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I'm the wrong side of 30 and I still love it when summer bursts over this town. That school holiday vibe.

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Colin Walsh, Kayla

I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf and independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week I'm recapping the books I read in May.

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So my May reading felt a little bit all over the place felt pretty eclectic. I was reading for our summer literary first look. Maybe I was trying to read some for shelf subscriptions, but mostly it felt like my reading life was very much dictated by what I was bringing home from the store.

What I had time and space to read. I read more audiobooks this month. I think then in previous months, which was nice. And I think definitely helped my reading. I still think April and May are hard months, like I just feel like they're really busy in store and then also personally.

And so my reading life is very much affected as I mentioned last month. It's very much affected by what's happening in my real life, which makes sense. I'm sure the same is true for you.

So I'm going to start with the first book I finished, which was an audiobook. I listened to better than the movies. This is by Lynn Painter. It was narrated by Jesse Valinsky, who is a narrator. I will read again. I will listen to her again. I really liked her narration.

I decided to download better than the movies. Honestly, I think because I saw somebody on Instagram post about it. And as much as romance is maybe let me down in 2022. And I've been really purposeful about which ones I tried in 2023.

There's no denying that they're a great solution when you're in a reading slump or when life feels like a lot. And I forget what I had just finished, but I immediately downloaded this book and thought I would give it a go. And you know what?

I really five stars for me. I really loved this teen romcom. It had been a minute since I had read a young adult romcom. And I forgot how much somebody like me who really likes the more fun side of a romance, the funnier side of things.

And who really likes closed door. I forgot that young adult romantic comedies are great for that. So our main character is Liz Buxbaum, which I don't know if it was an homage to one of my other favorite why writers Julie Buxbaum, but I pretended that it was and I loved that.

So Liz is our main character. She lives next door to Wes. They have known each other their whole childhoods, their whole lives. Now they're in their senior year of high school.

Liz's mother died a few years previous and one of their other best friends Michael moved away. And so Liz and Wes are not really even friends. They're just neighbors. And Michael moves back to town and Liz, her mother passed down to her a deep love of love, a deep love of romance and romantic comedies specifically romantic comedy films of the 90s and 2000s.

And better than the movies is just a lovely tribute to a lot of those movies and a lot of those films. I just watched, this is a little bit off topic, but I just watched a movie on Disney Plus called The Prompact.

And it was so delightful and fun and a great tribute to 80s teen movies. And that is the movie that I kept thinking about as I was reading and listening to better than the movies.

Because it just felt like these authors and creators really know what there is to love about those other works and also what there is to improve upon. So highly recommend the movie The Prompact if you're looking for a cute little movie.

But better than the movies is basically a love triangle between Liz, Michael, and of course, Wes, you the reader immediately know of course, Liz has chemistry with this next door neighbor character.

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