From the Bookshelf of -ˏˋ. the booklover group ˊˎ-…

Better Than the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #1)

Lynn Painter

Start date: March 1, 2023

Finish date: March 31, 2023

Discussion: -ˏˋ. 2023 botm ˊˎ-

Discussion leader: mak ⊹₊⋆

Why we're reading this: march botm (2023)
[close] march botm (2023)

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Showing 2 of 8 topics — 52 comments total

-ˏˋ. 2023 botm ˊˎ-

october
By mak ⊹₊⋆ · 3 posts · 36 views

last updated Oct 02, 2023 06:47AM

september
By mak ⊹₊⋆ · 1 post · 30 views

last updated Sep 03, 2023 08:19AM

What Members Thought

Aug 06, 2023 aioue rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourites, audiobooks, ebooks, contemporary-ya, libby

I swooned my way through reading this book and I’m about to swoon my way through reading the bonus chapters, I need more wes and liz content now!!!

24 likes · Like · see review

Sep 09, 2022 debs ༉‧₊˚. rated it really liked it

Shelves: ꕤ-young-adult

₊⊹⁀➴ 4.75 stars
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“sometimes we get so tied up in our idea of what we think we want that we miss out on the amazingness of what we could actually have.”

22 likes · Like · see review

Oct 18, 2024 marri౨ৎ‧₊˚. rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance

review coming sooonnn

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2023 Jude ❦ rated it liked it

3.4/5

The only reason I'm giving this book 3 stars is for Wes and some parts of the book were SO cute.

"He smiled after plopping me down and said, “Do you realize we could’ve been doing this for years if you weren’t such a pain in the ass?”

Realest thing Wes has ever said. I mean seriously took you long enough to realize you had feelings for the wrong guy.

Wes is freakin amazing. Perfect. Hot. Understanding. Just AMAZING. I totally need a Wes in my life. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2023 alana rated it it was amazing

This book was so cute and honestly I’m glad I didn’t rush through it yesterday to meet my year goal. Being able to just relax and read it and actually enjoy it without trying to beat the clock was so relaxing and that’s the reason I read to begin with. Not to meet a goal. Because I like it. This book was incredible. It was lighthearted and adorable and I fell in love with all of the characters. Haley Pham, thank you so much for making me read this. Definitely one of my favorite books ever.

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2023 abigail☾ rated it liked it

you guys gave me very high expectations for this and it was very cute and maybe i would’ve enjoyed it even more if i wasn’t reading this while i’m sick in bed…

it’s giving a sarah dessen-esque atmosphere, which i love; alongside the amazing rom com and music references it was a fun story to read but may i just say i was expecting more? with all the hype i was definitely expecting more. still cute though.

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Mar 12, 2023 *:･ﾟaddis ✧* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

this book was addicting to read but liz’s character annoyed me at times, she could be so hurtful with the ones she cared for. i also wished they would’ve tackled her relationship with her dad a bit more.

what made this book for me was obviously WES!!! man i do love a man written by a woman, he was so charming and swoon worthy i loved him. i wish we saw even more of his personality and likes. overall it was good tho :)

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2023 Mae rated it it was amazing

Shelves: loved

love love loved this. DID I SAY I LOVED THIS BOOK.

i can't put my thoughts and feelings about their story into words, like at all, my fingers are like aimlessly flying all around my keyboard writing this and may write more about how i cannot describe my love for this book than writing about the actual book.

how is it possible to be screaming into your pillow, cry happy tears, aannndd literally bawling, like sad tears, while wanting to rip the book apart because of the frustration in one and the love love loved this. DID I SAY I LOVED THIS BOOK.

i can't put my thoughts and feelings about their story into words, like at all, my fingers are like aimlessly flying all around my keyboard writing this and may write more about how i cannot describe my love for this book than writing about the actual book.

how is it possible to be screaming into your pillow, cry happy tears, aannndd literally bawling, like sad tears, while wanting to rip the book apart because of the frustration in one and the same chapter. this book has an extreme chokehold on me, i want to melt into a puddle and let people stomp on me, because i know this will never happen to me. the amount of times i shut to book closed and just stared up into my ceiling, i am enamored, lost in speech and thought and i don't even know how to make this book my new personality.

better than the movies, yes, this book is better than the movies, any movie, all movies, i can reread it this instant, and i feel so sorry for any reader that cannot envision things when they read. this book is just multiple scences replaying constantly in my mind not wanting to hit pause, i mean even if i wanted to i don't my mind is able to.

this is the best romance book i have ever read, and you know how teachers were all about staying to the red thread when writing a story; liking keeping to the central topic. Lynn Painter is not following a thread, she's painting a whole damn painting, and there's a frame but like the frame is connected to another and it also has a picture and suddenly a whole parallel life is created and it feels like i can step into it and just leave this awful life behind, idk what i'm talking about i love this book.

i love wes, and love the frustration. i mean sure this had a warming fuzzy feeling to it, but the heartbreak, my heart broke and i was so mad, like you love each other shut up and kiss now, and like they did (which is a no-brainer look at their chemistry) but shit what the hell happened afterwards.

and the constant reference to books, and movies, and songs, and just hopeless romantic daily life thoughts, and wes being the perfect person out there, and liz just so relatable, i never thought of her as a pickme or anything and i understood her in everything. i mean this is getting personal but what the hell, i also lived in a small neighbourhood, and my neighbourhood friends, and this book just reminds me of all that before i moved away at ten, and after me everybody else moved away and so that movie scene is stuck in time. but i can't help thinking i'm just like liz, shit i'm the pick me now, but fr - whenever i got mad, which i was always because hell those boys in my neighbourhood their sole reason to breath and wake up every morning was to annoy the living nothing (as they left me dead) out of me, so i would go hide behind a wall (which did not mean no one would hear, cuz i'm sure the whole city heard) and i'd scream my lungs empty of air. and i respect myself for that, just like liz saw her arranged proposal to that poor boy as a sign of intense creativity on her part, i know see my screaming and standing up for myself in that sense as a great coping mechanism. i mean i wish i wouldn't be so scared of screaming out loud whenever i was frustrated now, but i am, cuz now we care but i wish to go back to those times. except that i moved away and never found my wes, which is good cuz i despised every boy at my old home.

anyways, wes is now added to my "best boy" collection, so far i've got him (wes), jess (gilmore girls) and gilbert blythe (anne with an e/anne of green gables). this book is ultimate aesthetic and it's been one of my favorite books to make a pinterest board for.

also, they are definetly every one-direction fans, or if not, my head could not stop replaying "through the dark" and "right now" at every cute moment and their "we hate eachother, right?" moments. i loved their bickering and that's totally the standard now, hell with cute small talk, i got so embarrased whenever michael was there, sis no.

sorry, this is long, but i had to get it all out, even though i got nothing out at all, my stomach hurts in the best way possible, and i still feel the urge to scream into my pillow, write down all the qoutes and watch all the movies and read all the books at the beginning of the chapters, yes, cuz oh my gosh i loved that idea, thank you Lynn Painter. oh and stream all one direction songs and just think of them, taylor too, possibly get a golden retriver, a cat is my dream come true, rewatch gilmore girls but only season 1 cuz its superior and finally watch 10 things i hate about you because i've been holding that off for too long. but reality check; i have a math test tomorrow, wish me luck and remind me not to read any more books before my academic life is all figured out. ...more

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