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. 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. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Better than The Movies follows the protagonist, rom-com obsessed Liz, who has always disliked her next door neighbor, Wes. 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. She inherited this passion for rom-coms from her late mother with whom she used to watch all these films. She imagines her life playing out like one as much so that she even creates soundtracks to go with her experiences. 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. Lynn Painter’s new novel, Better Than The Movies, introduces us to Liz Bauxbaum, a high school senior obsessed with rom-coms.

But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. bonus short story from Better Than the Movies now Prom night has arrived, and Wes Bennett couldnt be less excited. Perfect for fans of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, this “sweet and funny” (Kerry Winfrey, author of Waiting for Tom Hanks) teen rom-com follows a hopelessly romantic teen girl and her cute yet obnoxious neighbor as they scheme to get her noticed by her untouchable crush.

Wes and liz better than the movies