On the HahaFiction shelf
Better Than the Movies
Better Than the Movies · Book 1 · 2021
Audiobook available · 10 hr 37 min
Liz Buxbaum wants a prom date with Michael, the childhood crush who has returned to town. Getting closer to him means asking her infuriating neighbor Wes for help, and their plotting gives Liz plenty of time with the boy she thinks she can’t stand.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make.”Read the full description at Simon & Schuster description
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What makes it funny?
Liz and Wes have a running fight over a parking space. When she arranges for him to get a ticket, he retaliates by covering her windshield with it. His teasing also includes deliberately mishearing her words.
The comedy at work
Liz knows the romantic-movie version of how her life should go. Her grudges and schemes keep interrupting it, with dry commentary and a neighbor who enjoys provoking her.
Try this if…
Romantic-movie references and familiar devices such as fake dating and a makeover reward readers who enjoy seeing a character try to organize her own love story.
Good to know
This YA romance also follows Liz’s grief for her mother. The films they loved together matter more as prom and other senior-year milestones bring that absence home.
Keep reading
More in Better Than the Movies
The series continues with one more book on our shelf.
Book 2Nothing Like the Movies
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A few distinguishing details
- A prom plan involving the supposedly wrong boy
- A neighborhood parking feud
More funny contemporary romance
Sources & further reading
- Simon & Schuster lists Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter at 368 pages and ISBN 9781534467620; the page is currently on its Hardcover format.
Publisher
- Simon & Schuster identifies Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter as an Unabridged Audio Download with runtime 10 hours 37 minutes and ISBN 9781797127958.
Publisher
- Bibliographic listing
Book information
- Kirkus review
Review
- Publisher and opening chapter
Publisher
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