If I could have written a book that would perfectly embody middle school, high school, and college-Natalie and her stance on love, it would be this book. Like Liz, I had these idealistic notions of love and falling in love that were dictated by the copious amount of romance movies and shows that filled my head. I have and had a tendency to over-romanticized situations because of the ridiculous standards I have in my head and constantly wish I was the lead in my own RomCom.

This story gripped my heart from the very first page. I am Liz, down to the pocket dresses and wishful look in her eyes. There is more to her than her light hearted persona, a depth that was surprisingly refreshing to see in this book. Her struggles and pain were portrayed in a realistic way that segwayed into how unprocessed grief affects actions.

Wes has the goofy, carefree persona but once you got more into the book he became more than the prankster. He had depth to him, an endearing heart, and character development that progressed organically as the story went on. Though this book is told from Liz’s point of view, his narrative shined as if the book was written as a dual perspective.

I enjoyed the way the author used movies with the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and scenes throughout the story. Not only are the movies fictitious stories, but she takes the lessons and applies them to Liz’s life. The author's writing is captivating and charming which made this book both enjoyable for both a YA reader and an adult. There are intricacies that made this more than a surface level story with charismatic characters and plot.

This book is the perfect soundtrack to the heart of every RomCom lover. There were adorable moments mixed with hilarious scenarios that made my teenage heart squeal with delight. I absolutely adore this book and I cannot wait to see what is next for this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC

Liz is a senior in high school getting ready to make the jump to college while struggling with how to leave behind everything she knows, including the places that hold all her memories of her late mother. And then, out of nowhere, appears Michael. When they were young, Liz and Michael had a beautiful, amazing whirlwind romance, and Liz can’t wait to reignite it and make Michael her fantasy prom date. She knows he’s the boy her mother would have wanted for her. There’s just one problem: their love affair was completely in Liz’s mind and Michael has no idea. Enter Wes, Liz’s next door neighbor and long term nemesis who is willing to play wingman and help Liz land her dream date—for a price. But as Liz spends time with Wes, she realizes the price might not be what she originally thought.

There are so many things that I loved about this book. The narrative is framed around Liz’s love of rom coms and the question of how realistic those movies are and what we can really learn from them is posed again and again throughout the novel. In addition to an absolutely adorable romance, this book is also a love story Liz and her stepmother, who is held at a careful distance so that she can’t accidentally replace Liz’s beloved mother who died when she was young. This book gets so much right about grief. Liz clings to the things that remind her of her mom, is anxious about new experiences that her mother can’t be a part of, and has a hard time trying to reduce her own pain because the pain is what she has left of her mom. Liz also struggles to let her best friend into her complicated feelings, with resulting consequences to their friendship. However, Liz’s reasons for not wanting to be open with her best friend completely rang true—how often have we done things that we know aren’t what the people we love would want for us, and therefore just sort of...not told them? Liz strikes me as a very real teenager., and I was definitely rooting for her to find her movie perfect love story.

Do you believe in second chances at love? ⁣
Liz Buxbaum is a senior girl who loves imagining her life is a movie. She constantly picks music that goes along with her life ( like a movie). So when her childhood crush Michael appears back in school one day, she knows it’s fate! But there’s a small problem, he still sees her as his childhood crush 🙈 So Liz does what any normal teenager would do, she goes to her popular next door neighbor for help, who also happens to be the one person she can’t seem to get along with....Wes. ⁣They go through a series of movie romcom incidents that definitely grab Michael’s attention, but by prom Liz isn’t so sure which guy’s attention she’s trying to get anymore 💗
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You guys! If you like YA Romance with a fun plot, a little drama, fake dating, makeovers, and all that good stuff, then you’ll love Better than the Movies. It really reminded me of a good Kasie West book mixed with a little Jenn Bennett. It was fun, loving, and honestly just really adorable. I haven’t read a YA that made me this happy in a while. Wes will make you SWOON, and I love that his character is actually a popular person but he’s not entirely seen that way from Liz. She just sees him as the boy next door who loves to pick on her. ⁣
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Warning : the only thing that made this book a little more emotional was that Liz had lost her mom years prior and was still doing a lot of grieving throughout the story. ⁣
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This book was super cute and fun. I loved the plot, even though it was stereotypical romantic comedy, but it was what I love about rom coms. This was also a quick read at least for me which I enjoyed. Overall a enjoyable book that will be a great beach read for the summer.

I’m a sucker for rom coms, especially those from the 90s and early 2000, so I loved reading this book with all the references and tropes from the films I love. I too, loved watching them with my mom, and am a hopeless romantic so I felt a kinship to Elizabeth as well.

This book is full of a lot of laughs, heartache, and hijinks and good for teens and the millennial alike.

What an absolutely charming YA read! Yes, it features everyone's fave trope, enemies-to-lovers, but it's so much more than that. The movie excerpts that precede every chapter are fun, and the main characters Liz and Wes are both treasures. They are, as they say in the book and in You've Got Mail (which is one of my fave movies)-- enchanting.
This is the type of book that I'd happily recommend (did I say recommend? I meant PUSH) our readers pick up. The characterization is top notch, and there's so many things you can pick up from this: grief over losing a parent, finding yourself, learning to like who you are, young love... etc.
Highly recommend!

Better Than the Movies is a romcom contemporary YA book from author Lynn Painter. I can not get over what a perfect book this was. I seriously could not put it down! Liz and Wes, our two main characters, are next door neighbors who have been fighting for a year over who gets to park their car in "the Spot"; a spot closest to both their houses. The writing style really worked for me- it's modern, addicting, and it strikes the perfect balance between quick witted banter and heart warming realness. The read was definitely cute and a little sentimental at times, and had the right amount of swoon, great pacing, and was absolutely entertaining. If I could give this book 6 stars, I would!

trigger warning: death of a loved one

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this ARC on NetGalley.

This was a very cute book and an easy read. I really enjoyed where the author took the story and it is the kind of book you read by the pool on a nice day. Great read!

This book was absolutely adorable!! I loved seeing the friendship between Wes and Liz grow and then the PINING AND ANGST?! So good! I loved all of the romcom references and the serious talks about grief and the loss of a parent. It was beautifully written and made you love the characters even more. Liz reminded my a lot of myself and made me want to wear vintage clothes and watch all the romcoms I can. This was an adorable YA romcom that I think people who are fans of enemies to lovers with a side of fake dating will love!

Why do the moms always die?
Cute, sweet YA read
Thank you NetGalley and Simon DBs Schuster Children’s for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and S&S Books for Young Readers for the digital arc of Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter. This is a lovely and delightful YA rom-com about falling in love with the idea of someone... rather than the someone actually in front of you. I laughed and cried, which is emotionally an A+ range for a reading experience. I did have a little trouble with the narrators lack of self-awareness at times (her bad decision-making/lying, treatment of her friends) but forgave that due to the deft writing. Also wanted a little more from the character representation, but overall an enjoyable read.

Better Than the Movies is a cute young adult romance story. Liz is an adorable main character that everyone will fall in love with. This laugh-out-loud book had me flying through it and I loved every minute. I can't wait to read another story by Lynn because this one was a lot of fun!!!!!

This was cute and funny and I could see it making a good teenage movie.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

I don't throw words like "swoony" around very often, but Lynn Painter's BETTER THAN THE MOVIES is undoubtedly swoony. A charming, swoony delight.

You know that warm, happy feeling you get when you're watching a really good rom-com? Painter managed to capture that between the pages of this enchanting YA that will have you giggling and blushing like first love.

Liz Buxbaum is trying to get through her senior year but two things are standing in her way - the shadow of her missing mother and the absolute jerkiest of jerks next-door. Things start looking up when her old crush moves back to town, promising to fulfill all of her romantic fantasies set by a lifetime obsession with rom-com movies. Liz sets her mind to winning his heart and writing their happy ever after - only the universe has other plans for her.

Weaving in heartwarming moments, teenaged foibles, physical humor, and a playful nod to all the best rom-com tropes, YA doesn't get much better than BETTER THAN THE MOVIES.

This suffered from "oh I'm not like other teenage girls, I'm ~quirky" syndrome that I thought might have gotten better later but if anything, it got worse...honestly, this was basically a 2014/2015 ya contemporary with more recent song mentions. This was readable, I guess, but I thought it would be cute but there was very little going for it.

I can’t really say what it was, but I couldn’t get into “Better than the Movies.” It could have been the prose, the protagonist’s voice, the fact that it just wasn’t my thing anything like that - regardless, I just felt a little tepid reading it and ultimately did not finish.

I absolutely adored this gem of a novel!!! Liz and Wes...Wes and Liz…truly swoonworthy!!! I smiled and giggled out loud throughout this book while also feeling the pain the characters felt as well. When an author can make you feel all this you can’t help but thank them. Thank you Lynn Painter for sharing Liz and Wes. These two easily made it to my top book couples! I loved how music and movies were incorporated into the story while being so beautifully written. I looked forward to the quotes written in front of every new chapter. The character depth was excellent and I felt myself growing with them. Liz and her personality brought me so much joy. I feel honored to have been a witness to Libby and Wessy’s story 😊
(I received an ARC for an honest review)

Self professed little love lover here, to gush about an adorable must read YA contemporary romance that you NEED to have on your want to read list - Better Than the Movies.

As someone who adores the happily ever afters YA can give me as a reader, this one had everything I needed to be left with all the warm fuzzy feelings even days after reading it. I’ve already gushed about it over and over, and am demanding fan art like the incredible cover art, because I NEED it.

Liz Buxbaum is a girl who hears the soundtrack of her life, set to the romcom movies she grew up watching with her mother who died in a tragic car accident. Without her, she has taken on many of those senior year milestones with a hint of sadness, but all she wants is a promo worthy of a big screen romance. Insert the return of her childhood crush, Michael, who she’ll do anything to go to the dance with.

With witty banter that was age appropriate and often swoon worthy, I quickly fell for this book next door, enemies to lovers, fake dating masterpiece of nostalgic feels. Painter will make you laugh out loud with the shenanigans that Liz puts herself in, all in the name of love and falling for the “right” guy, even if it means befriending the one person who has been tormenting her since she was little.

& while I don’t want you to flip to the back & ruin the ending, I DO want you to know that Lynn has made a playlist of the songs in the book and I am HERE for it, this book is the book debut dreams are made of my friends. A HUGE thank you to Simon + Schuster Children's Publishing and the author herself for providing an advance reader copy of this book, in exchange for a personal review - it was an absolute delight to read, and I am honored to have gotten to read it!

For anyone who ever dreamed of an 80’s romcom becoming your modern reality, this book is for you. Cue the music, and pick this one up to read as soon as it releases on 5/4!

*Review will be posted on my blog on 4/19/21*

Likes:
*I grew up in the age of amazing rom-com movies so this story is nostalgic with the movie quotes and the music soundtrack/playlists. It was just a fun blend of humor and romance combined!

*Liz and Wes are neighbors and enemies that become frenemies so that Liz can get the guy she really wants, Michael. Who doesn’t love a boy-next-door, fake-dating, enemies-to-lovers trope? I can’t get enough of it! I love Liz and Wes’ banter, it made me laugh out loud and honestly as I read this I wished this WAS a movie. I love them together!

*Now Liz isn’t just romance loving girl trying to find her own happily-ever-after, she does have some issues going on. Her mom died years ago in a car accident, she has a new step-mom and with Senior year coming to a close, she misses her mom as she hits all these milestones. Keeping things to herself starts making her hurt people that she cares about, even if it’s not intentional.

*This book is funny, especially because Liz, who is unique, finds herself in the most crazy situations like getting barfed on at a party.

*The romance of Liz and Wes getting together was perfection. I loved it all from them hating each other, to pretending to be into each other and then of course, the falling in love. And it stays pretty PG rated with maybe one hot kiss but it was enough to put some sizzle into the book without going overboard.

Random Notes:
The best friend storyline was the only thing that made me want to shake Liz, that, and of course when she is mooning over Michael when Wes is perfect for her. Supposedly Joss is her best-friend but she lies to her the whole time about Wes just because she knows she’ll judge her. It would have been nice if Liz could trust her best friend and tell her stuff about missing her mom during Senior year. But I’m glad they talk it out in the end.

Final Thoughts:
Better Than the Movies would actually make a great teen movie. I love Liz and Wes’ relationship, it really did remind me of those rom-coms that were popular years ago. I’ve been missing them a lot lately! Like Liz, I love rom-coms too and I used to always have a “soundtrack” to my life also. I think that’s why I related so much to her personality. This story left me feeling giddy, happy and smiling. If you love rom-coms, I think you will definitely enjoy this one.

When her childhood crush, Alexander, moves back into town, hopeless romantic Liz will do anything to get him to notice her. Even if that means fake dating her neighbor and long term parking spot rival to get in Alex’s inner circle. Only the more time she spends with Wes, the less she hates him.

A book that starts each chapter with quotes from all the best rom com classics? Yes please. As a rom com lover, any book that regularly references my fav movies is one that I’m going to pick up. And this one did not disappoint. This teen romance was so sweet. I loved how Liz was unapologetically herself - how I wish I had that confidence as a teenager. And Wes, oh Wes, if there was a perfect “boyfriend”for a teen romance, he might take the prize for that one. I seriously LOVED this book. It made my heart happy and it made me laugh out loud a few times. And although it was happy, it beautiful handled some more serious topics such as dealing with grief and the loss of a parent, and learning to accept a step parent.

Seriously what a gem of a book. I’m ready to listen to Wes and Liz’s playlist on repeat now. I won’t be surprised if this one makes it on my top 10 of 2021.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Better Than the Movies comes out May 4th.