Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

A USA TODAY and New York Times bestseller

Perfect for fans of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, this “sweet and funny” (Kerry Winfrey, author of Waiting for Tom Hanks) teen rom-com follows a hopelessly romantic teen girl and her cute yet obnoxious neighbor as they scheme to get her noticed by her untouchable crush.

Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar—and maybe snag him as a prom date—even befriend Wes Bennet.

The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own ideas of what Happily Ever After should look like.

For all of Liz's knowledge about romance tropes, she was quite oblivious to her own one for pretty damn big part of the book.

Took a while to get into it, about halfway through is when it actually started to get interesting. The last 50 or so pages were the most interesting and relatable.

“Sometimes we get so tied up in our idea of what we think we want that we miss out on the amazingness of what we could actually have.”
~
A modern day, movie quoting, 80's teenage romcom, and I am here for it! Liz must have the perfect boy, and to do so she enlists the help of her annoying neighbor to get her there. Teen drama ensues; plenty of laughs, a bit of tears, and of course frustrations at Liz not seeing what is right in front of her.

I went on Spotify and actually searched if someone has created a playlist for this book. True enough, someone was kind enough to put together a playlist based on the songs that are mentioned in the book. One song is missing, though. It is Bella Luna by Jason Mraz and I know this because I put that song on when I was on the chapter where the said song was mentioned and I LOVE that song.

Now that lengthy introduction would already scream that I HEART this book. If there is a rom-com destined to be your fave in 2021, let this be the one. It is predictable right from the start, but it is so well-written in the way that you could not stop reading it.

“Enemies-to-lovers - it's our trope, Buxbaum.”

I love how the female main, Liz, is flawed. I love that she has trouble moving on with her own life after her mother's death. It definitely put things in perspective on why Liz is the way she is – how she refused to enjoy certain things in life. And how she is stuck to have that perfect rom-com ending to her love life. At certain point, you feel like you want to strangle her and yell at her to buck the fuck up and open her eyes wide, but you could identify with her as well.

And then there's this funny, charming and patient Wes. He's the boy-next-door, the one who is giving the girl a hard time, who make fun of her all the time and the mischievous one. And you know straight away that he is so done. Done. Period. I'll have Wes in a heartbeat, make no mistake about that.

Plus point – rom-com movie quotes at the beginning of every chapter, aptly placed, describing the situation. I'd give it a solid 5, but nothing in this world is as perfect as a rom-com love story, no?