What do you do when your rom-com obsessed friend is determined to make you their next rom-com heroine? You resist. But also wear super cute skirts and floral tops, and obsess over your hot boss, deal with real life, and bake delicious pies like nobody's business. That's what Chloe does, anyway, and it works out OK for her.

I'll be honest, I started this book expecting the typical cheesy rom-com story. I did not expect it to touch me so deeply that I cried. Several times. It is heartbreakingly real and I love that the author embraced that real life can be hard and messy and unresolved. This book has some beautifully written moments as well as the typical lighthearted scenes that make these kinds of books so much fun. Highly recommend to anyone looking for an authentic and sweet story.

3 stars
I really bought I was going to love this one. How could I not when the title has Tom Hanks right in it! Who doesn't love Tom Hanks????
It was a little flat for me. Maybe because I didn't read book one. I just felt like it was missing something.

Such a cute and heartfelt sequel! I'll be posting a full review on my blog in the aftermath of the book's release.

Cute little rom com about a girl who falls for her boss after her best friend writes a movie based on them. Hijinks ensue. Again cute story.

I liked this book, but I didn't find it to be something that wowed me. It was cute, but nothing really stood out as particularly exciting, new, or fun.

I haven't read Waiting for Tom Hanks, so I know it probably would have been better to start there! But this read was just okay for me. I had trouble with the main character and since the whole book is in her first-person POV, that makes it tricky. I was frustrated at much of her mindset and many of her choices. The resolution handled some of this, but I think it was too late for me and some pieces still were never fully worked through. All in all, it wasn't a bad read and I did want to see where the story took things, but I didn't enjoy it the way I hoped I would. Also, I found it super annoying that Annie just co-opted Chloe's life for her movies and didn't think to ask Chloe if that was okay or be sensitive enough to consider Chloe's perspective sooner.

<spoiler>Also, on a nitpicky note, Nick and Chloe kiss at 14%, which kind of dampened the romantic tension. They have reasons for not wanting to act on their feelings further, but it came across more to me as a plot device than a fully-fledged barrier for them to overcome.</spoiler>

Told in the first person point of view. We view this book through Chloe’s jaded eyes. 

I liked Chloe in the last book (Waiting for Tom Hanks) she was fun and feisty, loyal to friends, and always had a quick comeback. 

Her best friend has hit it big with a movie deal “coffee girl”, and for those who haven’t read the first book, coffee girl was the nickname the hero gave our heroine. 

You don’t need to read the first book. But it does help. There are a few things in this book that you’ll only get if you read the first one. But I don’t think it’s really necessary to this book. 

So...... the movie Annie made was all about a coffee shop owner and his barista. News gets out that it’s based on a real coffee shop, Nick and Chloe are an overnight gossip piece of news. Everyone wants to come have coffee and meet the inspiration. 

I loved how Chloe is always there for her friends. Her top priority at the moment is her dad, he has Alzheimer’s (early stage) and is in a home, but it’s hard, hard watching her dad slip away, hard being the adult and not the child in the relationship. 
What I didn’t like was her treatment of Nick, he’s a nice guy, he genuinely likes her, and the kiss they share should have set the stage for the start of their romance, but no. I understand her reluctance, mum leaving a child will scar that person. But she doesn’t do commitment, and her feelings for Nick scare her. Dating someone else who is totally the opposite of Nick wasn’t going to work either! Whenever there is a hint of romance, Chloe is off! 

Another book full of great characters, Gary the regular in the coffee shop, giving advice or making a nuisance of himself, Chloe’s ex (the girlfriend who looks after her dad) she’s there to offer a shoulder to cry on, and an ear to listen, even Annie and Drew make an appearance. We even get to meet her brother and his boyfriend. 
I think she also feels so frustrated that her brother doesn’t help more with their father. It’s always up to “good ole Chloe”

The references to books are cute up to a point, but I don’t know anyone that lives their life through movies, so I didn’t really connect to the book. 

So will Chloe finally get the message? Will she look at Nick in a different light? 



🦋

I absolutely love rom-com movies, and this book totally fits the bill.

It's funny, quirky, has moments that are both heartwarming and cringeworthy. Chloe is the perfect protagonist - sunny, colorful, constantly positive, drowns her emotions in baking pies, - and absolutely doesn't believe that life is like the romantic comedies her best friend Annie adores. Even though, when you look at it, and when she admits it, her life kind of is. As my teen would say, this book is meta.

Of course, like any great rom-com, she also self sabotages the relationship constantly. There is an obvious attraction, but Nick is her boss, and she can't risk their work relationship, because her first priority is taking care of her dad, and that includes paying for his nursing home. With all the tension dripping from them both, I wanted to shake Chloe and have her pull it together (but that would make for a short book!) Worth adding - while this IS a romance book, and Chloe has definite ideas about keeping things easy and on a physical level, this is actually a pretty clean book - no steamy love scenes here.

All the relationship self-sabotage and the taking on to much/never asking for help bit could become annoying, but we get enough backstory to learn that Chloe was put in a position of responsibility at an early age. Between that and her mother's abandonment, It's easier to relate to where she is coming from and her feelings that the only one she can rely on is herself. Her sunny, colorful persona is armor against disappointment and possible hurt.

Like any great rom-com, there is a supporting cast of quirky and fun characters: her flaky brother Milo, her unreliable co-worker Tyler, the ever-present coffee shop client, Gary, and Mikey Danger (I think we all know a guy like him.)

I have not read Winfrey's first book Waiting For Tom Hanks. While this book is a sequel, it works well as a stand-alone. There aren't any heavy hints or massive downloads of backstory - just passing references of how friend Annie's relationship with her now-fiance developed, but they don't detract from or slow down the story.

Honestly, if ANYTHING annoyed me about the book, it was Annie, her movie, and her obliviousness to how it was affecting Chloe AND Nick.

All in all, NOT LIKE THE MOVIES was a fun book and the perfect escape.

A book perfect for lovers of romantic comedies! Main characters are dealing with the fame of being inspiration for a real life romantic comedy.

This is categorized as a romance but how much the main character fights against the romance, it's more like woman's lit.

Poor Chloe. As her twin brother is the irresponsible one, she has to be the sole provider for their father with Alzheimer's. She also works for a man who she might have feelings for but as her friend wrote a rom com movie about Chloe and Nick getting together. With people actively wanting to know if she is dating her boss, Chloe fights her feelings for Nick.

I liked Chloe and spent most of the book feeling sorry for how alone she feels. I didn't like her friend for writing a movie about her. At one point, her friend tells her not to deny that the movie is based in reality as that is the selling point of the movie. That was legally wrong. There are disclaimers to movies saying a movie is a work of fiction and not based on people.

The romance existed. Most of the romance was the two of them being cute and then her fighting that she is in love because she didn't believe in romances. I did feel sorry for Nick with how back and forth Chloe was with her intentions toward him.

This review is based on an ARC provided by Netgalley.

This was such a cute sequel to Waiting for Tom Hanks! I flew through it and loved revisiting this fun cast of characters. It has the classic sexual tension vibe of two characters you KNOW will end up together even if it takes them a while to realize it themselves, and it had some solid character development to it, too!

Perfect weekend read. Continues the story of Chloe and Nick that was introduced in Waiting For Tom Hanks. I'm hoping the next book covers Uncle Don and Tyler!

3.5 Stars - A sweet follow up to Waiting For Tom Hanks featuring Annie's best friend, Chloe.

I read Winfrey's previous novel, Waiting for Tom Hanks, earlier this year and fell completely in love with the characters. So, you can imagine I was thrilled to discover the sequel would be out in 2020! This time, Chloe takes center stage. After Annie literally rights a hit rom com about her life, Annie is left telling everyone who recognizes her that she is NOT dating her boss, Nick.

She's got enough on her plate with a sick dad, business school, and a flaky brother. So, even when Nick proves he's there for her and the flirtation between them grows to more than that, she pushes him away.

I did get a little frustrated with Chloe's inability to acknowledge what was right in front of her. Her decisions were sometimes a little too self destructive and it seemed like it was solely to extend the plot a bit longer. That's the only piece that dropped me down to 3.5 stars.

So, if that sort of thing annoys you, you may want to skip this. However, if you enjoy a cute rom-com or loved Waiting For Tom Hanks you'll find this absolutely enjoyable!

This book was fine. It felt like it wasn't...finished, per se? The subplot about the movie fizzled out and there were so many more places that could have been taken. As a reader of Waiting for Tom Hanks, I wanted to know how my girl Annie's movie went over! Was it a hit? Did Chloe not even care?

I also felt like the tension was a bit manufactured. But in the end, it was satisfying the way you want a romantic comedy to be.

I liked this book better than Waiting for Tom Hanks, and was looking forward to it because Chloe was my favourite part of WfTH. I still found Annie to be incredibly annoying and completely self centred and unaware. I found myself wanting more of Nick, and I am very confused about Milo and Fred. It was a good story, I just felt like there was some holes that could have done with fleshing out.

I absolutely adored Waiting for Tom Hanks. I did not want to pass up an opportunity to review Not like the Movies. Waiting for Tom Hanks was definitely a book that if you love Nora Ephron and the Rom- Com genre you would love this book. It was the perfect sampling of funny and over the top dramatics that we have come to expect of the genre. Not Like the Movies while well with in the same genre there is a reason why most NE Rom-Coms don’t get sequels and follow ups.
The Books started out Fantastic! The book follows the relationship of Chloe and Nick after Annie's movie is auctioned off and the trailer comes out. Chloe and Nick are constantly hounded by people and the media because the movie is so popular from the trailer and they just needed to know if this was the couple that the movie was loosely based off of? We get to learn more about Chloe's life and how hard she works to juggle everything. She has a father suffering dementia, a brother who left her to handle everything on her own, a business degree that still needs finishing, and pies to bake for Annie's wedding. What she really doesn't need is to think about Nick!

What Nick really needs is to not have someone toy with his emotions. This was the difficult part of the story for me. I had issues with Chloe's inability to make decisions on pursuing her love-life and hurting someone in the process. Chloe comes off as self-centered, but she is over committed. She works to hard at pleasing everyone around her leaving very little for herself. When she finally decided that she is going to think of herself and do something for herself she strings Nick along. Give Nick hope that she is committed to him when that is not it at all.
The way that Chloe hurts Nick was a hard pill to swallow. It made it very hard to feel good about Chloe and root for her. What I did like was the diversity and realness of the book. We had someone who was taking care of a loved one with a debilitating disease, we had a gay brother, we had a bisexual main female character, and so much more. I also really liked the banter between Chloe and Nick. Also with a good Rom-com we got plenty of sexual tension.
Kerry Winfrey is an excellent writer. I really have enjoyed both books I have read by her. This was a solid 4/5 read for me. While Chloe’s choice are very real life, I just felt it was almost too real and not enough from what I want of a Rom-Com.

Thank you to Berkley Pub and NetGalley for a gifted copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own.

In the follow up to Waiting for Tom Hanks, Chloe Sanderson is an eternal optimist despite everything in her life being a hot mess - she has to support her father who has Alzheimer's, she needs to finish her online degree, and she needs to help plan her best friend Annie's wedding. She doesn't even have time to have a good cry when things get too overwhelming, so she definitely doesn't have time to enter into a relationship with her cute but oh so serious boss Nick Velez. So what if Annie wrote a rom-com inspired by her and Nick with a happily ever after ending? Because life is not like the movies, right?

What I enjoyed:
- Nick - because who doesn't love a man who is always there supporting you in the background no matter what?
- The humor - this book is pretty heavy in the "com" part of "rom com" and I am here for it! I love a good sense of humor and this book is full of good lines and I loved that the bantering extended beyond just Chloe and Nick.
- Rom com references - lots of movies are mentioned so it's perfect for movie buffs or rom com movie lovers in general. Which reminds me - I still need to watch Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally. Oops.

What didn't work for me:
- Chloe - I LOVE her sense of humor and the fantastic lines she delivered but her attitude about things frustrated me. I totally get that when you are so used to being on your own and people often let you down, it's hard to ask for help. It's easier to just take everything on. Believe me, that's totally me. But when it's your closest circle offering you help, take it and don't look back! Not going to lie, I wanted to shake her.

I definitely enjoyed this one more than Waiting for Tom Hanks but mostly because of the humor.

Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey was sweet and funny. Chloe was a bit too annoying for me, but still worth reading.

We’ve all seen them: the beautiful setting, the witty banter between two characters we all KNOW will eventually get together, the grand gesture and declaration...yeah, that’s not for Chloe. Between working at the coffee shop, caring for her Dad with Alzheimer’s, finishing school, and baking all the pies, Chloe just doesn’t have time for love. But when her best friend Anna writes a romantic comedy movie about her and her boss Nick, who actually doesn’t seem to hate her, Chloe begins to question the real reasons why she doesn’t believe in that big romance from the movies. I liked the premise of the book, the writing style was clever and it touched on a lot of personal topics that all people approach at some point. But, sometimes I get so frustrated with characters in romance books at the parts where they resist, and this was one of those times because whenever she resisted I just wanted to shake her and say come on girl what are you doing?!? Anyway, that’s part of the fun right? To sum it up: romantic comedy, relatable characters, predictable ending, sure I’d recommend it, probably wouldn’t read it again, hipster vibes

Do you feel like someone wrote a book about your life because you can relate to the main character so much? That is what happened here. Hello, Kerry, have you been following me around? Maybe because of my love for coffee and being a barista, loving pie, baking when I am a mess in life, or the fact that I simply cannot ask for help because yes, IT IS HARD!
Most of the time I think the second book is usually not as good as the first. I feel in love with Waiting for Tom Hanks. I was on huge thriller books only binge and reading Waiting for Tom Hanks was completely different for me. I felt insanely happy afterward which is not a feeling that I usually get while reading. So let's just say, I was dying to get my hands over the second book. I needed to get that feeling again, especially during stay-at-home due to COVID.
Not Like the Movies was better in my opinion than Waiting for Tom Hanks. It gave me that happy feeling but also I could relate to Chloe in almost everything that she went through. I am the same age, working in a coffee shop, trying to get a degree, and really scared to go after my own dreams. And yes, baking also calms me down. By relating to Chloe it made me think about my own life, which is hard because who ever wants to evaluate their life and their life choices?
I love how unconventional Chloe and Nick's life is. It is not the typical, character wants to fall in love, gets married, has this beautiful life with beautiful children romance book. They are falling for each other while falling for themselves and their dreams again. And honestly, that is all I could ever want in a romance book. Kerry, can we please get more? Because you left me with this feeling once again.