Book Review: Nothing Like The Movies

 

Nothing Like The Movies by Lynn Painter

Quote: 

"You can take time alone to think, Lib, and you can put space between us and decide I'm not worth the risk. There's nothing I can do to stop you from that. But just know that no matter what you decide, and no matter what happens, I will feel this way about you for the rest of my life. There will never be anyone else for me. Hard stop. So go have your think and do what you need to do. But Lizzie - we are worth the risk. We always will be." 

 

Blurb:  For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: the strong-willed girl next door, Liz. But right as the two were about to set off for college to start their freshman year together, tragedy struck. Wes was left dealing with the fallout, which ultimately meant losing Liz in the process.

Flash forward months later, and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz's heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with rom-com worthy grand gestures she loves. Only... Liz will have none of it!  Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend... a guy friend.

Still, Wes won't give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz's attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.

Book Tropes: 

• Second Chance Romance
• College Romance
• Slow Burn
• Grand Gesture
• Forced Proximity
• Emotional Growth
• Young-Adult
• Classic Lynn Painter Humour & Banter

My Personal Views:  This book had its cringe moments, I won’t lie. While the first book in the series is one of my absolute favorites—a solid five-star read—this one fell short in comparison. That said, it still had its own moments.

Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter is the sequel to Better Than the Movies.

By the end of the first book, we saw Wes and Liz fall for each other and end up together. But in this sequel, we find out that they’ve actually broken up. After heading off to college, Wes loses his father, which leads him to move back home. The couple tries long-distance, but eventually, they break up. Now, Wes is back at UCLA, starting fresh as a freshman, and determined to win Liz—his Lib—back. But will Liz even consider giving him another chance? She definitely won’t make it easy for him.

The book was pretty cute, and of course, Wes and Liz are my favorites. While I personally didn’t feel their chemistry as strongly as I did in the first book, they still hold a huge part of my heart—they’re just adorable together.

College romances aren’t usually my thing, but I just had to read this one!

It definitely had a few cringe moments, and when I say it was cheesy, I mean extremely cheesy! But hey, that’s just classic Lynn Painter.

A few dialogues, especially the final monologues from both Liz and Wes—especially Wes—were really well done.

Of course, there were things that could have been better, and while this book didn’t quite meet my expectations, it was still a fun, lighthearted read.

Ratings: ⭐⭐⭐/ 5

Until the next read,

Aditi