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Use this page to comment on and discuss Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter! If you are including spoilers either make it clear by writing ***SPOILERS before your post as to not ruin it for those who might not be done yet. Remember to be respectful!!!!

WRITING: This reads like one of those Netflix teen rom-coms. The writing felt forced, overbearing, and expressionless. Nearly every sentence was Liz *suddenly* realizing she was enjoying Wes's company (*gasp*) and then denying the logic in the idea.

😣DISLIKES: As old as the characters were, it was too crass for my taste. This is another one of those YA books that tries too hard to be realistic to modern teens, resulting in too many cursewords, word-shortenings even Google can't decipher, insults and pick-up lines I've never even heard before, and various pop-culture references.

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Liz wasn't the best protagonist. I didn't agree with her hatred for Laney, based on the fact that she was well-liked and bragged about the lunches her mom packed for her in kindergarten; it's never clear if she even knew about Mrs. Buxbaum's death at the time. Even though she got past her selfish out-of-a-movie mindset, I still wasn't sold on her a character.
Liz's relationship with Mr. Fitzpervert (like that's an endearing name) was so irritating; one minute she'll be calling him names for BEING A CAT (changing his mind about wanting to come into her room, for example) and the next she'll be snuggling with him and droning on about her adorable he is. What's the point?
I can understand her conflict with Helena, that was actually on-point.

I loved Wes. He was so sweet, funny, honest, and protective—the perfect match for Liz. No flaws there.

Jocelyn was pushy and insensitive. Her apology at the end didn't feel genuine.

Michael was okay. I didn't see his appeal, really—he was pretty cardboard. Nice, but with no personality.

It was funny, but I didn't enjoy this much.

overall, I enjoyed this book, mainly the tone of the banter between the two of them, driven by Wes. I felt like Liz was only interesting when she was paired with Wes. I've read a lot of YA lately, and there seems to be a lot of quirky heroines running around in polka-dot dresses. I get the quirkiness, and it is actually relevant in this book, so that's a big plus, but I don't know, Liz just doesn't do it for me solo. And shouldn't we want our heroine to stand strong alone as a character?
I've started the sequel, which I'm not sure we can review as technically it's NA ( college years,) and it's a big book. I don't know if I can do it....It's not grabbing me.

I loved this book! I wasn’t around for the original read so my first read was fantastic. It was super cliché in the way rom coms are� but that’s the point and I loved it! My only complaint is it was so obvious in her internal monologue she liked him but the length it took her to realize that was wayyyyy too long considering the thoughts were already there super early. I would’ve liked to see her struggle to change the way she sees him more. The subplot of her still struggling with her Mom’s death was really well written and touching.

I just finished this book and was delightfully surprised! I really liked it and thought it was a really fun and cute book.