The Rom-Commers

April 8, 2024
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. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary.

May 1, 2024
Sparks fly when a struggling screenwriter gets the chance of a lifetime to write a rom-com with her hero. Once upon a time, Emma Wheeler dreamed of being a screenwriter. She put her dream on hold, however, to care for her father, who's been living with both partial paralysis and M�ni�re's disease since an accident 10 years ago. Emma lives for her family now--caring for her father around the clock and doing whatever she can to make sure her younger sister, Sylvie, has the chance to go to college and pursue her passions. But then her manager offers her the miraculous opportunity to help her hero, Charlie Yates, rewrite his first-ever romantic comedy. Charlie typically writes big, blockbuster action films--romantic comedies aren't his forte, and his first attempt is terrible. But romance is very much in Emma's wheelhouse, and she knows exactly what Charlie needs to make his screenplay sing. The only problem? He very much does not want her help. He also doesn't like rom-coms and may not even believe in love. But Emma's living in Charlie's fancy L.A. house for six weeks, there to help him rebuild his very flawed movie, and she's ready to work. Before the screenplay can get better, she has to teach Charlie a few things about romantic comedies (and life in general). This means going line dancing and maybe even kissing...for research purposes. Center, the prolific author of many romances (Hello Stranger, 2023, etc.), clearly understands what it takes to create a winning romantic comedy and puts Charlie and Emma through many of the most delightful rom-com tropes (enemies to lovers, forced proximity). But the book, like all of Center's work, doesn't completely eschew darkness--both Emma and Charlie are dealing with trauma and grief. Emma's feelings of guilt and responsibility toward her family make her journey toward a happily-ever-after with Charlie feel all the more satisfying--as Emma's dad wisely says, "Happiness is always better with a little bit of sadness." A winning romance that deftly balances heft and humor.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2024
Center's latest, following Hello Stranger (2023), focuses on two screenwriters working together on a romantic comedy screenplay. Emma Wheeler gave up her dreams of pursuing a screenwriting career years ago, when her father was injured in a devastating accident that left him in need of permanent care. But then her high-school boyfriend, Logan, now a Hollywood manager, calls her to tell her that her screenwriting hero, handsome and charming Charlie Yates, needs a collaborator for his latest screenplay. When Emma gets to Los Angeles, she's shocked to discover Charlie has no real interest in the rom-com script. For him, it's simply a means to an end: he wants a green light for his Mafia drama. Emma is ready to fly back home, but after she's honest with Charlie about how much work his script needs, he relents and asks for her help. Sparks fly between them, but so does conflict as Emma learns Charlie has hang-ups about everything from swimming to opening up emotionally. Meanwhile, Emma's forced to face her own guilt about her father's accident and the consequences it's wrought. Winsome and charming, Center's latest is that perfect blend of romance and overcoming life challenges that her readers treasure.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With previous titles adapted for Netflix, best-selling Center, the ""queen of comfort reads,"" is becoming more popular with each book.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.