The Rom-Commers Archives - The Litertarian

Sometimes you read a book that kind of ruins you for awhile. You finish the last pages, close the back cover and just linger in the tingly afterglow for a moment, thinking about what a marvel you just witnessed. You think about the characters in the story like they’re real people and can imagine what might have happened between the pages. You remember the scenes you liked best and wonder how the hell someone came up with something so brilliant and moving and wonder why exactly it is as good as it is…like you learn something new about yourself for having found something you love so profoundly. That’s the feeling I had after finishing The Rom-Commers, by Katherine Center.

I knew it was something special when I stopped to tell my husband this is the kind of book that makes you wish you didn’t hand out so many five star reviews, so when you say this is a five-star book, it carries a little more weight. Folks, this is a five-star book. For realsies. That’s why I put them in the title of this post, if that wasn’t clear.

The Rom-Commers Katherine Center Book Cover

The premise is a once-promising screenwriter, who had to abandon her dream to care for her father after a catastrophic accident, gets a call from an old-friend-turned-agent begging her to help one of his clients rewrite an “apocalyptically shitty” rom-com screenplay. The client just happens to be one of the most renowned writers in the business who’s off his game, and Emma, our protagonist, worships him — in the manor of professional mentor, of course. The timing works out just so for Emma to have no excuses not to go, so she’s on the next plane to L.A. to see if her dream may still be in reach after all this time. When she gets there she finds out Charlie Yates (the Hollywood writer phenom) has the yips (*wink* not writers block *wink*), and hasn’t been able to write anything in the past five years. He only needs to write this catastrophe of a rom-com well enough to be ‘passable’ so he can get his actual passion project produced. Oh, also, the mutual-agent-friend, Logan (the real hero of this story), didn’t tell Charlie Emma was coming. Did I mention he also doesn’t believe in love? Emma has her work cut out for her!

(Also, look at that spectacular cover — friggin swoon)

There are so many things I could talk about loving in this book, but I think it boils down to the details. The superstitious items of clothing, the ever-the-optimist father, the casual googling of highly specific questions, the heartbroken guinea pig named Cuthbert, the douchebag bro-dude wannabe rival, Teej. And the more romantic ones: the writing workday detritus, morning laps in the pool, grocery shopping and cooking together, nicknaming the mean ex-wife the mean ex-wife. Some of them aren’t even really on the page, but alluded to in a way that is so real and tangible, that it makes it easy to sink in and adore the story.

One of my favorite things in the book is Emma & Charlie’s mutual recognition of anxieties. They don’t have the same ones, but they both experience it. Instead of trying to ‘fix’ it when it appears in the other, they more so just sit in the feeling together, steadying one another, instead. It felt real. It felt…beautiful. My favorite scene is the middle of the night earthquake/panic-attack where Emma finds Charlie and Cuthbert the broken-hearted guinea pig already up and playing a mindless power-washing video game that soothes them all back into calm. It was so tender, but also…was it? Nothing romantic happened. Hardly anything happened at all. That’s the point, really. And that’s when I fell in love with Charlie Yates.

It’s a lovely book with a compelling, witty narrative with a thousand thoughtful intricacies. Here I was thinking that Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major was going to be my favorite book of the year — but that was before The Rom-Commers. Bravo, Katherine Center. It’s a standing-O from me!

Details

Title:: The Rom-Commers
Author:: Katherine Center
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 39m
Audiobook Narrator:: Katherine Center & Patti Murin
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: June 11th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars