Nothing Like the Movies
Ratings8
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.9
In this highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling Better Than the Movies, Wes and Liz struggle to balance their feelings for each other with the growing pains of being a college student.
For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: strong-willed girl-next-door Liz. But right as the two were about to set off to UCLA to start their freshman year together, tragedy struck. Wes was left dealing with the fallout, which ultimately meant losing Liz in the process.
Flash forward months and months later and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.
Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with the rom-com worthy big gestures she loves. Only…Liz will have none of it. Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend…a guy friend.
Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.
Series
2 primary books4 released booksBetter Than the Movies is a 4-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2021 with contributions by Lynn Painter.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book was...not what I expected. And that left me feeling conflicted. To start off, a lot of reviews said that Liz and Wes didn't feel like the same characters from BTTM, and I have to agree (especially Liz imo). I guess I can understand Liz giving up on love because she had her heart broken, but the whole “she's just one of the guys, she's soooo chill” - was heavy handed. I felt like the essence of Liz had been stripped away. It would've been nice if Wes slowly reignited that “love lover” side of her throughout the story, but that didn't happen. And they never fully fleshed out their breakup either which I thought was odd. One thing that I think set this book up poorly was the blurb:
Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with rom-com-worthy grand gestures she loves. Only . . . Liz will have none of it! Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend . . . a guy friend.
The writing in this book was beautiful and engaging. I didn't expect to love Liz as much as I did here. In the first book, she annoyed me, but this time she felt so relatable and practical. Lynn did such a great job with her character growth.
Wes, on the other hand, wasn't as lovable in this one. I still like him, but right now, I'm definitely Team Liz. Clark frustrated me the most, though. For someone who's supposed to be Liz's friend, the way he kept pushing her to go with Wes felt unnecessary and kind of unfair. Even with all that, the drama and tension between the main characters kept me hooked.
