Better Than the Movies

By: Lynn Painter

Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky

In this rom-com about rom-coms, in the spirit of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, a hopeless romantic teen attempts to secure a happily-ever-after moment with her forever crush, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to the boy next door.

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.

©2021 Lynn Painter (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Adorable!

At first, I thought maybe this would be a little immature for me, but after listening for more than 10 minutes, I was hooked. I found myself trying to escape any and everywhere in order to find time to listen 💗 I highly suggest this book, it kept me giggling out loud all the way through!

light-hearted fun listen

This is my first YA romance novel (I'm in my 30's) and I have to admit it's quit an enjoyable listen. The story is very obvious and predictable, but the author spends just the right amount of time to develop each scene. So while you are dying from second-hand embarrassment most of the time, you still end up liking the characters. The narrator is top-notch and gave so much life to this book. I read the short story from Wes' pov as well (it's called "better than the prom") and the miss Jesse Vilinsky's vivid narration so much.
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I can't believe they didn't bring up a cinderella story at the end, where hilary duff and her prince charming went to princeton together. It would fit the theme so well. smh

Better Than Expected

I adore a good YA/first love story, and this one did not disappoint. I was looking for just a light, entertaining story but it sucked me in quickly and has become one of my favorites of the year so far.

Love, love, love!

This is my favorite listen in a while! It was so fun & cute. Yes you can predict the outcome, but the story to get there is an easy, fun listen and I listened every chance I could! I really loved the movie quotes and especially the song references. I often paused and pulled up the mentioned song. Definitely recommend!!

Super fun!

Loved the narration and the book was super cute. Kinda sad it’s over! Very fun

Addicting

I was reading this because my teen daughter was. I like knowing where she was in her thinking. I found this wildly addicting and very relatable. I was all of sudden sneaking off to listen at every possible moment. I had to know how this ended! Wonderful story! Very well written and read! Highly recommend!

pleasure to hear

this one was a quick listen. I was so eager to reach the end! always cheer for a happy ending.

10/10

The title doesn’t lie. It really was better than most cheesy rom coms mentioned in the book.

Gets progressively better as I listened

At first I was cringing while listening and never really wanted to play it and I just kept pushing myself and found myself more invested and interested and the performance was really good overall very enjoyable soapy lovey teen romance

Loved it

Good for teens and has a very cute story line. Loved the plot of it. Reminded me of to all the boys I loved before