First-person, single POV, the story of not quite enemies but definitely people who don't like each other to happily ever after. That's what a fiction book about love is supposed to be, right? At least, according to the main character, Emma, it is.

This book is a little meta as the main characters work to rewrite a Rom-Com script. As Emma explains what goes into a good Rom-Com, those same elements are happening for real in the story. Emma's narration is also self-aware and talks to someone/reader.

Overall, the narration (listened to on audiobook) was enjoyable. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center delivered all the elements of a good love story, with unforeseen plot twists and a satisfying ending.

<i><b>PLEASE NOTE:</b> One of the trigger warnings may be a spoiler, but I wish I had known it so I could have avoided reading and preordering this book.</i>

<b>TRIGGER WARNINGS:</b> terminal lung cancer fake-out, past mentions of cancer, maternal death

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Yep, you read that right. <b>Terminal lung cancer fake-out.</b> I usually like to keep my reviews organized, but this one is going straight into the ranting, because this was truly the most egregious, cheap, lazy “twist” I’ve seen in quite a while.

<blockquote>“Turns out, on a screening test, it’s hard to tell the difference between a concerning mass in your lungs and plain old, everyday congestion. That’s the news I just got. Better imaging gives a much clearer picture.”</blockquote>

Here, our MMC Charlie is explaining how he was misdiagnosed with metastatic lung cancer, when all he had was bronchitis. And I have oh so many issues with this.

1. Most doctors would not diagnose a patient with terminal cancer OVER THE PHONE.

2. A doctor would not diagnose a patient over the phone WITHOUT ADDITIONAL IMAGING IF IT WAS TRULY SOMETHING THAT COULD BE THIS MISCONSTRUED.

3. In what motherfucking world would a screening test like this one be used, when it is apparently so poor quality that it makes it easy for a medical professional with 12+ years of schooling and probably decades of experience to confuse METASTATIC LUNG CANCER with BRONCHITIS????? IF there is a concern after a CT scan for lung cancer vs. bronchitis, there is always a biopsy or additional screening required to potentially rule one of those out. In fact, Charlie mentions after he finds out it was just bronchitis that he had one such appointment scheduled to rule out other potential diagnoses. So why did the doctor tell him he had terminal cancer without being sure? Plot convenience and lazy writing. For a doctor to call a patient and deliver news of a terminal cancer diagnosis over the phone without any additional follow up is laughably unrealistic and shows me just how little research Center did in order to incorporate this manipulative plot twist. I can do nothing but condemn her for laziness and callousness in writing about such an emotional thing that affects millions of real people in such a disrespectful way.

I have to say that I truly fucking loved this book for the first 75%. I was having so much fun. But this was such a betrayal for me. You do not get to use cancer as a fake-out plot twist to emotionally manipulate your audience. You do not. When Charlie’s persistent cough kept coming up on the page, I was reminded of the hacking that punctuated my late uncle’s speech. Then, when it was revealed that Charlie was diagnosed with lung cancer (and metastatic lung cancer at that), all of the memories of losing my uncle and watching him waste away were dredged to the surface. I literally broke down into tears.

Let me be clear, this turn of events wasn’t cool with me. I didn’t pick up a romcom to be tricked into a terminal cancer tragedy. I’ve had enough of that in real life. Terminal cancer itself is not a fucking plot device you can use to make a big reveal in the third act to keep your readers guessing. I’m actually so livid that I can’t even properly write a trigger warning for this section without prefacing that some may consider it a spoiler. Terminal cancer should not be a spoiler. Yet Center frames it that way by setting it up as a plot twist. To me, that’s despicable.

But even knowing this, I kept thinking to myself, <i>She has to lean into this. If this is what Center has written, the only thing she can do to hang onto her integrity is to let this character have lung cancer. If she retcons it, that would be the most fucked up path she could take.</i> So despite feeling catfished by a romcom that turned out to be a terminal cancer tragedy, I still didn’t want it to go the way it very obviously did. Because that would have been so much worse. That would mean that Center used cancer to do the work for her of manufacturing tension and emotion into the story because, clearly, she couldn’t come up with either on her own. Then, when it suited her, she took the cancer away so the MCs could have their HEA. Thus, it was all just bronchitis.

And what really pisses me off is that she did this to drum up a third act conflict. That’s all. She had to give Charlie a reason not to jump into a relationship with Emma. This was that reason. Now, terminally ill, he would be all too ready to push her away. But, like Emma had said earlier, every romcom must have a happy ending. So Center threw the terminal lung cancer diagnosis at us for a single scene before immediately reneging on it to explain away Charlie’s atrocious behavior.

This is laziness to the nth degree. Charlie couldn’t have had ANY other reason to push her away? Or hey, maybe we could have had a different conflict altogether? Maybe Charlie and Emma do get together, but Charlie’s rude ass behavior that kept coming up throughout the book starts cropping up again and maybe Emma refuses to put up with it anymore? Or maybe Emma abandons Charlie for a false alarm with her dad, causing him not to trust her while also triggering his abandonment traumas from his mom and ex-wife, and thereby requiring Emma to make amends by learning the lesson that this book had been building toward—that her whole life does not need to be caregiving. She can let other people (like her sister, brother-in-law, and Charlie) help her.

Literally Center could’ve done ANYTHING else and this would’ve been a 4 star review.

<b>Warning: the rest of this review contains spoilers not strictly related to the lung cancer fake-out.</b>

And speaking of the lung cancer diagnosis, Charlie did something I feel can almost qualify as gaslighting when he got the phone call with his terminal diagnosis. Emma asks him if he’s sick, and the following happens:

<blockquote>
Charlie gave me an Olympic-level eye roll that involved not just his face, but his neck and shoulders, too. Then he said, “Not everybody is dying all the time, Emma.” There was a bitterness to his voice I hadn’t heard before.
“I know, I just—“
“Let’s not add your paranoid hypochondria to this situation, okay? It’s bad enough without you backing up a whole dump truck of crazy.”
</blockquote>

So not only does he flat out lie to Emma, but he proceeds to manipulate her by using her self-confessed anxieties about health problems as the reason she’s reading into the situation, and then calls her crazy.

Does he ever apologize about this? Nope. In fact, at the end, he is so unapologetic about all the lying that, when Emma says to him that he would rather “feed [her] heart into a wood chipper” than tell her he was sick again, he says, “Correct. And I would do it again, too, because I was not going to be another person ruining your life…You can’t be trusted to do the right thing for yourself.”

I’m sorry. Lying to her was the “right thing” for her? Gaslighting her? Leading her on and shutting her down? Hurting her again and again? That was all better than the alternative—simply telling her the truth and letting her make her own choices?

Sure, this all ties back to his shard of glass—the lesson he needs to learn. His mom and his ex-wife both abandoned him at different points in his life when he was sick and needed them most. But he never really learns anything from that. Emma just tells him that she was ready to be with him before she knew his terminal diagnosis was made in error and not much in the way of Charlie’s development is explored beyond that.

To add insult to injury, Emma’s character growth was also poor. She is characterized as someone whose anxieties controlled her life so much that she’s taken to making her role as a caregiver for her hemiplegic, medically complex father her whole identity. She doesn’t have a life outside of him.

When she goes on this adventure to LA, she anxiously leaves her father in the hands of her younger sister, Sylvie, who hasn’t lifted a finger to care for him since he was injured ten years ago. Sylvie was also a literal preteen when the accident happened, so I can give her grace for that.

Yet, when Sylvie leaves their father alone for one night and he falls down the stairs and ends up in the ICU, resentment and rage tear through Emma so thoroughly that she tells Sylvie she will never forgive her if her trip to the beach kills their dad. Sylvie shoots back (SPOILERS AHEAD) that they would be even then, because Emma’s trip to the mountains killed their mother. This is a touchy subject for Emma and she instantly vows to never speak to Sylvie again, all the while never recognizing that what she said to Sylvie was equally as fucked up.

I get saying things in anger. In fact, in a moment of high emotion, when your anxieties are eating you alive as your father goes into emergency surgery from which he may never wake up, I can see myself saying the same fucked up things. However, character growth would mean coming out of that emotional stupor, realizing the error of your ways, and fucking apologizing for them.

What happens instead is Emma continues to ignore Sylvie, clinging to the moral high ground of “wow that was so fucked up of her to say, I’m literally never speaking to her again.” As I said before, Sylvie only parroted back the exact thing Emma had said to her. So the fact that she NEVER recognizes how fucked up it was for her to say that, and especially, that she never apologizes to Sylvie for it, while Sylvie herself has to grovel on her wedding day for Emma to forgive her, just made me absolutely despise our FMC. Center bungled her characterization. Just like she bungled everything else at the end.

And for what? This was a fun book up until the 75% mark. I was having a grand old time reading about two flawed screenwriters going on romcom research dates. Patti Murin’s narration was especially quippy and her comedic timing had me literally laughing out loud. But then it all fell apart in the last quarter. The characterization of the two MCs and the terminal cancer fake-out plummeted my rating from a respectable 4 straight down to a 1 star. I am utterly disappointed by the lazy manner in which this was wrapped up and betrayed by the blasé, yet emotionally manipulative way Center trotted out terminal cancer like a show pony just to go, “Sike!”

<b>OVERALL RATING:</b> 1 star.

<i>A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>

The Rom-Commers is my first book by this author and I loved it. The story was a grumpy sunshine/ forced proximity/ romcom and was the perfect blend of humor, emotions, angst, swoon and so much more.

I loved Emma & Charlie. These two were wonderful, relatable characters each with their own flaws. One doesn't believe in love and the other loves love, and I enjoyed going on this journey with them as one teaches the other about love.

Although opposites, they were a great match and I loved their witty banter and the ease with which they navigated their relationship, but even more I enjoyed seeing how they both transformed to become the perfect writing duo. The tension between them was palpable and I was eagerly anticipating every new chapter to see how their romance would blossom.

This story had me fully captivated from start to finish. Apart from the romance and humor, the author covered some serious topics including illness, grief and loss which was well written and dealt with in a sensitive manner.

This was a delightfully sweet and charming tale and I would highly recommend it to romance lovers.

🎧I listened to the audiobook of this novel which was narrated by Patti Murin. It was an absolute pleasure listening to her narration. She gave the characters their own voices and really brought the story to life.
The audiobook also includes two additional treats: a delightful bonus chapter from Charlie's perspective narrated by the author and an insightful discussion by Katherine Center on her affection for love stories.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC.

Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Right out the gate it started off awesome. I love the banter and their friendship and how it progressed. I cried and I smiled. My only critique was too many situations where she conveniently overheard conversations. Very highly recommend! Loved the epilogue 💗 Katherine Center is so good!!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the audiobook early. This must be the year of screenwriter LA RomCom romances since this is my 5th one this year. I’m not complaining just an observation. This is my 4th Katherine Center book that I’ve read and I can’t say I loved it which makes me so sad because I was really looking forward to this book BUT I didn’t hate it either.

I liked Emma a lot as a FMC, She’s funny and witty and a great screenwriter. She’s the sunshine to Charlie’s grumpy. I really wanted to like Charlie but I couldn’t connect with him. He was just so closed off and well…mean. I didn’t feel the chemistry with our two leads and I didn’t get the butterflies I was hoping for.

I loved the idea of this book and I did laugh out loud at many scenes it just fell short for me sadly. I did very much enjoy the narrator for the audiobook though. She was entertaining and fun.

It’s 3.5 stars for me. I look forward to Katherine’s next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the book.

Not my favorite.

The main character is annoying and immature. There is no chemistry between the characters; it’s actually sad how she throws herself at him and he shows no interest until the very end. Just all over weird vibes for a “rom/com”. No rom, no com.

I received an advanced audio copy. All thoughts are my own.

I absolutely loved every minute of The Rom-Commers. Every Katherine Center book I've read is a delight, but this one was - dare I say - delicious. The banter, the pop culture references, the connections to her other works - I loved every bit of it. Being Katherine Center, she also brought in very timely issues that will hit home with many readers. Already planning to attend one of her book tour events and I cannot wait to get a physical copy in my hands!

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Publication date: June 10, 2024 🎧

Here’s another contemporary romance book that I absolutely recommend! This audiobook has so many cute contemporary romance tropes. Think enemy to lovers and grumpy meets sunshine tropes. In this story our MC has been her father’s primary caretaker for years. Her manager gets her a writing job with a famous screenwriter that she loves! There are a couple of problems though… 1. He has no idea she’s going to help him and 2. He is horrible at writing rom coms. 3. He doesn’t believe in love! She decides to teach him about love. He has an ulterior motive to why he is writing this horrible screenplay. They come to an agreement where she’s going to help him write a good screenplay under her terms.

The audiobook was easy to follow and kept me engaged the whole time. I loved the chemistry between the two that eventually unfolded and that the narrator was able to portray smoothly. The narrator was able to capture an array of emotions that you can feel the character going through. This author has a unique way of writing love stories out of unfortunate circumstances that a MC has endured. It has you rooting for the MC and wanting them to live the lives they were meant to have.

This book was classics Katherine Center. I loved every second. It was funny and smart and deep and lovely and tender and just everything.
Narration was well done!

I seriously love the way Center tells a story. In every book I’ve read by her she’s done and amazing job of making me feel deeply for the all characters. This one was beautifully done, I even cried at one point which is very rare for me in Rom coms.

I adored her authors note at the end and wholeheartedly agree that the world needs these stories. We need more hope and love and kindness in our lives. This was a fantastic read that I loved and needed in my life!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the alc via Netgalley!

The thing that I like most about Center's novels is how viscerally I connect with her characters. As a reader, my connection with her characters is always SO STRONG that I desperately root for them, I hurt for them, and I want to be their friend so that I can support them through what their going through. Emma and Charlie certainly weren't an exception either with how vehemently I wanted them to figure it all out and get together. This was lovely, engaging, and super enjoyable!

Katherine Center is such an amazing story teller. I look forward to her newest book every year. The rom-commers was definitely one of my favorites. I genuinely could not stop listening to this audiobook. Emma was an amazing heroine. She was sweet, funny and so vulnerable. It made her incredibly likable. If she were a real person, I’d be her friend. She’s had difficult things she’s dealing with in life but she never lets those things get her down. She gets a chance to write a screen play with her most favorite screen play writer. Except Charlie Yates isn’t quite what she imagined—until he kind of was. This is an amazing book with the best push pull conflict and well crafted imperfect characters. Their journey to love is unique and special. The narrator did a fantastic job of bringing this story to life. Huge thanks to the audiobook publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to listen and review this story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. This is narrated by Katherine Center and Patti Murin, both of whom make it an excellent experience!

Center always provides light hearted, entertaining reads and this is another one!

Emma is a writer who is taking care of her father after he was injured in an accident that killed her mother. Her boyfriend from high school is an agent who sends her work when he can and when she has time to write. However, this time, she will have to go to LA for the writing job. Can she leave her dad? Can she ask her sister to step into her caregiver role? Will everything be ok?

I found this story fast paced and engaging, the characters are likable, and the ending very satisfying!

Highly recommend!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an early audiobook copy.

Emma has put her career as a screenwriter on the backburner to be the primary caretaker for her father. When her agent presents her with the opportunity to assist her favorite screenwriter on his first romcom, she takes the chance, flies to LA and leaves her father in her sister's care. Not only is Charlie Yates' screenplay bad, he doesn't believe in understand the genre.

I really adored this book. It was my first Katherine Center read and I'm already diving into her backlog. Right off the bat, narrator, Patti Murin, delivers a fantastic and engaging performance of Emma. While on paper this may look like a sweet romcom, Center adds so much depth and emotion that Murin nails in the narration. Plus, as Emma will attest with any good romcom, this book made me cry so hard.

An adorable rom com from start to finish. I loved the story & Emma being starstruck in LA while working with one of her favorite writers. It gives lots of love to rom-coms, both written and on screen. A super sweet, bingeable romance! Thank you Net Galley for the advanced listening copy of this book in return for my honest review.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was another slam dunk by Katherine Center. Will definitely check out more of her books in the future.

Katherine Center can do no wrong! I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more.. cried some more lol. This is the perfect rom-com, and beautifully written, as always!
Emma Wheeler has a love for screenwriting, her family, and Charlie Yates. She is obsessed with his work as a screenwriter and finds him not only inspirational but super hot as well! She has always dreamed of being a famous screenwriter however, she has been taking care of her father ever since her was left half paralyzed from a rock-climbing accident. Her father needs round-the-clock care, and Emma has devoted the past few years to being there for him. This means her dream of being a screenwriter has been put on the back burner. Emma, however, being the optimistic person she is, is ok with it.
One day, her ex presents her with a once in a lifetime opportunity- a chance to rewrite a rom-com written by THE Charlie Yates! Emma is skeptical because not only does she feel uncomfortable leaving her father, but also, why would Charlie Yates need her help??
Turns out the rom-com is horrible! Absolutely terrible! Charlie is not a rom-com guy and it shows through his writing. But there is much more to it. Charlie does not believe in love or romance anymore. Life has been harsh for him in the love department, causing him to detach himself completely..
Until he meets the optimistic, breath of fresh air, believer in all things love and romance, Emma Wheeler.
This book is such a wonderful book, filled with many laughs and a lot of romance. I loved all the characters in this book, especially Emma and Charlie. They were perfect together! I also loved the fun mentions of real actors and actresses.
Another 5 star read by Katherine Center!

Thank you NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Kathering Center for this wonderful book!

4.25 stars

Good. Emotional. Angsty. I actually cried at one point, which I don’t do with a lot of books right now (there were extenuating circumstances, but still- this one was making me feel things). I liked the ending. All in all, I’ve been pretty happy with the handful of books I’ve read from this writer, and I look forward to exploring her next story as well.

Oh my gosh… my heart! I didn’t think it was possible to love a Katherine Center book more than her last 2, but she just keeps getting better. This book has everything I’ve come to love and expect from her, plus more. I just adored the quirky and fiery Emma, and Charlie was such a fun grump to love. There was the perfect balance of heartache and loss mixed with humor, hope and love, and I had such a vast array of feelings as I listened. Center has become a top favorite author of mine, and this book just solidifies why she’s in that top spot. The audio had fantastic narration as well!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for my ALC in exchange for my honest feedback!

This was a fun read!  It’s funny, witty, and cozy.  The deeper emotional story underneath all the lighthearted wit is captivating.  I love the way Katherine Center has a way of writing emotional stories with the perfect balance of humor and quirkiness.  There was so much to enjoy, but the pacing was a bit slow for me at times.  This is against the plot, story, or writing. I just prefer a faster-paced book that keeps my attention.  There were times when things felt a bit sluggish.

The plot was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the banter between the two characters. I can’t resist a broody character and Charlie was a perfectly GRUMPY closed-off character but he knows how to bring the swoon when needed. There were so numerous subtle romantic moments that captured my heart.  I found myself rooting for these two, and on the edge of my seat waiting for Emma to realize Charlie’s true feelings…despite his denial.

This is a standalone but if you are a fan of The Bodyguard you’ll join me in my giddiness from some surprise cameos. 

I switched between the audiobook and the ebook.  Patti Murin’s performance truly enhanced the story. Her portrayal of Emma brought out her wit while bringing out her flaws, longing, and dilemma of balancing her dreams and responsibilities at home.