Just Like the Movies
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lynn Painter

How could this possibly be my first Lynn Painter book? It certainly won’t be my last that’s for sure. This books with its references to movies and music all had me invested in the story even more.

This book has Wes and Liz (or Lib) who were childhood friends turned sweethearts but after Wes’ father passed away, Wes had to take on the responsibilities of home and had to leave UCLA and his baseball career and sadly, decided to leave Lib also as he didn’t want her to lose herself while he spiraled down this path.

Fast forward two years and Wes comes back to his baseball career as a freshman at UCLA again and Lib after seeing him is determined not to give him the time of day. But, with so many obstacles but also reminders how long can Lib steer clear of Wes.

This movies was truly a slow burn and there were times when I was just like alright already let’s get on with it. But the slow burn made the rest of the journey that much more enjoyable.

I loved the references as I mentioned to movies and music which made the storyline that much more interesting as well as the group of characters that were Wes’ teammates and friends and Liz’ tribe. While this was a sweet, clean romance the way the feelings of love, grief, longing were all so clearly portrayed in Lynn’s words. I could almost picture the story playing out right in front of me.

This won’t be my last Lynn Painter book that is for sure. I’ll be reading her backlist and anxiously waiting for her next book!

This is one of those sequels that was just as good as the first book. The story picks up a few months after Liz and Wes go off to UCLA together. There was a tragedy in Wes' life and he is left to deal with the mess, which unfortunately causes him to loose Liz in the process. But now that he is back at UCLA, he is determined to get Liz back, except she's not the same Liz he once knew.

The story between Wes and Liz is a rollercoaster of emotions in the best way. It had Lynn Painter's usual rom-com aspect while also having that serious/more emotional element to it. The book made me feel like I was back in college. I believe Lynn Painter really captured what it is like to be a freshman/sophomore figuring out what you want out of life while also dealing with your own personal challenges. I also loved that it was dual POV because I got to understand Wes even more than in the first book.

Overall, I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars. If you're looking for a fun but also emotional read, pick this one up! Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the digital ARC.

4.25 ✨

“I exist to exist alongside you.”

Okay, okay.

I LOVE me some Wes Bennet. 🥹🫶🏻

I am not here to tell you this was a perfect book. This was so messy. It was frustrating. There was so much miscommunication. There was an (annoyingly) excessive amount of cussing in it.
Like WHHYYY are we putting the “f-word” in almost every page? Yuck. And this is classified as YA!?
Yes.
I felt all the things. BUT.

Wes and Liz truly seem like real people to me at this point. I adored watching them grow up in Better than the Movies, but this? This was a whole new perspective. They’re in college now, and you’re getting a heavier, more rugged scene.

They have both seen and been through a lot of things that just made them both, simply, bitter.
I could feel their chemistry and tension from page 1, and I continued to root for them despite all odds.

I will die on the hill that this was a beautiful story. An extremely messy story. But, such a good one. 😭🥺

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Publishing for sending this my way. 🧡

Easiest five stars ever. I cried and laughed so many times throughout this book, it was so heartwarming seeing both Liz and Wes rekindling their relationship. I felt so many different emotions while reading this and I won’t go into specifics because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I am so grateful to read Lynn’s words. Her stories are so magical and sweet and the right amount of serious and relatable.
I truly see myself in all of her characters, but especially Wes and Liz.
Sequels aren’t always a smart idea, but Lynn Painter knocked it out of the park! I had no doubts that I would adore this book, but looking back, I had no idea how much it would mean to me.
Sometimes you just need a cheesy and relatable YA book and sometimes that YA book becomes your favorite story to come back to. And sometimes, dear reader, the author continues their story in a way that is so perfect — it’s better than the movies.

this was a hell of an emotional rollercoaster oh my goodness, i went straight into this after finishing BTTM and it did not disappoint 🤭

i went into this a little scared knowing that liz and wes had broken up but man did lynn do a wonderful job at showing their growth and the slow burn of them falling back into one another 🥹

wes bennett the man/book bf that you are my goodness 😭

✨The Highlights✨

- Second Chance Romance

- College Shenanigans

- Baseball Vibes (Wes in action? Yes, please.)

- Witty banter

- A rom-com love letter (Cue the big gestures!)

📖 Dual POV



✨The Feels✨

Wes Bennett. What more can I say? This man has me absolutely melting—sexy, sweet, and dead set on winning Liz back with the grandest of rom-com-worthy gestures. And believe me, he goes ALL OUT. Saying I’m obsessed with these characters would be an understatement. ‘Better Than the Movies’ is hands down one of my favorite YA romances, and my hopes for the sequel were through the roof. But damn, did Lynn Painter deliver! This book has everything: sharp banter, laugh-out-loud mishaps (poor Wes), heart-wrenching moments, swoon-worthy declarations of love, and all the butterflies and tension I could hope for. Honestly, Wes and Liz own my heart. I need this series on screen ASAP. I’m begging!



✨The Spoiler-Free Details✨

It’s been two years since Wes and Liz broke up, and now we’re thrown into the chaos of them both at UCLA. Liz is trying to move on, but Wes just can’t let her go. *Butterflies, swoons, and major heart-tugging moments ahead*.

*Review to be posted to instagram shortly*

I’ve been waiting and waiting for this story and was happy when I received approval for this story on NetGalley!

(Thank you NetGalley, Simon and Schuster publishing, and Lynn Painter for an advanced reader copy of this book!)

I SWOONED over BTTM and it’s still my favorite of the two but I really enjoyed this one as well.

If you were a huge fan of BTTM this one will take you on a roller coaster of emotions. I found myself not wanting to stop reading the book because I needed to know what was going to happen next.

Things I loved about the book:
- seeing the growth of the characters
- dual pov
- loved the baseball aspect of the book

There are things that I wished were more fleshed out but I chalked those criticisms up to them being 20 and
reading through the lens of them being 20 felt very reasonable for the way they were handling their emotions, but I wanted more! Though I was happy with the way they communicated with each other and how those scenes panned out. I would have liked to see more of how Wes was mentally and emotionally healthy to come back cause that boy went through it!

Overall the pining, the angst, and romantic gestures were still so precious and cute, and maybe I’m biased but I will literally read anything Lynn Painter writes, especially about these two!

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC. I read the first book, “better than the movies” and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This book takes place after Wes and Liz start going to college and Wes’s father passes away. West decides to break up with Liz and then later on he decides he wants to win her back. Liz pretends to fake date and will stop at nothing to get her back. I enjoyed the second chance, romance, trope, the slowburn romance and the fake dating. I really enjoyed the side characters. I thought they were fun and they gave a lot to the story. I think that the characters Liz and Wes were better developed in the first book and I thought Liz’s character wasn’t as authentic as she was in the first. I think that it shows how people deal with grief and love and relationships and having to grow up. I will definitely continue to read more from this author.

Fake Dating
Miscommunication
Second Chance Romance

I devoured this! So cute. Was definitely ready for more Liz and Wes!

Parts of this book made me smile, parts of it made me emotional, and parts of it annoyed me. While the characters to their core are the same, they changed quite a bit from the first book. I went in thinking it would be a romcom and it had the rom but not the com.

Lynn Painter writes another book perfect for the YA audience and I cannot wait to add this one to my 8th grade class library! I enjoy these books just as much as my students and love being able to talk about them after.

As someone that loved Liz and Wes in Better than the Movies, I was super excited to learn that we were getting more in this sequel.

It comes at a price though because this is a second chance romance that has Wes trying to win back Liz.

We get to see Wes and how he deals with grief. We meet new characters that are funny and just really enjoyable to read and of course, some really great banter.

What I didn’t enjoy is that this did not feel the same as BTTM- it just didn’t have the same chemistry between our main characters. We had some good moments but they came too late in the book and something that was really missing was Liz. She isn’t the hopeless romantic we loved in book 1 and I felt that loss while reading.

Overall this was a cute book with some really sweet moments and fun banter.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for this eArc!

This book, as any other Lynn Painter book, was amazing! Ngl I was very scared for this book knowing that Wes and Liz had broken up, but it was perfect. The character growth for both of them did them great. 10/10 I would recommend

I wanted to love it, but it missed the mark. There were so many fun times with Wes and Liz, but the connection was dead. I missed reading about their chemistry, their connection, the slow build they tried to ignore... And instead just read chapter upon chapter of Wes's obsession and Liz's fear.

I LOVE Lynn Painter books, and she writes amazing banter. However we didn't get anything until at least half way through. He didn't even try to woo her until 73% through the book. It was too long.

I like how we knew more of Wes's character and his depth, but we lost so much of Liz. She didn't seem like her at all, and even her new roommate/friendships seemed shallow, like they also didn't know her.

There were some cute scenes, but their romance and chemistry left me hanging in the end, wishing I loved them as much as I loved them in the first book.

⭐⭐⭐

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Books for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

A cute YA read but I don’t think this sequel needed to happen.

The whole second chance love could have worked if maybe more time had passed, I personally think. Wes felt like such a walking red flag without knowing the background to what happened but even then, I’m like 😒. No one knows how they’ll deal with grief and they are still very young. But the fact he couldn’t trust Liz feels like there still needs to be growth on his end.

I love the references to music and movies in this book but overall, do still think this book was unnecessary.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Books for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

📖 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐲𝐧𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶.“

I absolutely adored 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬 and could not wait to dive into this sequel. I knew going into reading this that something happened that threw a rock into Wes & Liz’s relationship. Which broke my heart to think about but reading this story and seeing how everything played out, just broke me all over again.

This story deals with grief and life after loss. Wes struggles with his relationship with someone who passed away. He had everything going for him. He just started college with his best friend/girlfriend, he was set to play college baseball and most of all he was so happy. Unfortunately, life threw him a curve ball and he was forced to take a detour to his happy ending.

Now it’s two years later and he is determined to win back the love of his life. However, he was not expecting her to have a boyfriend.

Liz gave up on all of her hopeless romantic notions. Real life love is nothing like it is in the movies. She learned that the hard way. Now her ex is back and she doesn’t know how to deal with that. Her best idea is to fake date her friend and hope her heart doesn’t get trampled on a second time by her high school love.

Wes is still such a supreme book boyfriend. He had to go through so much to get back to college and all I wanted was for him to get his happy ending. Liz did what she could to protect her heart, but Wes was determined to find that romance loving girl he grew up with.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦. 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱.”

This is definitely a SLOW BURN but once we finally get to the heat, the steamy kisses were worth the wait!

I just want to point out that the blurb of this book makes this book seem like a love triangle romance. I know that might be a turnoff for some people, but this is definitely not a love triangle! Liz and her friend have a completely platonic relationship. 💛

If you loved 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬, you definitely have to check out 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐲𝐧𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫!

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴:
💞 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
⚾️ 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
🫶🏼 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘴
💔 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘔𝘊
✨ 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺
💋 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘺 𝘒𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴
🤭 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦

Lynn can do not wrong! Such a cute, feel good story that will leave you smiling for sure. Excited to see what Lynn has up her sleeve next!

I couldn’t make myself finish this. Sometimes popular books don’t need sequels. This was like ruining beloved characters so I just had to dip out. Sorry Lynn, still love all your other books!

Such a perfect follow up to Wes and Liz’s story! I think sometimes in sequels to romances that may have been intended to be standalones, the conflict can be forced. I didn’t feel that way with this one. It I would take these two for 500 more books

Have you read Better than the Movies? I got it on Netgalley 3 years ago and I've been in love with Wes and Liz since. They are such a fun couple to root for and I love that they've become so popular that Lynn Painter decided to tell us more of their story.

If you like Better than the Movies, baseball, music, song lyrics, funny roommates/friends, fake dating, second chances, angst and books worth rereading, absolutely 100% check this one out.