Better Than the Movies

Lynn Painter's Better Than the Movies is set in Liz Buxbaum's senior year of high school. Liz has been a devoted fan of romantic comedies since childhood, using them as a way of holding on to her mother, a screenwriter who died when Liz was small. Her long-standing crush, Michael, moved away years ago and never noticed her; now he has moved back to town, and Liz decides to get his attention and secure an invitation to prom. Since Michael has become friendly with her next-door neighbour, she asks Wes Bennet to help her, even though Wes has been a source of irritation to her since they were children and has spent years playing pranks on her. The plan requires Wes to show an interest in Liz and the two of them to spend time together.

What Liz expects to be a straightforward piece of strategy becomes more complicated as the arrangement runs on, and the summer and school year also keep her in contact with what she lost: her feelings about her mother, the way films have taught her to read romance, and the difference between the version of events she has rehearsed in her head and the people who are actually in front of her.

Better Than the Movies is a young adult romance and was published on 4 May 2021 by Simon & Schuster, with a paperback edition following in 2022. It is written in Liz's first-person voice.