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How can you go wrong with a rom-com book by Katherine Center about two screenwriters falling for each other as they write a rom-com? You can’t. You just can’t. While mostly I read free books from the library or advance reading copies from Netgalley, I occasionally will splurge on buying a brand-new release when the story sounds good and it’s from a favorite author. The Rom-Commers was one of those times. Paid for the e-copy to hit my Kindle the day of release. And it was worth it. After all, it did all the things that her main character, Emma Wheeler, said good romances should do.
Emma has been taking care of her father for a decade, since he was injured in a camping accident. He needs someone around 24/7, and Emma has been that someone. She wanted to be sure her younger sister could finish her education. But while she’s put her life on hold, she has been writing romantic comedy screenplays.
Then she gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help her favorite screenwriter, Charlie Yates, improve a rom-com he’s written. He’s never written this genre, and it shows — it’s beyond terrible. So Emma gets her sister, who’s just graduated college and come home, to take over as caretaker for six weeks so she can fly to Hollywood and get to work.
Turns out Charlie is failing at writing this script because he doesn’t even care about it — it’s just allowing him to get another project he does care about done. And he doesn’t believe in love. And stories about love are fantasy tales, fluff, etc. On top of all that, he does not understand why he has been put together with Emma, who is “a nobody.”
Emma has her work cut out for her. She has to prove not only herself, but a whole genre. And she will do all the research with him it takes to do so. Even if that includes going line-dancing, falling on each other (literally) and kissing him.
Oops. That may have worked for her goal but it also may have shown she has feelings for her screen idol beyond admiration for his writing skills. And maybe he has some too. But all of it is impossible for so many reasons.
I love how Center incorporates a lot of tropes and winks as she writes them into the story and brings attention to them. It’s a lot of fun. She also writes characters who have been facing some real life challenges and leads them to work through their fears and blocks. Center is so compassionate for the characters she creates and shares that compassion with her readers as she helps them (and us) to give themselves a little grace, be open to love and happiness, and make the world a little better place. (Happiness for Beginners is a great example of this.)
The Rom-Commers is another winner from a talented writer who’s on top of her game. It would be perfect without the f-words (there aren’t a ton, as in some other popular novels, but even a few is more than I’d like). I do like that she doesn’t include erotic sex scenes in her books.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 10 uses of strong language, around 20 instances of moderate profanity, about 50 uses of mild language, and about 35 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes kissing, mentions about someone having an affair, some references to sex in general, a few somewhat crude references, and a character propositioning another.
