Ok wow!!! I knew I was going to enjoy Nothing Like the Movies, but I actually LOVED this continuation of Wes and Liz’s story. These books are going to live rent free in my mind forever. I seriously love them with my whole heart. 😭💘

I believe Lynn Painter completely demonstrated the struggles that a person will go through as they transition from high school to college. Sure, Liz changed a bunch, but doesn’t everyone when they go through that big of a life change? The same can be said for Wes. Not only was he going through the transition from high school to college, but a lot of unexpected and unfortunate circumstances were thrown at him as well. I was so pleased to see that we got Wes’s point of view. It definitely helped me to understand his perspective and connect with his character even more. Despite all of those hardships, he was still the same boy who’d been obsessed with Liz since day one. Some of the things he said to her in this book were pulling on my heartstrings. I just love him so much. 😭🫶🏼

Both Liz and Wes’s character were so heavily expanded upon in this book. I was so happy to see Liz thriving in college and living out her dream. She may not have been the same little Liz that we read in the first book, but I still loved her character just the same. I’m also so incredibly happy to know that Wes finally got his happy ending.🥲

p.s. I HIGHLY recommend reading these books back to back bc it just makes the experience so much better 🥹

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc and thank you to Lynn Painter for creating this absolute masterpiece!!

If you know me at all, you know how much I love a good Lynn Painter book. And you especially know that my absolute favorite book of hers is Better Than the Movies. Needless to say that when I received an ARC for Nothing Like the Movies I actually screamed. Liz and Wes’s story is one of my favorites.

Nothing Like the Movies still had the same things we love in Lynn Painter’s books like the banter, angst, and silliness we have come to associate with her writing style. But it also came with a little bit of a raw edge. A bit of anger, a bit of rage, and a bit of longing. In Nothing Like the Movies, Wes and Liz have really grown up. Both physically, but also mentally and socially. We see them grapple with adult problems and responsibilities. But we also see them flounder and drown beneath them as well.

In true Cassie fashion I cried like a baby when I read this book. But while I usually cry happy tears or funny tears while reading Painter’s books, this one had plenty of sad tear moments as well. The journeys that both Liz and Wes go on throughout this book in order to find themselves, and ultimately find each other again, are deeply personal and real. You feel their hurt and betrayal before you’re able to feel the love again.

As always with Lynn’s books this was an immediate 5 star read. I loved every single minute of this story and I can’t wait to read it again.

A special thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Returning to the world of Wes and Liz was honestly so much fun!! I love that even in spite of their breakup, their teasing banter and chemistry will still as evident as ever. The 20 questions game? Iconic. The baseball romance aspect? ate it up.

Wes had it all - his dream girl, school, and the start of his baseball career. But soon into their freshman year, tragedy strikes and he has to return home, which results in them ultimately breaking up. 2 years later he's now back at UCLA hoping to get his second chance.... But Liz is very resistant. She isn't the hopeless romantic she once was. People change, but can these new versions of themselves find their way back to each other?

I do think this is a true second chance rom-com in the truest sense, however I think it would have been much better in Lynn Painter had never heard the folklore album.

PERSONALLY, my fav part of this book was Clark. He acted as the fake bf when needed, he provided a voice of reason, and he told the truth when it needed to be said.

I loved Better Than The Movies and was so excited for a little more Wes and Liz! After reading I’m not sure another book was entirely necessary, but I still enjoyed it!

Wes and Liz have broken up and gone their separate ways after the passing of Wes’ father. I will say if you’re expecting the bubbly, bright, hopeless romantic that Liz was in BTTM, she’s definitely grown up and gone through heartbreak that has changed her. This book had a lot more depth and tragedy than the first. Wes’ story had me a little teary eyed and I just felt so bad for him.

“I’m just Wes f*cking Bennet, Lib, the guy who can’t remember a single day when he didn’t love you”

Overall this was a quick and enjoyable read and I’ll forever be a Wes and Liz stan.

Thank you Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC. Nothing Like the Movies is a sequel to Better Than the Movies, following Liz and Wes as the navigate a family tragedy and finding themselves again. I loved this book, while it felt like very different characters than the first, it was very well done and believable. They had just entered their 20’s and you really saw the growth from semi-children to full blown adult. I loved this second chance romance! I would recommend this book to any romance reader out there!

I absolutely loved Better Than The Movies, but this was so much better! We get so much character background and development with Wes and I think that was really the only piece that was missing in BTTM. This book was so much fun and a great one to pick up. This was so much more than just a silly little romance. It talks about grief in an accessible way, especially since this is geared towards young adults/teens.

It’s always a risk to write a sequel to a book, but this sequel delivered for me. I absolutely loved “Better Than the Movies” so I was excited to read this one. The storyline made perfect sense for why Liz and Wes were not together two years after BTTM. Both were able to show change and growth. I would highly recommend this for all lovers of BTTM.

Liz and Wes in Better than the Movies were a great couple. Liz was this unique little weirdo who was obsessed with Rom-Coms and believed in true love in its truest form. Wes loved Liz his whole life, but couldn't figure out how to say it. They got together and it was absolutely adorable. I was hesitant going into this book because I know that Wes and Liz broke up, and it wasn't that long after they left for California. And then I find out there is a TIME JUMP.

I did truly enjoy this book, but it felt as though it was missing something, and at times Liz was unrecognizable as the character she was in Better Than the Movies. I did enjoy that it was dual POV, but sometimes Wes's POV showed how much he was stuck in the past. He was trying to win Liz back with things she would've liked in the past, but didn't exactly match who she had grown to be. But we did see some growth throughout the book from both Wes and Liz, and the representation of grief after a sudden death was there, even if Wes probably should have also still been in therapy.

I adore Lynn Painter’s books -both her YA and adult books and this one was no exception!

This was a fun sequel to Better the Movies. I loved seeing Liz and Wes navigate their complicated relationship. Their chemistry is undeniable, and watching them try to find their way back to each other was both charming and at times frustrating. The story is filled with endearing scenes that will warm your heart and make you smile. I also loved how there was a quote from a rom-com movie at the beginning of each chapter.
If you're a fan of rom-coms read this book! It's the perfect second chance romance (even for those that aren’t a fan of YA).

Be still my heart! This book, which is a follow-up to Better than the Movies, was just as sweet as the first, but much more emotionally impactful. A majority of the action takes place 2 years after the first book ends, with Liz in her junior year at UCLA while Wes is restarting his freshman year after a tragic event sent him home to Nebraska, leading to a devastating breakup.

I’ll give you a moment to process all of THAT!

I read this book right after finishing BTTM and was SHOOK by the shift. My take is that it may feel less shocking to those who read the first book when it came out 2 years ago since there’s been plenty of time to enjoy the original HEA. I, however, was riding high on all those lovey-dovey vibes, and then…BAAAMMM…book 2 started in a completely different place. You'll get this reference if you’re a theater nerd, but NLTM is like Act 2 of Into the Woods. In other words, what happens after Happily Ever After?

The main thing I loved about this novel was its realistic depiction of how relationships ebb and flow, especially at a young age. So many changes happen between high school and college, and I appreciated that Lynn Painter didn’t hold back when it came to those growing pains.

With those changes, however, came a few choices that seemed uncharacteristic of Liz and Wes, which was frustrating. Again, I read these books back-to-back, so this may have been more jarring to me than someone who hasn’t seen this fictional couple on the page in 2 years. Luckily, Lynn Painter did a good job filling in the backstory and letting each character speak to their choices.

If you loved the first book, then you’ll love this one! And if you haven’t started this series yet, I highly recommend it. Both books, and especially this sequel, are incredibly sweet, so heartfelt, and an overall joy!

Im really conflicted writing my review for NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIES. I had very high expectations since BETTER THAN THE MOVIES is my all time favorite YA read, but I feel like this sequel wasn’t really necessary. I was perfectly happy with how BETTER THAN THE MOVIES left off with a beautiful HEA. This one just made me sad and yearning for the way they used to be.

I appreciate what Lynn was doing because these characters are now in college and going through big life changes, but I didn’t enjoy all the conflict and how much more emo this sequel was. It was in no way a bad book because I really love Painters writing, but it just didn’t give me the happy feels I loved so much from BETTER THAN THE MOVIES.

Interesting sequel, I liked it a lot, but it was slow at parts and I was frustrated by some of the angsty parts.

thank you to netgalley and simon and schuster children's publishing for this eARC!

i really liked this book. it’s not the best thing i’ve read this year, but it’s a solid 3.75. i’m gonna start with things i didn’t love/wish had been done differently.

this book didn’t really need to exist. it almost felt like a standalone with well developed characters as opposed to a sequel. there was a kind of distance between this book and the last; i felt like i should’ve felt more about their past since i literally read it.

they also seemed so different, liz especially. that in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, there just didn’t seem to be a solid explanation for it.

another thing is that this book fell into the “dual pov trap,” meaning it has dual pov not because its necessary but because it’s popular. it didn’t need to be dual pov and i think i would’ve liked it better if it were only wes’s pov.

on that note, it likely would’ve helped with my lack of understanding about wes’s motivations. i wish painter had delved a little deeper into his grief and why he was hiding things/“needed” to break up with liz. i think it would’ve helped to have seen more of his pov in those months.

the thing that bugged me the most was the conclusion. it felt like wes still had liz up on a pedestal and ignored the fact that she had changed. the top of the arc is them agreeing that they still love each other and want to get back together, but i think that wes, if not both of them, is in love with the version of liz that he knew before. if there wasn’t as large of a time gap, it wouldn’t bother me i don’t think, but it’s two years, within which one of them lost a parent and the other completely rediscovered herself in college. i think the plot could have been more effective if more work had been put into them actually getting to know each other again, as opposed to basically saying, “we’ll get to know each other later.”

i know that seems like a lot of criticism for a 3.75, but i honestly did enjoy this book! it was cute and i had a good time reading it, which is ultimately what i want in a book. i’m mostly being picky because i don’t think “better than the movies” was a book that needed a follow up.

that said, there were plenty of cute moments and moments that hit me in the feels. the side characters were done well in this also, similar to the first book. they were all very likable and had depth to them.

if you liked better than the movies and aren’t a terribly picky reader, there’s a solid chance you’ll enjoy this book. this book is definitely for those who loved wes and liz and just want more content of them. if you get annoyed at plots without a ton of substance, or ones that just aren’t necessary, i wouldn’t pick it up.

Being back in the Liz and Wes world was something I needed so badly!! Lynn is such a great writer I feel completely immersed in the story. Better than the movies is still my comfort read, but I loved this one as well. I will say the miscommunication made me so sad but I understood why. Wes and Liz grew up so much but they found a way back to each other!

After loving the first book this one was just kind of a let down. It didn’t seem like the same Wes and Liz and I was overall just bored with the story.

can i pretend this doesn’t exist??
it’s okay to let a characters story end… wes and liz need to enjoy their HEA, not this sh!tshow.

୨⎯ 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒔 ⎯୧
rating: 2.5
plot: 2
characters: 3
writing: 4
romance: 2
narration: 4

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

°•*⁀➷ the rundown
we left Better Than The Movies on such a happy note and no need for a sequel, but Painter keeps tossing out Wes and Liz content, this book felt a lot like a money grab. I mean, I ate it up so I can’t complain too much. I just feel like it was unnecessary and strayed from who they were, it felt like completely different characters which i guess is a taste of reality but that’s why I read books, to get away from that nasty reality business.

this is a lot of miscommunication, like they’re both fooling themselves thinking they’re okay and Wes just let’s all these lies and secrets pile up like they’re not important for Liz to know. the awkwardness between them, the moments Liz brushes him off and fakes a boyfriend. I just didn’t feel the spark they had in BTTM, I was really let down.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

ᯓ ᡣ𐭩 thank you NetGalley for the arc

Nothing Like the Movies was a read I was interested in because I LOVED Painter's book with Wes & Liz, Better Than the Movies. I felt it was a solid stand alone novel, so was very intrigued to see how she handled a sequel. While I thoroughly enjoyed this read, the character Liz felt very different to me than in the first book. With the passage of time and age comes changes, but Liz didn't seem to have nearly as much quirkiness that made her so loveable and vulnerable in the first book. I will be purchasing this title for our high school library, and I'm sure it will circulate well, but overall it fell short of the joy of the first book.

🍿 Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter 🍿

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

💭 Thoughts:
This was a cute sequel to Better Than the Movies! Though it was a YA novel, it had depth and tackled heavier themes like grief (check TWs). As always, I loved Lynn Painter’s writing and all of the Taylor Swift references and movie quotes. Liz and Wes had a real relationship with hardships, and watching them navigate through them (though messy at times) was refreshing and real. I highly recommend this book and series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I tried to post this review a few times but lost it.

I generally love Lynn Painter since happening upon Mr. Wrong Number in a library curated book box during the pandemic.

I adored Better Than Movies. Liz and Wes were great together, but I feel like this one is missing the magic and almost doesn’t seem like them.

Main thoughts-

Negatives:
- Break-up seemed forced just to have a sequel, might have been more sensical to let them be happy and then break up.
- The reason for the break-up seemed even worse, and uncharacteristic of Liz and Wes. I could see it causing a small rift, but not whatever this was
- Liz essentially changing personalities? I find it highly unlikely that the girl who lived for vintage clothing and romcoms, which in essence were a piece of her from her mom, would be completely shaken and lost because of a break-up. I don’t care who the break-up was with that wouldn’t happen.
- Liz into sports? Again, making no sense.
- Wes seemed creepy and obsessed at times. Sort of like You, which is meant to satire the romantic genre anyway, but he just at times was deeply concerning.
- Pretend boyfriends when not used as the romantic trope… that’s a pass for me.
- Most of the movie references were meh. Like not even necessarily the most memorable lines from the movie.

Positives:
- Perspective of Wes, more of this! Heck I would have taken a sequel that was entirely the first book from his perspective!
- Portrayal of grief. Lynn Painter is still fabulous at this, especially the nuances of different people handling the same loss
- The toll a mentally unstable mother and family has on the whole family. Perfect!
- Hopeful for a Sarah and Clarke spinoff
- Sarah and Clarke each individually
- Friendships, lots of really good friendship
- Wes and his romantic gestures

Overall, it wasn’t hate, but it wasn’t the same love as Better than the Movies or any of the other books by Lynn Painter.

Better Than The Movies ended with a wonderful Happily Ever After, so going into this I knew something was going to happen with Wes and Liz, but I was not ready for how heartbreaking this book ended up being...

"I can't breathe without you, but I have to..."

The things my poor Wes went through... It was incredibly sad, particularly how hard he was being on himself. He went through a pretty traumatic situation, one thing led to another, and he ended up breaking up with Liz. The way the beginning of this book almost made me cry so many times 😭 And I probably would’ve had I not been reading this in public. Lol. We get the general gist of why he broke up with her at the start of the book, but as the book goes on we learn more bits and pieces of what happened and how that led Wes to make the decisions he did *cue more internal crying from me*

He had so much on his plate, not to mention everything he was struggling with internally... it just made me love him more! How caring and selfless he was... He unfortunately didn’t think of himself in that way, and that just hurt to see. But he eventually started to get his life back together, and one thing he wanted back in his life was Liz. Despite everything he went through and the fact that he broke up with her, he never stopped loving her. And so he was determined to find a way to win her back because he knew he had a lot of making up to do.

I don’t know if I need to say this, but I LOVED this book! Going into it, I actually didn’t know if I was going to be in the right mood for it because I do have to be in a very specific mood for romances, but I didn’t need to worry because I was HOOKED! The whole thing with Wes... I was just rooting for him! One thing I loved about this book was that it was dual POV so we got to see things from both Wes and Liz’s perspectives, so that was really nice. We got to see everything Wes went through, and we got to see how Liz was thriving in college and how hurt she was when Wes broke up with her. But we also got to see the fun banter between them as Wes tried his best to not only win back her trust, but her love as well. There were some moments where their interactions were awkward and it just hurt me deep in my soul 😭 They definitely had a lot of work ahead of them to get back to what they once had in Better Than The Movies.

I loved the banter as Wes tried to win back Liz! It almost paralleled Better Than The Movies when he would tease her. It was SO cute! Their interactions definitely cracked me up (when they didn’t almost make me cry 😭)! Lynn Painter just does romance SO well! I cannot get over it! The way Wes perked up every time he spotted Liz... 😍 And while I understood Liz being hurt and her fears when it came to possibly getting back together with Wes, I am not going to lie, I was on Wes’s side the entirety of this book! At the end of the book, some of her reasonings were just... not the best. And honestly, if this had been just in Liz’s POV, I probably would’ve sided with her 100%. But since we knew firsthand what actually happened, and everything that Wes went through, it was a little frustrating to see Liz’s reservations at the end of the book. But maybe I’m being unfair. I don’t want to discount Liz’s feelings, because they were completely valid, but it was a bit frustrating. Especially because it took a certain situation at the end of the book for her to realize that maybe her feelings for Wes are something worth pursuing.

That being said, I did love this book! I have not had a book hangover in such a long time, but this one did it for me 😭 I loved how complex everything was and how much growth these characters went through. I wasn’t expecting it to be as heartbreaking as it was, but I ate it up! I was completely HOOKED! The romance was so cute and Wes was somehow even more lovable than before. I have read a lot of Lynn Painter books (not all, but I’m getting there!), and at this point, I’m starting to think she can do no wrong 😆