A hopeless romantic teenager, Liz Buxbaum, is coping with the loss of her mother while trying to recreate a romcom-like romance with her childhood crush, Michael, but her plan takes an unexpected turn when she falls for neighbor, Wes Bennett.
In the extremely popular romance novel, “Better Than the Movies” by Lynn Painter, Liz is a senior in highschool who searches for a life straight out of the romcom movies her mother used to watch. Micheal, Liz’s old childhood friend, moves back into town and Liz makes it her mission to win him over and go to prom together. Liz brings Wes into the situation, hoping for Wes to help Liz and Micheal get closer. As more things happen throughout the novel, Liz grows feelings for Wes, and soon they develop a romantic relationship at the end of the story.
Liz’s relationship with her new step-mom, Helena, is very complicated. Liz feels that getting close to Helena would mean that she would be replacing her mom. Liz’s mother passed away a couple years prior, which is why this is such a struggle. The relationship between Liz and Wes starts out as Liz trying to go to prom with Micheal, so she has Wes try to help her by putting in a good word about her to Micheal. As time goes on in the novel, Liz realizes that her plan is backfiring and develops feelings for Wes. As it turns out, it is later revealed that Wes has feelings for Liz the whole time, even from when they were kids.
The plot in “Better Than the Movies” mainly focuses on characters Liz and Wes. Liz is determined from the beginning to find a real life, romcom, movie-like romance with her childhood friend, Micheal. The climax of the story is when Liz realizes that she developed feelings for Wes and when she gets into a heated argument with her best friend, Joss, after hiding her and Wes’ plan from her. The story ends with Wes and Liz ending up together and repairing all of Liz’s relationships after everyone found out her plan.
“Better Than the Movies” deserves a 5/5 star rating. The novel is good for all age readers, short and easy to read and a lot of people’s favorite romance story.
