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I really enjoyed Annabel Monaghan’s Summer Romance, and it was fairly clean reading, so I was eager to pick up this new book, It’s a Love Story. I was not disappointed in the book in general and the romance. The rating, however, was another story. (Ha.)
Jane Jackson was on a popular kids’ show when she was an awkward tween and teen. She was the cast member who said and did awkward stuff to make the audience laugh. Now, however, she’s in her early 30s and has left all that behind. She’s still in show business; she works at a small film studio and advocates for scripts to be made into movies. Jane has seen scripts she’s really liked get turned down over and over. But now she has one she absolutely loves. And she’ll do just about anything to get it made.
Problem is, it’s not very “commercial,” so she blurts out a lie to try to prove it and herself to the higher-ups: that a big pop star, Jack Quinlan, has agreed to contribute an original song for the soundtrack. She did know him: they worked together briefly on her show. But she hasn’t talked to him for 20 years.
Now that she’s good and stuck, she gets help from the cinematographer, Dan Finnegan, who she hates. But Dan has a connection to a festival Jack will be playing at across the country. So they fly out together to his hometown on Long Island. They have to stay in close quarters together — for a week. But it’ll be worth it for this movie to get made.
Naturally, in that week, a lot happens, and Jane comes to see Dan — and herself — differently. But can people who are so different find happiness together? And can Jane allow herself to be loved?
It’s a Love Story is a sweet story about a woman who’s been hurt slowly opening up to love. It’s sometimes a little painful to read because of all the negative things she’s internalized over the years. But the solid goodness of Dan, whom Jane doesn’t see quite clearly at first, is a beacon reaching out to her. It’s hard not to fall for him and his big, boisterous, loving family.
The only downside to this book is that it has strong profanity and more sexual content than Summer Romance.
Rated: High. (Fairly close to moderate) Profanity includes 6 uses of strong language, 15 instances of moderate profanity, about 5 uses of mild language, and about 20 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes several intense kissing scenes, one or two completely closed-door sex references/scenes, and one mostly-open-door scene where characters kiss, remove clothes, and do things up until it kind of “fades to black” for the last, most intimate bit. It’s not long and detailed compared to other “spicy” scenes in books by Emily Henry, for instance, but it’s definitely not all closed-door.
Click here to purchase your copy of It’s a Love Story on Amazon.
