Star Rating: 4.5/5
Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter is a love triangle romance. It’s based on Liz, who is a senior in high school. She has lived in the same house her whole life alongside the people in her childhood friend group.
When she was younger she sadly lost her mother, who was like her best friend. They shared the joy of rom-coms and almost anything to do with cheesy love stories. Around the time her mother passed, a beloved best friend from her neighborhood group moved to another state.
When he moved back their senior year, she got the great idea to ‘fake date’ her arch nemesis, who happened to be her next-door neighbor. Since they were kids, they had been playing jokes and pranks with each other.
Liz made up a plan and brought it to her nemesis, Wes. He agreed under a condition they made and the fake dating began. She plans to make, Michael – her friend who moved back – jealous enough to ask her to prom. Liz thought this would be the perfect high school prom she and her mom would have gushed over for years.
While in the process of her plan, Liz realizes that she keeps pushing the people close to her away. She doesn’t want to do this but she’s afraid that the only way to feel close to her mother again is to have the perfect prom. She needs it to be like the romance movies her mother so dearly loved.
While fake-dating the person Liz thought she disliked most in her life, she comes to the realization that maybe he isn’t so terrible.
Going into this book I thought it was going to be another cheesy pre-teen book that was way overhyped, especially on BookTok. Which, it was. It was also very predictable. However, I still enjoyed it fairly well.
The author was going for a middle school reading level; trying to make the book understandable for a 13-year-old, but there were multiple times in the book where the relationship aspects – not only romance, but friendships, and family – really reached out to older readers.
The relationships touched on the loss of a close one, the struggles of step-parents, romantic relationships, and the bumpy road of a friendship in high school. The point of fiction books, such as cheesy romantic ones, is for them not to be realistic, but it’s important to add parts in the story where something like it might actually happen in real life.
Painter is a fantastic writer. Her characters were stereotypical but without being annoying. The book reminded me of a Disney movie, setting aside the Bella Swan quirkiness.
I think the balance between the character who tried to act ‘happy and like everything was good like unicorns and jelly beans ‘with the careless but only cared for a handful of people’ character was a good dynamic.
Although the book does touch on quite a few real-life problems and situations, the book does have that Never Been Kissed type of feel to it. It includes the infamous parties where something goes downhill, the promposal where she wants to tell him the truth but can’t, and the point at prom where they realize that maybe they aren’t meant to be and ‘it was my enemy all along!’.
In conclusion, I think this is a great, quick read for someone looking for a cute romance, coming-of-age feel to a book. It’s to the point and gets you in your feelings. And if you enjoy this book, Painter is coming out with the second: Nothing Like The Movies fall of 2024.
Comment any school-appropriate book recommendations!
