Read a Better than the Movies summary with spoilers! Below is a recap of Better than the Movies, the first book in The Better than the Movies Series by Lynn Painter. If you’re looking for what happened in Better than the Movies, then you are in the right place!

Author
Lynn Painter

Ratings
4.5 stars on Amazon
4.28 stars on Goodreads
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The Better Thank the Movies Series
#1 Better than the Movies summary (this page)
#2 Nothing Like the Movies (synopsis)

***** Everything below is a SPOILER *****

What happened in Better than the Movies?

A Better than the Movies summary:

Liz Buxbaum, a high school senior, loves romance movies. Before her mother’s death, Liz and her mom would binge-watch them together. During those years of movie viewing, her mom taught her that she should seek out a nice, dependable man for herself. And she should avoid all “bad boys.” 

Liz’s next-door neighbor, Wes Bennet, has annoyed her since childhood. Even now, they fight daily over the only available parking spot on their street. His constant teasing over things like being optimistic about romance makes him precisely the kind of guy her mother would want her to avoid.

Liz’s childhood crush, Michael, moves back to town, and Liz finds herself crushing hard all over again even though she doesn’t really know him anymore. Against her best friend Joss’s advice, Liz makes it her goal to go to prom with him. 

Unfortunately, there are rumors that Michael likes Liz’s long-time nemesis Laney. This doesn’t discourage Liz, though. It only makes her want to date him more. She believes it would make her mother proud to turn Michael into the novel-worthy hero of her own life. 

All the activities of her senior year have made dealing with her mother’s passing even more difficult. Liz even makes up excuses to avoid going prom dress shopping with Joss and her mom because it reminds her that she doesn’t have a mom to shop with.

Wes invites Michael to a party, and Liz has the brilliant idea to use the boys’ friendship to get close to Michael. She offers Wes the parking spot in exchange for helping her. Wes agrees, though he’s not convinced it will work. Liz doesn’t tell Joss the truth about her scheme to get Michael and must lie to account for her behavior.

Wes advises Liz on what to wear and coaches her on how to act around Michael. He takes Liz to the party, but someone throws up on her, and Wes helps clean her up. Wes then takes Liz to a basketball game so she can talk to Michael, but a basketball hits her in the face, and Wes takes her to the hospital. Liz is starting to realize that Wes isn’t as bad as she thought.

Liz and Wes hang out in their childhood secret spot behind Wes’s house.

Things continue to go wrong with Michael, who keeps advising Liz to date Wes. This is probably because their plan involved making Michael think Wes likes Liz to make her seem grown-up and desirable.

Their counter plan is to call off the ruse and have Wes date a girl named Alex. This will leave room for Michael to ask Liz to prom. But then Liz realizes she likes Wes, not Michael.

She finally goes dress shopping with Joss but then is unkind to her mom, Helena, because she’s afraid Helena is taking her mom’s place.

How did Better than the Movies end? – Better than the Movies Summary

After an almost car crash, Liz kisses Wes, and he kisses her back. But then, to her surprise, Michael asks her to prom. Wes seems supportive, and so she accepts the promposal.

Everything falls apart when Liz sees Wes with Alex at prom. Joss also discovers that Liz has been lying to her.

First, Liz makes up with Joss and Helena and then encourages Michael to be with Laney. Liz decides to go for it with Wes but finds him with Alex. 

Later, Wes finds Liz in their secret place, and they reveal that they are in love with each other. They kiss.

Later, in the epilogue, they’re about to go to UCLA together, and Liz is at peace because she thinks her mother would be proud of her.

There you go! There’s your Better than the Movies summary.

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