The Rom-Commers: A Novel
Featuring beautiful spray-painted edges with vibrant designed endpapers.
The New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center's next laugh out loud, feel good rom-com about writing your own story.
She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?
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Community Reviews
I started The Rom-Commers eagerly excited to dive into a new Katherine Center book… but quickly found myself not connecting with the characters, which started to give me an existential crisis. Center is one of my favorite romance authors and I was in desperate need of her optimism. While I did struggle through most of this one, I’m happy to report it did somewhat redeem itself in the end!
I have read and loved six of Center’s books, starting with How to Walk Away, the first book I picked up by her, reading every new release she’s had since, and picking up some of her backlist books in between, as well. The Bodyguard was my favorite book of the year the year I read it. Then last year I picked up Hello Stranger, fully expecting to love it, as well. I did still enjoy it, but it wasn’t up to the gushing standards Center’s books typically receive from me. I’d hoped it was just an anomaly, so I picked up The Rom-Commers with all the hope in my heart. Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with this one, too.
The Rom-Commers is full of Center’s signature witty banter, great lines I found myself highlighting, but it lacks the polish of her previous backlist books: the great character arcs, the backstories that make me connect with the characters, a believable connection between our couple. The romance felt forced and overly cheesy at times, and I didn’t like the characters much; sometimes their personalities came across as inconsistent. Charlie, our male lead, was not very nice, and not in a cute grumpy way. Emma came across as immature sometimes. I found myself not caring at all. But then I jumped on Goodreads to check out my blogging friends’ reviews to discover they ARE gushing about this one, giving it five stars. So is it me?? Have I become so jaded that I can’t read romance any more?? I’ll save that worry for another day.
I found so much of the plot unrealistic. I’m okay with suspending disbelief a bit in my romances, but this one was one unbelievable thing after another; it was too much for me.
One of my issues was Emma’s adoration for Charlie from afar. Granted, I’m not generally a big fan of the celebrity trope, but I did adore The Bodyguard, so I thought I’d be okay with this one, as well. But Emma was such a fangirl for Charlie that it came across as immature and annoying instead of endearing.
This romance also had more miscommunication or lack of communication, and I’m over that trope. I’d be okay if I didn’t read another book with it for the rest of the year.
It wasn’t all bad! There were things I did like. I mentioned the witty banter before, and Center excels at dialogue. There were some romantic scenes I enjoyed, as long as I pretended that I liked the characters.
I did enjoy Emma’s father and sister. And the family’s backstory was heartbreaking, but I didn’t feel as empathetic toward Emma as I should. For me, she has been the main hindrance to her happiness, and at one point I thought she was overly cruel to her sister.
I struggled to rate this one because I’ve never given Center’s books less than four stars, but this one wasn’t for me. If you prefer your romances on the lighter side and enjoy the celebrity trope, The Rom-Commers might be a romance you’ll enjoy.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.
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