It’s a Love Story is a winner from Monaghan. This enemies to lovers romance has great leads–she’s a former child sitcom star and he’s a creative filmmaker–on a beautiful beach setting and with humor that had me laughing all the way through! I loved it.

Jane Jackson was a child star who starred in a middle school sitcom and was famous for being the one in the show who made everyone laugh. Now, she’s thirty-three and working hard in her new career to get a script she loves made into a movie. Unfortunately, she stretched the truth when her boss told her she needed something big to make the movie viable. She said that she knew Jack Quinlan, a famous pop star, and could get him to write a song for the movie. But she has a problem because she hasn’t talked to him in almost twenty years and she needs the help of Dan Finnegan, an award-winning cinematographer and her enemy, to help her find Jack.

Jane and Dan first met in LA when they were both watching a hawk. Dan was taking photos of it and they end up chatting. They were flirty and funny and he asked her to dinner the following Friday night. But before they could go on their date, they ran into each other at a team meeting at her office. The team was looking over the script for her new film project and Dan was brought in as the director of photography. Unfortunately, Dan criticized her project (he called it trash) and it was squashed–needless to say, there was no date!

Now, a few months later, Jane has a new project she loves and she needs Dan’s help. Luckily, this time Dan likes her new script and wants to help her make it into a movie! Jane tells Dan about the fib she told her boss and how she needs to find Jack, the pop singer, to ask him to write a song for the movie. Dan tells her that Jack will be doing a concert the next weekend in the beach town where his (Dan’s) family lives and they go there together. When there are no hotel rooms available, Dan offers her a place to stay at his family’s home and this is where the story really takes off!

Dan’s family is loud and boisterous and they are thrilled that he has come home and also brought a girl, (even though Dan tries to tell them they just work together). They invite her to stay for dinner and it’s funny when they recognize her from her tv show from when she was young. It turns out they all used to watch it and there are some laughs around this.

Dan is the opposite of his brothers. He’s an introvert and an artist who loves painting, photography and movies. He takes Jane biking to his favorite places around town, including the beach, as they search for Jack. My favorite part of the story is when they are at a big lobster feast at the beach with Dan’s brothers and friends. The descriptions of all of their food and fun sounded like a good time. I also found it very moving when different family members share what love means to them. Dan is beautiful and has a big heart and while he’s normally a man of few words, he is chatty with Jane and she is so funny. I loved their banter. While it’s not spicy there is a lot of chemistry between them with some closed-door scenes. I should share, I can’t reveal more about Jack, the rock star, for fear of spoilers.

There are a few things that Jane and Dan need to work through in their love story but other than the awkward beginning of the story, I couldn’t put the book down.

It’s a Love Story is another winner from Monaghan. It’s funny, tender and heartwarming and I recommend it for a sweet summer read.