Review: Better Than Before (Better Than The Movies #0.5, Betting on You #0.5) by Lynn Painter

Title: Better Than Before

Crossover prequel novella of: Better Than The Movies | Betting on You

Author: Lynn Painter

Genre: YA, contemporary romance

Publication date: November 2023

Published by: Simon Teen

Source: Read online

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Synopsis: Lynn Painter’s Better Than the Movies collides with Betting on You when, after meeting the annoyingly cute Bailey on his flight, Charlie gets picked at the airport up by his cousin, Wes, who introduces him to his annoyingly cute neighbor, Liz.

My rating: ★★★★☆

There's just something about a girl that hates your guts.

Excuse me, but you’re telling me that Wes and Charlie are cousins??

Review: Betting on You by Lynn Painter

Title: Betting on You

Author: Lynn Painter

Genre: YA, contemporary romance

Publication date: November 28th 2023

Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Source: eARC for review from publishers via Netgalley

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Synopsis: When seventeen-year-old Bailey starts a new job at a hotel waterpark, she is less than thrilled to see an old acquaintance is one of her coworkers. Bailey met Charlie a year ago on the long flight to Omaha, where she moved after her parents’ divorce. Charlie’s cynicism didn’t mix well with Bailey’s carefully well-behaved temperament, and his endless commentary was the irritating cherry on top of an already emotionally fraught trip.

Now, Bailey and Charlie are still polar opposites, but instead of everything about him rubbing Bailey the wrong way, she starts to look forward to hanging out and gossiping about the waterpark guests and their coworkers—particularly two who keep flirting with each other. Bailey and Charlie make a bet on whether or not the cozy pair will actually get together. Charlie insists that members of the opposite sex can’t just be friends, and Bailey is determined to prove him wrong.

Bailey and Charlie keep close track of the romantic progress of others while Charlie works to deflect the growing feelings he’s developed for Bailey. Terrified to lose her if his crush becomes known, what doesn’t help his agenda is Bailey and Charlie “fake dating” in order to disrupt the annoying pleasantries between Bailey’s mom and her mom’s new boyfriend. Soon, what Charlie was hoping to avoid becomes a reality as Bailey starts to see him as not only a friend she can rely on in the midst of family drama—but someone who makes her hands shake and heart race. But Charlie has a secret—a secret that involves Bailey and another bet Charlie may have made. Can the two make a real go of things…or has Charlie’s secret doomed them before they could start?

My rating: ★★★★☆

I don’t read a lot of contemporary romance, but books like the ones Lynn Painter writes are honestly making me realize that I may enjoy them more than I once thought.