
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons on May 27, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Penguin Random House Canada
Book Rating: 9/10
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:
Amusing, tender, and sweet!
It’s a Love Story is a charming, uplifting tale that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Jane Jackson, a former child actor turned studio executive struggling to get her first movie made, and Dan Finnegan, a cinematographer with a big family who may seem from afar to be a little arrogant but who actually has a huge heart of gold.
The writing is touching and light. The characters are charismatic, genuine, and endearing. And the plot is an engaging mix of heart, humour, friendship, attraction, chemistry, relationship drama, heartfelt moments, romance, and movie-making.
Overall, It’s a Love Story is another heartwarming, witty, delightful tale by Monaghan that has all the elements I’ve come to know and enjoy in her novels, including a fierce heroine, an attentive alpha male, and a swoony storyline.
This novel is available now.
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Thank you to Penguin Canada for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.