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 🤌

This book was incredible. It missed the magic of the first book, and i think both books would be better as standalones, but i still loved the story.

Nothing Like the Movies has the banter, movie/music references, and charm I enjoyed in Better than the Movies. However, the pacing of the book was a bit slow and repetitive. I did enjoy the dual POV chapters and that we got more of Wes’ story and journey back to UCLA, baseball, and Liz. A nice revisit for fans of the first book.

this was….not what i was expecting??

the most engaging part of the story for me was learning more about Wes and everything he has been through and sacrificed, like my GOSH did my heart break for him every other page, but that being said, the entire rest of the book just did not work for me unfortunately

i think she completely reworte Liz’s character in a way that didn’t totally make sense or feel true to her from the first book, I think Wes’s inner monologue and thoughts toward Liz were cringey and borderline obsessive, the romance between them was almost too slow burn and just didn’t feel genuine or realistic to me at all, and the ending felt super rushed given and was honestly kind of anticlimactic to me idk

i hate to say it, but for anyone who really loved better than the movies, i probably wouldn’t recommend this book.

AHHHH! THIS IS TOO CUTE! My heart is so full and I was immensely satisfied with this sequel! Better Than The Movies was so sweet from Liz's perspective, so I was curious about Wes being a main POV! BUT WES BENNETT IS TOO ADORABLE FOR WORDS!!! It was so great to see what their lives are like in the post high school glow. I WANTED MORE!!! It was bittersweet to read the end but I loved that it turned the romcoms on their heads. Liz was different and had great character growth just as Wes did! I would recommend this to anyone who loves sweet romances!

What a cute romance book!! I genuinely had a great time reading this and I felt very cozy the whole time. This book follows Wes and Liz as they navigate their relationship throughout college. I loved feeling like I was back in college with them and feeling their young true love!! This book is also very clean and appropriate to recommend to a wide variety of ages! I can’t wait to read more from this author!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it did not disappoint. First off, I have to gush about the setting. The story takes place while Wes and Liz are attending UCLA. As a former Bruin, it was so fun to be back on that campus! I could picture every scene vividly in my head. Bruin. Walk, Powell Library, Fat Sal's? Ugh, the nostalgia!!

Nothing Like the Movies is definitely a slow burn, as Wes and Liz spend the majority of the book apart from each other. While I do wish there were more moments between them, I appreciated the way the story allowed them to grow as individuals. It made their reunion all the more special! I wish I could bottle up the last 30% of the book- the ending was so sweet!

Thank you to Lynn Painter, Netgalley, and Simon & Schuster for the e-arc!

This book was super cute and amazing!

There was a spot when Wes sister Sarah was involved. She had created a FaceTime group with all of Wes hometown friends. Her name was spelt incorrectly. It through me off for a min. It was spelt Sara instead of Sarah. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy.