Title: It’s a Love Story
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: May 27, 2025
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV punchline who has left her awkwardness in the rearview mirror thanks to a fake-it-till-you-make-it mantra that has her on the cusp of success, until she tells a lie that sets her on a crash-course with her past, spending a week in Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love.

Love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth.

Jane Jackson spent her adolescence as “Poor Janey Jakes,” the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punch line on America’s fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s trying to be taken seriously as a Hollywood studio executive by embracing a new mantra: Fake it till you make it.

Except she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she claimed that she could get mega popstar Jack Quinlan to write a song for the movie. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years.

Now Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan as she faces down her past is Jane’s idea of hell, but he just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?

By this point, I’m not at all surprised by the fact that I LOVED Annabel Monaghan’s newest book. I’m four for four! Her romances deliver beachy, summer-filled love stories firmly rooted in real life. There are swoony moments… but also the stresses and secrets and unrealistic expectations that come with being an adult.

In It’s a Love Story, main character Jane is a Hollywood studio executive who hopes that she’s finally found the perfect script, the one that will give her the all-important producer title and prove that she’s got what it takes to make it in the industry. What’s more, it’s not just any script: True Story speaks to Jane in a way she hasn’t experienced before. It makes her feel.

But when she walks into the meeting that will determine whether the film gets greenlit, her hopes are almost instantly dashed. Standing between Jane and success is Dan Finnegan, a cinematographer who’s already sunk a previous movie for Jane, and is now sitting in the studio head’s office proclaiming that Jane’s script isn’t commercial. The studio wants flash and noise, and this is not it. Before True Story gets tossed on the trash pile, Jane panics and blurts out a whopper: She know pop star Jack Quinlan, and what’s more, Jack is interested in writing and singing an original song for the movie. The studio head is immediately interested… but now Jane has to deliver something that she has no idea how to get.

The truth is, Jane knew Jack for only a couple of days, way back when she was fourteen years old. Jane played Janey Jakes, the sidekick/comedic relief on a TV sitcom about a group of kids forming a band. Janey was known for pratfalls and unfortunate mishaps (like sitting on nachos) — she was funny, but definitely not leading lady material. And she knows that Jack’s memories of her — if he remembers her at all — are achingly embarrassing.

Jane is furious at Dan for torpedoing her shot at getting her film made, but it turns out he might be able to provide access to Jack — he’ll be playing at a music festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan’s brother is working on tech for the show. If Jane goes to Long Island with Dan, they may be able to get to Jack, and maybe, just maybe, she can convince him to do the song after all.

There’s so much more going on than simply chasing down a celebrity: Jane’s fake-it-till-you-make-it approach to life is based on deep hurt and shame stemming back to her teen years. She’s convinced that her real self isn’t actually lovable, and has constructed elaborate steps and rules for dating, covering everything from how to dress per date to how much to laugh and how much to talk about her career.

But being around Dan opens something up in Jane. He’s very real — part of a big, boisterous family that loves him, but he’s never quite fit the mold of the Finnegan brothers, and has always gone his own way in search of his own truth. He sees Jane in a way no one else has, and as they spend time together, Jane starts to unwind some of the tight cords she’s wound around herself to rein in her true personality and be what she thinks the world wants of her.

Jane is a polished professional who hides under her desk to corral her pre-meeting fears and eats candy in her closet when she’s stressed. After the traumas of her teens, she doesn’t trust her own emotions.

My heart is treacherous and historically wrong about everything, it is the weakest muscle in my body, but Dan and his family and our script are conspiring to whisper it back to life like it’s an ember worth restoking.

It’s beautiful to see her transformation. It’s not a love-fixes-everything situation — instead, it’s Jane finding acceptance and seeing different ways of appreciating people and letting them appreciate her. It’s putting on a silly swimsuit and not caring, because no one is mocking her or judging her; instead she gets to enjoy a sunny day and play at the beach. It’s coming to understand what Dan’s mother, celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary, means when she says “love happens over breakfast”. At dinner, there are candles and wine and fancy clothes…

But at breakfast everything’s just as it is, in the light of day. No one wears lipstick to breakfast. And this is where you talk about your day and the part of the roof that might leak this fall. You bring your real self to breakfast.

Jane and Dan end up in a gorgeous romance, but it’s only possible when Jane starts to welcome her real self. She has plenty to unravel and hard truths and secrets from her childhood to confront — and as she does so, she finally has to admit that she might be someone who can be loved after all.

I don’t think I’m actually capturing the magic of It’s a Love Story — so I’ll just say that this book really has it all. The characters are well-developed and feel like real people. They speak and act like adults, and deal with actual, complex histories and families and relationships. The Hollywood career element is fun, but the book doesn’t focus on celebrities — it’s about creativity and joy and finding truth amidst all the bang and flash of an industry focused on blockbusters.

On top of all this, the writing and dialogue and pacing of It’s a Love Story is spot-on. I simply couldn’t put it down, and read it all within a span of 24 hours.

It’s a Love Story is a wonderful, 5-star read. It’s full of heart — and while, yes, there are some romance tropes at play (enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, forced to share a room, grand gesture), they’re so well done that they feel like natural parts of the story. A perfect book to slip into your beach bag this summer. Don’t miss it!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

Interested in more books by Annabel Monaghan? Check out my reviews:
Nora Goes Off Script
Same Time Next Summer.
Summer Romance

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