The Rom-Commers
The instant New York Times bestseller!
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4.2 • 17 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
'A big hit of dopamine' EMILY GIFFIN
*The instant New York Times bestseller!*
****
She's rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma has big dreams, though she hasn't let herself think about them in years. Until her big break comes along: the chance to re-write a screenplay with her hero, Charlie-freaking-Yates! Even better: it's a rom-com - Emma's dream come true.
Charlie is a Hollywood legend. He's also, as it turns out, kind of a jerk. He's written the worst rom-com Emma's ever read - and it turns out Charlie doesn't believe in love at all...
But Emma's not going down without a fight. To help Charlie write the perfect rom-com, she needs to make him understand true romance. But the more she tries to teach him about love, the more real it all starts to seem . . .
****
PRAISE FOR THE ROM-COMMERS:
'Center, the prolific author of many romances understands what it takes to create a winning romantic comedy... A winning romance that deftly balances heft and humour'
KIRKUS
'Winsome and charming, Center's latest is that perfect blend of romance and overcoming life challenges that her readers treasure'
BOOKLIST (starred review)
'a delightful, hilarious love story that fans of Emily Henry will be eager to dive into this summer'
BOOKTRIB
'Grumpy Boy and Sunshine Girl is one of the best tropes!'
BETCHES
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Center (The Bright Side of Disaster) botches a clever premise about an aspiring writer too trapped by family obligations to have a career and an established writer too trapped by his career to have a family. Emma Wheeler put her Hollywood dreams on hold to be a full-time caretaker to her father, but when her manager, whom she shares with "screenwriter's screenwriter" Charlie Yates, suggests Emma become Charlie's live-in ghostwriter to fix his appalling rom-com script, Emma gets a second chance at the career she always wanted. Unfortunately, Center has Emma rhapsodically explain rom-com tropes but doesn't deploy them effectively herself. The meet-cute is more of a meet-ugly, with Charlie calling Emma an "unproduced, underachieving, failed nobody writer off the internet." This would be fine if Charlie underwent the necessary character arc to become a worthy hero, but instead he's shoved through the standard beats of a romance novel before he's developed at all, making scenes like the one in which he carries a fainting Emma bridal-style into his home feel forced, rushed, and out of character. It doesn't help that Emma is incapable of taking no for an answer, especially when it comes to physical intimacy and Charlie's reasonable concerns about consent. Additionally, Emma's boundary-smashing, superfan approach to everyone she meets in L.A. veers from rom-com heroine awkwardness into cringeworthy nonprofessionalism that makes it tough to root for her. Readers will be better served elsewhere.
