I absolutely adored this book. If you are a big fan of Better than the Movies like me, you NEED to read Nothing Like the Movies. I feel like anything could have happened, and I would've just been thankful that Lynn Painter gave me more. Our main characters are no longer teenagers, but they are dealing with heartbreak, loss, and grief. I thought the story was fun and fast paced. I will forever love Wes, and I will purchase and read anything Lynn Painter writes.

Wahhhh!! I wanted to love this one so much and it was just an okay read for me.
I’m so sad because I love Lynn Painter and I loved Liz and Wes in Better Than The Movies.
I think my biggest complaint is that the entire book was Wes and Liz not together. The entire book. I missed their relationship, their banter, and the fun. This was much more serious and Liz just felt like a whole different person. I still adored Wes.
.
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3.5
Thank you to netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read this book!

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾☆ 3.25 ‘nothing like the book’ stars… ☆☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Sequels are like coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. Not always worth it, but the possibilities are endless!

playlist 🎧: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Ck...
pinterest board 📌: https://pin.it/5oFsZiuxh

In more eloquent terms, sequels are a precarious matter. Consequently, I always strive to approach them in an unbiased manner. Though, I stand my ground when I say that the most memorable books are the ones that illicit a visceral reaction from the reader; negative, positive and everything in-between. In this particular instance, I just feel…uncertain, and not in a way that leaves you pondering for time long past.

“˚₊ · »-♡→ Characters

The Liz we all know and love can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, because she’s dead. What’s worse than a ‘pick-me’ girl, you may ask? A ‘one of the guys’ woman.

The lack of empathy toward Wes is, as Liz herself would say, asinine. It devalues her own conflicting experiences with grief and the character development that evolved from such in the previous novel. In the present storyline, readers are subject witness to the stripping of Liz Buxbaum’s entire being. In attempts to prove that she is more than “lovesick Little Liz”, she ultimately deems that the only capable version of herself is the one that swears off love. Not only is she demeaning herself, but the audience that should be rooting for her. I implore authors to truly grasp the concept that you can admire and even desire love and still be a complete individual. The lack or abundance of such bears no weight in who we are. It is not a rite of passage to hate the very act that makes us and it doesn’t make you stronger when you wield your past hurts as a weapon. In a world that feels broken beyond repair, I, like so many others, crave stories of those that love because they’ve been hurt, not hurt because they’ve been loved and lost. Sincerely, a very anti-patriarchal woman that is o v e r the worn out narrative that women need to be heartless to be taken seriously.

I acknowledge what Painter was aiming for in terms of relatability and progressiveness, but subsequently, our main protagonist didn’t emotionally mature from this momentous, heartbreaking and sudden change. She didn’t find her true self, nor did she rise to the odds of such occasion. Instead, she became her own antagonist. Viewing Wes through her eyes is just sad. All the ways in which she finds herself falling in love with him again are physical, and she, like everyone in this life, deserves so much more than that.

Wes Bennett is no saint either. Grief is like a disguise and the longer you wear it, the easier it is to forget who you truly are. That being said, confessing to a sin that you never and would never commit, even in the wake of obscurity is absolutely mind-boggling. It was a complete overlook that took every wrong turn possible before swerving toward a cliff. There were an abundance of perfectly reasonable justifications for your inability to maintain a romantic, or even platonic, relationship at that point in time, and yet that was the out you chose? He’s for the streets, ladies and gentlemen! I literally cannot defend him.

Despite this, I must admit that I actually enjoyed delving more into Wes’ mind considering his lack of POV in the preceding novel; particularly his involvement in baseball. One of my qualms with ‘Better Than the Movies’ was the abrupt and almost irrelevant knowledge that not only was Wes a player of the sport, but he was also considered one of the best. So much so, he was going to pursue it professionally in college.

˚₊ · »-♡→ Plot

On a more serious note, I would like to speak on behalf of all those that have grieved, are grieving, and will grieve by kindly suggesting that authors not write about life after loss if they’re not willing to properly delve deep into the mental aftermath. Sensitivity readers exist for a reason. Wes doesn’t need the love of his life back, he needs a normal year of young adulthood with no traumatic physical or emotional losses or parental responsibilities for crying out loud!

˚₊ · »-♡→ Dynamics

I fear even fictional high-school sweethearts are no match for the inevitable divorce stereotypes placed upon them. I see no world in which these two live happily-ever-after. There was more vitriol than banter, a far cry from the usual WesLiz charm that with complete transparency, I didn’t even expect, just hoped for. Love is work and I saw no evidence that these two grew enough to be willing and able to persevere in the face of adversity.

˚₊ · »-♡→ Pacing

The plot we anticipate from the synopsis doesn’t begin until 70% of the way through the book with the rest just existing as white noise. An accumulation of niche pop culture references that I would like to declare the end of. They hinder any sense of timelessness and make actual fans of such mentions feel like nothing more than a cash grab (I mean, cut Taylor and I a portion of the check at this point…). The build-up, or lack thereof, set us up for an anticlimactic ending. It was loose ends galore, mainly in regards to Liz’s internship and the project she poured her heart and soul into.

P.S. I call penalty for not capitalizing on the PERFECT opportunity to end this book with “Enemies-to-lovers—it’s our trope Buxbaum.”

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Lynn Painter for so kindly providing me with an ARC. As always, all thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.

I didn't know what to expect. This book ripped out my heart but also made me happy. I love Liz and Wes and it made me so sad that they weren't together but I love that he was trying so hard to win her back after everything he put her through even if I was so mad at him.

My friend Kari said "I didn't NEED another Liz and Wes book, but I am really glad I got one". Same. So much same. This isnt' a book that I craved or needed. But I really enjoyed getting it. I like seeing these couples go through real life stuff and coming apart and back together. It's hard. There were times when I was frustrated by them. But the pay off is just so sweet. It's the fun and the longing and the romance that we want from Lynn and from these two kids.

3.5⭐️rounding up to 4 because I just love Wes so much 🥺

Let’s start with the good stuff —

Wes had no right to be this darn cute and this swoon worthy. His monologues were epic. His music references - iconic. His emotional growth? GIVE THIS BOY A HUG. His cocky attitude brought in his POV with his complete lack of confidence? Man this boy is perfect. He is the epitome of that perfect balance of the perfect man.

(Minor spoilers) Unfortunately, this is kind of where it ends 😩 listen I loved their banter and I love how Lynn writes these books like an early 00s romcom where the couple doesn’t get together until the very end. But this time around, the miscommunication trope just felt so tiresome and stretched out for longer than necessary. Liz changed so much and while I did like seeing her growth, it’s as if Lynn Painter removed everything that made Liz, Buxbaum.

Her quirkiness is what made her so lovable. Gone? Why… I understand traumas and heartaches change you, but this was a full 180. And while she grew she also somehow regressed on the emotional maturity front? It felt forced how much she couldn’t forgive him. Also I never once fell for the ‘cheating’ so there wasn’t much of a shock for me when everything was revealed through flashbacks and confrontations.

It started off so well but just fell a bit flat after 60% when all that happened was a whole bunch of… nothing. Wes actually believing the fake bf thing? That was not believable considering how smart he is.

And the ending? That’s ALL we got? I feel like I’m missing an epilogue 🥲

Nothing Like The Movies
•
Your favorite young adult romance reviewer is back! 🥳😂 I recently finished Better Than The Movies so I was looking forward going into this one with it fresh in my mind and even though Better Than The Movies wasn’t my favorite I was excited to see what happened with Liz and Wes! Once again, I am left with some mixed feelings. Here are my positives….
💏 dual POV
🏫 in college, so I liked it better that they were older
👯‍♀️ loved all the friendships
✏️ chapters were a good length
💚 enjoyed all the quotes at the start of each chapter
🤭 funny moments
🎶 playlist at the end
👨🏻‍🦱 Wes’ character arc
Here’s where I struggled…
Though the chapters were a good length overall I felt like the book was too long. At over 400 pages it just felt drawn out and the main conflict didn’t feel 400+ pages worth. It seemed like a quick conversation could have helped a lot in chapter 1 lol it almost felt like not much was happening throughout the whole book if I’m being honest and Wes and Liz felt different. Their banter wasn’t up to par and they didn’t interact much I felt like until over halfway. Both of these books started off strong, but once I hit that halfway point it starts to fizzle for me. I’ll say that I do enjoy Painter’s writing and I am looking forward to trying one of her adult books. Now keep in mind that people LOVED Better Than The Movies and I’ve seen great reviews for this arc, for me I feel the same about both ⭐️⭐️⭐️
•
Thank you NetGalley, Lynn Painter, and Simon & Schuster for this e-arc. Nothing Like The Movies comes out October 3rd!

If you want a book that feels like a Taylor Swift song come to life, you need to read this series. Full of nostalgia, heartbreak, fireworks, love, and friendship, Nothing Like the Movies definitely has the vibes of “illicit affairs” and “So High School” with a rollercoaster of deep emotions written in the perfect balance of sweet rom-com and heartfelt tenderness that Painter excels at.

My heart ached, broke, and soared for my favorites, Wes and Liz. I loved being back and immersed in their story and seeing them grow and mature into college students. The collegiate, sporty, academic vibes I just adored, and once again I FELL for Wes Bennett. His journey in this book is huge, and I loved seeing him find himself and his way back to Liz. It was so angsty and full of longing!!

These two are my absolute favorite Lynn Painter couple/duo, and I’m so happy the second part of their story is here!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

As if I couldn’t love Lynn Painter more, she throws in a remake of a scene from Twilight!

“𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 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.”

Painter has a way of blending sharp wit with genuine emotion, and Nothing Like the Movies is the perfect example of how life’s messy, imperfect moments can lead to the most beautiful love stories. It’s packed with banter, humor, relatable characters, and moments that are both swoon-worthy and heart-wrenching.

“𝙄’𝙢 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙒𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙩, 𝙇𝙞𝙗, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

Read if you love:
❤️ Second Chance Romance
💕 Friends to Lovers
💜 Miscommunication Trope
🫶🏻 Pop Culture References
💖 YA Slow burn ROM-com
💘 No Explicit Spice

Liz had me screaming, ‘Just give in already and take Wes back!’ And Wes, UGH!, he could’ve been upfront and honest with her from the start! Then their interactions wouldn’t have been such torture for weeks. But of course, we wouldn’t have gotten all those sweet and hilarious moments in between.

“𝙄𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.”

Liz and Wes’ chemistry is electric! Their relationship feels so authentically real, and this is exactly the kind of story that reminds me why I love rom-coms.

This book was honestly one of my favorite books i have ever read. It was such a good sequel to the original and had a good plot and the ending was absolute perfection. i can’t wait for everyone to get to read this!

Wes and Liz lost each other in the drama of life. Now, two years later, Wes is trying to reclaim everything in his life that he lost, including Liz.

Lynn Painter does it again! Here's what I liked:

Like coming home: I adore Wes and Liz. These two characters stayed with me after reading Better Than the Movies. Wes in particular goes on a huge journey in this one but still keeps his charming self.

The humor: There were some truly laugh out loud scenes in this one. Just like classic Painter, this reads like a romcom movie with quirky side characters and humorous scenes that stay with you.

Heartbreak: My heart broke for Wes a few times in this. He's dealing with the death of his father, trying to regain everything he lost because of that. But seeing him strike out with Liz time and time again made me break for him. You can tell how much he wants to make amends and truly root for him.

All in all, a good follow up to one of my favorite books.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!

This book was incredible! The chemistry was amazing and I am so happy they got their happily ever after!!

I had so much fun reading this and being happily fed more WesLiz content!! Even though the reason for their breakup was honestly kind of ridiculous, I appreciated the opportunities it gave for drama, angst, and fluff (although this was a much angstier book that I expected from Lynn Painter, ngl).
Wes was my favorite part of NLTM. I'm obsessed with the amount of groveling he does (rightfully, because he was an absolute jerk to Liz, even if well-intentioned), and I appreciate the classic romantic hero that never gets old. However, I especially enjoyed getting to delve into his character more in order to go deeper than just classic romantic hero, and learn more about his relationship with his family members; his life, dreams, and ambitions; and the poor guy's struggles. I wanted to hug him so bad. Liz's whole issue of "he was terrible, but also going through something terrible, and I don't know what to do with that" was so real, because it's easy to take sides as an outside omniscient reader, but her situation was genuinely so tough, I don't know what I would have done in her position.
Speaking of Liz, I was kind of sad to see how much her character had changed. She's a completely new person now, who is very much not a romantic, dresses "cool" instead of "cute", listens to different music, etc. It's not really a phenomenon I'd consider unrealistic, because of the whole college freshman thing, but as a book fan, I missed the old Liz. Nonetheless, it didn't ruin the whole book for me or anything; it was still extremely enjoyable, and I'm glad it was written.

I just love everything that Lynn Painter writes. Her novels are sweet, sensitive, and overall just make you feel good. This was no exception. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Every bit as special as the first book HONESTLY. I know there’s a little bit of flack surrounding what happened in between, but I’d love to believe it was necessary. These kids had some growing up to do.

The whole romantic to cynic loop is so valid too. God amazing.

While I don’t think it measured up to the feel-good magic of the first book, I still thought it was a cute and satisfying sequel to Wes and Liz’s story that balanced romance with life’s realities. I think the conflict and tension in the beginning and middle of the story were a bit drawn out, and Liz’s sudden change of heart at the end to wrap it all up nicely felt a little rushed and forced. I would’ve liked to see maybe more of the emotional complexities in her character throughout the story so that her proclamation of love in the end didn’t feel so severe. Overall, I think the book does a nice job of providing readers with a rom-com in the form of a YA novel.

September 21, 2024
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC!

So I have very mixed emotions about this book. On the one hand, I love that we get to see Wes’s perspective and we get to learn so much more about him and his feelings from HIM. I love that he is such a vulnerable guy and holy crap the things he has gone through? Insanity. I wanna give my boy a thousand and one hugs

Now. My girl Liz. Oh my god. Liz, I love you, but I wanted to smack her a lil silly in this book. Not that Wes is a saint by ANY means because lord knows he isn’t. But just, she is very much a STUBBORN girl. And the fact that all the other caracters are telling her to respectfully get her head out of her ass and to just sort out her feelings is both hilarious and sad at the same time.

I felt like the stakes of this story just didn’t do it for me, and I guess it’s because we have only seen like a modicum of when they were together, so it just felt like oh Jesus, here we go again. Can’t wait to wait like 300000 pages for them to talk their feelings out.

The banter slayed, I loved that we got to experience more fun interactions from the side characters as well. I think if this book was more about like them working together through Wes’ tragedy I would have rated this a LOT higher.

I look forward to whatever book she has in store next!

I absolutely love Lynn Painter's books, so this was no exception! I was so happy to be back with Wes and Liz and following them through the beginning of college. You can see how much Wes loves Liz in this story and how he will do whatever he needs to do to get the girl back. This world will always be one of my favorites regardless of the trauma this book may have caused me haha (not real trauma). Thank you so much for allowing me to read this sequel early. I truly missed these two <3

5/5★ arc review -
NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIES - LYNN PAINTER 🏹🍃⚾️💫❤️‍🩹📻🌷
"i know it ain't easy, giving up your heart"
as many of you know, liz and wes are so near and dear to my heart and I'm just so blessed to be able to see their story continue! i read nltm in july and i decided to keep it to myself for a second, for the sake of others and my emotional self LOL, but what better time to post this than the end of summer? nothing like the movies is so exceptionally beautiful and there are truly no words to describe just how perfect their story has grown to become. better than the movies is perfect in its own way, but in reality, we grow and experience hardships in life, so nothing like the movies has given us a comforting connection to see our lizwes go through adulthood, which is why it breaks my heart and mends it throughout the pages of this book.
i connected with liz so much through this book (who's surprised? LOL) because it's so difficult to love and risk having that fire dulled. we love so much, but one day, to found ourselves conflicted with heartbreak, and all of a sudden, it's like your life was turned upside down... so to go through that with her, to have changed in a way that protects your heart a bit more, but grieves that naiveness you held, it brings my heart so much pain, but so much reassurance <3 i love liz, we all know she's always held my best and worst traits and she has proven to continue to do so!
wes... you'd think he couldn't get more perfect, but he truly does ;') in this book, he holds most of the hardships and so much pain in his heart, and how he deals with his issues, its a bit frustrating, but so true to himself, so i cannot fault him for his selflessness. he's gone through life, but he's our same charming, loving angel boy. he shows just how his love ultimately has no ends and you can't help, but fall for him once more! his journey is such a emotional one and his strive to get his liz back is so heartwarming to experience.
overall, nothing like the movies is imperfectly perfect, which is why it comforts readers to see liz and wes fight for their love once again! it makes me so emotional to say goodbye to these two, but to get another book of their boundless love alongside their prior book of pure love, is extraordinary. this book is full of light, frustration, laughter, sorrow, and unconditional love all in one. it is so amazing to see them find their way back to each other and be able to experience wes and liz's journey once more! i will always come back to them in this lifetime <3
thank you lynn, her team, and netgalley for this arc! lynn has done such a great job with these characters and these two books, she is exceptional at writing cute love stories as she has written one of the best stories of all <3 thank you for giving us our lizwes, i love ya!

I am so torn on how I feel with this book. There was a lot of elements that I liked, but then a lot of elements that I didn’t like and I know why the author did them and I don’t wanna judge. I just couldn’t get with it 3.5 rounding to four