"I was carpe diem-ing the crap out of my life"

Liz Buxbaum and Wes Bennett's relationship fell apart right as they were coming together. As they were starting off at UCLA, Wes on the baseball team and LIz a music major. Tragedy at home caused Wes to lose Liz, without giving her the full reason and breaking both their hearts in the process.

Fast forward two years later, Liz is now a junior who just landed the best opportunity of her life, an internship with her idol, someone with all the connections who can help her career thrive before its officially begun. Her first assignment? To get highlights and stories of UCLA's baseball team, especially their new Ace freshman.
To Liz's surprise, their Ace is NONE OTHER than Wes Bennett.
Wes seems the same, but also more grown up and serious, and it's clear he has his sights set on Liz. While she struggles to be around him, still wanting answers on why he broke her heart, he wants to make it right. Liz, who thought she was over him, is suddenly confused by her feelings, which she immediately avoids by pretending to have a boyfriend.
Wes is shocked, but he can't give up. For the first time in two years, he has a second chance to start over, save his baseball career, and possibly get the love of his life back.

Personally, I loved this book. I will admit I've never read the first one, but honestly this one can be a stand alone. The characters are all amazing. I LOVED CLARK. And I loved the plotline and the pace.
Wes's story playing out slowly, revealing little bits and pieces at a time, kept me engaged and I loved the development.
Liz is practically me. Same great taste in music, same attitude, etc.

I highly recommend this book and I'm so thankful for Lynn Painter and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy.

Let me preface this by saying I did not think BBTM needed a sequel. I have conflicting feelings about this story. I felt really disconnected from Wes and Liz and the things that made them “them” was missing. At first I looooooved Wes coming back and trying to win Liz over but the same conversations between them kept happening over and over again that I got bored. Overall, I think if you liked BTTM, you might enjoy this one

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter.

I really enjoyed this sequel to Better Than the Movies. It was great to revisit Wes and Libby for an adventure. This book takes places a few years later and Wes and Libby have broken up. Wes' father passes away and Wes has to move home to help take care of everything. But unfortunately, he is a man, a man that cannot express his feelings and just pretends things are fine and doesn't share the truth with his amazing girlfriend. Sometimes you just want to shake men and tell them we would rather know instead of believing a lie.

It was a good story, and I enjoyed the familiarity of the characters. I won't go into it more because I don't want to spoil the book.

When I read Better Than the Movies last year I was blown away by how much I loved it. The usual recipe for a YA romance doesn't hook me as much as it used to, so I was expecting it to be just "okay" but WOW! So when I saw that there was going to be a sequel, I was ecstatic! I did a re-read of Better Than the Movies to prepare myself for this one and fell in love with it again.

This book was SO WONDERFUL! I loved that it was told from dual POVs and I loved that the heartbreak Liz felt changed her as a person. I went through a heartbreak when I was right around her age and felt very similar. All the happily ever after type feelings and loving love seemed to evaporate and so it was easy to connect with Liz.

I loved the complexity of Wes' story at home and how the author didn't just spell it out right at the beginning of the book.

Once again, this book is an EASY 5 stars for me. And I'll forever be a Lynn Painter stan.

The easy flowing writing style of Lynn Painter was just as prevalent in this book as it was in Better Than the Movies. It was a quick read as I could find I zipped through multiple chapters without even looking up.
She was able to take the characters we fell in love with in BTTM and give them a little more life experience and maturity but not lose their “Little Liz” moments.

Absolutely adorable and funny. Two of the best things in a romcom! I giggled, I swooned, I loved every single page of this book!

I absolutely loved this book! I was really able to connect with Wes on a more personal level because I went through a similar experience. Loved all the movie and song quotes! Fake dating, forced proximity, and second chance! Can’t go wrong with those tropes! The second chance was done perfectly! Liz made Wes work for it so it actually felt like Wes wanted to win her back!

Lynn painter can do no wrong. I was worried when I saw that she was revisiting Liz and Wes but honestly this book was incredible. I loved the maturation of the characters and the new setting.

Plus we love a fake dating trope.

Liz has changed so much in the last 2 years. She was a hopeless romantic in the first book but now she’s giving up on love. Her friendship with Clarke was honestly adorable and I love seeing platonic male/female relationships portrayed

Wes is determined to get Liz back and has a whole new outlook on life now that he’s returning to college as a freshman and starting over

I adored this book. It reminded me of the first one of course, but on a college level rather than high school (obviously, since they are in college lol). It was so cute and would highly recommend. There were some minor typographical errors, but I'm assuming that is expected given that it's not officially out yet. Thank you so much to the publisher for this arc copy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“im suddenly inspired by romantic idiots. what can i say” NO CAUSE WHAT CAN I SAY🥹😭 its no secret that bttm is one of my all time favorite books. so when i saw i got to read the SEQUEL early, lets just say i had a mini freak out screamed laughed around my house. anywayssss. in fear of spoilers i will try to keep this minimal until after release (i will post another review dont you worry) but for now: i loved this book. i felt like i had grown up with the characters. from reading bttm at 12 to reading this right before turning 17 is kinda a crazy feeling but i loved it. i LOVED wes’s pov. getting a peak inside his head was everything i couldve asked for with this book. and LIZ. MY QUEEN MY ICON. she reminded me a lot of how i see my bsf (mkay if you see this ily) and anytime she would do or say anything i was like ICON. the sibling and friend relationships were givine me life. and my final thoughts. noah kahan, gracie abrams, illicit affairs, batboy, and im immediately purchasing chanel no. 5
songs i thought of while reading:
i knew it i know you by gracie abrams
guilty as sin? by taylor swift
small talk by niall horan

Lynn Painter absolutely knocks it out of the park with the continuation of Liz and Wes's story.

It's such a perfect YA romance book, and I love that so many are getting sequels for the transition into college years 💞🙂‍↕️ it feels like a classic and fun read!

"Nothing Like the Movies" by Lynn Painter is a delightful, heartbreaking and heartwarming read that truly captures the magic of a sweet romance and second chances. The story is well-written, with lovable characters and plenty of witty banter that keeps the pace lively. Painter’s ability to mix humor with touching moments makes the book an enjoyable experience from start to finish. The only reason I’m giving it four stars instead of five is that a few plot points felt a bit predictable and the slow burn was too slow. However, that didn’t take away from the overall charm and feel-good vibe of the story. A perfect read for fans of romantic comedies!

This book was extremely difficult for me to feel any necessity of it being made. It felt like starting a story that was finished but due to fan demand created. Even with the opening of how Wes’s life has changed, and the. The time jump something just felt off to me? Unlike Better than the Movies which I read in a day, I caught myself feeling like this one was a chore.

SMITTEN.

I enjoyed this story so dang much. I love Wes and Liz and I loved seeing how their relationship progressed through this book. It’s messy and complicated, has a bit of drama and struck many chords of life in college and figuring things out. I loved watching the character growth for both Wes and Liz. Each had some tough truths to learn and adapt from and I love that they found their way back to each other in the end.

And this is a subtle baseball romance?? Heck yes. I could not get enough of the baseball content and I loved Liz’s college job! I think it worked perfectly for this story and added to the necessity of some good ol’ forced proximity moments that I crave.

The side characters were fantastic too. I loved all of Wes’s teammates (and please tell me we might get more stories from this UCLA crew??). Liz’s roommates were also so fun and it really reminded me of the joy that being on a college campus can bring.

Bonus points if you catch the little Taylor Swift references throughout. I loved all of the song lyric additions and gosh dang am I obsessed with a good argument scene, bring me all of the passionate confessions. This truly did read like a movie for me and I would watch it in a heartbeat.

Overall audience notes:

NA Contemporary Romance
Language: high and present throughout
Romance: kisses
Content Warnings: loss of a parent (heart attack), grief depiction, panic attacks

I fully expected to devour this book in one sitting like I did with Better Than the Movies. But I found myself not wanting to pick it up. Everytime I went back to it, it just made me sad. It’s not that the book was bad by any means — I love Lynn Painter’s writing always. It just didnt fill me up like book one did. In my opinion, BTTM should’ve been left as a standalone.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for the digital ARC on NetGalley – it was a dream come true to open the email with this in it!

When I first read Better Than the Movies last summer, I fell in love with Liz and Wes (and Lynn Painter's writing style). After I finished BTTM, I immediately read all the short stories related to the book and still wanted more. I was so excited when a sequel was announced and truly couldn’t pre-order it fast enough.

Picking up about two years after BTTM, Liz is thriving at UCLA and Wes is returning to college on a mission. Nothing Like the Movies follows Liz and Wes through their reunion at UCLA and Wes' determination to win Liz back. I absolutely loved this book; I laughed, I cried. It felt so good to be back with these characters. Nothing Like the Movies was every bit as good as the first and a perfect addition to Liz and Wes’ story.

{Review posted on Goodreads}

I nice, friendly, lighthearted story of two high school sweethearts that reunite at UCLA and the pang of wanting to be with the other while also wanting to stay away due to the hurt of the past.

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Such a great book, loved this but still prefer the first book. Still cute and sweet and worth the read though.

Whether writer for adults or Teens, Lynn Painter has a way of engaging her readers until the last page. The sequel to Better Than the Movies ran the gamut of emotions and was a tender-hearted account of how a love so right can go so wrong. Readers of all ages will love Nothing Like the Movies.

“There really was a fine line between love and hate, and Libby’s rage fueled me to burn that line to the ground.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuester for the gifted arc!!

Ahhhh I literally geeked when I got accepted for this arc and I wasn’t disappointed!! The vibes are SO different in this book after everything Wes and Liz went through. We have a bit more angst, a tragic story, and a wholeeeee lot of MMC groveling 🤭

I actually really liked how much Liz changed while she was in college. No one stays the same forever and Liz definitely didn’t! She’s completely anti-romance, loves sports, and has a whole lot of sass 😌

It was really interesting getting Wes’s perspective in this book! We got a lot more information and development than we would’ve without his perspective. My heart absolutely broke for Wes after what we went through and how alone he was 😭 And omg this man is OBSESSED with Liz ✋

“Because two years ago, I’d had everything. Then I lost it all.”

Once again, we have allll the tropes here! Unrequited love, slowwww burn, one sided hate to love, and second chance! Honestly, second chance is such an underrated trope bc I LOVED it here 🤭and the angst was definitely turned up a bit with our characters aged up 😌

“I am just Wes fucking Bennett, Lib, the guy who can’t remember a single day in his life when he didn’t love you.”

Also there were two quotes from The Hunger Games and two Gilmore Girls references in here which made me love this book even more 🤌