Lynn Painter is the author of the NYT bestseller Better Than the Movies, which left readers begging for more of Liz and Wes’ story. After 3 years of anticipation, Painter gave readers just that–although no one expected how the story would pick up.
It’s New Year’s Eve, but Wes and Liz won’t be kissing at midnight. Painter breaks our hearts in chapter one, revealing that our favorite couple wants nothing to do with each other. Instead of being met with big baseball opportunities his freshman year of college, Wes was met with tragedy, ultimately leading to him taking a year off from school to sort things out. Unfortunately, being in a relationship was not part of this process. After leaving readers with their jaws dropped, chapter 2 picks up a year and a half later. Now, Wes is back at UCLA, hoping to run into the one familiar face from home. Despite knowing she now hates him, Wes is desperate to win Liz back, and as fate would have it, the pair ends up having to spend a lot of forced time together. In an attempt to assure Wes that she has completely moved on, Liz turns back to her roots and recruits her guy best friend to act as her “fake boyfriend.” Throughout a crazy year of college, Wes and Liz learn how to deal with being in such close quarters, while juggling documentaries, drama, miscommunication, and unresolved feelings.
Painter wrote this book in dual points of view, meaning both Liz and Wes’ perspectives are seen in alternating chapters. This pairs well with the miscommunication between the pair throughout the book, as the reader consistently knows more than either Liz or Wes. In my opinion, this made the book more entertaining to read, and I enjoyed getting to see Wes’ POV, which is not something we had in the first book. The pacing of the book was slow, and it seemed like I was waiting for the characters to catch up to where I was. A too-large portion of the book was spent building up to the resolution that when it finally came, it felt rushed and incomplete. I also feel that the “magic” created by their relationship in the first book was overshadowed by the fact that they broke up, and is unable to be completely rebuilt.
Although getting more Wes and Liz content is not something to complain about, I wish it could have happened in 
a slightly different way. That being said, there were plenty of cute moments to make the book a must read. The “forced vicinity” trope is strong in this book, and there are a handful of scenarios where Wes and Liz get stuck together — which may not be ideal for them, but sure is for the reader. They repeatedly prove that a spark is never fully snuffed out, and buried feelings will always rise to the surface.
In the end I give this book ⅗ stars, because although it didn’t live up to my expectations, the story line still kept me invested and at no point did I want to stop reading. Who knows where Wes and Liz will end up next, but I can’t wait to read all about it.
