Better Than the Movies is a Perfect YA Romance Experience

Sometimes you enjoy a book because the characters are so outrageous and crazy, or because they are so unlikable and they go through a change. Other times you love it because they feel like a reincarnation of you. I knew I was going to get the latter with this book as soon as I read the blurb.

Rom-com lovers, our time has come! Better Than the Movies follows movie buff Liz Buxbaum in her last couple of months of senior year. Her childhood crush Michael comes back to town and she believes fate has finally sent her the perfect guy. She employs her enemy-next-door-neighbor Wes Bennett to help her get to Michael. As the two neighbors increasingly spend more time together, recreating scenes from classics like Pretty Woman and When Harry Met Sally along the way, Liz begins to wonder what it was that was so dislikable about Wes and why she ever thought he wasn't a good candidate for her happily ever after.

From the very first page, we feel Liz's character pouring out of the pages. There are some book components that obviously set authors who are good and those who aren't apart, and there are those details that are a bit more interlaced and not as clear, one being a first person character's personality. One of the reasons I do not gravitate towards first person is that many authors think that they can write in that POV and it will be easier to develop the protagonist's personality, however, I believe it is harder. First person can make the character really bland to the point where anything they do is unpredictable since the reader has no sense of their morals. But when an author is talented at first person, the book shines. John Green and F. Scott Fitzgerald are fantastic examples (check out Turtles All The Way Down and The Great Gatsby), and Lynn Painter certainly also has that gift.

Liz has this glass-half-full, one-day-my-prince-will-come, old-soul personality that is evident in every sentence. She is quite complex for a YA character, as we can see through her grief at the loss of her mom. Sometimes these conflicts can be a little too repetitive and worn out, but this one was not. All of the things she thought were intertwined with emotion and at no point did I think it irrational for her to feel the way she did. On the contrary, even after numerous mentions, tears were still shed.

The development of her romantic feelings for Wes also never felt too worn out. Many times authors try to prevent the repetitiveness of it by being somewhere between hatred and denial, when here, the denial paired perfectly with their blossoming friendship. The development of that relationship married perfectly with Liz's personal development and acceptance of her grief and situation.

This book set a great task for itself, dealing with so many different things: grief over the mom, denial about Wes, feelings about step-mom, lying to best friend. Although that was a lot for it to accomplish along with having an entire plot to follow too and a full cast of characters to develop along side it, Painter had an impressive amount of closure for all of the conflicts. Helena increasingly became one of my favorite characters. Reading her dialogue feels like watching an episode of Gilmore Girls, and once Liz mentioned Lorelai, I couldn't unthink it. Helena was perfectly written, her conflict was perfectly resolved, and she fit Liz's life perfectly: the quirky rom-com lover's dorky dad married someone who talks like Amy Sherman-Palladino. My compliments to the chef.

Wes also now ranks as one of my favorite book romantic interests. He is just such a nice guy. He and Liz have some of the best rom-com book chemistry I have ever read. When they finally get together it feels like the entire world should cheer. To top it all off, as if they weren't perfect enough, his last name is Bennett and her fisrt name is Elizabeth. These two were written in the stars.

The only character who sort of bothered me was Joss. It is almost impossible to write these stories where the main character lies to the best friend and there isn't an annoying conflict with the friend to fix. At that point, we are so atuned to the main character's plight, that we don't epathize as much with the best friend. Painter definitely did a very good job with not having Joss be too annoying and the conflict ending very sweetly. Overall, it worked very well, but Joss was never my favorite to read.

The story was so personal and cute. It definitely Goldy-Locked to feel like a high school tale, not too young and not too old. It is emotional and hilarious. It made me cry and laugh out loud. Butterflies were in my tummy as I read. The ending was satisfying and adorable and it left me wanting to rewatch a favorite like You've Got Mail (which I did, and it was delightful).