Lynn Painter

Michael, to whom Liz Buxbaum gave her heart long ago, has returned but to get his attention and, perhaps, a prom date she must scheme with her nemesis Wes, her next-door neighbor.

Better Than the Movies

Olivia 

donits ~inactive

jean

Ivory Flores

“I fell in love with teasing you in the second grade, when I first discovered that I could turn your cheeks pink with just a word. Then I fell in love with you.”

Ariella

tiffany 

Keira 💫

Someone

hannah 

Haley

Life pressed forward with a burning velocity that left all of the beautifully-pressed details quickly forgotten.

Kaila Nesbitt

“Enemies-to-lovers—it’s our trope, Buxbaum.”

korfai 

Liz Buxbaum has always known that Wes Bennett was not boyfriend material. You would think that her next-door neighbor would be a prince candidate for her romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only proven himself to be a pain in the butt, ever since they were little. Wes was the kid who put a frog in her Barbie Dreamhouse, the monster who hid a lawn gnome's severed head in her little homemade neighborhood book exchange.

Flash forward ten years from the Great Gnome Decapitation. It's Liz's senior year, a time meant to be rife with milestones perfect for any big screen, and she needs Wes's help. See, Liz's forever crush, Michael, has just moved back to town, and—horribly, annoyingly—he's hitting it off with Wes. Meaning that if Liz wants Michael to finally notice her, and hopefully be her prom date, she needs Wes. He's her in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz her magical prom moment, she's shocked to discover that she actually likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own perception of what Happily Ever After should really look like.

Better Than the Movies #1

Michelle Dsouza

I went into Better Than the Movies fully aware of what it was trying to be, and I think that shaped my experience of it quite a bit. This is a very trope-forward YA rom-com that leans heavily into charm, sentimentality, and exaggerated romantic tension. While it did not entirely work for me, I also would not say it failed. It gave me exactly what I had picked it up for: something light, familiar, and easy to move through at a time when I needed that. The novel follows Liz Buxbaum, a hopeless romantic whose idea of love has been shaped by the rom-coms she watched with her late mother. When her longtime crush Michael returns, Liz sees an opportunity to finally step into the kind of love story she has always imagined for herself. The complication, naturally, is Wes Bennett, her irritating but charismatic neighbour, who ends up becoming central not only to her plan, but to the emotional heart of the story. The direction of the plot is fairly obvious from early on, but that predictability is part of the book’s design rather than a flaw in execution alone. Spoiler warning below. What worked best for me was Wes. He brings warmth, humour, and enough emotional steadiness to make the romance believable, even when the broader story becomes overly sugary. His chemistry with Liz is noticeably stronger than anything she shares with Michael, and that contrast is one of the novel’s clearest strengths. Michael functions more as an idea than a fully compelling romantic option, which is of course the point: he represents the fantasy Liz has constructed, while Wes represents something more authentic and emotionally grounded. My main issue with the book was that it was simply too cheesy for my taste. I understand that this is exactly what many readers love about it, and I do think the novel is self-aware enough to justify some of that heightened tone. Still, there were several moments where the sweetness felt manufactured rather than earned, and the rom-com references occasionally pushed the story further into performance than feeling. I could appreciate what the book was doing without fully connecting to it. Liz was also a difficult protagonist for me to invest in consistently. Her fixation on a movie-version of love is essential to the novel’s central idea, so I understand why she had to remain attached to that illusion for as long as she did. Even so, there were stretches where her lack of perspective became frustrating, especially because the emotional truth of the story felt clear long before she was willing to confront it herself. That made parts of her arc feel more drawn out than revealing. What gives the novel more emotional substance is the thread of grief running beneath all the romance. Liz’s attachment to rom-com ideals is not just a personality quirk; it is tied to memory, longing, and her connection to her mother. That layer gives the book more heart and prevents it from feeling entirely superficial, even when the plot itself is fluffy and highly stylised. In the end, this was not a standout read for me, but it arrived at the right moment. I picked it up while trying to read my way out of a depressive funk, and in that sense it did exactly what I needed it to do. It was light without being empty, easy without being entirely forgettable, and comforting in a way that mattered more than whether I thought it was especially good. I can understand why so many readers adore it. For me, though, it was more enjoyable than impressive.

- i plan on rereading this in maybe two months with my gf so maybe i'll have more thoughts after the reread

smile??

- kind of your standard ya romance novel

- i plan on rereading this in maybe two months with my gf so maybe i'll have more thoughts after the reread

I finished this in one day. It was a light, sweet book.

Ásztai Anna

The beginning, part of the middle and the ending were great, but there was just some scenes when I cringed too much. 

Martyna

LIGHT READ !!! a breather to me tbh. i saw myself in liz in the sense that I TOO was a weird ass kid. but i cringed SO MUCH when liz was trying to talk to wes after prom, my girl really took helena’s advice and went big 😭 but i get it. that was the point of the whole scene. LMAOOOO this book made me so giddy :3

issa

Yega

“life was unpredictable. no matter how much planning you did, and no matter how safe you played it, some intangible was always going to rear its head and shake things up.”

“sometimes we get so tied up in our idea of what we think we want that we miss out on the amazingness of what we could actually have.”

this book is really a heaven for romcom enthu. i love the way this book always referring to the romcom movies and it feels closer cause i've watched most of the movies that mentioned. <3 for the plot, it's all cliché, like typically romcom book made. enemies to lovers trope. he-fell-first-but-she-didn't-realize-it-and-yet-by-the-time-she's-the-one-who-fell-harder-but-they-eventually-love-each-other-so kind of trope. but, what makes it so good is the way it just flows naturally, and the reader didn't need to think that much, but still manage to think what happened next. the more you flipped pages, the more you'll think how can liz and wes be ended up together. the book is not only focusing on romance, but also it talks about how liz dealing with grief. i personally love the way she finally opens her heart to helena and i love the way helena as a stepmom is never really put herself as a new mom to liz, but she just want to make sure that she feels loved. i really love their bond to be honest. and also, it's also embracing about how complicated friendship was, when we screwed up friendship but somehow still manage to be best friends cause simply we just understand each other. liz and joss have that and i'd love to read their dialogues. dramatic but it really could be happened in real life. and wes. oh, god. he just makes me think that a good perfect boyfriend does exist in fiction. how can he be so good to be true? and he's yearning. HE'S YEARNING and i love the way he yearns for his love to liz. i can't wait to read the sequel when i'm in the mood (please excuse my moody ass when it comes to reading books lol) cause the ending is giving so much a feeling like bridget jones's diary, i might say. cause it's not always about happy ending, it's giving a hint of plot twist. and i love that. this book is such a good book if you want to read romcom that is light and could make you laugh and giggle as if you're in love. ♡

leah

“life was unpredictable. no matter how much planning you did, and no matter how safe you played it, some intangible was always going to rear its head and shake things up.”

“sometimes we get so tied up in our idea of what we think we want that we miss out on the amazingness of what we could actually have.”

 

"she's not you."

"what?"

"she. isn't. you."

 

this book is really a heaven for romcom enthu. i love the way this book always referring to the romcom movies and it feels closer cause i've watched most of the movies that mentioned. <3 for the plot, it's all cliché, like typically romcom book made. enemies to lovers trope. he-fell-first-but-she-didn't-realize-it-and-yet-by-the-time-she's-the-one-who-fell-harder-but-they-eventually-love-each-other-so kind of trope. but, what makes it so good is the way it just flows naturally, and the reader didn't need to think that much, but still manage to think what happened next. the more you flipped pages, the more you'll think how can liz and wes be ended up together. the book is not only focusing on romance, but also it talks about how liz dealing with grief. i personally love the way she finally opens her heart to helena and i love the way helena as a stepmom is never really put herself as a new mom to liz, but she just want to make sure that she feels loved. i really love their bond to be honest. and also, it's also embracing about how complicated friendship was, when we screwed up friendship but somehow still manage to be best friends cause simply we just understand each other. liz and joss have that and i'd love to read their dialogues. dramatic but it really could be happened in real life. and wes. oh, god. he just makes me think that a good perfect boyfriend does exist in fiction. how can he be so good to be true? and he's yearning. HE'S YEARNING and i love the way he yearns for his love to liz. i can't wait to read the sequel when i'm in the mood (please excuse my moody ass when it comes to reading books lol) cause the ending is giving so much a feeling like bridget jones's diary, i might say. cause it's not always about happy ending, it's giving a hint of plot twist. and i love that. this book is such a good book if you want to read romcom that is light and could make you laugh and giggle as if you're in love. ♡

liz can be a handful and she stressed me a LOT but at the same time i get her. it really captured the point of her being a weird kid. i love that it wasn’t just focused on romance but also on her other relationships. very cute book—i giggled, cried, got secondhand embarrassment. 

friends to lovers trope 🔛🔝 (ik they’re kinda enemies to lovers but they basically became friends with the way they were comfortable w each other :p) 

jiya ˙ᵕ˙

liz can be a handful and she stressed me a LOT but at the same time i get her. it really captured the point of her being a weird kid. i love that it wasn’t just focused on romance but also on her other relationships. very cute book—i giggled, cried, got secondhand embarrassment. 

friends to lovers trope 🔛🔝 (ik they’re kinda enemies to lovers but they basically became friends with the way they were comfortable w each other :p) 

WES BENNETT THE MAN YOU ARE. the prom scenes god this book was so cute but the amount of references sent me climbing walls.

i DEVOURED this book!!! although i do regret that i finished this so quickly because i miss them already :') 

i love everything about this book– and their banters are everything! may all the love lovers (like me) find their own wes bennett 🤗

vera ౨ৎ

i DEVOURED this book!!! although i do regret that i finished this so quickly because i miss them already :') 

i love everything about this book– and their banters are everything! may all the love lovers (like me) find their own wes bennett 🤗



overall story is very cute and the story is short. wes was such a green flag but liz was kind of unbearable at the start but she started to grow on me. in conclusion pretty good read but dont expect too much from it since it does play with the typical cliches and usual stories available in the market. while its the same basic formula, i really enjoyed it more than i expected. 

Lane Loyola

The main character annoyed me so much though

Ella Williams

A cute read!

The main character annoyed me so much though

The cutest book i have read in awhile 🤌🏻

Shaza. A

This was the best book I have read in a really, really, really long time! <3 I LOVED LIZZZZZZZZZ! And also like Wes step on me-! <3333333

Ari 💙💛

OH. MY. GOD. 
This was the best book I have read in a really, really, really long time! <3 I LOVED LIZZZZZZZZZ! And also like Wes step on me-! <3333333

i like this book love how they set it up don’t want to spoil it to much but it is a very realistic book on what could happen in real life

Emma 

Okay I won’t lie I dnfed this book but I wanted to rate it 😛 I genuinely did like the book AT ONE POINT. I did like the characters and their relationships and ngl it did have me giggling and kicking my feet but then LIZ STARTED PISSING ME TF OFF and yes I know that was the point but at one point I genuinely couldn’t take it anymore. Also I feel like a lot of it was way too corny for me like I would read parts and I would be like “Oh! This isn’t for me…” By the end my ass was yawning like every half a page I WAS LITERALLY LIKE 30 PAGES AWAY FROM FINISHING AND I JUST COULDN’T DO IT. I know everyone glazes this book but it’s just not for me 😔

mikki ☆

This is so “When Harry met Sally” vibe and when they mentioned the movie when they were eating hamburgers at a diner. WOAH. They were breaking the fourth wall right there.

This was not good but I still enjoyed reading it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tiff Brunson

this was not better than the movies but it was still cute! its a ya book so theres some cringey dialogue and humor, but its fine and to be expected in a ya book.

this just reminded me of like a hallmark rom movie, which is fun and cute and i enjoy them from time to time. but its nothing amazing and ill probably forget about it in a few months. 

alice l

this was not better than the movies but it was still cute! its a ya book so theres some cringey dialogue and humor, but its fine and to be expected in a ya book.

this just reminded me of like a hallmark rom movie, which is fun and cute and i enjoy them from time to time. but its nothing amazing and ill probably forget about it in a few months. 

This was my first ever romance book and I'm glad I started with this one. Wesley and LIz were such a good couple but I hate Liz for being a bit stupid and going for Micheal but then she later realized that she loved Wes instead. I also disliked Wes for bringing Alex to his house and then I was so confused about what happened at the time between the two. I would absolutely want to read more of Wes and Lz's relantionship.

Ashley Lively

Jenna-Lee Gordon

my first YA romcom book in YEARS and a quarter thru the story i got reminded of why i avoid stories like this. (but i am planning to read the sequel 🫣) 

Better Than the Movies

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