This was enjoyable! A slow burn enemies to lovers romance, the added back story for the MFC as a childhood actress was an interesting twist that added an extra layer of depth. Writing was great, captured me from the start. This was my first book by Annabel Monaghan and I feel so lucky to be given this Arc! I will for sure be picking up her other books and recommending this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the EArc.

What a perfect love story!! I thought it was solid and the development of their relationship was refreshing!! Will definitely pick up more of Annabel Monaghan’s books

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Dan and Jane felt like real people, and so did the supporting cast (with the exception of maybe Jack). Was it insta love? Maybe. Do I care? Not as much as I would have thought.

This book was incredible! Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting. Only recommend if you don’t care about your sleep that night 🤭 the story between the two main characters was so cute and I loved seeing their relationship develop. This was the first Annabel Monaghan book I’ve read and since finishing, I’ve grabbed the rest of her novels to finish!

Could not put it down. Another five-star read from Annabel Monaghan, who has become one of my favorite writers. Her descriptive and insightful writing always feels fresh to me. Loved Jane and Dan and their arcs. Loved the humor and felt the heartache. I loved that much of the story takes places on Long Island with Dan's lovable & raucous family. Will definitely be a re-read for me.

Thanks to #netgalley and Putnam Books for the ARC e-book.

Publication Date: May 27, 2025

I Received an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved Jane and Dan and their love story. I thought that the enemies to lovers trope was played off well, and I secretly rooted for them the whole time. Her background was something that has just started coming to light (the misery of child actors), and her present day played into that well. Dan's family was amazing and fun, and I wanted to be a part of it.

My only critique was that I wish I had known more about her padst sooner in the book. It was a big deal to her and how she was made, and I felt a bit blindsided by it 75% of the way into the book, and I feel like I could have understood her more if I had known it earlier.

Overall, a good romance that gives you all of the warm and fuzzys.

It’s a Love Story is Annabel Monaghan’s best book yet and might be my favorite romance of all time. I laughed, I cried, I yearned for a love like Jane and Dan. I can’t wait to recommend this to everyone I know.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this and I LOVED Jane and Dan. This was one of those romance books that just made my heart happy while I was reading it. I loved Jane’s journey for one thing turning into something completely different. I especially loved the Finnegan family. I would read 10 books just about them living their lives with each other. Giving this four stars simply because I wish there was some sort of better explanation for the third act breakup. It felt so startling and out of nowhere but I loved how things came together in the end.

"But at breakfast everything's just as it is, in the light of day. No one wears lipstick to breakfast. And this is where you talk about your day and the part of the roof that might leak this fall. Your bring your real self to breakfast."

5 STARS!

How I LOVED this book and these characters. Jane + Dan = Forever

We meet Jane, a child actress, trying to make it as a creative producer, who keeps getting stalled. We also meet Dan, her nemesis, a cinematographer who shot down her chance at getting a movie made.

But they both agree, this new movie script, True Story, has to get greenlit. And the only way for that to happen? A little white lie that Jane tells in the hopes she can make it come true: having her childhood crush, and mega popstar, Jack, sing a song on the soundtrack.

Only problem? She hasn't actually spoken to him since she was a kid, and let's just say they didn't part on the best of terms. She has to go begging to Dan, with her tail between her legs, to help as Jack is playing a festival in Dan's hometown and for some inexplicable reason, Dan has a connection. This means a week spent with Dan, the one man she literally CAN'T STAND.

But maybe there's something underneath all that hate and ire, could they be more connected than Jane originally thought?

YES to this book!!! I will admit I was annoyed by Jane and her lack of confidence in the beginning but then I felt I could relate to her and by the end I loved her as a character. And Dan was perfectly swoon-worthy. Their interactions and how their relationship developed was 'chef's kiss.'

Seriously perfection in a book. As soon as it was finished, I wanted to go back to the beginning and read it all again.

Thank you Annabel Monaghan for this book!

And thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love anything by Annabel Monaghan! She is the new queen of uplifting romance and she does it without being too explicit. Read any and all of her books.

This is the perfect love story. Annabel Monaghan has the ability to weave an incredible story of love, but not just that. She introduces deep topics and character growth in each of her books, making it a well-rounded story that leaves you wishing you could live in that world.

I absolutely adored It's A Love Story.

Jane is a complex and quirky FMC, who has struggled with her self-worth and knowing who she is due to a tragic childhood. However, that doesn't stop her from trying to find her place in the world, however misguided her plans are. I really enjoyed watching her fail and try again, only to realize how wrong she was about most things. It's such a relatable tale of life.

Dan. Oh, Dan. I wanted dislike him but he is so likeable. From the get-go, there's something intriguing about him and his interactions with Jane. They're an odd pairing until we see the depth of Dan's character and his background. Dan is grounded, despite his insecurities, and is the perfect cheerleader for Jane as she finds herself.

I saw myself sitting at the table with the Finnegans and celebrating their family. The emphasis on the complexities of familial and romantic ties is written so beautifully.

I cannot wait to get my hands on the actual copy of this book. I will be rereading it for years!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC. Annabel Monaghan does it again! She is one of my favorite authors.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc of Its a love story in exchange for my honest review. Annabel Monaghan is certainly an auto buy author for me. If you have no yet had a chance to read her back list then drop what you are doing and head straight to the bookstore. Her novels are lovely. Written with easy to follow dialogue that makes you want to keep turning the page, Jane Johnson is in a rut. She seems to be having a failure to launch in her career and some serious issues with self confidence which make her ability to form romantic relationships. Jane meets Dan and there is some instant attraction but unfortunately things happen that cause Jane to explode on him. Years later they are thrown together trying to get a movie off the ground and with the help of some forced proximity their personal relationship evolves. Pick this one up for some true love.

Such a great romcom that gets you in your feels. Jane is a child actress turned creative executive is vying to get her first script greenlit. While embellishing her relationship with former co star jack Quinlan Jane claims he will write a song for the film and it will make it marketable. She’s embarks on a week trip with Dan, the cinematographer, to his home town in New Jersey in order to try and convince Jack. I loved how Jane’s love for Dan happened slowly and organically and eventually became all consuming. Although there is definitely some cheese in this it went deeper than I anticipated and for that I highly recommend

honestly not much to say other than if you liked anabel monaghan’s other book(s), you’re gonna eat this up. perfect beachy sort of read while simultaneously packing an emotional punch and honestly is there anything better than that??

my only complaint is the same one i had about summer romance – the writing feels ridiculously choppy at points. like, i appreciate that we’re not getting a whole lot of useless fluff, but some fluff is good! it gives the story a little bit more flow and substance!

This book felt like a long hug. I really loved the topics approached in it and some phrases (not spoilers, I just felt like they sounded meaningful) really touched me. Their character development and romance was written beautifully and I love that he communicated a lot, there's only her POV, but I felt like I knew his thoughts just as much and that's usually difficult to acomplish most of the times, which is why I normally prefer dual-pov, but I loved this and think it was the right fit for this story. When I was reading it, I had this thought, "Wow, I wish someone would love me this much, no matter what I did", and then I realized, God does. So, as a Christian, it made it even more beautiful for me, and I am SO happy it's smut-free. There is third-act breakup, which I usually don't even care, but since I was loving it so much, I got really annoyed haha. It just felt unnecessary and, honestly, I predicted the reason for it in the beginning. Besides that, it was the sweetest love story and I am going to search more books by this author to read right now!

This was my first book from Annabel Monaghan but it certainly won't be my last! I loved getting to know both Dan and Jane, and it's been a long time since I have felt so hard from a romance book. Jane's insecurities and dreams were so relatable without being too preachy, and her experiences with Dan and his family were so healing. While I usually hate a third act breakup, this one felt so real and understandable, and all in all their relationship felt so adult. I can't wait to dig into the rest of Mohoghan's backlist, and thank you for the early looK!

Thank you @netgalley for the Advance Reader Copy of It’s A Love Story by Annabel Monaghan. Janie was a child actor, and now works in the movies. She has lost touch with her former sitcom stars, who have gone on to much more success than she has. So when she promises that she will get one of them to write a song for her new movie, it’s a stretch. Her nemesis Dan says that he will be playing a surprise show in his hometown, so she goes to his family home with him to ask for the song. She can’t stand him, but falls in love with his family, and then things start to change. It’s a cute story, fun to read. #itsalovestory #annabelmonaghan #advancereadercopy #netgalley #lovetoread #takeapagefrommybook #booknerd

This book follows Jane, a young woman who is attempting to get scripts produced into movies with her company, and Dan, a photographer and videographer as they try and get a script into production that they both love. This authors writing is AMAZING, amazing amazing amazing, but the story line just did not get me intrigued like other romances i’ve read. There were certain parts of this book that I loved; Dans family, some of Jane’s backstory that we get towards the end that gives her some depth, and the references to The Notebook movie. Overall though, I feel like it just took me FOREVER to get through and I couldn’t really relate to the characters because until the end, in my opinion, we just don’t get that much depth.
Overall though I can’t wait to read another book by this author, this just wasn’t my favorite ever.

Jane is a studio exec trying to leave her child actor past in the past (think Steve Urkel type character), but to get a script she loves into production, she needs to go back to her past. And she needs to do it with her nemesis, Dan. What I enjoyed about this novel is how sweetly the friendship then romance between Jane and Dan developed. And of course just when it gets good, Jane blows it all up. But in my favorite romcom trope of all, Jane learns a lot and comes to love herself. This is the great romance!

This felt like a copy of Nora Goes Off Script, except this time I had trouble connecting with the characters. I found the FMC to have an avoidant personality, and I didn’t see a lot of growth throughout the book. This one unfortunately won’t stand out to me.