Better Than the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #1) in shelf indulgence

Apr 15, 2022 hannah jo rated it really liked it

Definitely one of the cutest books I’ve ever read. Liz and Wes were absolutely adorable, and the Taylor Swift references were everything.

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Jan 22, 2023 steph ⋆˙⟡♡ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Wow. I know it's only January but I can tell that this will be in my top 12 books of 2023. It was so so good. Wes has my entire heart. I absolutely loved everything about this book. I laughed, I cried, literally all the emotions. I can't wait for the second one because I need so much more of Wes and Liz. I hope Michael and Laney end up happy too. Ugh. I loved this so much. ...more

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Aug 03, 2022 Alexandra rated it it was amazing

Shelves: summer-tbr

4.7⭐️

“Do you realize we could’ve been doing this for years if you weren’t such a pain in the ass?”
“Nah—I didn’t like you until recently.”
“Enemies-to-lovers—it’s our trope, Buxbaum.”

Literally the perfect romcom…

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Apr 19, 2022 özge ✿ rated it it was amazing

Such a good book. I laughed I cried and I loved our main characters 😭 this needs more hype, it sure deserves more! 💗

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Jun 20, 2023 Diva Prestia rated it liked it · review of another edition

before reading this book, i had never heard a bad thing about it, so as you can imagine, i was expecting to be blown away. and… well…

i did like this, but it wasn’t as earth shattering as everyone made it out to be. i know that’s sacrilegious to say, but it’s true for me. there were just so many things that turned my opinion of this book sour. too many things annoyed me, like her being mad at wes’ leaving nebraska comment, the way it didn’t make sense that they’d have to fight over a parking spot ...more

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Jun 25, 2022 andré ☆ rated it liked it

Shelves: rc

This book was a cute romcom, but it didn't live up to my expectations.

The plot and the writing were enjoyable, but Liz was too narrow-minded and immature for my taste. And to top it off with my least favourite thing in books, she had a major case of miscommunication issues.

I was surprised to realise that this time, I liked male main character, Wes, so much more than I did Liz. He was so sweet, and I truly believe everyone needs a version of him in their lives.

There were so many scenes that I fo ...more

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Jul 07, 2022 jenna rated it it was ok

this was kinda just bad… and also a ripoff of the duff 😭 even down to the boys names

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May 07, 2022 kleio ｡+.｡*♡ rated it liked it

3.5 ⭐

I haven’t read a rom-com with immaculate banters and face-palming disasters.

Until... this.

For a rom-com book, Better Than the Movies basically meets the typical tropes included in funny, fluffy, and cute romances. We have here the ‘childhood frienemies to lovers’, ‘she hates him but he secretly loves her’, ‘i’m dating my enemy bcs i want to get my crush’, and the ‘hot, naughty boy x innocent, smol girl’.

It’s about Elizabeth Buxbaum, a hopeless romantic, who’s willing to do anything—even all 3.5 ⭐

I haven’t read a rom-com with immaculate banters and face-palming disasters.

Until... this.

For a rom-com book, Better Than the Movies basically meets the typical tropes included in funny, fluffy, and cute romances. We have here the ‘childhood frienemies to lovers’, ‘she hates him but he secretly loves her’, ‘i’m dating my enemy bcs i want to get my crush’, and the ‘hot, naughty boy x innocent, smol girl’.

It’s about Elizabeth Buxbaum, a hopeless romantic, who’s willing to do anything—even allying with her long-time enemy, Wesley Bennett—to get her childhood first love to love her back, thus getting him asking Liz to be his prom date.

I didn’t feel much while reading this book. Though it made me smile and swoon, there really are parts and elements of it that I can’t seem to enjoy. For example, Liz and Joss’s friendship, even if Joss redeemed herself in the end, I wasn’t convinced...? She (Joss) is like those kind of people who easily judge their friend because of the stupidest reasons. And I didn’t like her for that. Even in the beginning, I wasn’t into the idea of Joss being “best friends” with Liz. Or maybe I’m judging Joss here because, obviously, we didn’t get more of Jocelyn’s true personality.

Liz, on the other hand, is a character with basic goody traits and the kind which is easy to be annoyed by. I understand that she really, really grieves for her mother and she’s not yet ready to live a life with the less warmth and familiarity of her mom. I was slightly irked by her behavior towards Helena. Not going to lie, I can relate to her and understand her feelings but sometimes it was poorly done and she basically makes you groan in irritation. Liz’s still redeemable, though.

Honestly saying, Wes could be my favorite of all characters here. Wes strikes as a handsome and bad-boy type of male lead who are cool and hot and they wear black leather jackets and dark shades. He’s also, unsurprisingly, a known jerk and bad boy but in reality, he’s just misunderstood.

The best part of this book is not the story itself, but the playlist in the end. I’ll also put this particular quote that made me teary-eyed from laughing:

“You like a song about Selena Gomez thirsting over Justin Bieber?”

Kiddings aside, Better Than the Movies is a good book. I love the couple’s banters and their cute moments in their Secret Area. I feel bad though, because every person who's read this seems to love it and I can’t help but not love it as much as them. ...more

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