I picked up Better Than the Movies expecting a cute, funny rom-com considering the insane amount of hype surrounding it. Instead, I spent most of the book cringing so hard I wanted to pause the audiobook every five minutes.
Liz was exhausting. Her obsession with Michael wasn't romantic or endearing; it was embarrassing. She constantly humiliates herself over a guy who gives her little reason to believe he's interested, and somehow the book treats this as quirky rom-com behavior rather than delusion. At one point, her friend tells her, “I can’t talk to you when you’re being delusional,” and honestly? That friend was the only sane person in the entire book.
The fake-dating plan made absolutely no sense to me. Liz’s idea was to convince Michael that she’d grown up and wasn’t “Little Liz” anymore by pretending to date his friend. Maybe it’s just me, but I couldn’t understand the logic behind any of it. Most of her decisions felt less like something a real person would do and more like something the plot desperately needed her to do.
And then there’s Wes. We’re constantly told he’s annoying and that they hate each other, but did I read the wrong book? Because most of the time, he’s actually nice, supportive, and ridiculously patient. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic felt completely manufactured because I never understood where the hatred was supposed to be coming from.
Another thing that drove me insane was how much Liz seemed willing to revolve her entire life around Michael. She repeatedly prioritized her crush over the people who were actually there for her, and it made her incredibly frustrating to read about. Instead of rooting for her, I spent most of the book wondering why nobody sat her down and told her to get a grip.
And can we talk about how every single thing in her life had to be filtered through rom-com logic? The meet-cutes. The grand plans. The obsession with creating movie moments. It felt so over-the-top that I couldn’t take any of it seriously. The book relies heavily on readers finding this charming, and unfortunately, I didn’t. I found it immature, repetitive, and painfully cringeworthy. By the end, I wasn’t rooting for anyone; I was just relieved it was over.
Maybe my expectations were too high because of the hype, but I genuinely don’t understand some of the ratings this book gets. I went into it expecting one of the best YA rom-coms ever written and came out wondering if we had all read the same book.
Maybe this works if you love over-the-top rom-coms and second-hand embarrassment. I don’t. For me, this was one of the most frustrating and disappointing reads I’ve picked up in a long time.
Definitely not better than the movies.