The Rom-Commers

Book Review

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Romance | Romantic Comedy | Women’s Fiction

Reader’s Thoughts:

Make way for the newest Katherine Center novel, The Rom-Commers! This summer 2024 release is full of laugh-out-loud scenes, witty dialogue, and a sparkling romance with swoon-worthy chemistry! With its grumpy-sunshine trope, Hollywood setting, and characters and scenes that are occasionally larger-than-life (but in that sweet rom-com way) this book is an ode to the genre!

Emma Wheeler longs to be a romantic-comedy screenwriter. And the thing is, she’s good at it too. But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. So when the opportunity arises to re-write a Charlie Yates rom-com (her screenwriting hero!) it’s too good a chance to pass up. Even if Charlie doesn’t want her help, doesn’t believe in love, and only wrote the script to get another film green-lighted. But Emma is determined to prove him wrong — that love stories matter — and as they re-write one love story, they might just end up writing another.

With a title like “The Rom-Commers” and a plot about two screenwriters writing a script for a rom-com, it was fairly obvious that this novel was going to be a love letter to the genre. Katherine Center has often shared and written on social media about the “predictable structure” of a romance novel, and how that’s a good thing. It’s all about the anticipation that you’re heading toward a happy ending. She’s shared how romance novels aren’t supposed to give you a surprise ending, how they help us see that our best possibilities are valuable, and how believing in love is believing in hope. And I think all of that was featured and explored within this new novel. In many ways, this book felt like a larger discussion about the purpose of romance novels and rom-coms in general, and I loved that we got to explore that through these two fantastic characters, Emma and Charlie.

And as any great love letter should be, Center takes all the things that we know and love about rom-coms and includes them here in this book. Sparkling, witty banter. Well-developed characters. Some cheese (every genre has its cliches of course!) And a romance that you fall in love with alongside our leads.

Center also does a really great job of navigating heavier topics and discussions, all the while balancing it with the light-hearted, feel-good experience we want from a book like this — because difficulties are real life too. And while there is some miscommunication within the story (everyone’s least favorite trope) it works here because it’s realistic rather than drawn out.

The Rom-Commers is funny and heartfelt, full of warmth and joy, and is my new favorite Center novel. I absolutely loved the audio version of the book, but I’ll definitely be grabbing a permanent physical copy for my shelf too! For fans of clean romance, sweet stories, and rom-coms, this book is one to watch for!

Recommended for:

Rom-Com fans!

This post contains affiliate links; as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Advance copy of the book provided courtesy of the publisher, Macmillan Audio. All opinions expressed are my own.

About the book:

(From the publisher) 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?