From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV actress-turned-Hollywood producer whose “fake it till you make it” mantra sets her on a crash course with her past, forcing her to spend a week on 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?
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?
Title: It's a Love Story
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Publisher: Penguin Group Putnam
Expected Publication Date: May 27, 2025
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I love Monaghan's stories. She always draws me in and makes me invested in her characters and their plot. I was super excited to be able to read this one early and get to know Jane and Dan. If you're looking for a romance story plot, this one is it. There is an underlying theme about jobs and what is needed to ensure we keep them but overall it's really the story of two people finding each other and falling in love.
Jane Jackson is a former teen star who has a fake it til you make it attitude. When her job is on the lie, she fakes it and puts herself in a position to come face to face with her childhood crush and fellow singing star. Dan Finnegan is a cinematographer who has one goal, do what he loves. Their lives crash together when Jane has a script for a movie she must have made. They travel to Dan's home town in search of Jack Quinlan in the hopes they can get him to make the theme song for the movie and push it to be made. Jane is not expecting Dan's family, or the way she feels when she's immersed with them, or the feelings she starts having towards Dan because surely true love does not exist!
Jane doesn't believe in true love. Or at least she hasn't let herself believe it. She's spent her life riding on the coattails of her costars, always the jokester, always the one in the background. She is so relatable for so many. She allows her past to infiltrate her present and start to shape her future. She doesn't see herself for what she could truly be. She has so many insecurities and wants it's impossible not to understand her and the feel how she feels.
Dan is so much more astute than he first appears. When we are introduced to him, I really felt he was just this guy with no real purpose or goal for himself. But he does have a goal, doing what he loves. And, when Jane goes with him to Long Island, we learn so much more about him. How he's different from his family, how he felt he never fit in, how he wanted different things for himself than others did. I loved that he was so different. I adored his self-awareness and how he honored that part of himself. I loved that he so easily loved. He was super selfless in this book, which surprised me as when he was first introduced I really did feel like he was just selfish.
The plot line for this one was kind of under the surface. So many instances of Jane almost coming into contact with Jack to be thwarted by circumstances beyond her control. When I first started the book I thought Jack would be the love interest, and that kind of bothered me. And, while there is some background to why that may have been, in the end he turns out to just be a jerk who I wanted to literally grab from the page and strangle.
I really loved the romance in this one. There was a bit of insta-love which I think could have been fleshed out a bit more. I understand the close proximity trope but I just wanted a bit more of the swoon, we are falling for each other, look at us go, so I could understand that instant attraction. I think this is probably Monaghan's most romantic book to date. The title absolutely fits the story. I loved the big jester that happened at the end. It was unexpected from the person that did it and I loved that little twist.
The found family, for Jane, was probably my most favorite part of this book other than the romance. I adored the whole Finnegan crew. They were so accepting of Jane. They treated her like family from day one. It was refreshing to see how easily they took her in and made her feel welcome.
I don't think there's anything Monaghan will write that I won't read. I'm so happy I got to float along for the ride with Dan and Jane. If you are looking for the perfect beach summer read with an enemies to lovers trope that will wrap you in the arms of romance and drag you along for the ride, this one is it. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Abby Jimenez, and Katherine Center.
Author:
Annabel Monaghan is the bestselling author of SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER and NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT. She is also the author of two novels for young adults, A Girl Named Digit and Double Digit.
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