Thank you for the advanced copy! I love a summer romance book and involves small town feels. The characters were great. I didn’t love the inner monologue sometimes but got used to it. A great read for the summer

5 beautiful stars for an absolutely beautiful book. Thank you NetGalley and publisher Penguin Group Putnam for an e-arc of this book! Release date: May 27, 2025

There’s something gripping and beautiful in reading a person unravel learned behavior and the messiness of childhood (particularly as an actress living a not normal childhood), while discovering who they are. I loved both the romance of this story and the story of re-self discovery. I like that it’s not flashy and encompasses the quiet kind of love. The realistic love we see all around us in doing the mundane of every day. The kind of love of being with the person you want to snuggle with on the couch at the end of the day and tell them all about it.

This is my first book by the author, but certainly will not be my last.

Tropes:
-(sort of) second chance
-workplace romance
-almost one bed
-he falls first (let’s be real, he totally did)
-hate to love

Content warning: I do think it’s worth mentioning, if you have a difficult relationship with your parents and/or have trauma from a parent leaving or dying, please tread carefully. This part of the story hit me hard in the feels.

Annabel Monaghan writes quality romances that have female characters going through a bit of an emotional wakening and this book is no different!

Jane is defined by the TV character she played at 14, Janey Jakes: the comedic side character, but she is determined to make a name for herself by developing a script she adores into a movie. However, this movie will only be green lit if it has something that packs a little more of a punch. No problem, Jane says she can ask her old friend, rock star Jack Quinlan, to write a song for the soundtrack. The only catch? She hasn't spoken to him in years and she completely humiliated herself in front of him when she was 14. Her workplace enemy, Dan, the only other person who wants this script to succeed, travels with her to his hometown in Long Island to track down Jack at a music festival there and ask him to write a song for the soundtrack.

Wow what a premise! It's definitely a lot, but it all comes together so seamlessly. What I liked:
-Jane's apparent social anxiety and people-pleasing tendencies. It feels incredibly real and relatable as a first-born daughter, myself,
-The banter. It's so natural and flows well and is really clever.
-The way everything came together. The things I originally didn't like about this story (insta-love, the confusing past storyline, etc) all came together at the climax of the book and made perfect sense all together.

What I disliked:
-It took me a bit to get into. The former child star storyline is kid of confusing and while it does tie in with everything at the end, it felt kind of forced and like an odd side-plot instead of playing a larger part in the story as a whole.

I gave this book 4 stars! It is going to be the perfect beachy read this summer, and is so fun to read a romance that packs a bit of an emotional punch as well.

What a lovely writer. Only a few pages in and I was already highlighting beautiful prose. I think I highlighted something beautifully written in nearly every chapter.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and she is now an insta-read for me. Her love stories are mature, and real, not cheesy, but every bit romantic. This one is no different.

As non-cheesy as this story is, there’s close proximity with a visit to his hometown, and one bed! But done in a realistic way, not in a way that has me rolling my eyes sometimes.

I loved getting to see their romance unfold just as much as I loved seeing her get to know his family. This should be a movie, and I’ll watch it a hundred times.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for this amazing ARC!

I love Annabel Monaghan's writing. It just connects with me, I don't know how to describe it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jane and Dan's romance unfold. It was kind of an enemies to lovers, but soft on the enemies. It seemed they were already aware of some attraction from the jump but didn't want to act on it! I loved reading about Dan's family, they were all really fun characters added to the story.

My only complaint is I didn't necessarily enjoy Jane's inner monologue... I understand she was a child star at one point, but sometimes she didn't read like what I would believe a woman in her 30s to really sound like. I didn't feel like it took too much from the story, however I felt the need to say something about it. She came off as the most immature of the main characters from AM's previous books.

Regardless, this read is one of my favorites of the year!

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy! :)

Annabel Monaghan has quickly become one of my favorite romance authors to pick up in the Spring and Summer. I have loved every book of hers so far and have been so fortunate to arc read her last two releases. They are always just so consistently sweet with a great balance of emotion and humor. These are the perfect books to pick up for a beach read or to bring on vacation!

This will be a book that I cannot wait to go back and annotate after release because there were just so many things that stood out or made me feel all the feelings. Love is found in the every day and in the small gestures. It's not always grand appearances or flashy. I LOVED that Annabel shows this heavily throughout the story because it is so true. There are all different kinds of love and everyone shows it differently...but this is my favorite. A quiet, romantic, unshakable love that prevails even through tough times.

It's a Love Story has all of my favorite things wrapped up in one and does them well. It carries the small town Summer charm, the romantic Summer snippets (cough-cough getting caught in the summer rain), a bit of forced proximity, supportive and loving side characters. I absolutely adore The Mob. So much. It genuinely reminded me of my own family in ways and just made me love them even more.

I'm not usually a huge fan of books that revolve around acting or performing industries - just an odd personal preference - but I loved this one. I thought it suited Dan and Jane very well and their support for each other was so sweet and genuine. I will probably come back and add more notes and quotes to this review when the book releases next month but until then, I'll wrap things up here.

Highly recommend picking this up for a Summer read and if you've loved her previous books, you hopefully will adore this one too!

Thank you so much PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this arc. :)

4.5 Rounding up!

Another 5/5 star read from Annabel Monaghan! I absolutely devoured Summer Romance so I was so excited to read this one. I loved the plot, setting, the main characters and the side characters. They were all memorable in different ways and tied the story together. I tend to judge romance novels on if they squeeze my heart and wow did this one squeeze my heart. I laughed, I cried, I felt all the feels. Annabel Monaghan is now officially on my auto-buy/auto request on Netgalley as soon as I see a new title pop up.

I liked a lot about this. It reminded me of Susan Elizabeth Phillip’s book What I Did For Love in a good way although really the only common thread is child stars who played goofy lovable characters.
The premise is a little shaky for me. Just the trip to Dan’s family home in pursuit of finding Jack Quinlan seems so out of the blue and a little too convenient.
I really enjoyed the time the two spent in Long Island and it was a nice summer romance at that point and I was fully on board and entertained.
The third act breakup is a bit frustrating, but I think the author did a good job explaining what Jane was thinking and the reason behind it. There are some good, honest conversations that follow (although I wish it was mentioned that Jane also started therapy). The timeline of it all felt a little rushed, but I’ll allow it.
Two small nitpicks is that we are told that Jane is funny more often than we get to hear/see her be funny, and having her name be Jane and her tv character be Janey felt a little confusing for me personally.
Ultimately this was a fun read and I’d recommend it!
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and Annabel Monaghan for this ARC!

4.25

Wowwwww! Annabel Monaghan’s writing never ceases to amaze me, truly. I actually highlighted 168 times while reading this book. The writing was truly my favorite part. It’s so straightforward and easy to read but have so many lovely lines that just hit you right in the gut. It may seem like you’re reading an ordinary paragraph but then the author will have a thought that will be so BEAUTIFUL, or so RELATEABLE, that you have to stop and reread it. The quotes regarding romance, family, friendship, self-love, careers, and nature will have you annotating until there’s no tomorrow.

As far as characters go, Jane was really interesting! I know that a lot of people love a strong and confident FMC, but the soft ones deserve their stories, too. Jane has went through so much rejection and abandonment that it is understandable that she sometimes does not feel as though she deserves to be loved or that she is loveable at all. I really appreciated all the background that was given to help us understand her and why she thinks the way that she does. Dan was lovely in some parts and some parts had me scratching my head and wondering why the hell he would say what he did. He’s a little mean at points. I understand it is because he is so honest but it would hurt my feelings, honestly. Since he was such an honest guy, it made me believe 100% that what he would say to Jane and his family were genuinely how he felt and I really appreciated that.

Another huge highlight for me was the setting! That town in the summer just sounded like a dream! I really loved the activities they did together and how it played a part in furthering their relationship. This was so wonderful. Everyone say “Thank you, Annabel Monaghan!”

🌊🩷🎬

This was another fun summer romance from Annabel Monaghan, even if it's not my favorite of her books. Overall, I liked reading Jane's journey to overcome some of her issues from her past as child star, but there were some aspects of the romance that felt a little quick for me. I also loved how Monaghan crafted Dan's family.

Annabel Monaghan will continue to be an auto-read author for me!

** I received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was super cute! I really enjoyed seeing the relationship develop, watch the FMC work through some internal issues, and the side characters were perfectly flushed out, without feeling overwhelming.

This one is perfect for all the daddy issue girlies, lovers of hollywood romances, or people who like a small town vibe with a big, loving family - it really does it all!

I loved It's a Love Story! Give me an enemies to lovers trope and I am all in. The plot was fast paced, the characters were likeable and I just wanted Jane to get her happy ending.

Thank you Putnam Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Sadly, this was not a favorite, I have really enjoyed Annabel Monaghan's books in the past, but this one missed the mark for me. The love story arc just didn't vibe with the character arcs and the timing was jarring. Jane was so unwell personally and had so much past baggage, the turn around to wellness and overcoming a lifetime of self-doubt and shame without serious amounts of therapy just wasn't natural The story was believable, although hard to watch from beginning to the first steps of her self-awareness. But then in the last few pages she was just a different person and had the sudden 180 to turn her life around in a matter of weeks after years of her bottling her emotional past that it consistently debilitated her. If the ending showed some time lapse, some years, not days, of personally growth and healing then a second chance at this love story that they began in the heat of the forced proximity and common goal, I may have been on board; but as it stands, it just wasn't the most plausible or satisfying. I want my fiction to be a bit more grounded in reality than this ending.

Jane Jackson was a child star that was always cast to the side. As an adult and now working for a movie studio, she has the opportunity to get her first project greenlit. One problem, she has to work with Dan Finnegan, who she thinks she hates, to try to track down her childhood crush Jack Quinlan to try to get him to write a song for the movie. Jane now must spend a week with Dan and his family for a chance of success she always dreamed of.

I loved this book. I laughed, I cried, and I rooted for all the character expect Jack (screw Jack). Jane is such a relatable FMC in the sense that she is faking it until she makes and has a mask up about her. It felt very realistic of a 30-something trying to succeed. Her relationship growth with Dan had me swooning. What really stood out to me were the minor characters, from Dan’s brothers always messing with each other to Ruby dancing in the yard, and Clem being the #1 best friend. You really felt like you got to know the characters.

The setting was picturesque going between a quiet Long Island town and the hustle of Los Angeles. Monaghan did a great job setting the scene and making it feel like you were riding bikes with the main characters.

This was my first read by Annabel Monaghan and I can’t wait to devour the rest of her works.

I really enjoyed Annabel Monaghan’s, It’s a Love Story. I’ve read all of her books so far and it is probably my favorite of hers. I laughed out loud a lot and just found myself reading with a smile on my face. Dan’s family dynamic makes this book. I love how his brothers all gang up on him and there is nothing you can hide from anyone in that family. He has a family that just makes you instantly feel welcome and loved. As for Jane, it is heartbreaking of how deeply she believes she is not enough or wanted. She seems very immature in that aspect but also I understand why being that something so life altering happened when she was just a teenager and therefore causing her to harbor those feelings into adulthood.
Here’s one of the lines from Jane about Dan that cracked me up…“Dan-I suddenly hated that stupid name. Rhymes with “can” and “fan”. Hit a man with a pan.“
And one that just gives my heart a little squeeze…
“When you smile at me, I feel like I want to capture it…..When you smile, it does something to me, I feel it in my chest, and I just want to figure out how to get you to do it again.”
100% recommend this book and thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader’s copy!

I absolutely loved this book! Jane was so relatable in so many ways. I truly loved watching her character development throughout the story! The whole Jack thing was wild, and yes, I still hate Jack. lol Dan grew on me for sure. The jerky man bun guy lol, but it was beautiful seeing Jane coming into herself and blossoming. Thoroughly loved Dan's family as well. The whole dynamic of his family with small town vibes gave me all of the feels. This book was so many things wrapped up into one... swoon worthy, hilarious moments, deep moments, and nostalgic feeling. Easily 5 stars for me!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Penguim Group Putnam to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

4.5 Stars ⭐ Many thanks to #NetGalley, Putnam Books and Penguin Random House for allowing me to read and review this eARC of #ItsaLoveStory written by Annabel Monaghan and releasing on May 27, 2025.

Tropes for this story include:
Enemies to lovers
Forced proximity
Fish out of water
Opposites attract
Workplace romance

Annabel has become an "auto-read" author for me--I've been making my way through her collection and have enjoyed every one that I've read thus far! This book is no exception and I could not put it down. I was rooting for Jane as she faced her fears head-on throughout this book, and thought her emotional journey was engaging and realistic. Dan's direct, open-hearted nature was such a satisfying foil to Jane's carefully curated mask, and I loved witnessing their relationship deepen and develop.

Thanks again, NetGalley, Putnam Books and Penguin Random House!

It's a Love Story follows Jane Jackson, a Creative Executive as she tries to get a new script greenlit. Unfortunately for Jane, her nemesis 'man bun' Dan is slated to be the cinematographer on the project. Jane hates Dan. But with the movie rights hanging in the balance, Jane and Dan must work together to see the film succeed.

It's a Love Story, is a warm, cozy read. It's filled with a fun cast of characters, thanks to The Mob, also known as Dan's family. It's funny, with many 'oof' inducing moments. But also thoughtful, with Dan at the helm, being unapologetically who he is every step of the way. I really enjoyed this love story!

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and NetGalley for an early book review copy of It's a Love Story!

It's a Love Story releases May 27h, 2025-mark your calendars!

There’s something uniquely comforting about an Annabel Monaghan novel—the kind of storytelling that feels like your favorite rom-com and your best friend’s advice wrapped into one. With It’s a Love Story, Monaghan delivers yet another heart-stealer, filled with humor, honesty, and that perfect pinch of longing.
It’s a Love Story is exactly what it promises—a love story, yes, but not just in the romantic sense. It’s about loving who you were, who you are, and who you’re still becoming. Monaghan’s writing sparkles with charm and emotional insight. Jane is messy and real in a way that feels like you’ve known her forever. And Dan? He’s the kind of hero who doesn’t try to fix you—he sees you. That kind of tenderness is rare and beautiful.

This book made me laugh, tear up, and hug it close when I finished. If you’re a fan of Emily Henry or Katherine Center, you’ll adore this.

Sometimes a love story is about coming home to yourself—and Annabel Monaghan captures that truth with elegance and heart. A perfect summer read with soul.

This story is filled with not only likable characters but also characters with very real, relatable problems. Jane and Dan are perfection and their banter is fantastic. Dan’s family dynamics made me laugh out loud multiple times. The only reason I give this one four stars is because of the conflict leading up to the end. It just felt forced to me and honestly a little choppy at times. Not to the point I didn’t still thoroughly enjoy the book as a whole, but enough so that it lands in the 4 star category for me.

Annabel Monaghan is always a must-read author for me and It’s a Love Story delivers yet another heart-warming, laugh out loud, make you smile novel that I’ve come to love from her. If you enjoyed any of her other titles, you will absolutely enjoy this one! If you haven’t read any others by her, what are you waiting for?!