Happy Monday, all! I had a very leisurely bookish weekend, one that was supposed to be taken up by ARCs, but got derailed by my ADD. Katherine Center is basically an automatic buy for me, so when her newest appeared for the February Book of the Month, it was a no brainer. As I contemplated my overflowing bookshelf this weekend, The Rom-Commers bright colors and light promise drew me in. So of course, I finished it in 6 hours of hardcore reading.

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From the Publisher:

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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My Thoughts:

First of all, I loved seeing my favorite character from The Bodyguard appear here. The minute I realized that Charlie and Jack are friends, I was sold. However, Charlie is… a bit of a dick, if we are all being honest. Emma is problematic in her own way (giving up your dreams for your family is, while noble, an excuse you can only rely on for so long), but Charlie needs therapy. Capital “T” therapy. Pushing the people you love away just so they don’t have a chance to leave you is classic therapy-needing behavior. Emma should not be his therapy. Emma should also be in therapy. Her amazing and perfect father should not have to be the only happy thing in her life. I was almost not rooting for them so they could go work on themselves for a bit.

And yet… and yet. Katherine Center created a world where two flawed people can come together and create what sounds like a charmingly self-aware but not cringe romcom worthy of a Nora Ephron directorship. The tropes went from tired to newly romantic (looking at you, line dancing class), the descriptions in the scenes are vivid but not forced, and despite it all, I fell in love with Charlie and Emma and their imperfect little world. This was devoured, despite Charlie and Emma’s issues, despite the lack of smut. Katherine Center has done it again.

This is 4.5 waves for me, but really five. Anything that keeps me that engrossed deserves the big rec regardless of issues. Pick up your copy here!