Better than the Movies is one of my favorite YA contemporary books, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting its sequel. Nothing Like the Movies released on October 1st and today I want to tell you about this book and what I thought.

A big thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for providing me with an eARC to read and  review. This affects my opinion in no way!

In this highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling Better than the Movies, Wes and Liz struggle to balance their feelings for each other with the growing pains of being a college student.

For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: strong-willed girl-next-door Liz. But right as the two were about to set off to UCLA 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 and 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 the rom-com worthy big 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.

Review

While I was really excited for Nothing Like the Movies, I was also pretty scared. Liz and Wes not being a couple anymore? That’s just something I couldn’t imagine! I’m not going to go into too much detail, because I do think this is one you need to read without knowing too much, but it’s worth the read. Lynn Painter hit me in all the feels, and even had me in tears, but she put me back together again before the end of the book.

Liz and Wes were so in love with each other, but when tragedy strikes, Wes is left to deal with a lot. You really just want to hug him, but also shake him, because he went through so much alone. Liz was hurt of course and closed herself off from everything that had to do with love. Dual POV helped a lot in this book, because both sides of the story are really needed. It was so great seeing both Liz and Wes grow as people and think about what they wanted. I will say, a lot could’ve been solved if Liz and Wes sat down and talked, but I feel like both had a lot of growing to do themselves. It was really interesting reading about that while they tried to find their way back to each other.

Nothing Like the Movies had me feeling all of the emotions. I think this is the first time I’ve actually teared up while reading a Lynn Painter book. The grand gestures, learning to deal with loss, following your dreams, and growing up were all parts of this story. Also, we had some amazing side characters in this story. I’d love a book about Clark or Sarah. They were a lot of fun to read about.

All in all, Lynn Painter did not disappoint with this sequel to one of my favorite books. She’s definitely proven herself to be one of my all time favorite authors.

Nothing Like the Movies hit me in all the feels, but it was everything I wanted and more. I loved being back with Liz and Wes, and I can’t wait to see what Lynn Painter gives us next. Have you read anything by Lynn Painter? Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.