Start with Better Than the Movies, continue with its direct sequel Nothing Like the Movies, and read the companion collection Behind the Movies last once it is published. The Better Than the Movies Collector’s Edition is an alternative edition of the first novel, not a third instalment.
The spoiler-free answer is straightforward: read Better Than the Movies first, followed by Nothing Like the Movies. Once published, Behind the Movies: Outtakes and Extras from the World of Better Than the Movies belongs at the end because its stories range across the first novel, the interval between the novels and the period after the sequel. The Better Than the Movies Collector’s Edition can replace the standard edition at step one; it does not add another novel to the sequence. This order matters for more than chronology. It lets Lynn Painter’s central romantic-comedy idea change hands naturally: Liz initially interprets life through familiar film conventions, while the sequel gives Wes room to try applying those conventions to a reality that has become harder to direct.
At a glance
- Begin with Better Than the Movies in either its standard or Collector’s Edition.
- Nothing Like the Movies is a direct sequel, not a standalone companion.
- The two main novels form a duology, but they are no longer the only distinct titles in the wider series.
- Read Behind the Movies last because its collection includes material set during, between and after the novels.
- The Going to the Movies boxed set contains the two main novels, not the forthcoming companion collection.
In this guide
- The reading order at a glance
- Why Better Than the Movies must come first
- Nothing Like the Movies is a direct sequel
- Why Behind the Movies belongs at the end
- Where the Collector’s Edition and boxed set fit
The reading order at a glance
For a first reading, the clearest order is the order in which the story’s ideas were developed: Better Than the Movies, then Nothing Like the Movies, followed by Behind the Movies when the collection becomes available. In other words, read the novels before the extras.
The first two titles are the main-novel duology. Behind the Movies, scheduled for 5 January 2027, is a short-story collection rather than a third full-length novel. That distinction keeps the terminology accurate without making the wider series sound smaller than it now is.
- 1. Better Than the Movies, book one; the standard edition or Collector’s Edition fills this position.
- 2. Nothing Like the Movies, book two and a direct sequel.
- 3. Behind the Movies: Outtakes and Extras from the World of Better Than the Movies, a companion collection to read after both novels.
Why Better Than the Movies must come first
Better Than the Movies supplies the emotional and imaginative vocabulary of the series. Liz Buxbaum is a romantic daydreamer who wants the return of her long-standing crush, Michael, to lead towards the kind of prom story she recognises from romantic comedies. Her next-door neighbour, Wes Bennett, becomes part of her plan when his friendship with Michael offers her a way in.
Those circumstances are not merely the machinery of a romance plot. They establish how Liz reads experience: she looks for roles, cues and anticipated endings, then measures untidy real interactions against that polished template. Wes matters partly because he resists the part she has mentally assigned him. Their scheming therefore tests not just whom Liz notices, but how confidently any person can reduce life to a familiar genre.
The novel uses Liz’s single perspective, so readers first encounter this world through her interpretive habits. That limitation is productive. We learn what romantic-comedy conventions mean to her before the series asks what happens when somebody else adopts them. The first novel establishes the rules before the second challenges them; reversing the books would turn that deliberate development into unexplained background.
Nothing Like the Movies is a direct sequel
Nothing Like the Movies continues the story of Liz and Wes at college. It is not another romance set in the same universe, and it is not designed as an interchangeable starting point. Its premise depends on the relationship, expectations and shared language established in Better Than the Movies.
The sequel also changes the narrative design. Where the first book stays with Liz’s perspective, Nothing Like the Movies uses both Liz’s and Wes’s points of view. That shift is central to its purpose: readers can now see Wes trying to work with the romantic conventions that once helped organise Liz’s hopes. He approaches grand gestures as if knowing the genre should help him navigate a complicated situation, while Liz no longer relates to romance in quite the same way.
Painter has described the sequel as an intentional counterpoint to the first and explained that she enjoyed making Wes resemble Liz’s earlier, optimistic self. That authorial intention supports what the structure already suggests: the books are in conversation, not merely adjacent. The deliberate reversal of perspective gains its force because readers have already watched Liz use the same cultural script from the inside.
Publication order preserves the argument. First, romantic-comedy logic is an imaginative lens through which Liz tries to understand life. Then it becomes something Wes attempts to put into practice after circumstances and people have changed. The sequel is not simply asking whether a recognisable gesture can work; it is asking whether familiarity with a story pattern amounts to understanding another person. That is a richer question when the reader already knows why those patterns matter to Liz.
Why Behind the Movies belongs at the end
Behind the Movies complicates a once-simple guide, but not the recommended route. The publisher describes it as a collection of deleted or additional scenes, changed points of view and stories from different points along Liz and Wes’s timeline. Its contents include moments associated with Better Than the Movies, material set between the two novels and stories occurring after Nothing Like the Movies.
Because the collection moves across those periods, there is no sensible way for a first-time reader to insert the whole volume between the novels. Reading it third avoids encountering later material before the main story has supplied its context. It also protects the intended discovery of scenes originally presented through Liz’s limited perspective before revisiting some moments from another angle.
This makes Behind the Movies an encore rather than book three. Some of its pieces may look backwards and others forwards, but the collection’s retrospective pleasure depends on recognition. Its alternative viewpoints can deepen a scene once its original framing is familiar; read too early, they risk changing which version feels primary.
The distinction is useful when describing the series today. Better Than the Movies and Nothing Like the Movies remain a duology of main novels. The wider published universe, however, also includes this companion title. Saying there are only two books now overlooks announced material, while calling the collection the third novel misrepresents its form.
Where the Collector’s Edition and boxed set fit
The Better Than the Movies Collector’s Edition is edition, not an instalment. It presents Better Than the Movies with a different physical treatment, an author letter and bonus content, but it remains the first novel. A reader does not need to read both the standard and Collector’s editions to proceed to Nothing Like the Movies.
Accordingly, the choice at step one is either/or: read whichever edition of Better Than the Movies you have. The later publication date printed on the Collector’s Edition does not move the story behind the sequel. Reading order follows the identity and narrative position of the work, not the date on which a particular format was issued.
The Going to the Movies Collection is similarly easy to place. The boxed set contains Better Than the Movies and Nothing Like the Movies, and its contents identify those two books as the rom-com duology. Read them in that listed order. It should not be treated as evidence that no other series material exists, because Behind the Movies is a separate, forthcoming companion collection.
This leaves a clean distinction: two main novels, one announced collection of extras and multiple ways to obtain book one. That is all a new reader needs to organise the series without learning where any relationship or individual plotline ends.
Frequently asked questions
Which Better Than the Movies book comes first?
Better Than the Movies comes first. Read either the standard edition or the Collector’s Edition, as both occupy the same place in the story.
Is Nothing Like the Movies a direct sequel?
Yes. It continues Liz and Wes’s story at college, changes from Liz’s single perspective to dual points of view and relies on the first novel’s relationships and romantic-comedy framework.
Is the Better Than the Movies Collector’s Edition book three?
No. It is a special edition of Better Than the Movies with additional presentation features and bonus content. It replaces the standard edition at position one rather than creating a new step in the order.
When should I read Behind the Movies?
Read it after Nothing Like the Movies. The collection contains material connected to the first novel, stories set between the novels and scenes taking place after the sequel, so last is the safest spoiler-free position.
Does the boxed set include the complete wider series?
It contains the two main novels, Better Than the Movies and Nothing Like the Movies. It does not include the separately announced companion collection Behind the Movies.
The best order is Better Than the Movies, Nothing Like the Movies, then Behind the Movies. That sequence preserves more than the timeline: it lets Liz’s film-shaped expectations establish the series’ language before Wes tries to use that language in a more complicated reality. Choose either edition of book one, treat the two novels as the main duology and save the cross-timeline extras for the end.
Sources and further reading
- Better Than the Movies Books by Lynn Painter
- The Going to the Movies Collection (Boxed Set): Better Than the Movies; Nothing Like the Movies
- Q & A with Lynn Painter
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