Distracting Liz is the fact that her childhood crush Michael has moved back to town after moving away some years ago, when they were still quite young. But through late night talks in the back yard, stolen glances and slips in time where it feels like Wes’s annoying habits aren’t staying all that annoying, Liz sees something else: a future she didn’t see written in her script. Somehow, she manages to enlist him in helping her land her leading man with their coveted parking space up for grabs if he helps her succeed. Meaning that if Liz wants Michael to finally notice her, and hopefully be her prom date, she needs Wes.

She also struggles to include her stepmom in her life as she navigates all of the "lasts" of senior year without her mom. Her extensive knowledge and love of romantic comedies was so endearing, as was her slightly misguided attempt to secure her own happy ending by fake dating her neighbor in an effort to get Michael’s attention. 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. Joss used to hang out with the popular kids before she quit volleyball, so she’d “partied” a little before we became friends. All the neighborhood kids played kickball in the street for hours that night, and the adults even joined us for a game.But this is obviously a mother-daughter activity and it would be natural that Liz would feel like she was missing something. He’s friends with Michael and will be the way she gets invited to parties that Michael will be at, or other events. And as they continue to grow closer, she must re-examine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own ideas of what Happily Ever After should look like. She lives in Nebraska with her husband and pack of wild children, and when she isn’t reading or writing, odds are good she’s guzzling energy drinks and watching rom-coms.

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.

My favorite thing about music—when you played it loud enough through good headphones (and I had the best)—was that it softened the edges of the world. As I said, I could see bits of myself in Liz but I was definitely in awe of how she embraced her personality. Liz doesn't care about popular fashion trends, and Wes enjoys both sports and romcoms and mentions more than once that appearances aren't the most important aspect in a romantic attraction.

Will her story become one worthy of the enemies-to-lovers trope that’s so popular in rom-coms or will she end up with her first crush? Watching the relationship between Liz and Wes evolve was the aspect of the book that really had me smiling as I read.Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). But the issue lays with his eyes already being on someone else—and the fact that he still thinks of her as “Little Liz. The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbour might seem like a prime candidate for romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz's butt since they were kids. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love - and rethink her own ideas of what happily ever after should look like.