Lynn Painter’s highly anticipated sequel to the beloved young adult rom-com Better Than The Movies was released on October 1st, 2024. Although the first novel in this duology is cherished for being an outstanding YA romance, many believe that the sequel Nothing Like The Movies does not live up to readers’ expectations.
In the first novel, Better Than The Movies, the story follows hopeless romantic Liz Buxbaum as she copes with her mother’s death, along with her feelings about her childhood crush, Michael Young, as he returns to her hometown. The plotline revolves around Liz teaming up with her neighbor (who she very much dislikes), Wes Bennett, to try and ploy her way into a relationship with her crush. Throughout the book, Liz starts to unexpectedly fall for Wes instead and has to make a choice between the two.
Overall, the first novel is a sweet and quick read for young and adult readers. Because Better Than The Movies is so highly rated and talked about, the surprise announcement of Nothing Like The Movies was extremely hyped up. When it was first released it was difficult for readers to get their hands on a copy, but after finally picking it up there were mixed feelings about the novel.
Nothing Like The Movies continues the storyline of Liz and Wes’s relationship, except they are in college at UCLA, and broken up. Lynn Painter does not reveal why they have broken up but instead gives small portions of information about the breakup through Liz and Wes’s points of view. A big difference from Better Than The Movies is that the story is more centered on Wes and his processes through grief and adversity instead of Liz.
Not only is the center of the sequel different from the first, but it seemed that Lynn Painter’s approach to writing the novel changed. Fans of Better Than The Movies did not get the same happy-go-lucky effects while reading Nothing Like The Movies. The topics were even more grief-centered than in the first book and some of the plot points seemed a bit unrealistic.
Along with unrealistic plot points came gaps in the storyline and a lot of information left unclarified. Nothing Like The Movies seemed very repetitive as Wes ultimately just tried to get Liz back (for the entirety of the novel) by doing similar swoon-worthy gestures that they did in the first book. For a big portion of the book it was focused on Wes playing baseball the entire time, annoying Liz, and Liz being “forced” into situations with him. Also, Lynn Painter made various side characters have mini-romances which seemed unnatural and redundant.
Even though the book did feel a bit rushed and impractical, there were some parts of the novel that still made it worth reading. With that being said, Nothing Like The Movies was strictly tailored for fans of Liz and Wes’s romance and was absolutely unnecessary. Most fans of Better Than The Movies would enjoy reading further about the characters’ lives and developments, but those who did not particularly appreciate the first novel definitely do not need to waste their time on the sequel.
