A ridiculously cute YA enemies to lovers romance about the quirky dreamer Liz falling for the popular jock, who has a supposed “bad boy“ side. Adorable and completely binge-worthy, this is one high school romantic comedy worth all the stars!

Liz is a obsessed with all things cinematic and when her childhood crush Michael moves back to town she hatches up a plan to catch him with the help of her annoying next door neighbor Wes. Every scenario in her head turns into a romantic comedy, but who knew her second chance at love is actually an enemies to lovers story!

Everything about this book is what I look for in a compulsively readable YA romcom. Painter gave me angst, lots of swoony moments, and a hero who is relentlessly doing the right thing. I even loved the movie quotes at the beginning of every chapter! This would make for a perfect Netflix movie!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for access to this arc.



The blurb doesn’t lie – this book really is like a rom-com movie and pays careful homage to some of the best. People who don’t care for them might want to think twice about reading this.From the movie quotes that begin each chapter to heroine Liz Buxbaums’s encyclopedic knowledge of them, those films are all through the story.

The blurb lays out the plot. Girl had crushed on boy, boy finally returns to town, girl thinks with a little help from an annoying neighbor she can snag crush for her prom date, boy helps girl, then girl discovers that she might not have realized who her real crush is. But it’s so cute and so funny that even though I could tell when the next plot point was about to pop up, I raced through it at top speed. To paraphrase a quote the true crush, “This book is formulaic, aspartame-infused, tropey garbage.” Which is exactly why I wanted to read it. And yeah Wes is a little impressive with his rom-com knowledge.

Is it realistic? Hell no. But then why do we watch these movies over and over if we know the plots, we know how things will go, and how they’ll end? Because they’re enjoyable and we want the charming HEA. We want to watch an obviously “perfect for each other” couple have to work through what is keeping them apart, almost miss their chance but pull things out at the end. No, I don’t think I’m really spoiling anything because most of us have seen at least some of these movies.

Liz is cute with her retro fashion style, miffed at her neighbor over a parking spot, besties with a supporting role friend, and totally hung up on the movies she used to watch with her (now dead) mother. Her mother actually used to write some of them. Now Liz is going to let what has influenced her for years dictate how she is going to try and land her dream prom date. Wes is the guy she’s seen from childhood as irritating but he’s her “ticket” to getting said date so Liz makes a deal and totally misses what’s right in front of her.

As we watch Wes doing all he can to make her happy, Liz makes us groan or growl in frustration at the clues she misses, the things she misunderstands, and the things she convinces herself about. Wes isn’t perfect but he’s darn near perfect for Liz as it’s clear to anyone with eyes that he’s gaga over her and has been for years. Yet Liz is completely oblivious – as the plot needs her to be.

But, but, but … it’s darling and I laughed and sighed at the two of them together with their sparks flying everywhere and Wes being hopeful that he’s making Liz happy even if it’s getting her together with another guy. “Come on, Liz, get your head out of the clouds!” I thought but knew I had to wait until the light broke through and she’d realized her true feelings and done a few things that all the best rom-com movies have heros and heroines do to make things clear to their beloved.

However, this isn’t anything that a lot of us haven’t already seen and read before. What adds a lot to the book are Liz’s still tangled feelings of grief at the loss of her mother and how her father’s second wife (who isn’t an evil stepmother but a rather cool person) fits in with all the events of Liz’s senior year in high school that her mother ought to have been there to see. Liz also has another reason, which becomes more apparent as the story progresses, to crush on Michael beyond just “he’s so cute.”

Still Liz’s obsession with popular songs (few of which I know) and the use of current slang (which I often don’t bother to look up anymore but I’m not to the point of yelling at kids to get off my lawn, yet) will date this part of the book fairly quickly. There is what feels like a manufactured conflict between Liz and her friend Joss and the usual lack of parental presence for much of the action since this is YA. The thing that struck me most was the final main conflict between Liz and Wes which was totally “jump to the worst conclusions and hang on to them for dear life” plus a rushed ending. The book overall is cute and fluffy and a great way to spend some time catching favorite rom-com movie references but perhaps not anything that’s really new. On the other hand, I went into this knowing it was all about tropes so I can’t be too upset that this is what I got. B

The best book I’ve read all year! Elizabeth is honest, reflective and desperately misses her mom who passed away many years before. Senior year brings so many milestones and not having her mom to share it with makes each rite of passage heavier than the last. Elizabeth traverses friendship, work, family and grief throughout this story and it ends not a page too soon. Every story, every encounter, every line made this book memorable. It will not be forgotten as I laughed and cried with Libby in this fantastic coming of age story!

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter is a super cute YA novel. The book is about a girl named Liz, her childhood crush has moved back to town and she decides to team up with her nextdoor neighbor/enemy to get her crush to notice her. But when will she realize Wes likes her. Will she fall in love with him?
I loved the book, Liz was so relatable, and I would absolutely love to be her friend.

From the second I started reading this, I knew what I was getting into to. I knew what the endgame was. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the trip there. This story does an excellent job of portraying how confusing teenage emotions can be, and the dumb things we will sometimes do to avoid having to own our problems.

Disclaimer: I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

A hopeless romantic teen attempts to get her crush’s attention while being reluctantly drawn to the boy next door. This reminds me of what would’ve happened if Lara Jean picked John Ambrose McClaren! I absolutely adored this book and will be writing a full review on my Bookstagram account @meetcuteromancebooks.

I devoured this book and absolutely LOVED it. I found the two main characters, Liz and Wes, to be perfect depictions of teenagers and all of the adventure that comes along with falling in love. It includes a lot of mistakes, drama, and learning about yourself along the way. I really really loved this one and I need a story about Joss now! Highly recommend it to anyone who loves contemporary romance.

This book will be a definite purchase for our high school library! Thank you so much for allowing me to have access to the digital arc!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 stars

If there was ever a book that felt like it was written solely for teenage me, it is this one. I smiled the entire time while reading this and screamed every time You’ve Got Mail was referenced. Gah I loved it so much.

Better Than the Movies is about Liz Buxbaum, a senior in high school and rom-com expert. Liz has been obsessed with rom-coms since she was little and her mom introduced her to the classics. When her mom passed away, the movies became a way for her to continue to connect with her. Liz also became determined to live a life that was just like one of her mom’s rom-com screenplays. When her childhood sweetheart, Michael, moves back to town, she knows this is the love story she was destined for. She enlists the help of her annoying neighbor/enemy (trope #1), Wes, and they begin fake-dating (trope #2) to get Michael to notice her. You know where this is going from here. It is the best.

Wes is Peter Kavinsky-level adorable and him and Liz have Joe Fox/Kathleen Kelly-level banter. This is definitely one of my favorite YA romances of recent years. Lynn Painter has went straight to my auto-buy list based solely on the fact that she appreciates the classic rom-com exchange of “I am not running away!” “Bullshit.” from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. CLASSIC.

Fans of Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han will adore this book. Highly recommend you read this one when it releases on 5/4/21!

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lynn Painter’s new novel Better Than the Movies follows Liz Buxbaum, high school student and hopeless romantic. Liz is obsessed with romantic comedies and uses them partly as a coping mechanism to deal with the death of her mom, who was also a huge fan of rom-coms. Liz daydreams about securing a happily ever after of her own and thinks the perfect opportunity for one has presented itself when Michael, her childhood crush, moves back to town.

I really loved Liz. Her extensive knowledge and love of romantic comedies was so endearing, as was her slightly misguided attempt to secure her own happy ending by fake dating her neighbor in an effort to get Michael’s attention. I also found Liz to be a very sympathetic character, as she is clearly struggling with the loss of her mom. It’s clear they were very close and that Liz is feeling her absence tremendously.

Liz wasn’t perfect by any stretch though. While trying to orchestrate that happy ending for herself, she all but ditches her best friend. And while she’s struggling to cope with the loss of her mom, she pretty much pushes her stepmother Hannah, who is actually really cool, off to the periphery of her life and refuses to let her be a part of any of Liz’s senior year milestones. These rocky, awkward moments just made Liz come across as all the more real and, for me, made her that much more likable and relatable.

My absolute favorite part of Better Than the Movies though was Liz’s relationship with her neighbor and arch nemesis, Wes Bennett. When the novel opens, Liz and Wes are in the midst of an ongoing war over the parking space out in front of their homes. They each resort to all sorts of dirty tricks to keep the other from getting the spot, which was just hilarious. It’s actually Liz promising Wes unlimited access to that parking space that makes him agree to help her get Michael to notice her. Watching the relationship between Liz and Wes evolve was the aspect of the book that really had me smiling as I read. No matter how much Liz professed to loathe Wes, it was all too clear the two of them had tremendous chemistry and that her actual happily ever after has quite possibly been living next door to her all along.

I don’t want to say anything else because you just really need to experience Wes and Liz’s immensely entertaining journey for yourself. Not only is Lynn Painter’s new novel Better Than the Movies a delightful rom-com that features fake dating and the enemies-to-lovers trope, but it’s also filled with perfectly placed references to all of my favorite rom-com films. I honestly don’t think a book has ever made me smile so much; I’m sure I was grinning from ear to ear pretty much the entire time I was reading.

This is one of the first books I've read that actually does a really good job of centering its story around movies. I loved the way that each chapter started with a quote from a classic rom-com, because not only did it anchor the story in Liz's love for the genre, but also set the tone for what was to come in the pages ahead. I also loved the way that Liz creates soundtracks for her life, it added some relatability to her character, because I feel that all of us have done that at one point or another. Liz and Wes's relationship was everything to me. Their banter was completely on point, and they had me crying tears of joy by the end of the book. This book also dealt with some complex themes, as Liz deals with going through senior year without her mother, and tries to find out if she can make room in her life for Helena, her stepmother. I also really enjoyed the friendship Liz built with Wes's friends. They didn't show up often, but they were standout supporting characters, that almost immediately brought Liz into their group of friends without so much as a second thought. What this book did best, however, was the CHARACTER GROWTH. Liz absolutely flips a switch throughout the book and grows so much from the person that she was at the start of the book, and I love her all the more for it.

We got some spoiler-y stuff coming up, so avert your eyes if you plan on reading the book.

Now, let's start with some of my favorite parts.

Wes as a romantic lead was everything I wanted him to be and more. In fact, it is unfathomable to me that Liz did not fall in love with him sooner. First of all, he's funny, so funny. The interactions between him and Liz are absolutely adorable. Next, he's genuinely a good guy. You can tell how much he cares about Liz, even if she's oblivious to it. He gives her a change of clothes when hers get ruined at the party, she walks her to the hospital and offers up his shirt to stop her nose from bleeding at the basketball game (did I see Michael offer up his shirt? I don't think so). Finally, young Wes literally gave young Liz the money she needed to buy back her mom's rom-coms when her dad donated them without asking her. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! HOW WAS SHE NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM AFTER THAT?!

I'm also really glad about the direction the author went with Michael's character. It would have been so easy to make him an absolute ass- Liz hadn't seen or had contact with him for five years, so naturally she doesn't know what kind of person he becomes, and a lesser book would have taken the easy route. But he's genuinely a pretty nice guy, and I loved to see Liz help him get with Laney at prom. It was a great moment for Liz's character, because it's a moment you see her growth. You have Michael, the boy she's been in love with since she was a child, and you have Laney, a girl that Liz has a strong dislike for (for no good reason really, Laney seems like a nice enough girl). Liz recognizes how much the two care for each other, and she talks to each of them individually encouraging them to get together. The Liz at the beginning of the book would not have done this, and that's where you can see her growth.

Moving on, let's talk about some stuff that I maybe didn't like so much...

Let's talk about Liz for a second. I had a love hate relationship with her at first, but she ends up undergoing some pretty significant character growth by the end of the story, which kind of diminished the "hate" part of the love hate relationship. Okay fine, I never hated her, but there were times where she frustrated me. Having grown up watching rom-coms with her mother, Liz is looking for her own happily ever after, and who isn't? Liz takes this to another level, however, always looking for her meet cute and, as Wes so accurately points out at the end of the book, lives her life to a script. A lot of this is tied to the loss of her mother when she was young, something that she has not gotten over. You definitely feel for Liz, especially when you consider the milestones of senior year that she won't be able to go through with her mother. Yet the collateral damage of this mourning manifests in Liz being kind of a crappy person at times, especially to her friend and her stepmom. As I said, she recognizes this behavior is bad, and is able to grow by the end of the story and let both her friend and her stepmom see how much she's hurting, but it was just so frustrating in the moment that I wanted to give her a good shake and say "what are you doing?!"

I also think that Liz's misconceptions about prom, and they way in which both Joss and Wes talk about how she needs to change her style for whatever reason, both send the wrong message. Even though Liz realizes that prom is not in fact the pinnacle of high school romance, and that she does end up spending most of it talking to Joss and Noah in the stairwell, I can't help but feel her views at the beginning of the story could be damaging in a way. Like I said, she does end up changing her tune by the end, it just still left a bad taste in my mouth. I went to prom with my friend, and after we went to Cheesecake Factory, and it was amazing, much better than if I had gone with some random guy. So to have the main character say that prom "was the pinnacle of high school romance and not about friends grabbing dinner at the Cheesecake Factory" and that "going to prom with her best friend felt like a fail" was kind of... upsetting? I know that's the point, that Liz is so focused on finding the perfect romance that she just takes it too far and doesn't realize that amazing people she has right in front of her, but I just wish she wasn't so dependent on making her life try to fit the storybook candy-coated ideal of what high school is like. Even though she grows and realizes that what she thought she wanted wasn't actually what she wanted, her views toward prom at the beginning were somewhat detrimental and felt like they could be harmful to any young high school girls that feel like they are pressured to get a date to prom.

I mean, even her thoughts on the dress, before she got to the real reason behind not wanting to go dress shopping with Joss, were absolutely ridiculous and once again somewhat damaging. My girl straight up said that "The thrill of the dress was its ability to inspire romance, to make one's date speechless. If that factor wasn't in play, the prom dress was just an overpriced waste of fabric." Now, this isn't the only reason that she doesn't want to go dress shopping, the other reason being much more understandable and completely valid. But to tie the magic of a prom dress to whether or not one has a date is absolutely ridiculous to me, and once again damaging to anyone who feels the pressure to find a date to prom when you do not in fact need a date to go do prom. The magic of a prom dress is in finding one that makes you feel like an absolute princess, not whether or not your date is floored by how you look in it.

Speaking of this book and the magic of one's personal style, can we talk about Liz's fashion sense. Maybe this frustrated me more than it should because I like to dress like Liz. I like to dress like I'm the main character in my own movie, in bright vintage dresses with colorful wacky patterns, because I like that. I like to dress colorful and fun, and who cares if I don't look like anyone else? I'm comfortable in what I wear, so no one else's opinion should matter. If someone deems me unworthy or is embarrassed of me because of the way I dress, then that's not someone I want to be friends with. Is this the message that this book sends? Sort of, but also not really. At Wes's suggestion, she changes the way she dresses so that Michael will see her differently. She says she isn't doing it for a boy, but that's exactly what she does. Now, it does seem at times like she likes trying this new style, but the fact that it was brought about by a boy, and that she was pressured into doing it, felt icky to me. I don't mind her expanding her style horizons, but I want her to do it on her own accord, not because it would give her a better chance with a guy she hasn't talked to in five years. I hated how no one, not even her best friend, was that supportive of her style. I mean Wes does say later that she looks best when she dresses the way she wants to, so good on him for that, but he was the one who tried to make her change her style in the first place, so the positive just cancelled out the negative. I know her style was also probably supposed to show how she can't move on from her mom's death, how she's living her life like she's in one of her mom's script, but that point literally only came up at the end of the book. The rest of the time, Liz genuinely enjoyed dressing the way she did. She didn't seem to be dressing a certain type of way because it reminded her of her mom, so to have her friends, the people who are supposed to be supportive and love who she is as a person, be so judgemental of the way she dresses, it just rubbed me the wrong way.

That really did turn into quite the rant didn't it?

Now, I don't want my ramblings to turn you off of this book. I do think it's a good, cute book, that deals with some deep stuff. I just want you to know of the frustrating aspects as well as the aspects I really loved. Like I said, I absolutely adored Wes, and during the frustrating parts, his character pushed me through. And the upside of the frustrating parts is that they do have a purpose. They open the door for change for Liz, and it's not like they were there for no reason. I guess what I'm saying is, if you are frustrated by the same parts as I was, I encourage you to keep reading, because in the end this book had a fantastic romance, and some even better character growth that had me actually crying in my room in the middle of the night at the end.

This was a great YA novel, even one that adults, like myself, would enjoy! What I really like about it is that it totally takes you back to high school. You have all of the feels with Liz, especially if it has been a long time since you had butterflies from seeing someone you like. The characters feel authentic. There are enough references to know what time period it takes place in, but not too many that it will not translate for years to come. I also enjoy the fact that there are multiple conflicts, and not just a boy/girl love interest conflict. The playlists and movie quotes/references definitely take me back to a time when I was in high school with mixed tapes and rom-com movies that are mentioned throughout the book. If you know a teenage girl, definitely recommend she reads this book! I will definitely recommend it to my 11 grade English students! The book comes out on May 4th, so get it then!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Shuster Children's Publishing for a Kindle copy of this book to read and review.

Belle and Wes have been neighbors and enemies all their lives. When Belle’s childhood crush, Michael, moves back to town, Wes agrees to help Belle win Michael’s heart in exchange for the parking spot they have been fighting over since getting their drivers licenses. As Belle and Wes spend more time together, Belle starts to realize that she want want to be more than just friends with her former foe.

I loved this YA novel! Belle was funny, smart and witty, while also navigating her senior year without her mother and her real sadness was very believable and relatable. I enjoyed the fondness between Belle and Wes develop. Their arguments were funny, and I thought their friendship and love for each other grew slow and organically. The rom-com movie references were a great touch as well.

I devoured this book in less than two days. I couldn’t put it down, and wanted to find out what funny antics Belle and Wes were up to next. I didn’t find any parts of this book slow at all, and I loved the ending as well.

A Rom com about a Rom com?! Sign me up! What a cute and easy to read story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it to many of my friends who enjoy this genre as well!

This book is terrific! Its premise is very clever. A high school senior obsessed with romantic comedies finds herself in her own romantic comedy-like setup when her childhood crush returns to town and she is forced to team up with the annoying boy next-door as part of a scheme to get the crush to ask her to prom. In the course of pursuing this plan, the main character, Liz, begins to reconsider whether a move-like ending is within her grasp, or even what she actually wants.

The characters, both the two central characters and the supporting characters (including Liz's stepmom), are all well developed. The story is well plotted -- I could not put the book down, because I was so invested in finding out what happened. And it was great how the author weaved in so many classic romantic comedies into the story. This book is indeed better than the movies. Highly recommended!

This was a fun rom com that plays homage to movie romcoms. Love the enemies to lovers/fake dating.

Lynn will be a guest in the podcast on May 2021.

Better Than the Movies gave me all the butterflies that classic rom-coms give me. So many movie references that had me grinning like a fool.

Enemies to lovers (kinda) and fake dating (one of my favorite tropes) come together to honor rom-com pop culture. Liz is a unique character who, though changing things about herself to get the guy, never does it in a way where you think she feels less than. It’s refreshing to have a main character being absolutely ok with who she is. And Wes, don’t get me started on Wes! The exact personality I would have fallen in love with in high school.

This was a fun fast read and perfect for a cozy day of reading with a great soundtrack!

Liz has created a this idea of romance in her head based off of movies and the love her mom had for romance, but when it comes to finding someone to love for herself no one seems to spark that perfect rom com feeling. When an old friend from childhood moves back to town Liz wonders will he be the perfect romance she is looking for? This book is the perfect predictable teen romance novel. You know from the start that Liz and Wes will end up falling for each other, but the journey is just so enjoyable that knowing this ahead of time does nothing to subtract from enjoy the book. Just overall a fun read and perfect for anyone who loves a good romance. I also love how while the romance is the focus, Liz dealing with how to honor her mother's memory while embracing all the change that comes during your senior year, learning to live in the present, and see what she has in front of her helps help to add a different twist to the book beyond the romance and I think it is very refreshing.

NetGalley review- If you are a lover of romantic comedies and happily ever afters, then this is the book for you! The MCs have such witty banter that made me laugh out loud at times. The MCs are next door neighbor enemies from childhood who now fight over “the spot”- the primo parking space on their street. It was a cute read with just enough teen angst and a MC’s struggle with grieving the loss of a parent to balance out the lighthearted qualities. I really enjoyed this read and would highly recommend!

Very cute YA romance. Predictable and full of all the usual tropes, which in the beginning made me worry I wouldn’t enjoy it, but it got better as it went along and the ending was that flavor of satisfying that I expect from this genre.