The author delivers another swoon-worthy, heart-tugging rom-com with Nothing Like the Movies, the much-anticipated sequel to Better Than the Movies. Wes and Liz's journey continues, and it's packed with all the feels. Wes, determined to win back the girl he lost during a heartbreaking split before college, channels his inner rom-com hero with big gestures and well-intentioned schemes. The only problem? Liz isn't having it.
What makes this book truly shine is the vulnerability and emotional growth both characters go through. The author beautifully captures the turbulence of young love, the struggle of balancing emotions with the pressures of college, and the heartache of trying to reconnect with someone you’ve hurt. Wes's relentless pursuit of Liz, even when faced with setbacks (like Liz's new guy friend), adds a mix of tension, humor, and sincerity to the plot.
The chemistry between Wes and Liz is undeniable, and their banter and shared history make every scene between them magnetic. Nothing Like the Movies has everything fans of the first book will adore: grand romantic gestures, laugh-out-loud moments, and the bittersweet reality of growing up and falling in love. It's a rollercoaster of emotions, but in true rom-com fashion, it leaves you with a heart full of hope. A must-read for anyone who loves second chances and stories filled with heart!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I needed to know what happened to Wes and Liz and this was the PERFECT follow up! A super cute, fast paced, young adult romance series that I absolutely recommend!

lynn painter has done it once again!

to know an author like her is truly a privilege. the amount of love and care she puts into her books and characters is so commendable.

getting liz and wes back into our pages was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking things ever. i did find many flaws in this book, but nonetheless it was amazing having my favorite couple back.

I have to admit, I was honestly a little scared to read this book. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to two of my favorite characters. But, I was pleasantly surprised! I plowed through this book and ended up really enjoying it.

Lynn Painter completely shattered my heart and put it back together with this book. It was fun to get to read about Wes and Liz. I enjoyed watching them grow up and really mature and develop. I really enjoyed getting Wes’s POV this time around and the college/sports setting was also really fun and nostalgic.

Although I loved getting to read about two of my favorite characters again and I enjoyed the romance and plot, I didn’t think this book was needed and I honestly would have been happy with leaving “Better Than the Movies” as a stand alone.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and Lynn Painter for an ARC copy. 💛

I'm a big fan of Lynn Painter's books - her YA and her adult romances. BTTM is a top tier book and so adored Wes and Liz. Painter captures teenage love stories and friendships and family so beautifully that even as a 43 year old, it's easy to slip back into a teen version of myself and enjoy her books.

With Nothing Like the Movies, we are dropped into life on campus at UCLA, but nothing is quite as you would have expected. Wes is restarting as a freshman after tragedy struck his family and he was forced to move home 2 years ago. Liz is a junior and thriving academically, socially, & in her professional endeavors. She's changed quite a bit and the new directions are interesting and fun but I found it a little hard to connect who she was in BTTM to who Liz is in NLTM. There is a lot of reference to an old version - "Little Liz" - and how she's not that person anymore. And while that can happen, it felt rather drastic and in a very short span of time. If this was a 10 year gap, I might have bought into the shifts & distance between the two more. While Wes was back home, the two have had no contact and that I also had a hard time believing. There were other inconsistencies to me with BTTM take place in the spring of their senior year & their subsequent break up being just a few months later. Young love is often intense and feels BIG so I tried to give it a lot of grace, but the second-chance romance needed a lot more than we got in NLTM.

Wes's POV and story carried the book for me for sure. I LOVED the side characters and found family at UCLA & I loved the cameo from Charlie and Bailey. I enjoyed the social media & music references & even felt the urge to go find the Reels Liz makes and watch them myself. I'm sure the bookfluencers will provide. This book feels like a love note to them and I think they were the target audience so it makes sense that it didn't quite land for me. I still enjoyed it and will always be a Wes Bennett & Liz Buxbuam fan. (I won't mind at all if Lynn toys with an adjacent story... Lilith & Ross perhaps?)

As always, thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Publishing for the egalley in exchange for my honest feedback.

I could not stop reading this book and it made me so giddy and happy that I literally had to take a second at some points, swoon, and then remember that these characters aren't real. I went into this rather skeptical knowing it's a second chance romance, but my expectations were so exceeded. The tension, banter, chemistry, everything made me smile very hard while reading this. What made this even more amazing was the song and movie references that hit the mark SO WELL! There were some I did not expect, but were so perfect for the moments they were attached to. I'm going to say something I believe I said in my review for Betting on You last year, but this is one of my top favorite books for this year. I can't wait to continue raving about this until it comes out. EVERY PERSON NEEDS TO READ THIS!!!!

THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE EARC OF THIS BOOK

Not gonna lie, I loved this sequel. This is a lighthearted romance of two individuals finding their way back to each other.

Lynn Painter did an excellent job of growing her characters from lovesick high schoolers to more mature college aged characters. Liz had a drastic change from the first to the second book that I found surprising but understandable. College is a huge change, and I like how Painter showed that with time we change enough to have past lives.

Loved this romcom! Beautifully written and had me so intrigued that I couldn’t put it down. Bingeworthy 😍

I loved the first book and this book was really good too! I will say I did find it a bit weird how drastic of a change Liz had. She went from one extreme to the other which I found a little hard to believe. Don’t get me wrong; I preferred the Liz in this book rather than the first book. This was a really good sequel and I can’t wait to read more from Lynn Painter.

This book gave me all my Wes and Liz feels. 🥰 I missed them so much I immediately had to pick up 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴 again for a reread.

This book follows Wes and Liz in college and takes place two years after the first book. It’s a second chance romance which makes me sad because I hated thinking that those two kids broke up at some point, but sometimes that’s just how life happens. And the reasoning behind their breakup felt realistic so it was more believable for me to read rather than just a breakup for drama’s sake. The tension in this book was driving me crazy (in the best way) because they both are OBVIOUSLY not over each other. But it was so worth it in the end to watch them grow close again and find their way back to each other. A couple plot points and mysteries around their breakup was a bit predictable, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I also really loved the new side characters. All of the characters were really likable and I found myself rooting for some of them as well. And Lynn Painter’s banter never disappoints. 🙌🏼😂

I think the thing that made it a 4⭐️ instead of a 5⭐️ for me was because it felt like I was missing the spark that the first book had. I loved the magical nostalgia of the high school rom-com first love. And even though this book was great, I don’t think I would have loved the second-chance aspect 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 if I hadn’t already read BTTM and watched them fall in love the first time. But I’ve never been much for second-chance romance fan anyway, so if that’s more your thing, you’ll probably love this book. ☺️

But overall, if you read BTTM, this book is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for providing this electronic advanced copy for review!

Just like the first book, Better Than the Movies, I really liked the characters, Wes and Liz, and their banter. There is a good mix of fun and lightness, balanced with moments of real emotion and heart. However, this book does suffer from a classic sequel problem. I liked where Better Than the Movies left these characters and their story. The very existence of the sequel novel means that the characters are thrust back into conflict and emotional turmoil. But I enjoyed the ride that Nothing Like the Movies took me on, so I did forgive it in the end.

Overall still a very fun read. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of Lynn Painter’s YA romcom novels and I’m excited for whatever she writes next.

This was such a cute follow up to Better Than The Movies! We got to see another story from Liz and Wes, catch up with some of their friends, and get to know some new friends from college! As an Omaha girl, I also love the Omaha references sprinkled throughout the book!

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter was a 5⭐️ read for me. I ate that story up. So when I received an ARC from NetGalley for the second book in the series Nothing Like the Movies, I was stoked! Nothing Like the Movies picks up our story of Wes and Liz about three years after Better than the Movies. We see Liz in her junior year working her dream internship. She’s a totally different woman. She’s confident and bold. Everyone knows her at UCLA because she works in the athletics department. Then we see Wes. Wes is returning to UCLA to begin his freshman year a second time after taking a two year hiatus when tragedy struck his family and forced him to leave school, but Wes and Liz’s story is no longer the same and this book tells the journey of them finding each other again. I will say I enjoyed the story, but it was disappointing. If you’re interested in the continuation of Wes and Liz in their collegiate careers than this book is for you. It’s a nice story but there’s not much depth to it. If you were a big fan of Wes and Liz’s relationship, then this may break your heart a little. I did appreciate that Painter really grew Liz’s character. She blossoming in both her personal and professional life. Fans of Wes will love his rise from the ashes tale and of course, he’s Wes! He’s charming and we get a lot of that in this book. What carries the book is the secondary characters. They are ride or die friends, they are supportive, they are no nonsense, and they are hilarious! If you’re ready to jump back in Wes and Liz lives then you can pick up a copy when it releases 10/1.

I LOVED this book. I loved the slow burn, second chance romance between Wes and Liz. I found this book so much more emotional that Better Than the Movies and loved how the series offers a little bit of everything. I loved Liz's character growth and Wes will always be a top book boyfriend. One of my favorite books this year.

This book was adorable! The playlist music, the lyrics and movie references fit perfectly together! Wes’ story had my heart hurting for him throughout the entire book!

Thank you Lynn Painter and Netgalley, for the e-arc. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

You'd enjoy this book if you like:
-Second Chance Romance
-Sports Romance
-Forced Proximity
-Dual POV

Alright, I'm leaving this review as if I were a 16 year old reading this, not a 29 year old. I think I would've loved this book growing up. I thought this was a cute read... a tad long, and the synopsis did not really match what was in the book. Because of Liz's new guy "friend", I felt like the rom-com movie gestures didn't really happen until the last third of the book? Which felt a little misleading. However, Liz's character evolving did make me enjoy her more.

I will definitely be passing this book along to my girls once they are old enough :)

I’m having some conflicting feelings about this one. I really loved it in the beginning, I was shocked that it was a two year time jump but I did enjoy seeing the characters in a college setting. I loved all the Taylor swift references and music touches in general. The banter between Liz and Wes and their friends was sooooo good!! The dialogue felt very realistic and not too “try hard” which I always appreciate.

I’m a little disappointed that the majority of this book focused on Liz and Wes individually & their personal journeys instead of the romance. I love second chance romance and I really wanted MORE of that here.

I didn’t love Liz in BTTM and that didn’t really change in this book 😭 however, I absolutely do love Wes and I always will!!! Some of his lines were so cringe though I had to look away 🤣 I liked that he was so determined to get Liz back and fight for her, but again that two year gap threw me soooo off it just felt weird at times. It was awkward af to realize along with him how much Liz’s interests had “changed” and AGAIN I just wish more time was spent on the romance & LizWes getting to know each other again. His pining was SPOT ON though and I love to see a man beg for forgiveness 🤣👏🏻

Anyway I did enjoy this, especially the first half!! I did feel like it was too long but I loved the ending! I don’t think this sequel was really necessary because the ending of BTTM was good & honestly it was criminal to make them break up BUT ALAS 💀

This might be 3.75 but I’m rounding up because of Wes MF Bennett 🫶🏼

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc!!!!

Ugh, this book made me feel all the feelings. I laughed, I cried, and I was outraged. However, I absolutely loved this book and was sad to see it end. Not sure how Lynn Painter would write a follow up to this one, but I hope she does because I don't want Liz and Wes's story to end. Even if it's a spin-off with secondary characters from NLTM being the main characters and Liz and Wes becoming the secondary characters, I hope their story continues.

I had been anxiously awaiting this sequel and Lynn Painter did not disappoint. When you find out Wes and Liz aren't in the same place in their relationship when we last saw them, I was nervous. But have no fear, Lynn Painter's characters and their banter made the book so enjoyable. It was touch and go for a while and it almost seemed like Wes and Liz switched roles as the 'hopeless romantics', but it was interesting to watch these two beloved characters grow up and evolve. Thank you for giving us a peak into the next few years of these two.

Nothing Like The Movies
By: Lynn Painter

Stars: 3
Format: E-Book
Review: I wanted to feel about this read the same way I felt with book one. I am not sure that ever happened. The biggest lesson I learned from this read…that growth is accepting that things won't always happen as you would anticipate. This book solidifies that fact for me. That said, I think so many people will love this read, and all of their expectations will be met. The positives for me are that I loved Liz and Wes so much. I enjoyed getting to see where their story would go. I think if you liked book one, you should read this one. If you love it--great. If you don’t--pretend like you never read it.
Quick Look: Young Adult, Fake Dating but in reverse, Sports, Second-Chance-Romance
Pros: It's Liz and Wes. I love dual POV.
Cons: While I appreciate a good sports romance, I hoped it would be a smaller part of the plot. This felt heavy in the sports department…I miss the movie references. I hoped to see some growth and maturity for Liz and Wes, but honestly, it didn’t translate. And lastly…I know this is a work of fiction, but the whole baseball subplot was so far-fetched.
Favorites Moments: Why did it only now hit me that if Wes and Liz get married, her name will be Liz Bennett…Elizabeth Bennet. Eek! I love that…sorry I am late to the party.
Recommend (Yes/No/Maybe): Yes, if you love Lynn Painter and you enjoyed Liz and Wes, then there is a great chance you will enjoy this second installment of their love story.
Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, for allowing me the opportunity to review the title.