I have heard such incredible things about Annabel Monaghan’s writing and was highly anticipating this book. Unfortunately it fell very flat for me. Jane, our main character is a child star who grows up and goes into the movie business as a producer. She has found this incredible script that she needs to bring to the big screen but runs into some trouble and needs the help of her work place nemesis to make it happen.

I found Jane to be mean and self-centered.
She has some depth but I found myself wanting more.

The writing was lack luster at the beginning, and became so much better after the 50% mark. The poetry of Monaghan’s writing was finally showing and I became excited to read her story. Once our third act breakup hit, the writing went right back down hill. This didn’t feel like a love story, it felt like a desperate attempt at enemies to lovers that just missed the mark.

I can’t wait to read what else Monaghan has in store but this one just fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley, Annabel Monaghan, and Penguin Group Putnam for granting me an ARC copy of It’s a Love Story in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed everything that Annabel has written, and this is one’s no exception! While
Nora goes off script is still her very best for me, this one has the same warmth, good writing with some comedic elements that makes me enjoy all her books! You would think her books are light/summer reads but this one packs a punch, it has lots of emotional depth but not overtly heavy. Interestingly, i automatically thought of Sam from iCarly when the lead said she’s a child star and it’s the same actress the author mentioned in her acknowledgement!

There is so much to love about this story. My favorite was visiting Dan's family and all their adventures leading up to them falling in love. Dan's huge family was so fun to read about and how much Jane felt a part of it until she didn't. I thought the break-up and her internal struggle was a bit much and could have been toned down, it fell a bit flat for me. Overall, I thought it was a wonderful book and definitely worth the read. Thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC of this book!

Thank you so much for the arc for this book! It was so fun getting to read an early copy.

This was a great contemporary romance read. It is enemies to lovers/ workplace rival. It is small town with a big family. A band of brothers that give each other crap in a lot of ways but love each other immensely. It's family trauma and unpacking the hurt and emotional pain it leaves after years of negative self talk and skirting around truths. It's a slow burn romance of unveiling what it is like to truly fall in love and let yourself be exactly who you are. It's a story but it's also a banner of reminding yourself that you matter and what you love matters too. You can unequivocally be yourself and not have to tone down for any job or person. You can let yourself live and enjoy the life you have.

What a wonderful read that makes you want to think about love a little bit more and go watch The Notebook. 📖✨

4.5 ⭐️

Annabel Monaghan is the middle-age book club author of my dreams. This one was a slow start for me but once we got thrown into the loud family of five sons, I was IN.

I always really like her characters and was thrilled the protagonist was not a divorcee this time around. As someone who doesn’t create mind pictures while I read, I particularly liked the representation of artist types through more personality traits and not specific descriptions of photos and videos they take.

Anyway, I love love. I was excited for all the love happening here. It was great.

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Random House for the advance copy.

This story is a beautiful collision of fun tropes and emotional story and growth. It has forced proximity, some enemies to lovers, and Jane and Dan needing to work together. They push each other outside their comfort zone in the best way and you slowly see their walls falling. All wrapped up in funny banter from Jane that Dan (and myself) couldn’t get enough of.

Oh my goodness was this a fabulous read. Thank you for pulling me out of a multi-month reading rut! This may be my favorite from this author so far. Beautifully written, funny and punchy, and a beautiful ode to love

I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. I didn’t want to put it down. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

Thank you for an advanced copy! I went into this book with high expectations because I loved this author’s last book, Summer Romance. Maybe my expectations were just too high but I didn’t love this one. Didn’t feel like a strong plot or something I really cared about how it ended up. Also just didn’t feel very invested in the main characters. I really wanted to like it but it just felt like it dragged.

I was so happy when I was approved for this arc through Netgalley. I will read anything Annabelle Monaghan and this book just solidified that. I love the relatable main characters Jane and Dan and I think we can all empathize with both of them from different aspects of our own lives. Throw in a quest to track down a major pop star to ask a favor and you’ve got me hooked from page one. Great beach or vacation read!

Huge thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book! Annabel has become an autobuy author for me and I feel honored for this opportunity.

The story follows Jane Jackson as she’s trying to prove she has a place in the film industry beyond her former TV comedic role of “Janey Jakes,” the punchline to every episode. Jane carries a lot of shame and doubts over her self worth. She battles with her anxiety by hiding when things get tough and only has the support of her best friend, Clem, & her mom… definitely no support from Dan. Dan is the “absolute worst!” He shot down her first big shot at filmmaking and now thinks he can help solve her problems with this new script. But what if he actually can?

As someone who has struggled with life long anxiety, I feel like Jane was a relatable character. Her fears of putting herself out there only to be a joke or a failure are very real and add to her character. I love how the main characters interact with one another. Minor characters are believable and do a good job supporting our FMC & MMC as they change and grow throughout the book. It’s got the good Hallmark movie vibes but with a bit more depth. Overall a very good romance read.

I love this author and have read all four of her books. I was so excited to receive a galley of her forthcoming novel. Unfortunately, I was a little bit let down. I didn't dislike it, I just didn't love it as much as I loved her last two. Jane grew up as a child TV star, who has since fallen into obscurity, Now, as an adult she is working to try and get a film that her company optioned made. This is a rom-com and I loved the male lead Dan. He was kind and sensitive and his family was so charming. But, I did not connect with the main character Jane and the storyline here as much as with some of her previous novels. I was really intrigued to read the author's note and see that she was inspired by Jeannette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died because I just read that and I could totally see that. Overall, a solid read by an author that I love. However, if I was ranking I'd put Summer Romance and Sametime Next Summer over It's A Love Story and Norah Goes Off Script.

3.5 stars.

This was another lovely read from Annabel Monaghan who is quickly becoming one of my favorit authors. The story follows Jane, a movie producer, and Dan, cinematographer, as they jointly try to turn a script they love into a movie. Jane and Dan have butted heads in the past and have less than fond feeling toward eachother. But when Jane joins Dan on his trip home so that they can convince a famous singer to write a song for their movie, things change. I loved both of the characters in this book and Dan may be one of my favorite male leads thus far. I definitely recommend checking this book out if you are looking for something heartfelt and fun!

I absolutely loved this book. Jane and Dan are trying to make a movie, but need to make it more commercial. So, they travel from LA to Long Island to track down a superstar singer from Jane's past as a child star to ask him to write a song for the movie. Over their week together at Dan's family's house, they go from enemies to lovers. Dan's big family was so fun and loving, and Jane's relationship with her best friend, Clem, was beautiful. I fell in love with the side characters just as much as the main characters. The message about being yourself rather than putting on a costume and being the perfect version that you think people want was relatable and compelling. This was a wonderful read that just made me happy - highly recommend!

Former child star Jane believes so deeply in her latest script that she’ll do almost anything to have it green lit. Including chase a teenage flame across the country while crashing with the large, loud family of her nemesis, cinematographer Dan.

But, something happens. In fact, everything happens, including love over breakfast. Jane comes to terms with some deep-seated issues from her childhood and with her mother, with the help of Dan’s parents and her best friend Clem, a star side character.

I love Annabel Monaghan and this, recency bias aside, may be my favorite of hers. Because if you can find yourself and love at the same time? Well, that’s movie-worthy.

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️.5

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Penguin for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love Annabel’s writing. Always have. I will continue to adore her and read all of her works. She has such a beautiful way of introducing us to characters that really bare their souls and intertwine themselves together. Her books always leave me feeling warm.


I absolutely adored Dan. He was one of my most favorite main male characters I have read in a rom-com in quite a while. I found him incredibly honest, funny, and sexy. I loved how he knew how to articulate himself and his needs. So so so good.
Jane however, I did have some issues with. I found her just to be so immature and I honestly cringed a lot at her inner thoughts and actions. I just wanted to shake her for like at least a quarter of the book.

The third act breakup was incredibly unnecessary and left me feeling so irritated! I also feel that Dan was uncharacteristically rude during the resolution. Idk, there were just qualms….

I would still recommend this book and all of Annabel’s books to romance readers, this was simply just not always for me. 🩷

I thought this book was going to be a light and fun read, but it made me feel something. The representation of love in this story was so accurate. Love isn’t perfect, it’s supposed to be raw and real. I can’t wait to read more from Annabel Monaghan!

Annabelle Monaghan is an auto buy author for me. Her books are full of relatable quirky characters, and It’s a love story was no different. I thought this was going to be a second chance romance, and it was but not in the way I was expecting. I truly enjoyed taking this journey with Jane. She faced so many demons that are so relatable that I was rooting for her hard! I also fell in love with the Finnegans, as I imagine everyone does. I loved being immersed in their family dynamic and seeing how that affected both Dan and Jane. I highly recommend this book.

Annabel Monaghan has become an auto-read author for me, and I fell head over heels for her latest, IT’S A LOVE STORY! The story follows Jane Jackson, who rose to fame as Janey Jakes, the comedic relief (and often the punchline) on a popular sitcom. Years later, she’s working as a Hollywood studio executive, trying to get her first project greenlit. Desperate to make the movie a success, Jane claims that she can get famous pop star Jack Quinlan, who she has a messy history with, to write a song for the movie. There’s only one problem—she’ll be forced to team up with seemingly pretentious, aloof cinematographer Dan Finnegan, since Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown on Long Island, to track him down. From bike rides to the beach to breakfasts with Dan’s huge, close-knit family, Jane begins to realize that she might have been wrong about Dan…and maybe even about herself, too. Can she take a chance on true love, both on- and off-screen?

This is a romcom at its finest! The relationship between Jane and Dan truly stole my heart—I loved their banter, chemistry, and most of all, the way they uplifted each other and just saw each other for their whole selves, not the people who others expected them to be. Also, celebrity romance is one of my ultimate favorite tropes, and this was such a fresh, unique take on it! The family dynamics were equally well-done, from Jane’s relationship with her mom to Dan’s bond with his family (plus, how Jane was totally welcomed into the Finnegan family, too!). Annabel Monaghan does a fantastic job of showing how these relationships affect the characters and their outlook on love and just life in general.

Beyond the relationships aspect of her books, Monaghan’s characters always feel so fully realized as individuals, and this one was no different in that regard! Jane in particular was such a well-developed, relatable character. How she felt like she wasn’t “compelling” enough, how she felt like there was a better version of herself than the one that she always showed the world, how she had always been the “comic relief” but never the leading role in her own story…but then everything changed. It was truly a joy to follow her journey! Dan’s character resonated with me just as much, especially how he was a little more quiet and introverted, and sometimes felt out of place because of it. By the end of the story, readers can really see how much they’ve grown, and truly feel as if they know these characters.

My only real “problem” with the story was the third-act conflict. I understand why it was handled in that way, but it was a little frustrating to read, because it felt like Jane had evolved so much and broken out of old patterns, and that part of the storyline was almost like taking a step back. Otherwise, I can’t recommend IT’S A LOVE STORY enough—it’s the perfect summer read, complete with a cozy, beachy setting, plenty of swoon-worthy moments, and so much character depth and development. It will definitely be one of my fave romances of the year, and I can’t wait to see what Annabel Monaghan writes next! Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the ARC.

Jane Jackson writes a movie script and wants to be the producer and turn it into a movie. Dan Finnegan who she had a crush on in the past agreed to help her with the movie. However, she made a bold statement saying she could get Jack Quinlan, the man of her first kiss and first heartbreak and betrayal, to make a song for the movie. The problem with that is he has a show in Dans hometown so she’s forced to stay with him and his family for a week while trying to track down Jack. Jane and Dan aren’t on good terms after he turned down her previous script. I loved getting to know the characters in this book, especially Dan’s family. The author did a good job of making you feel like you were there with the setting description. I would say the only downfall of this book was that the characters weren’t very relatable. Her other books had more relatable characters but not many people fall into the category of a screen writer or movie producer. Also, instead of focusing more on the main characters love story and relationship, we focused a lot on the FMC’s moms story and the work project so it felt a little bit more instalove than the other books by this author. I would still recommended as a fun cute romance. If you like the Notebook, there’s many references to that.