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

Finally more Wes and Liz! I am a huge fan of Lynn Painter and I lovedddd BTTM. I was so excited to read this book and to see how Wes and Liz grew and changed into adulthood. People grow and change from getting older and from life experiences, so I’m glad they weren’t the same exact people. After reading the blurb I was also excited to see how they found their way back to each other!
This book was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions! I feel like BTTTM was so light hearted and fun and just adorable. While this one was still fun and sweet it definitely had heavier topics in it than the first one, which I loved because well, real life is nothing like the movies 😉
Even though BTTTM will always have my heart, I really did love this book too! If you haven’t read a Lynn Painter book, you definitely need to! I can always count on Lynn Painter to write a book I will love!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the ARC of this book. I loved Better Than the Movies and was excited to read the sequel. The concept of the 0riginal book being a rom com booked based on rom com movies was such a fun one and I fell in love with Liz and Wes as characters. Their high school romance was such a sweet one and both characters are incredibly likeable. When I read the description of this book and saw that it was a second chance romance, I was actually really sad to see that they had broken up. That being said, I truly love a second chance story and this one was an absolute winner. Lynn Painter is a great romance writer and I find her books very easy to read. I just devour them so quickly and this one was no different.
This book picks up when Liz is about halfway through college at UCLA. She has come into her own despite the devastation of losing Wes when tragedy struck his family. Wes has been gone for a few years when he shows up again on campus to play baseball again. She is shocked to see him and it sends her well organized life into a bit of a tailspin. Wes makes it his singular mission to get Liz back and there are some fun movie worthy moments in the process. There is also some good depth to his character when it comes to the circumstances that caused him to leave college in the first place. You will love this one if you loved the original for sure, but I don't think it would work too well as a standalone. Either way, its an easy five stars from me!

Do you know how scared I was going into this book? I knew that Liz and Wes were apart and I was having heart palpatations. The beginning of the book had my heart in tatters and it took the whole book to piece it back together. This book is about 2 years after BTTM and so much has taken place, but the gist of it is that Wes is back at UCLA and he needs to do everything in his power to win back Liz.
Liz's heart has been shattered and the romantic she once was is gone.. long gone. She is the fun girl, the one everyone wants to hang with but no one gets too close to. When Wes Bennett comes back into her life, she ignorantly thought that she was over him, but it is clear she is no where near that and is using her best friend as a shield. Wes takes it all in stride, he has so much that he needs to tell Liz, but he needs to wait until the perfect time and see if he can get her to drop her guard down enough to listen.
I am so happy the enemies to lovers banter was back for this book because if it wasn't, it would have lost some of the vibe. These two were meant to be together, and while Liz seemed guarded for an extra long time, I felt like it was perfect because Wes hurt her so incredibly bad and he had a lot of groveling to do. There was one thing that I disliked, it's one of my least favorite things to happen in books, but I looked past it because grief does crazy things. These two were always end game and it wouldn't be real life if they didn't face issues that they would have to ultimately overcome (together and apart) to make them stronger as a couple. Lynn, please don't do this to me again though. My heart has had enough.
4.5 swoony Wes Bennett stars.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster, Netgalley and Lynn for an early copy.

The author delivers another swoon-worthy, heart-tugging rom-com with Nothing Like the Movies, the much-anticipated sequel to Better Than the Movies. Wes and Liz's journey continues, and it's packed with all the feels. Wes, determined to win back the girl he lost during a heartbreaking split before college, channels his inner rom-com hero with big gestures and well-intentioned schemes. The only problem? Liz isn't having it.
What makes this book truly shine is the vulnerability and emotional growth both characters go through. The author beautifully captures the turbulence of young love, the struggle of balancing emotions with the pressures of college, and the heartache of trying to reconnect with someone you’ve hurt. Wes's relentless pursuit of Liz, even when faced with setbacks (like Liz's new guy friend), adds a mix of tension, humor, and sincerity to the plot.
The chemistry between Wes and Liz is undeniable, and their banter and shared history make every scene between them magnetic. Nothing Like the Movies has everything fans of the first book will adore: grand romantic gestures, laugh-out-loud moments, and the bittersweet reality of growing up and falling in love. It's a rollercoaster of emotions, but in true rom-com fashion, it leaves you with a heart full of hope. A must-read for anyone who loves second chances and stories filled with heart!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I needed to know what happened to Wes and Liz and this was the PERFECT follow up! A super cute, fast paced, young adult romance series that I absolutely recommend!

lynn painter has done it once again!

to know an author like her is truly a privilege. the amount of love and care she puts into her books and characters is so commendable.

getting liz and wes back into our pages was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking things ever. i did find many flaws in this book, but nonetheless it was amazing having my favorite couple back.

I have to admit, I was honestly a little scared to read this book. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to two of my favorite characters. But, I was pleasantly surprised! I plowed through this book and ended up really enjoying it.

Lynn Painter completely shattered my heart and put it back together with this book. It was fun to get to read about Wes and Liz. I enjoyed watching them grow up and really mature and develop. I really enjoyed getting Wes’s POV this time around and the college/sports setting was also really fun and nostalgic.

Although I loved getting to read about two of my favorite characters again and I enjoyed the romance and plot, I didn’t think this book was needed and I honestly would have been happy with leaving “Better Than the Movies” as a stand alone.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and Lynn Painter for an ARC copy. 💛

I'm a big fan of Lynn Painter's books - her YA and her adult romances. BTTM is a top tier book and so adored Wes and Liz. Painter captures teenage love stories and friendships and family so beautifully that even as a 43 year old, it's easy to slip back into a teen version of myself and enjoy her books.

With Nothing Like the Movies, we are dropped into life on campus at UCLA, but nothing is quite as you would have expected. Wes is restarting as a freshman after tragedy struck his family and he was forced to move home 2 years ago. Liz is a junior and thriving academically, socially, & in her professional endeavors. She's changed quite a bit and the new directions are interesting and fun but I found it a little hard to connect who she was in BTTM to who Liz is in NLTM. There is a lot of reference to an old version - "Little Liz" - and how she's not that person anymore. And while that can happen, it felt rather drastic and in a very short span of time. If this was a 10 year gap, I might have bought into the shifts & distance between the two more. While Wes was back home, the two have had no contact and that I also had a hard time believing. There were other inconsistencies to me with BTTM take place in the spring of their senior year & their subsequent break up being just a few months later. Young love is often intense and feels BIG so I tried to give it a lot of grace, but the second-chance romance needed a lot more than we got in NLTM.

Wes's POV and story carried the book for me for sure. I LOVED the side characters and found family at UCLA & I loved the cameo from Charlie and Bailey. I enjoyed the social media & music references & even felt the urge to go find the Reels Liz makes and watch them myself. I'm sure the bookfluencers will provide. This book feels like a love note to them and I think they were the target audience so it makes sense that it didn't quite land for me. I still enjoyed it and will always be a Wes Bennett & Liz Buxbuam fan. (I won't mind at all if Lynn toys with an adjacent story... Lilith & Ross perhaps?)

As always, thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Publishing for the egalley in exchange for my honest feedback.

I could not stop reading this book and it made me so giddy and happy that I literally had to take a second at some points, swoon, and then remember that these characters aren't real. I went into this rather skeptical knowing it's a second chance romance, but my expectations were so exceeded. The tension, banter, chemistry, everything made me smile very hard while reading this. What made this even more amazing was the song and movie references that hit the mark SO WELL! There were some I did not expect, but were so perfect for the moments they were attached to. I'm going to say something I believe I said in my review for Betting on You last year, but this is one of my top favorite books for this year. I can't wait to continue raving about this until it comes out. EVERY PERSON NEEDS TO READ THIS!!!!

THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE EARC OF THIS BOOK

Not gonna lie, I loved this sequel. This is a lighthearted romance of two individuals finding their way back to each other.

Lynn Painter did an excellent job of growing her characters from lovesick high schoolers to more mature college aged characters. Liz had a drastic change from the first to the second book that I found surprising but understandable. College is a huge change, and I like how Painter showed that with time we change enough to have past lives.

Loved this romcom! Beautifully written and had me so intrigued that I couldn’t put it down. Bingeworthy 😍

I loved the first book and this book was really good too! I will say I did find it a bit weird how drastic of a change Liz had. She went from one extreme to the other which I found a little hard to believe. Don’t get me wrong; I preferred the Liz in this book rather than the first book. This was a really good sequel and I can’t wait to read more from Lynn Painter.

This book gave me all my Wes and Liz feels. 🥰 I missed them so much I immediately had to pick up 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴 again for a reread.

This book follows Wes and Liz in college and takes place two years after the first book. It’s a second chance romance which makes me sad because I hated thinking that those two kids broke up at some point, but sometimes that’s just how life happens. And the reasoning behind their breakup felt realistic so it was more believable for me to read rather than just a breakup for drama’s sake. The tension in this book was driving me crazy (in the best way) because they both are OBVIOUSLY not over each other. But it was so worth it in the end to watch them grow close again and find their way back to each other. A couple plot points and mysteries around their breakup was a bit predictable, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I also really loved the new side characters. All of the characters were really likable and I found myself rooting for some of them as well. And Lynn Painter’s banter never disappoints. 🙌🏼😂

I think the thing that made it a 4⭐️ instead of a 5⭐️ for me was because it felt like I was missing the spark that the first book had. I loved the magical nostalgia of the high school rom-com first love. And even though this book was great, I don’t think I would have loved the second-chance aspect 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 if I hadn’t already read BTTM and watched them fall in love the first time. But I’ve never been much for second-chance romance fan anyway, so if that’s more your thing, you’ll probably love this book. ☺️

But overall, if you read BTTM, this book is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for providing this electronic advanced copy for review!

Just like the first book, Better Than the Movies, I really liked the characters, Wes and Liz, and their banter. There is a good mix of fun and lightness, balanced with moments of real emotion and heart. However, this book does suffer from a classic sequel problem. I liked where Better Than the Movies left these characters and their story. The very existence of the sequel novel means that the characters are thrust back into conflict and emotional turmoil. But I enjoyed the ride that Nothing Like the Movies took me on, so I did forgive it in the end.

Overall still a very fun read. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of Lynn Painter’s YA romcom novels and I’m excited for whatever she writes next.

This was such a cute follow up to Better Than The Movies! We got to see another story from Liz and Wes, catch up with some of their friends, and get to know some new friends from college! As an Omaha girl, I also love the Omaha references sprinkled throughout the book!

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter was a 5⭐️ read for me. I ate that story up. So when I received an ARC from NetGalley for the second book in the series Nothing Like the Movies, I was stoked! Nothing Like the Movies picks up our story of Wes and Liz about three years after Better than the Movies. We see Liz in her junior year working her dream internship. She’s a totally different woman. She’s confident and bold. Everyone knows her at UCLA because she works in the athletics department. Then we see Wes. Wes is returning to UCLA to begin his freshman year a second time after taking a two year hiatus when tragedy struck his family and forced him to leave school, but Wes and Liz’s story is no longer the same and this book tells the journey of them finding each other again. I will say I enjoyed the story, but it was disappointing. If you’re interested in the continuation of Wes and Liz in their collegiate careers than this book is for you. It’s a nice story but there’s not much depth to it. If you were a big fan of Wes and Liz’s relationship, then this may break your heart a little. I did appreciate that Painter really grew Liz’s character. She blossoming in both her personal and professional life. Fans of Wes will love his rise from the ashes tale and of course, he’s Wes! He’s charming and we get a lot of that in this book. What carries the book is the secondary characters. They are ride or die friends, they are supportive, they are no nonsense, and they are hilarious! If you’re ready to jump back in Wes and Liz lives then you can pick up a copy when it releases 10/1.

I LOVED this book. I loved the slow burn, second chance romance between Wes and Liz. I found this book so much more emotional that Better Than the Movies and loved how the series offers a little bit of everything. I loved Liz's character growth and Wes will always be a top book boyfriend. One of my favorite books this year.