Lynn Painter

In this rom-com about rom-coms, in the spirit of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, a hopeless romantic teen attempts to secure a happily-ever-after moment with her forever crush, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to the boy next door. Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar—and maybe snag him as a prom date—even befriend Wes Bennet. The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in. But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she 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 ideas of what Happily Ever After should look like.

Better Than the Movies

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

Angelica Garcia

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.

jean

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.

Do you really want to stick with over-romanticized ideas when you can have an awesome real thing?

I want the possibility of something more. So … why not you? Why not us?

The more I think about it, the more I don’t want to settle. I want the possibility of more, even if it doesn’t work out.

Wanting something but being unsure if you’re able to have it? Or if it’s safe to have?

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

Why did his take on most things — even when he was mocking — make me laugh?

Just putting it into the universe could make it true, right?

alara

“Trust me when l tell you that sometimes the person with the most 'magical night possibility' is the last person you'd expect. Sometimes there can be someone you've known forever, yet never really noticed."

korfai 

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

mohamed

Alessia (Taylor's version) 

He started laughing. Hard. I raised my eyes to his face, and I couldn't stop myself from joining, because he had one of those laughs. Happy and mischievous and full-on little boy; it was contagious. 

donits ~inactive

“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.”

“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.”

please🙏🥺 dOnt👎🙌 evEr bEcoMe a 😥strAngEr😔😔 

I really had fallen hard for him, hadn’t I? I stared at them, the picture-perfect couple, as Taylor Swift made my soul ache.

wes⁉️⁉️ wut iz diz behaviour💔💔

He lifted his hands, put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled loudly. And then he dropped his right arm across Alex’s shoulders and gave me a thumbs-up.

Had I really just sent Wes Bennett a motherloving prom dress selfie? Holy shiiii—

“Besides, what’s more fun than a story that starts with a fake relationship?”

“You make aging sound incredible. I want that life now.”

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) 

˶˙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 🤗



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.

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

Bea </3

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 🫣) 

lola tung will forever be liz buxbaum in my eyes don't @ me

eden

this book was phenomenal and just the perfect romance book for any reader.

peyton 

the young adult setup is giving me so highschool by taylor swift. got into this book due to the amount of videos from booktok, and i wud have to say that i'm not disappointed. 

altho it roamed around romcoms and all that, i still think that it was kinda more on the realistic side—with all their feelings and decisions. younger me would probably think "???" with all the encounters, but i guess, i now understand everything. 

liz's grief was too heavy to handle, ik it's not easy. it affected her relationship w the people around her, but i hav to say that the development in the end was so nice. it showed how it wasn't really easy even if you really really wanted to reconcile w them, but with all the courage she had, she still did it. i'm so proud of her. >< little liz is not so little anymore. 

and of course wes bennett, the man you are. his "greenest green flag" title from me was challenged w the ending chapters, but his reasons justified that. so, he's still the best man ever !! i love everything about him. and the way liz narrates how his smile looks like, i'm now vv much curious to see HOW. 

for now, i'd be our little liz and hope 4 the best in my real life—wes bennett from somewhere in this planet. 

++ some bias take because i'm also a music and a romcom girlie. liz and i, we're both just girls. ✧⁠*⁠。

p.s. i'm not so ready for nltm yet ,, pls spare me some heartache. 

i'm really happy that nothing better than u was written, there's nothing more i love than having a glimpse of wes' pov. that guy is inlove, like really REALLY in love. 

kshi

vv cutesy, very demure 🪼

the young adult setup is giving me so highschool by taylor swift. got into this book due to the amount of videos from booktok, and i wud have to say that i'm not disappointed. 

altho it roamed around romcoms and all that, i still think that it was kinda more on the realistic side—with all their feelings and decisions. younger me would probably think "???" with all the encounters, but i guess, i now understand everything. 

liz's grief was too heavy to handle, ik it's not easy. it affected her relationship w the people around her, but i hav to say that the development in the end was so nice. it showed how it wasn't really easy even if you really really wanted to reconcile w them, but with all the courage she had, she still did it. i'm so proud of her. >< little liz is not so little anymore. 

and of course wes bennett, the man you are. his "greenest green flag" title from me was challenged w the ending chapters, but his reasons justified that. so, he's still the best man ever !! i love everything about him. and the way liz narrates how his smile looks like, i'm now vv much curious to see HOW. 

for now, i'd be our little liz and hope 4 the best in my real life—wes bennett from somewhere in this planet. 

++ some bias take because i'm also a music and a romcom girlie. liz and i, we're both just girls. ✧⁠*⁠。

p.s. i'm not so ready for nltm yet ,, pls spare me some heartache. 

—

i'm really happy that nothing better than u was written, there's nothing more i love than having a glimpse of wes' pov. that guy is inlove, like really REALLY in love. 

Friends to lovers trope I loved this book enjoyed it so much. She asks her neighbour to help her get a guy who she likes but eventually likes the neighbours Wes and yeah it was adorable. 

Hana 

Now, where is my own Wesley Bennett? 🥺🥺

I relate to Liz so much—we’re both certified delusional bitches. 🫦💅

I actually have a childhood friend. We’ve been classmates since kindergarten to grade 7 and we're classmates again during grade 11 and now grade 12 HAHAHAH and it’s been great! After reading this book, I realized how hard it is to maintain a childhood friendship, its hard to maintain a friendship that you've had for years and keep that spark alive😥😥

I also loved how this book goes deeper than just a simple cutesy romance, it also talks about some really serious issues like dealing with grief😢

Overall, this book is so sweet i literally cried because i was too happy and i felt so overwhelmed😭😭

✨️the cure to every book slump✨️

Now, where is my own Wesley Bennett? 🥺🥺

I relate to Liz so much—we’re both certified delusional bitches. 🫦💅

I actually have a childhood friend. We’ve been classmates since kindergarten to grade 7 and we're classmates again during grade 11 and now grade 12 HAHAHAH and it’s been great! After reading this book, I realized how hard it is to maintain a childhood friendship, its hard to maintain a friendship that you've had for years and keep that spark alive😥😥

I also loved how this book goes deeper than just a simple cutesy romance, it also talks about some really serious issues like dealing with grief😢

Overall, this book is so sweet i literally cried because i was too happy and i felt so overwhelmed😭😭

Joey Arnold

cutie little rom com but that 3rd act break up that’s in every rom com was so much worse on paper than it is in movies somehow 

melanie

Ik heb nog nooit in heel mijn leven een boek in 3 dagen uitgelezen!!! (Ik doe er normaal +- een maand over) IK BEN VERLIEFD😍

Better Than the Movies

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