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Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter

  • Writer: Emily Eiges
    Emily Eiges
  • Jun 15, 2021
  • 2 min read

5/5 Stars

"Enemies-to-lovers -- it's our trope, Buxbaum"


This book was like the build-up to a milestone birthday and when it finally comes, it's completely epic. Everything about this book I loved and that's saying something considering I rarely give teen fiction novels five stars.


A romcom with SOOOOO MANY romcom references. I am in heaven. I basically have been living all of my teen years obsessed with romcoms and I can't think of one I haven't seen; I love romance novels for the same reason I love romance movies. Each chapter begins with a quote from a romcom and it really gave me an ego boost by testing my knowledge. When I opened the first page and I saw the first quote:

"I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her" - Notting Hill

I instantly got excited, started fangirling, and prayed that this book was going to live up to the hype that I gave it. And it did. I literally eat, sleep, breathe romantic comedies.


I'm going to start with Liz and Wes, the two neighbors who at first despise each other.


Liz is the girl hopelessly fantasizing about her happy ending even though she's just a senior in high school. She notes that her romantic history has not been too promising, but when her childhood crush Micheal comes back to town, she knows he is 'Mr. Right'. At first, I really thought I was going to hate this novel because Liz constantly based her life on these romcoms: that was the first thing I noticed. But as I kept reading I understood that that was the main criticism about her and as the novel progresses she starts to learn her way.

Wes is literally the boy next door, but ironically is he not her safe option. He and Liz have lived next door to each other since they were kids and they are constantly bantering.


The storyline is everything I could've dreamed of. The banter. Their friendship. Everything about it was flawless. I want what they have. Before this novel, I had just reviewed Party of Two and my only complaint about that book was that the climax was not worth the build-up. In this novel, I felt myself longing and aching for them to be together. And when they were fighting I wanted to physically cry because I wanted them to be together so badly.


In summation, everything about this book fits every single one of my interests. The characters were perfect, and the rom-com theme was really the cherry on top.

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