Love Found in the Library – The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
When I’m in a reading-rut, I’ll go to my local library. I’d find a stack of books I could tell in that immediate soul-fluttering way that I’d like. Then I’d grab one or two that I was unsure of. The last time I did this I grabbed The Rom-Commers (2024) by Katherine Center. It was such an excellent read it reminded me why I go to the library in the first place.
I’ve forced multiple friends to read different Jane Austen books. I know that Shakespeare wrote romantic-comedies. When Harry Met Sally (1989) made me bawl my eyes out. I can’t keep track of all the Hugh Grant romantic comedies I’ve watched. With all that said…
I don’t actually read modern romances.
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Catherine Tate and David Tennant Much Ado About Nothing (2011)
I know what I like to read (fantasy and classics) and used to never diverge from those genres. I avoid detective books, or spy thrillers, or anything with a cowboy hat on the cover. Which means I’m missing out on some fantastic detective books, spy thrillers, or books with cowboy hats on the cover. To rectify this, I make a point of finding books in the library I don’t feel strongly about. If I don’t enjoy the book, it was free and won’t take up space on my shelf. It’s a perfect way to experiment and expose myself to texts I wouldn’t normally read.
And you know why I do this? Because I finished The Rom-Commers (2024) in a matter of hours. I got up only to use the bathroom and get water. It was of those amazing reading experiences that gives you a crick in the neck while taking your breath away. And if I had only stuck to genres I was used to, it wouldn’t have ever happened.
The Rom-Commers is a romance between two screenwriters. Emma Wheeler, the protagonist, loves romantic comedies and all they entail. Charlie Yeats thinks they’re a waste of time, and when a writing project puts them on the same script, chaos ensues. The book is written by Katherine Center, a New York Times bestselling author. She also wrote Happiness for Beginners (2015) which was adapted into a Netflix movie starring Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes.
Netflix Poster
I was hooked from the first voice-filled paragraph: “Logan Scott called just as I was making dinner, and I almost didn’t answer because my dad and I were singing along to ABBA’s greatest hits. There were not too many people I’d interrupt ABBA for- but yes, fine, Logan Scott was one of them.” The conversational tone, the cozy descriptions, and the passion the narrator has for everything in her life came through brilliantly in the first chapter. We learn all the expository information we need to know, and what we don’t know is left charmingly brushed aside. Every character that’s crucial to the plot is alluded to or present in the scene, and all the plot information you need is set before you like a road map. And you’re so invested in the wit-filled banter, you are left totally unaware you’ve been clued into context at all.
The star of the scene is the star of the book, the phenomenal Emma Wheeler. Her love for her family, films, and life itself thrums through her narration along with the off-putting feeling that her life is fundamentally tragic. The more you learn about this character, the more the disconnect between her ideals and her reality twists at your heartstrings. I found myself wishing I had the optimism (and sticker-chart skills) that this lead brings to the narrative.
It was not lost on me that her fatal flaw was a tendency towards martyr-like levels of self-sacrifice. Logan (her best friend) clues into it in the first chapter, and by the second and third, it’s abundantly clear. Watching her learn to embrace her own needs and stop self-sacrificing is inspiring. Even more impressive than shacking up with a brilliant (and handsome) screenwriter, than knowing everything there is to know about screenwriting, being able to cook like a master chef…is her growth. It is so natural and central to the plot that you feel like a better person just reading it.
When she ultimately boils over in a disastrous way in the climax, you are totally on her side. She has a right to be mad. She has a right to assert herself. She has a right, for one minute, to feel that the world is cruel and unfair. Because it is.
And this is where the romantic lead comes in. He is Charlie Years, a screenwriter who writes about death and destruction and men doing violent, profound, Oscar-winning absurdities. He is arrogant, divorced, has messy hair, and believes love is a scam.
Cover Design by Olga Grlic and Illustrated by Katie Smith
He (horrifically) is writing a zero-effort reboot of What Happened One Night (1934). This, besides being an affront to humanity, is a call to war for our romantic-comedy worshipper Emma. As handsome and genius as her favorite screenwriter is, she cannot forgive him for massacring one of the most iconic romcoms in film history. They fight excessively. Their sexual tension is through the roof. She is determined to teach him that love is real, that romantic comedies are a respectable and vital genre, and that he is not as fundamentally unlovable as he fears he is.
So, by the time she has decided to give up for the first time in her life, he has decided to start trying. He is a master of my favorite type of romantic gestures, the logical, small, improve your-loved-ones-lives-in-ways-only-they’d-notice-ones. And the best part is, the idiot doesn’t even want to woo Emma. He just wants her to be happy. By the end of the novel, he is a complete convert to her, rom-coms, and love itself. When they have a Notting Hill (1999), Roman Holiday (1953) level grand romantic gesture (complete with dramatic lighting, running, tears, and other theatrics) I felt like cheering. I didn’t, due to the 2 AM factor, but I felt like it and that’s what matters.
Anyone who reads it will be a convert too. It makes excellent rhetorical points (usually though Emma) but also through itself as a text. The old enemies-to-lovers trope generally doesn’t have me blinking back tears. But when the book brings death, grief, and the questions of personal responsibility into the mix, I’m reaching for tissues.
The events of the book are charmingly quirky like any Nora Ephron fan would expect. It is a cozy book full of home-cooked pancakes, line-dancing, early morning swims, and a morose guinea pig. Did you hear that? A morose guinea pig. Even the pets can’t escape the heavy questions that weave through this book. The book makes a point of arguing that real life doesn’t have fairy tale happily-ever-afters, but that life itself should be lived like a happily-ever-after. Especially when there is nothing to be happy about. It’s a fantastic mission statement, and as a cynical college student, I’m convinced.
I reserve my right to grouch and grump. I am gobsmacked at the occasional Christopher Nolan film. I don’t believe in love at first sight, and I believe in soulmates even less. But the idea that no matter how bad things are, there will always be houseplants and rom-coms and your loved ones…how can I argue with that? Because reality can be soul-crushing doesn’t mean you have to let it. In fact, you shouldn’t let it. You should decorate your life with laughter, meaningful relationships, and pretty wallpaper, and good luck to anyone who tries to stop you.
So I don’t just wholeheartedly recommend The Rom-commers to both lovers of the genre and its uninformed dissenters. I recommend browsing the local libraries and picking up something new. Because those books are just as likely to change your life as any other book. The best part is, just like love, you won’t see it coming.