♥︎ Heather ⚔ 's Reviews > Nothing Like the Movies

"𝒯𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓂𝑒, 𝐿𝒾𝒷,” 𝐼 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹, 𝓅𝒾𝒸𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓈. “𝐼𝓃 𝒶 𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓌𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓈𝓀𝒾 𝓂𝒶𝓈𝓀𝓈, 𝐼’𝒹 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊.” ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗
:¨ ·.· ¨:
`· . ୨୧

"𝐵𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝓅𝓁𝒾𝓉 𝒶 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂." ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

"𝐵𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝓂𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝓂𝒷𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒻𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒽𝓊𝓃𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝓌𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓎 12:13𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗
ಇ.

🌟 10/10 Stars! 🌟

I wouldn't say that I was outright skeptical going into this book - because, well, it's Lynn Painter and I've pretty much loved every single one of her books but when I'd heard that Wes and Liz had broken up... I guess, I was maybe a little apprehensive. Just a little worried.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ The thing is- Better than the Movies was so good that you're probably thinking 'why would the author go out and write a second book when the first one was so good, it's not needed etc. etc. etc. I personally can't get enough of Liz and Wes but in my very humble opinion, Painter came through with an absolute banger with book two.

╰┈➤˗ˏˋ 𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓢𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓻𝔂

The story picks up around two years after BTTM ends and Liz is at college, enrolled at UCLA. Wes's father has passed away and his mother was suffering badly from PTSD after and wasn't functioning well at all. She was unable to work, care for herself or for Sarah (Wes's sister) and so Wes leaves school in order to return home to help his family.

The situation is incredibly tough, Liz is flourishing in school, Wes is stuck at home shackled with all of the responsibilities of an adult - he feels like he'd potentially be holding Liz back with all of his problems and so in order for her to continue to grow and get the best out of college and for her future Wes breaks off their relationship.

Liz, after two years of grieving the loss of the relationship and her friendship with Wes, is a freaking powerhouse at school. Lining up her goals and just knocking them down. She's cautious, a little jaded - and definitely not the romance obsessed, heart eyed, little Liz.

After two years, Wes is finally able to put his life back on track and return to UCLA - determined to win Liz back. Will they, won't they? Do they even know each other anymore after all the time that has passed?

╰┈➤˗ˏˋ 𝓜𝔂 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼

Besties. Besties! I really did not, in a million years expect for this book to have me in such an emotional chokehold! The number of tears I shed- oh man. The pain, the joy, the reminiscing. I just loved everything about this book so much!

ೃ⁀➷ You would think that the relationship between these two was the focus front and center - and it is, but there is so much more to this novel that warmed my heart. The relationship between Liz and her parents had me so choked up at times, eyes burning and brimming with tears. They're such a good example of what parents should be and so supportive of Liz during a difficult time.

ೃ⁀➷ Everything that the Bennett family went through with the loss of Stu just ripped at my heart strings. There is a whole scene in Wes's living room in the middle of the night between Liz and Wes where I almost totally lost it lol. I had to put the book down, put my hand on my chest like that was going to prevent it from cracking. Total epic moment.

We meet a new character, Clark who is one of Liz's roommates - I can't express how many times he had me laughing out loud as well as the other college friends that we meet.

I loved the way that Painter was able to give us everything we love in both Liz and Wes but made them more weathered emotionally - all of these layers that she added to both of their personalities made it feel like you were getting to know them all over again since the last time we saw them in BTTM. They're more mature, they've been through some shit, while still being the bright-eyed, love-struck characters we love.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Highly recommend! In Lynn Painter we trust!


"𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓋𝑒 𝓈𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓌𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓊𝓅, 𝐿𝒾𝒷, 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝐼'𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓃 𝓁𝓎𝓇𝒾𝒸𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈. 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝑜𝓇𝓈 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹𝓈, 𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝒷𝓊𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎'𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂, 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒢𝑜𝒹'𝓈 𝓈𝒶𝓀𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝑒𝓍𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁.
ಇ.
𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉 𝓁𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓊𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓀 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒- 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒, 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓌𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝒾𝓉 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈. 𝐵𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝓍𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒, 𝐼 𝓈𝓌𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝒢𝑜𝒹."

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ 𝓯𝓾𝓬𝓴𝓲𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
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Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Lynn Painter for the complementary digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. 💐