Better Than Before

Betting on You #0.5

by Lynn Painter

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.

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Novella, Fiction, Short Stories, Contemporary Romance

42 pages, ebook

First published November 3, 2023

Reviews

[agapi ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“a laugh i’d recognise anywhere”

THERES GLITTER ON THE FLOOR AFTER THE PARTY💃💃

[am · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas wishlist: Wes fucking Bennett

[deniz]

STOP IT RN OMFG.
lynn is feeding us 🌝🍴

[hanna ʚ♡ɞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

god bless lynn painter for creating a world where both wes bennett and charlie sampson exist

[caleigh (busy) · Rating 2 out of 5]

wes: *exists*
me: screaming giggling kicking my feet!!!

[kenzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

WES. FUCKING. BENNETT

[ren ୨ৎ ·˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

every time i read these short stories i fall more and more in love with wes bennett

[line ✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Y’know, Buxbaum, someday you might see it differently.” I tilted my head, crossed my arms, and said, “I was talking about you, Wes, not kissing in general.” His lips slid up into the dirtiest of smirks. “Oh, I know, Elizabeth.”

omg this was SO cute!! 🥹
I think I'll love literally everything that has to do with Liz and Wes, they're very adorable. what I especially loved about these scene was that it was before they were together, yet their thoughts about each other are so precious.
also, I'm really excited for "betting on you" now!

[liz ౨ৎ]

I love how wes and charlie are cousins no wonder I like them both ☺️ ANYWAYS THIS WAS SO CUTE I LOVE LIZWES AND BAILEYCHARLIE SO MUCH!! 💞

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute and sweet. There's actually more of Wes and Liz in this than Charlie and Bailey. Before the events of Better than the Movies though...

"Are you being a dick about my hair? Because I know you're not complimenting me."

"Lizzie," I said, pouring on the tease, even though I fucking loved her new hair. It was shorter and cute as hell, but no way could I give her a genuine compliment.

We didn't do that.

So I said, "Your hair is the stuff of cheerleader fantasy. Of main character daydreams. Your hair runs so that young gingers' hair can walk."

She bit down on the inside of her cheek and - holy shit- looked like she wanted to laugh. "Are you high, Wes Bennett?"




Can't wait for Betting on You! 💞💞


Okay, this one too.. I’m in the mood for love 😍

😊💖💖🥰

[Norma (exam season) · Rating 5 out of 5]

↝ 5 ☆

*°࿐"𝑰'𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒚-𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒚-𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔."
"𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔"
"𝒀'𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝑩𝒖𝒙𝒃𝒂𝒖𝒎, 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚."
"𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑾𝒆𝒔, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍."
𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒔. "𝑶𝒉, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉,"

✧˚.↷ Me: [Falls off my chair]

I can't... Y'all, I haven't kicked and screamed in a while and this short story brought that out of me in a matter of seconds. Wes and Liz give my heart life!!!!! If Bailey and Charles's banter are as good as these two, I'll be on the floor.

"𝑵𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒕𝒔."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

˖*°࿐𝒫𝓇𝑒-𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌

✧˚.↷ Entering back into the romance world of Lynn Painter
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

[aubrey౨ৎ₊˚⊹]

i love lynn painter for creating a universe in which both wes and charlie exist

[lila ୧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

weswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswesweswes

I need more 😩

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can I get a neighbor like Wes Bennet PLS??????????????????????/

[clara bow (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

FIRST BOOK READ ON MY KINDLE!!!

(THANK YOU OCEANOFPDF.COM, UR MY BEST FRIEND)

[öykü 𐙚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh how ive missed wesliz🥺❤️‍🩹

[mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love charlie & bailey already <3

[Amina · Rating 4 out of 5]

✰ 3.75 stars ✰

“No shit?” He started laughing that contagious Wes Bennett cackle and said, “No wonder you're obsessed. There's just something about a girl who hates your guts.”



He is just so fine, why can't he be mine??? 😭 👉🏻👈🏻 😭

Charlie - you're cute, but your cousin is definitely cuter. 🥹

Wes Bennett - why can't I have you??? Why aren't you real? Why aren't there more like you??? 😣Anytime I think I can't love you any more, you surprise me. Liz does not know how lucky she is that you love her. 🥺

I'm so worried about his future with his father - the little subtle hints that there's something behind it - 'the man has scared the shit out of me since the day I was born' - fills me with so much trepidation of what's gonna happen later on. 😟

“Wes had always been able to see through everything and just know.”

He and Liz together - before they were together - so cute, so sweet - enough to give me cavities! 🤌🏻🤌🏻 Their banter, even better - 'I really was insane, because I fucking loved going back and forth like this with her', his ridiculous antics, his laughs - 'a laugh I could recognize anywhere', his little bout of jealousy, his adorable smiles, their casual flirting, that TENSION, when he calls her Elizabeth - uff, is it hot in here? ❤️‍🔥🫠❤️‍🔥 And that dirtiest of smirks he give hers when he says, 'y'know, Buxbaum, someday you might see it differently' about y'know. 😉

Liz, you are not fooling anyone...

“No offense, but I will never - in my entire life - want you anywhere near my love life.”

“Never say never.”

Nevernevernevernever and oh, yeah - never.”

~*~*~*

“His mouth turned up into a big smile, the kind that made his eyes twinkle and secretly made me want to laugh.

But I would never.”

Famous last words, indeed... 🥰

[steph reads (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

brb gonna go cry from the fact that I don’t have a Wes Bennett

[mia ౨ৎ [semi ia] · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️
CHARLIE AND WES ARE COUSINS?!!! lynn is feeding ussss. 🤭😋

[⁠♡Alexa♡ (Inactive due to school) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THE FACT THAT CHARLIE AND WES ARE COUSINS AND THAT CHARLIE TOTALLY KNEW WES LIKED LIZ

[Teo-(school hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm currently on a road trip, and I had nothing to do, so I finally had the time to read this.

"A laugh I'd recognize anywhere." 🥰

"Oh, I wasn't referring to school; I was referring to the fact that you're studying French-kissing. Very important subject. You should totally throw yourself into your studies."- the way I laughed when I read this 😂😂

I loved this book. It was cute, and the fact that Charlie and Wes are cousins made it even better (better than before). Liz had the aesthetic Taylor Swift coded moment in the garden ❤️
Once again, Lynn Painter is the queen of rom-coms.

*Note: I giggled way too much 🤭❤️❤️❤️

——————————————————————————
I'm betting on Wes to be even better than before 😉
So you're telling me these stories have a connection??? Lynn Painter knows what we want 🥰🥰🥰

[kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought this prequel was so cute. the last line got me man, i was laughing.
anyways
very worth reading if u love better than the movies or betting on you, but i recommend reading it after reading the books.

[er · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Y'know, Buxbaum, someday you might see it differently"

WES BENNETT THE MAN YOU ARE

[Grace Quan · Rating 3 out of 5]

✨a little bit cute and a little bit pointless ✨

[j o h a n n a ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A TRILLION STARS OMG I CANNOT WAIT FOR BETTING ON YOU!!!!! LYNN PAINTER NEVER DISAPPOINTS

[kella ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

tbh anything w wes bennett is an immediate 5 stars

[jade salmon]

SOMEONE HELP WHERE DO I READ THIS⁉️⁉️

[nat ⟡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t wait to read betting on you after this intro

[simi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Wes had always been able to see through everything and just know. My thoughts, my reactions he never missed a blush or a stammer, and he had the ability to catch any tell that my face might expose.”

every new glimpse of these characters makes my heart flutter and melt. this universe is my safe & comfort place, literally.
i thought i couldn’t fall even more in love with wes… guess what? i was so wrong. he’s my forever favorite <3 he and liz are the IT romcom couple, you can’t tell me otherwise.
also i missed charlie and bailey so much too.