It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan: My Book Review

Check out my book review of It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan to see what I love about this contemporary romance and why it earned a spot on my best romance books of 2025 list!

*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

It’s a Love Story Summary:

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?

It’s a Love Story: My Review

THIS is why Annabel Monaghan is one of my favorite authors!

You will DEVOUR this book if you love…

• Enemies to lovers tension that melts into the sweetest of love stories
• Loud, big families that sweep you into the fold
• Quiet heroes that see the real you
• Whispered truths in the dark
• Sweet, slow burn romances with all the feels
• The Notebook…because it’s one of the greatest love stories (I agree with you Dan!)

Honestly the list could go on of all the things that make this truly one of the best romance books of the year. I’ve already read it twice and I know I’ll be diving back in again soon because I cannot get enough of Dan and Jane.

Some authors can write a sweet love story but then there are authors like Annabel that lead you through a love story about two amazing characters trying to bring a quiet love story to film all the while creating their own.

This book opens with a once childhood Hollywood star turned wannabe producer who’s just trying to get her career on track by getting her first movie script green-lighted – if only she can find the right outfit to the important meeting. And if only she didn’t run into the man who ruined her previous shot.

Jane Jackson is a heroine I fell in love with from the very first chapter and who’s vulnerability that she quietly began to share as the story evolved was so beautifully written that honestly Annabel should be given a medal for this one.

I loved her snark, her passion and her love of love despite not believing it in and how that soon changed once she was thrown into Dan’s family and the room they shared together.

I honestly don’t feel like I can do this review justice because Annabel crafted everything so perfectly about this book. From setting up the enemies to lovers story, yet giving us the hooks to what was really under the surface with the backstory to how Jane and Dan first met. Once thrown together in his family’s orbit on Long Island, Jane and Dan begin one of the most beautiful slow burn romances I’ve ever read.

For two people who struggled with their identity, whether due to childhood acting or just being “different”, I loved how Jane and Dan stripped their masks and just laid themselves bare to the other. And all it took was a trip to the beach, a night by a bonfire, painting a watercolor or rescuing her in the rain to make me fall completely and utterly in love with their quiet love story.

Don’t even get me started on all the references to The Notebook which I love with a passion. That was just the icing on the cake. As was Jane, saving Dan’s father in her contacts as Dad, her helping sweet Ruby with her dance routine and many other small moments that made this book feel so BIG with its feelings.

I loved Annabel’s hit of last summer, Summer Romance, but It’s a Love Story is proof that Annabel has hit her stride and is one of the best in this romance writing world. Her super power of an author is planting the seeds for a great romance and great characters and just letting it all unfold, scene by scene. I’m in awe.

It’s a Love Story is one of the best of 2025. Do yourself a favor and read this beautiful novel. You won’t regret it.

*I received an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Related Book Lists:

• Best Forced Proximity Romance Books
• Best Enemies to Lovers Romance Books

Pin This: