KaraMaeK

A Review

Author: Katherine Center

Katherine Center, a 4.93 rated Romantic Comedy Writer on Goodreads, has been on my radar for a few months now. I’ve gone so far as to purchase her 2015 novel Happiness for Beginners, which is patiently waiting for its turn to land on my TBR.

Netgalley and Macmilliam Audio Productions were kind enough to offer me a listen to The Rom-Commers, Center’s 2024 summer novel in exchange for a review. The good news is I am now even more excited to read Happiness for Beginners, the other good news is that I did truly enjoy The Rom-Commers, and there is no bad news.

This review ends with a 4-star review.

Let’s discuss.

Emma Wheeler’s dream is to have her Rom-Com, The Accidental Mermaid, made into a movie. But her full-time job as caretaker for her father has put that dream on hold.

Charlie Yates is a screen writer with a long catalogue of blockbuster movies filling his IMDB page and a drawer full of awards. But after a battle with cancer, he has the yips. He also happens to be Emma’s writing idol.

Logan is the best friend to Emma and agent to Charlie, who feels it is time to meddle and bring the two people he truly cares about most together to help them both find their voices again.

Keeping in mind, this book is a Rom-Com, one needs to go in with the expectation the story will be slightly farfetched, in need of forgiving slight plot holes that serve to move the story forward and will lack some character development. While this book has received many, many 4 and 5 star reviews, I’ve taken a look at the one and two star feedback and most of their hang ups seem to be going into this book with expectation they will walk away with a new found family, like what we get from Abby Jimenez or Lucy Score. Katherine has given us a true Rom-Com on the lines of When Harry Met Sally or How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, where Abby and Lucy will give us Romantic Fiction where the characters and setting are meant to stay with the reader for a long time, primed for full universe of characters or sequels. We can expect a Romantic Fiction writer to tackle hard topics with depth, making us feel all the feelings, where we should expect a Rom-Com to gloss over these hard topics and keep making us laugh. We can expect a good Romantic Fiction to give us a solid book hangover where we can use a good Rom-Com as a pallet cleanser.

Center addresses this in her book as we hear Emma explain a Rom-Com to Charlie before they begin their work.

Describing Charlie’s book: It has no tension, no character growth, no longing, no anticipation, no longing, no banter, no fun, no play, and no shimmer

No Shimmer? Charlie said

But I was just getting started.

It is a romantic comedy that is neither funny nor romantic. It doesn’t do any, ANY, of the things a Rom-Com is supposed to do.

What’s a Rom-Com supposed to do?

Great question. One you should have asked before you wrote this thing. But let’s talk about it.

The job of a Rom-Com is to give you a simulated feeling of falling in love

A Rom-Com should give you a swoony hopeful delicious feeling of anticipation as you look forward to the two leads who are clearly mad for each other finally overcome all their obstacles both internal and external and get together. This is the first sacred rule of Rom-Coms. The leads end up together in the end… this is what the audience is coming for. If you don’t give it to them, it’s like sex without an orgasm. A great Rom-Com is just like sex. If you are surprised by the ending, someone did their part wrong.  

I found The Rom-Commers to be charming, funny, heartwarming, and an all around good time. I liked Emma, I loved that her family pushed her out of the nest to take on this adventure. I liked Charlie and found him to be someone looking to grow. In true Rom-Com fashion, there were places where I wanted to scream “Did you not hear what he just said to you?!” and “Oh, come on! Don’t be a dolt!” But there were also many, many times when I laughed out loud and found I was having a good time listening to this story.

Four stars and I will look to read more Katherine Center in the near future!

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Happy Reading!