Book Review - Better Than The Movies - By Lynn Painter

Introduction 

The book takes you on the journey of a love -hate relationship between two neighbors that turns out to be a slow-burn romance later on. The protagonist of the novel Liz being a hopeless romantic teen always thought that her childhood crush Michael was the man of her dreams and to secure her happily ever after she asks help form the boy next door Wes i.e., the male lead. but as the time goes on, she finds herself reluctantly drawn towards him.

Source : simon & schuster

Better than the movies , a book by Lynn Painter is a Rom-Com English novel that deals with Wes and Liz; neighbors since childhood.

Liz Bauxbaum, a high school senior who's obsessed with Rom-com movies, portrays her life as one of its characters. She inherited this passion from her late mother.

Synopsis 

The extremely handsome next door neighbor Wes Bennet has been with her since childhood and always been a pain in her butt with all the pranks he pulled on her that involved frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes and fighting for that one parking spot. But after her eternal crush since childhood; Michael comes back to town after moving away.

She decides to win his heart in any possible way even if she has to befriend Wes as Wes and Michael were really good friends and that was her only way in. Liz and Wes make a deal to secure Michael as her prom night date in exchange for Wes to have the forever parking spot, leading to all the romance and confusion unfold between wes and liz..

Quotes from the Book 

Some of my favorite quotes from the books are "you look best when you're you", "Sometimes we get so tied up in our idea of what we think we want that we miss out on the amazingness of what we could actually have.” “She’s pretty, but her face doesn’t transform into sunlight when she talks about music.”

He did that clench thing with his jaw and said, “She’s funny, but not spit-out-your-drink-in-astonishment funny.” It felt like my heart was going to explode as his eyes moved down to my lips under the glow of the buzzing streetlight. He moved his face a little closer to mine, looked into my eyes, and rumbled, “And when I see her, I don’t feel like I have to talk to her or mess up her hair or do something—anything—to get her to swing that gaze on me.” “When I brought my eyes back to his, I knew without a doubt that if we were anywhere else—alone—he would kiss me. He swallowed, and my eyes tracked down to his throat before slowly climbing back up by way of his strong chin, nose, and dark-as-night brown eyes.

He raised one eyebrow, an unspoken question, and I realized at that moment that I wanted it. I wanted Wes. Michael had been my endgame, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about that anymore.

I wouldn’t run through a train station for Michael. But I would do it for Wes.

About the book 

This book is one of the best light hearted rom-coms to read. It talks about the best form of love where you can be yourself and mold into someone else's idea of an ideal beauty. This book also deals with the sensitive topic of dealing with the loss of your beloved ones. the way this story gradually grows and depicts every relationship; be it with her step mother, her father, her childhood neighbor, her best friend or her crush is just perfect.

As their plan proceed, she's surprised to discover that she likes being around wes. and with time as they continue to grow closer, she has to reexamine her thoughts about perfect happily ever after...is this going to be an ‘enemies- to- lovers’ trope or is she just confused about her feelings? Pick up the book and you’ll know…

my ratings for the book out of 5 - 4.8.

It is one of the best light hearted rom-coms.

People who love to read romance with a fun angle can go for it.

Get your copy from Amazon/Flipkart – “Better than the movies”-

Written By - Ankita yadav