Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter: A Winter Reading Retreat Review
Category: Reading Retreats
Location: Malshej Ghat
Stay: Saj By The Lake
Winter in Malshej feels like a held breath.
The air is cooler, the light softer, the lake quieter — as if the world has agreed to lower its volume. I arrived at Saj by the Lake with a small suitcase and a larger need for stillness. Tucked inside my bag was Better Than the Movies — bright, yellow, impossibly hopeful.
It felt almost rebellious to bring a rom-com into such quiet surroundings. And yet, it was exactly right.
There is something sacred about opening a book in a new place. The first page feels less like reading and more like entering — not just into a story, but into a softened version of yourself.
Liz Buxbaum believes love should mirror the movies: grand gestures, background music, perfectly timed confessions. She narrates her life like a screenplay.
Reading her story against the stillness of the lake made the contrast sharper. Beneath the references and romantic ideals was something tender — a girl holding onto memory, afraid that growing up might mean letting go of magic.
Wes Bennett, with his irritating charm and unexpected emotional intelligence, becomes the disruption she didn’t plan for.
And isn’t that how winter love stories often unfold? Quietly. Gradually. Without applause.
Mornings were spent on the balcony — coffee cooling too quickly in the chill air, pages turning slowly in pale sunlight. Afternoons blurred between reading and watching reflections ripple across the water.
By the final morning, I delayed the last chapters, reluctant to end both retreat and story at once. Finishing a love story just before checkout feels almost symbolic.
Both are temporary. Both linger longer than expected. When I closed the book, the lake remained unchanged. The sky remained pale and open. But something inside felt gently rearranged.
And perhaps that is what a winter reading retreat should do.
