This is another one of those books that was a fun read, not groundbreaking at all, but a good way to spend an afternoon.  Obviously I was attracted to it because it's about the movies, but there is actually more to it than that.

Liz's mother died when she was still a little kid, but she keeps her memory alive through watching and re-watching the romantic comedies she and her mother once shared.  Her entire view of romance is coloured by these films, so when the boy she loved as a kid returns for senior year, she's determined he will be her prom date.

But said childhood crush, Michael, picks up his friendship with Liz's neighbor and arch-nemesis, Wes, almost as soon as he hits town.  If Liz wants to get close to Michael, she's going to have to make friends with Wes too.

Using all the tools in her romantic comedy toolbox, Liz fumbles her way toward a relationship with Michael.  But why does she have so much fun with Wes on the way?  As the pair spend more and more time together, Liz begins to realize her Mr. Right might not be the guy she's always regarded as her Happy Ever After.

As I said, there's nothing particularly new or different about this book.  It follows romantic comedy tropes to a T.  Liz is delightfully quirky without being unlikable, and Wes is the perfect foil for her.  The only thing I didn't love was the way Liz treated her best friend throughout the story. I truly felt for the poor girl as Liz ditched her time and time again and repeatedly lied about what she was doing.  No guy is worth ditching your besties for!

But overall, I enjoyed this.  Not a bad way to spend a weekend afternoon at all.

But don't just listen to me. Here's the blurb:

Liz Buxbaum has always known that Wes Bennett was not boyfriend material. You would think that her next-door neighbor would be a prince candidate for her romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only proven himself to be a pain in the butt, ever since they were little. Wes was the kid who put a frog in her Barbie Dreamhouse, the monster who hid a lawn gnome's severed head in her little homemade neighborhood book exchange.

Flash forward ten years from the Great Gnome Decapitation. It's Liz's senior year, a time meant to be rife with milestones perfect for any big screen, and she needs Wes's help. See, Liz's forever crush, Michael, has just moved back to town, and—horribly, annoyingly—he's hitting it off with Wes. Meaning that if Liz wants Michael to finally notice her, and hopefully be her prom date, she needs Wes. He's her in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz her magical prom moment, she's shocked to discover that she actually likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own perception of what Happily Ever After should really look like.