Lynn Painter has done it againnnnnn !! WES BENNET is everything I swear.

THE DUAL POV!! dual pov kept me obsessed through out this whole book

I was so sceptical of better than the movies getting a sequel cause huhhh they broke up???? but, this book surprised me. At the start, it really did feel like a major mischaracterisation of characters I thought I knew really well, especially the new years flashback. But it quickly changed into a story about growing up and taking on, or being forced into, new responsibilities while trying to manage relationships.

It was such a fun story in a new setting for the first part, especially getting Wes perspective into his love for Liz. I think the story lost me a little in the middle, mostly cause it derailed everywhere I thought the story was going. But I was so HOOKED reading this book. These characters are soo interesting to readd and it was soo painful but worth it

If you loved the first book, this is absolutely a book worth your time!

Thankyou NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Aus) for providing me with the opportunity to read this book to provide an honest review!

3.25 ✨ ARC REVIEW

Thanks to #netgalley

- College Baseball Romance
- Second Chance, Childhood Friends to Lovers Breakup
- Fake Dating
- Forced Proximity

Loved the movie references, felt the 1st books presence immediately, the quotes will always have my heart!
Love how Lynn knows how to incorporate references that my generation totally can relate to and get giddy to read.

Liz was totally redeemed in this book for me, I really struggled with her in the first book but loved Wes. This time she was fierce and strong - She has direction and fought to make her presence known, building solid friendships and working hard at her internship.

Wes however, was suddenly thrust into a redemption story that I just wasn’t ready for… dealing with loss, and what it meant for him to make choices for the people in his life including Liz.

I really struggled with wanting more from this sequel, I wanted to love it as much as I loved the first - The book that made me fall for Lynn’s writing and YA romance. However, there was just so much missing and so many loose ends from the side characters; they all had a fade to black which left me wanting more - Will Clark fall in love?? Is this another book??? (I kind of hope not though after this book) What happened with Lilith and where is Liz going next in her career??

I felt like I missed a lot of the hard hitting points because it waffles to them, or I just lacked the concentration or interest in following through with investing in the story line… it definitely was nothing like the movies.

I did love the scene and setting - being a big fan of LA I felt like I was right there with them in College and that was amazing!

If you need to know how Wes and Liz end up and you can’t sleep until you read this then this is for you… but you might feel like you wish you did sleep through it.

NO ONE TALK TO ME BCOS I NEED TO CRY UGLY TEARS

omg omg omg

THIS BOOK IS THE LITERAL CUTEST I SPENT THE WHOLE TIME KICKING MY FEET & GRINNING LIKE AN IDIOT

IT’S 6:05AM AND I AM WIDE AWAKE OMG

and i am LOVING the second chance romance of it all?? was i surprised when i read the blurb? oh 100%, and i was WORRIED seeing the initial reviews

but you are so right bcos it MAKES SENSE??! most college sequels tackle relationship drama so it’s like, all life-y and not-at-fun anymore but this one is just pure feels & winning her back and ALL THE GLITTER PEN VIBES

my lil’ heart cannot handle all that fluff

and i need to stop reading all the doubtful reviews bcos IDK WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT SO MUCH

like fanfic vibes in the best way?? COLLEGE AU VIBES? IDK BUT I LOVE IT

THE ONLY COMPLAINT I HAVE IS THAT IT’S FAR FAR TOO SHORT (i know i’m *the* person that says romances shouldn’t be more than 300-400 pages but if you wrote an entire 7 book series on these two i will eat each and every one of them up)

(i need more clark too 👀 OR A SPIN-OFF BCOS ALL THE SIDE CHARACTERS ARE >>>)

THANK YOUUUU S&S 😭😭

I didn’t read the first book, but was gifted this one to review. I think this book on its own would have been fine and I didn’t need to read the first book to read this. But in saying that, this book wasn’t needed (book one could’ve stayed as book one with no sequel).
I didn’t like the characters and found them immature. But I didn’t mind reading more.

I was thankful to receive the ARC for this book, I was really excited to read it but I just feel like it did not hit as good as Better than the movies.

I loved that we finally got a Wes and Liz POV instead of just Liz but I just felt as a whole most of the drama was so unnecessary, in saying that though maybe the appeal for YA readers would be there.

It offered
- college romance
- fake dating
- second chance romance
- sports romance (kinda)
- dealing with past trauma

Look, it was a good book, it was a little slow but it was a nice chill read I guess, I just think I wanted to see more of Liz and Wes together, it felt like both books are just both the characters pining over/trying to get/trying to win over one another and I wanted so much more of their relationship from this one. I still enjoyed it but I enjoyed the first book a lot more.

This book is so cute and funny, I love starting a new chapter with a new movie quote and getting to see if I know the movie.

In the sequel to Better Than The Movies, Wes and Liz head off to college. A series of tragedies in Wes’s life leads to him dropping out and breaking up with Liz. Two years later, Liz no longer believes in romance and is filming a documentary of the school’s baseball team for her internship. Wes returns to university as a star baseball pitcher, determined to win Liz back.

Better Than The Movies was a sweet homage to romantic comedies and should probably have been left as a standalone. In this sequel, Liz is unrecognisable as a character and even Wes seems a bit out of character. Their friendship and chemistry was missing. The story was building up to the big reveal of why Wes broke up with Liz and it was anticlimactic and messy. There were also far less references to romcoms, although I did still enjoy the references to music. Especially Taylor Swift lyrics.

Lynn Painter can do no wrong, This the sequel to Better than the Movies will make you fall in love with Liz and Wes all over.

I was given an arc copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Holy moly I ate that up
It was everything I expected and more and I wish it would keep going forever
Am very interested in Clark and Sarah and I can proudly say I would read Lynn Painter's grocery list

Thank you Simon and Schuster Australia for this ARC!! 💜

Wes Bennett, I fell in love with you in ‘Better Than The Movies’ but fell for you even harder in this book. I didn't even think that was possible to do so. 🥺🫶🏻

This book is a dual POV and follows the journey of Wes and Liz’s break-up (the fact this was the main plot line hurt my soul ngl) I loved seeing them both flourish in college and find themselves as different people from their high school selves. But the two-year separation had me in edge. I was patiently waiting for the story to keep unfolding cause I knew these two were meant to be together and the fact that the weren’t had me nervous 😅

My babies deserved their second chance romance, even if it had to come by the means of a slow burn. THAT ATTIC SCENE THOUGH!! 🥵 They really went from enemies to lovers back to lovers to strangers to friends to lovers 🫣

Seeing the hardships Wes faced after the death of his father was truly heartbreaking and I wasn’t expecting to get so emotional when the whole truth finally came to light. This book was different to what I anticipated but it just proved why Wes is the book boyfriend we need and deserve. Despite his hardships, he was always still true to himself and that's why we all fell in love with him.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. I was ugly crying in one scene and then laughing out loud in the next. I just love the banter Wes and Liz had with each other but also with their friends 🥰

Overall, I was very happy to be back with my favourite characters and I can’t wait for the world to fall in love with Wes Bennett again. If you loved the first book I’m sure you’ll love this one, it definitely had more depth but was an amazing rom-com sequel 🙌🏻

I was absolutely ecstatic to receive this book and it very much exceeded my expectations. I found Nothing Like the movies really captured what you want in a sequel. While the protagonists are still who we love and know but the books is realistic by showing that they grown and changed which happens with life after high school.

I did read this book in once sitting and honestly was surprised by how much happens yet it never felt clunky and the plot flowed nicely. I also love how Painter shows both of our protagonists following their ambitions and passions. The book had me feeling all kinds of emotions and yes I have already started re-reading it

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc of this one, in exchange for an honest review.

I am a bit conflicted on my final thoughts/rating of this book.

Nothing like the Movies is the sequel to one of my all time favourite romance books, Better than the Movies. I was very excited for this release so when I received an ARC I was over the moon.

This felt like a normal Lynn Painter book which I loved. It was super easy to read, it was fun but also had a lot of cute romantic moments.

I liked the College setting and all of the characters, however I still don’t think I can get past the fact that this book just wasn’t necessary. This book felt like it was written to please the fans, and dare I say it, a “money grabbing” book (similar to “It Starts with us”

While I flew through this one, and I had a good time with some of my favourite characters, im not sure I can overlook the fact that this book probably shouldn’t exist.

For now I think I’ll give it a 4⭐️ but let’s see if my rating changes the more I think about it

A big thankyou to Netgally, publisher and author Lynn Painter for allowing me to read an ARC.

This was an amazing read.
I flew through it as it was easy to read.

I loved how it continued with the same characters from the 1st book.

The storyline was wonderful and I greatly thought all the movie quotes and links were brilliant. So talented to incorporate them. I also loved the music song links too.

The development of the characters was well written and I loved both of them.

Very entertaining and I highly recommend this to all readers.

Thanks again Netgally, publisher and author I greatly appreciate the ARC read.

This might just be my favourite Lynn Painter book yet.
How could you not love Liz and Wes! I quickly became his number one fan and wanted him to smash both his baseball and love life goals. A great YA read that I think can be read both stand alone or as part of the series. Great characters and plot development. Definitely recommend for YA and sports romance fans!

wow I loved this book so so so much. I think the plot was perfect and Wes and Liz have my heart ❤️ The book was so perfect with ifs Wes-and-Liz coded references!! Personally i do like this one better than the first book just because i think liz was less annoying. I thought the writing was so easy and fun to read ( i genuinely couldn’t put it down!!). but saying that i did find the first half of the book a bit slow but the second half definitely made up for it!
ALSO WHY WASNT AFTERGLOW NOT IN THE PLAYLIST FOR LIZ AND WES?!??? IT IS LITERALLY THEIR SONG 🎶

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and Lynn Painter for giving me the chance to read and review this ARC ❤️

“I, on the other hand, was a 20-year old freshman with a lot to prove. Because two years ago, I’d had everything. Then lost it all”

📚 second chance romance
📚 dual timeline
📚 dual POV
📚 fake dating
📚 forced proximity

🚫 clean romance

|Thoughts|
For those who loved Better Than The Movies, you may find it difficult to recognise the characters in this book, especially Liz.

“In your dreams, Bennett”
“Every damn night, Buxbaum”

I really wanted to love this one and regretfully found this to be a bit of a frustrating read. To break characters up after the book 1 was a love letter to falling in love and then to join up with the characters battling grief and the aftermath of a breakup just felt a bit forced. Felt this would have worked better as Clark & Sarah’s story (did enjoy the cast of College characters).

“If we were ever going to have a second chance, I needed to convince her to become my friend first. To let me in again”

It had its sweet moments, which were reminiscent of book 1 and classic romcoms, but just felt like it was fairly light on plot. Mixed feeling about seeing characters that already had to jump through hoops to get together the first time, not be together anymore. Or be communicating!

“I am…the guy who can’t remember a single day in his life when he didn’t love you”

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an eARC in exchange for this honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

First of all, I feel so incredibly lucky that I got the chance to read this book before its release date.

Second of all, nothing can prepare you for this story. I think I cycled through the five stages of grief the whole time. I was not expecting to feel SO much. This book was
heartbreakingly beautiful, but also extremely relatable if you have ever experienced a break up that changed your life. I was honestly enraptured and mesmorised. There's no other words for this experience. I can't wait for people to get their hands on Nothing Like the Movies!!!

Lastly, Lynn Painter... ma'am... I need to talk to you because that hurt. HOWEVER, I'll forgive you this time because you incorporated some of the most beautifully written quotes and emotionally driven scenes. I'm so glad that we got to see both Wes and Liz's perspectives because it just gave this book the added depth that it needed!

This book is like the boppiest pop song that made song of the summer. It hits all the marks and leaves a lasting impression, like a really long last song syndrome.

Lynn Painter did it again. She is queen of romance YA.

Nothing like the Movies is 🤌🏼.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My other favourites about this book.

✅ When the banter is bantering.
✅ The Taylor Swift references are 🫶🏼
✅ The songs featured and playlist is ❤️‍🔥🎧

I enjoyed this book because it was a perfect balance of a boppy romcom with a touch of reality.

I loved how Lynn Painter added in hard life truths that Wes (and eventually Liz) had to face. It definitely added depth to their characters which we only see in this book. It gives their love story more flavour and it makes you root for them more.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Lynn Painter novel if you didn’t have the cute moments. There were so much funny scenes. I DEVOURED this book. I finished it in a freakin day!! 🙊

I adore Lynn Painter's writing and characters and Nothing Like the Movies did not disappoint.

Wes, oh my, you remain one of the best book boyfriends ever. Everyone deserves a Wes in their lives.

I love that I can confidently recommend these to students as romance novels with kind, strong characters.

The story discussed Wes' heartbreak and love for his family as he navigates the loss of his father and being the provider. Liz is left heartbroken and begins to build her own career. The additional side characters provide support, love, and comic relief.

I could write my own novel on how much I love and adore this book and characters.

Life has not prepared me for the events in this book. I experienced a wide range of emotions while reading it.
I was concerned about the relationship between Wes and Liz. How could they get back what they had before?
You can understand both sides of the story, but you still feel the hurt they caused each other. Wes is a great guy, and you can't help but like him.
And Liz has grown up since then.
This book is a slow-burn romance.
We see the protagonists reconnect after a two-year separation and gradually rebuild their relationship, forgiveness, and love.
They navigate the lingering tensions between them, including the attic scene. Lynn's writing brings the emotional journey to life, making every interaction between Wes and Liz authentic and moving.
The supporting characters add depth to the story without overshadowing the main romance.
I can definitely say that I was very excited to read this book. I was happy to be reunited with my favorite characters.
These books have a special atmosphere that makes you love them and enjoy reading them.