Last year I read and loved Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan, so I was very excited when she announced It’s a Love Story. Today I want to tell you about this new release and what I thought!
A big thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
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.
Rules for a love story: There are none. It’s all a lie.
Jane Jackson knows that true love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth—you can’t fake a belly laugh. Jane should know, she spent her adolescence as “Poor Janey Jakes,” the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punchline on America’s fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s a Creative Executive at Clearwater Studios and she’s living by 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 opened her mouth and a big fat fib fell out. She claimed that Jack Quinlan, hottest popstar of the moment, has promised to write an original song for the soundtrack. 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 on Long Island, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan while facing down her past is Jane’s idea of hell, but Dan just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?
Review
A big thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
Our main character Jane gets herself in a bit of a pickle when she promises a song written by a popular singer she used to know for the movie she’s trying to get made. This is a movie she feels really strong about and she’ll do just about anything to get it made. Including spending time with her “enemy” Dan.
It’s a Love Story is an enemies to lovers, forced proximity romance and it had me hooked. This book ends up being really heartwarming and a bit part of that is due to Dan’s family. These side characters really made the story and had me laughing out loud. Besides the adventure of being able to run into said singer, Dan and Jane start to get close. They slowly let their walls down and really get to know each other.
Jane is dealing with being a childhood celebrity who was seen as “quirky” and a father who left when she was young. Never feeling worthy of love, things have become complicated. Dan basically moves far away from home to pursue a dream I don’t think his family has ever understood. It has to be hard feeling like the odd one out. The conversations these two have and how they’re just there for each other really hit me in all the feels. The only thing I was missing was Dan’s POV. I think that would’ve been an amazing addition.
All in all, I really loved It’s a Love Story and I can’t wait to see what Annabel Monaghan gives us next.
Annabel Monaghan did it again! This makes me want to pick up Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer really soon. Have you read any of Annabel’s books? Or have you read any amazing romances lately? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
