Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Better than the Movies was my favorite new release Young Adult book of 2021. No one does better banter and funny one-liners better than Lynn Painter. It was just completely charming.

Liz Bauxbaum’s childhood crush just moved back to town, and she’s finally got a second chance at catching his eye. But she needs some help getting him to see her as anything more than a friend. That’s where her irritating next-door neighbor comes in. Wes (her neighbor) is friends with Michael (the crush) and agrees to talk her up to Michael. Of course, the more time Liz and Wes spend together, the more they realize maybe they don’t dislike each other so much after all. Will Liz get her big romantic moment?

Synopsis:

Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar—and maybe snag him as a prom date—even befriend Wes Bennet.

The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own ideas of what Happily Ever After should look like.