of a lifetime.

Charlie Yates is one of the most famous screenwriters in the world, and he is also Emma’s idol and celebrity crush. He writes action movies, but was forced to write a rom-com and it absolutely sucked. He doesn’t write with anyone and doesn’t want help even though he needs it. Charlie and Emma share the same agent, who convinced Emma to upend her whole life to come to LA to re-write the awful rom-com with Charlie. But did Charlie know?

"Are you trying to put frozen peas on my ass?"
"It's julienned mixed vegetables," I said, like I beg your pardon.

Charlie was a dick at first, but he won me over. His problem was that he didn’t believe in love or romance, so how could he write it? Well it was up to Emma to teach him. This created some amazing banter, and I love banter in my romance!

“Because love is something you can learn. Love is something you can practice. It's something you can choose to get good at. And here's how you do it. Appreciate your person.
That's it.
Well—first be sure to choose a good person. But we're all good people here.
Choose a good, imperfect person who leaves the cap off the toothpaste, and puts the toilet paper roll on upside down, and loads the dishwasher like a ferret on steroids—and then appreciate the hell out of that person. Train yourself to see their best, most delightful, most charming qualities. Focus on everything they're getting right. Be grateful—all the time—and laugh the rest off."

There was a LOT of emotion and some tragedy in The Rom-Commers. If you have triggers, you may want to check the warnings, It brought me to tears more than once, but I still found myself smiling for the majority of the book. The narrator breaks down the fourth wall several times to explain things to the reader, and I love that, especially in audiobooks. It wasn’t until I finished the book and thought about my rating that I realized it was a closed-door romance. I was so into the story, that I didn’t notice there was no sex!

Likes:
•Brought out every single emotion. I laughed, cried, got angry, got sad, got happy, and more.
•After some initial dislike, I loved both MCs.
•I loved the secondary characters, especially her father.
•Her teaching him about love and romance and him catching on quickly.
•A lot of broken 4th wall
•The way they wrote together.
•Amazing banter.
•A unique pet.
•A cameo from The Bodyguard.
•The bonus scene (audiobook only) from his POV.
•I loved the author note (audiobook only).

Dislikes:
•She pushed herself on him after he said no and she scoffed at consent.
•Emma let him get away with being a douche-canoe too much.
•She seemed to enjoy being a martyr and I didn't like the way she spoke to her sister.
•He was always 'Charlie Yates', not just Charlie.

The Narration:
The narrator sounded like she had a cold in the second half of the book. But she did a good job for the most part. I especially loved the cameo in the epilogue. I think you can either read or listen for the same enjoyment.

The Down & Dirty:
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center is one of my favorite books of the year despite a few things I didn’t love. Those few things just weren’t enough to make me dislike the overall tone of the book. Until I looked over my notes to write this review, The Rom-Commers was a 5-star read in my head. I didn’t want it to end and I ended up slowing the narration a little so it wouldn’t end so quickly. I have a feeling there will be a great divide on this book—people will either love it or hate it, but I think most will love it!

Rating: 4.5 Stars, 0 Heat, 3.5 narration

3 Stars

SUMMARY

Emma has spent the past 10 years of her life being the primary care-taker of her father after a rock climbing accident left him disabled and took her mother’s life. She also does some writing gigs here and there to pay the bills, but her dream is to see one of her scripts come to life. When an opportunity to co-write with one of the biggest names in screenwriting, Charlie Yates, for a rom-com script arises, her family pushes her to seize it. With Emma’s younger sister stepping in for the care-taking responsibilities, Emma heads to LA to live her dream. The problem is, Charlie couldn't care less about the rom-com script he’s been commissioned to write. He just wants to deliver a script he knows will never make it to the big screen and move on. But Emma didn’t leave her dad behind for nothing. She is determined to make this script a success.

ROMANCE

For a book all about rom-coms, there was a surprising lack of rom. The blurb on the back of the book mentions how a kiss between them changes everything. Well, that kiss doesn’t happen until over 60% into the story. There was some flirting and tension happening beforehand, but the romance doesn’t really begin until way into the novel, and even then it doesn’t last very long. Katherine Center writes romance so well, though. I absolutely cherished these sweet moments between Emma and Charlie, I just wish there was more.

CHARACTERS

Honestly I lowkey hate Emma and Charlie. Let’s start with Emma. Her whole crutch in life is being her father’s care-taker, and she seems to have a lot of resentment towards her sister for it whether she’ll admit to it or not. When the sister finally does step up, Emma is such a micro-manager about the whole thing. Like, her sister and the sister’s boyfriend are both studying medicine… I think they got this covered. At one point, Emma starts to almost get jealous about how well things are going at home, and then when something does go wrong she takes it as proof that only she can care for her dad. She blames her sister, even though her sister did nothing wrong in the situation, and then the sister does say some awful things back. Afterwards, the sister is begging for forgiveness and Emma begrudgingly gives it??? And then never apologizes in return?!?!?! I guess Emma can never do anything wrong 🙄

Okay, now Charlie’s turn on the chopping block. It might just be a me thing, but I absolutely hate it when a MMC decides what’s in the FMC’s best interest when it comes to their relationship. Instead of, I don’t know, communicating your fears and concerns and coming to a decision as a couple? But I get it, sometimes the male species get their feathers all fluffed and strut around like only their opinion matters. I at least need the FMC to give him shit for it! Make him grovel a little before taking him back! Nah, Emma doesn’t have a fricken backbone. The shit Charlie says to her is so mean, and when Emma is like “That was super rude of you” instead of Charlie apologizing he’s like “I had to do it.” Get out. Also… apparently he eats cereal with WATER 🤢?!!

THE WRITING

The way this book is written is as if Emma is telling us a story. There’s a constant breaking of the fourth wall, things like “By the end of this day I would be so heartbroken” or “Before we move on, I need to tell you about my family” or “Here’s a little good news, since I’ve only been sharing bad news with you. I figured you’d need a reprieve.” Some people might like this writing style, but I do not. It takes me out of the book, prevents me from self-inserting myself into the FMC, and honestly comes across a little cheesy.

There was also an odd amount of times that Emma eavesdropped. It was making me anxious, like damn girl let people have their private conversations! I think it was a way for the reader to learn information since Emma was our sole narrator, but it was an odd choice and set me up to distrust her. There were also moments Emma had when her heart was racing so bad she said her shirt was literally vibrating. Like… no it wasn’t. And she had a moment where she thought there was an earthquake but it was just her heart beating so fast. These two instances were explained as anxiety, but then afterwards it was literally never brought up again. I don’t know, I didn’t like these descriptions and then just the sudden dropping of the topic.

CONCLUSION

It’s easy to point out all the stuff you don’t like in a book, but hard to say what you did like. I hope I’m not coming across too negatively. It’s not like I hated this book. The comedy in this was really great, the dad character was fantastic, and this book was not afraid to have deep emotional moments. I enjoyed the family dynamic and the side characters a lot. It just wasn’t perfect for me, so it lands in the middle of my rating scale.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

So cute!

Emma has given up her life to take care of her family until an opportunity of a lifetime comes along to work with her favorite screenwriter, THE Charlie Yates. After a very rocky start the two slowly fall into a day to day working routine with evenings to cook and hang out together. It seems to be they're falling in love but is that love one sided? Is this a happily ever after story or not?

I liked that the story took its time with them falling in love. Or at least the side of the story I heard. Emma is a great character, she's fun and energetic. This is my second or third Katherine Center books and I have highly enjoyed each of them.

A complimentary copy was provided by St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another entertaining listen from an author who writes great romance novels with depth. This one had some deep topics that offset the will-they-won't-they romance between Emma and Charlie. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this audiobook from a much-loved author!

I’ve been a fan of Katherine Center since I read my first book by her. The Rom-Commers did not disappoint! I loved the banter and how the relationship grew!

The narrators did a fantastic job bringing the story to life and making me feel like I was a part of the story.

I picked this one because of Patti Murin and it was such a good listen! It wasn’t just a romance, but a lesson in family’ and career moves. There were unexpected twists and great stories, and I’ll be reading others by Katherine Center now.

All someone has to say is, “This is a book by Katherine Center,” and I want to read it. Every book she writes makes me so happy, and that is precisely what THE ROM-COMMERS did, too. I laughed. I cried. I laughed some more. And I fell head over heels for Emma Wheeler and Charlie Yates. What an exceptional love story with the bad, the ugly, and all the good!

I love the way Center writes because whoever she uses as the story's narrator grips your heart and doesn’t let go. You can love them. You can get annoyed with them. You can want to hit them upside the head. You can cry with them. But they have such a stronghold on you the entire book that by the end, it feels like you are leaving a friend behind when you close the book. But that’s all the more reason to reread it 😉

For anyone who loves the grumpy/sunshine and forced proximity tropes, Center absolutely nailed them. They are two of my favorites, and I loved seeing Emma and Charlie stuck together! Plus, their banter while being a grump and sunshine is so good!

We can’t forget the fabulous audiobook narration by Patti Murin—one of my all-time favorite narrators! After hearing her as Emma and Charlie, I cannot imagine anyone doing it better. Her voices, cadence, and emotions make THE ROM-COMMERS an exceptional listen!

I’m not sure if you can tell, but I really liked this book and audiobook. Katherine Center writes fantastic books, in my humble opinion. You cannot go wrong reading or listening to THE ROM-COMMERS!

Thanks, Macmillan Audio, for the ALC!

Content Warnings: familial death, grief, cancer, injury detail, medical trauma, panic attacks

I thoroughly enjoyed this new Katherine Center book! It was the perfect combination of humor, love and good storyline. I really enjoyed the banter between Emma and Charlie. There were multiple lines that Katherine penned that I wrote down because they hit close to home. Will definitely be purchasing this read!

4.5/5 stars - forced proximity. Grumpy x sunshine.

I love this book!!! I think this is my favorite Katherine Center book. I LOVED the bonus chapter from Charlie and wish we got his POV throughout the book. Charlie is a big Hollywood screen writer who doesn’t believe in love. He’s being forced to write an romcom but sucks at it. Emma is a screenwriter whose main focus is romcoms but she hasn’t had the chance to do anything big because she’s her dad’s caretaker for the past ten years. Emma is kind, funny and force of nature. When the opportunity pops up for her to write with her favorite screen writer she takes it! The book has family drama, relationship drama but focuses mainly on love and friendship. There are some tense moments but they aren’t long.