Book Review: The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

Title: The Rom-Commers
Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Romance, Rom Com
Date of Publication: June 11, 2024
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Synopsis

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?

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

This book has it all–humour, heart, and a happily ever after!

The book features one of my favourite tropes–the roommates reluctantly falling for each other. Emma is a screenwriter who writes rom coms, but before she had the chance to launch her career, there was a terrible accident that killed her mother and left her father disabled. For the last ten years, she’s been his sole caretaker while her sister finishes her education. But now, there’s an opportunity for her that she just can’t ignore. Charlie Yates, a famous, award-winning screenwriter who’s best known for his action films, has been tasked with writing a rom com–and the result is terrible. His manager is also Emma’s manager, and he convinces her to go to LA to work with the reclusive screenwriter as a ghostwriter. The catch that she only finds out after she’s knocking on his mansion door? Charlie doesn’t know she’s coming. And he doesn’t want her help.

I find that the publishing industry has been pretty liberal with the word “comedy” in romances, saying that books that are more of a typical “contemporary romance” are rom coms. But in this case, The Rom-Commers is actually a rom com, and had numerous parts that had me giggling hysterically.

My favourite books in this genre have serious topics to complement the humour, and this book is no exception. Both Emma and Charlie have trauma in their pasts, and their character arcs bring this book from a simple good time to a thoughtful and uplifting read.

There are a few miscommunications in the story, but they’re done well and add to the plot.

All in all, I recommend this book if you’re looking for a well-plotted and meta rom com!