Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter is about a girl named Liz Buxbaum and her struggles with overcoming her senior year of high school. She has to work around experiencing major milestones like prom after her moms death. Her “enemy” Wes Benett is her neighbor and the two constantly fight for the best parking spot. After their old neighbor, Michael, moves back from Texas Liz, with the promise of forever having the spot, asks Wes for help setting her up with Michael.
This book was a great read. It’s a young adult fiction with a sweet teen romance. The way the story flowed so smoothly and there was always something happening. Throughout the book there are many struggles shown, it has so much emotion in it and feels very relatable. Lynn Painter shows the struggle of her characters so well, she shows the confusion and fear and expresses how difficult overcoming grief is. She also shows how scary and confusing falling in love is. The book overall expresses emotions so well and creates an understanding for the struggles that occur in the book. The relationship between the two main characters is shown so beautifully. It’s chaotic and deep and can be very confusing but the slow burn was with every second. There are times you will want to scream at the book because it’s so obvious they are meant to be. There is a slight love triangle between Liz, Wes, and Michael. There were times when I didn’t know who I wanted to be with Liz. The chemistry between each character is shown in such depth. Overall the characters are so detailed, even though it’s a romance book each character has layers and struggles. The story is so much more than a girl and boy falling in love. It shows Liz growing as a person throughout the book. I think it sets a realistic expectation and creates a relatable atmosphere for the younger readers. I heard about this book from my older sister so I wasn’t fully aware of what the book was about. I had heard great reviews so far but I was expecting a simple love story with a straight path. After reading it I was surprised but loved the book. It was such a beautiful story and to me it showed Liz finding and healing many relationships, not only does she fall in love, she struggles with friendship and family and throughout the story it shows her working on those relationships. I loved this book from the moment I started reading it. I definitely recommend this book for everyone. It’s a great book if you want to start reading again or if you just want a great read. It was definitely one of my favorites.
