Nothing Like the Movies - An ARC Review

Rating: ✨5 stars✨

Review Updated: August 14th, 2024

I just finished reading Nothing Like the Movies and wow! Emotional and swoony and so wesliz - I adored this book!

It's been months since Wes and Liz, next door neighbors and enemies turned lovers, broke up, following the death of Wes's dad, which forced him to come back home and take care of his mom and sister, and in the process give up baseball, drop out of college, and lose Liz. Now, the two find themselves at the same college, after a difficult breakup and lots of feelings (so not ancient history). Cue Wes's perfect plan to get back Liz, complete with rom-com worthy declarations of love. But Liz has changed and she's not having any of it. Only, Wes isn't ready to give up (on his clever plans, on his love for Liz, or on the wesliz happily ever after).

Better than the Movies is one of my favorite rom-coms and Nothing Like the Movies was one of my most anticipated releases in 2024, so I was SO excited when I received an ARC for Nothing Like the Movies! I was also really nervous....especially because BTTM was perfect as a standalone and then wesliz broke up. And with a book like BTTM, I have pretty high expectations for a sequel.

But I adored this book! All the teasing and banter, how it was equal parts Wes's POV, seeing how much the two had changed and grown but were still the same characters (and seeing little peeks of romance lover Little Liz coming through). And the emotions! I wasn't prepared for how emotional this book would be, the grief and guilt Wes was dealing with, how they both still had so many feelings for the other, how much Wes loved Liz <3

I just wish there was more communication between the two throughout the book. They definitely could have used it, but at the same time, the characters are so well written and relatable that I understood all of their motivations and actions.

Final thoughts: I loved this book so much - the perfect pairing of humor and emotion and romance, and the perfect sequel to Better Than the Movies! All that's left now is more wesliz bonus scenes!

I recieved an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are my own.