by Annabel Monaghan
First sentence: “Fake it till you make it is a philosophy that serves in literally every aspect of life.”
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Content: There is swearing, including a few f-bombs, and a couple of on-page, but not terribly graphic, sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Jane Jackson has spent much of her adult life trying to get away from the reputation she had (mostly on-screen) as a child TV star. She’s okay for money – residuals from the show have helped – but she’s trying to make it as a film producer. She thinks she has The Script to make a good movie, but two things are working against her: The production company she works for wants something “commercial,” and the cinematographer they hired, Dan, is her arch nemesis. Then she gets the brilliant idea: have pop star Jack Quinlin (whom she dated for exactly 48 hours when she was 14) sing the song. And, the way to do that? He’s singing at a festival in Dan’s hometown. That means spending a week on Long Island with Dan and his family, and convincing Jack – who may not remember her – to do the song. Will it work?

I liked this one well enough. I liked the relationship between Jane and Dan, and how the third-act breakup was more about Jane’s personal journey than something stupid Dan did. I liked the summer vibes of the book. I liked Dan’s family being loud and obnoxious and close, and how Dan felt he didn’t quite fit. I liked Dan and Jane’s relationship (though it was sort of instalove-y). But I didn’t love it. It was lacking that something to make me truly connect to the characters (maybe because Jane was a child actor?) and to fully feel the emotional impact of the story. That said, I’ll stand by my statement that maybe Monaghan writes more and less good books, but doesn’t actually write a bad one.