It's a Love Story

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Discuss your overall impressions of It’s a Love Story. What were your favorite and/or least favorite aspects of the novel, and why?

2. How did your experience reading It’s a Love Story compare or contrast with your experience reading Monaghan’s other novels, like Summer Romance or Same Time Next Summer? What thematic and narrative overlaps do you notice between her titles?

3. Compare It’s a Love Story with other works of contemporary romantic fiction. For example, how is Monaghan’s title distinct from or in conversation with titles like Ali Hazelwood’s Problematic Summer Romance and/or Carley Fortune’s One Golden Summer?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. How did you respond to the flashback revealing Jane Jackson and Dan Finnegan’s original meeting? How did this revelation alter or confirm your understanding of the characters’ dynamic?

2. Compare the evolution of Jane and Dan’s relationship with your own romantic experiences. Which aspects of their dynamic are least and/or most believable to you, and why?

3. Jane is awed and moved by the Finnegan family culture because of her contrasting personal history. Compare Jane’s and Dan’s family spheres with your own. Which aspects of their family lives resonate most with your own, and why?

4. Jane’s friendship with Clem is her deepest relationship before she and Dan get together. How does Jane and Clem’s connection support or challenge your own understanding of platonic relationships, particularly between women?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Monaghan uses Jane’s social isolation to create a subtle subtextual commentary on loneliness. Which aspects of Jane’s personal life echo contemporary conversations regarding the loneliness epidemic? Do Monaghan’s representations of isolation and anxiety reinforce or challenge cultural stereotypes, and how?

2. Jane was a child star on the show Pop Rocks. How does Monaghan use this aspect of Jane’s past to create a commentary on Hollywood culture and the film industry? Are there holes in Monaghan’s explorations? What aspects of child-acting do you believe Monaghan could have included or omitted to bolster the novel’s subtext?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Analyze the relationship between Jane’s past and present selves. What role does her past in Hollywood play in her current understanding of herself? How does she reconcile these competing identities?

2. Explore the thematic and narrative significance of Jane’s first-person point of view narration. How would the novel differ if Monaghan had incorporated Dan’s first-person voice, too?

3. Analyze the role that setting plays in the novel’s primary themes and conflicts. How do California and New York influence Jane differently? What role does season, weather, and the environment play in Jane’s character evolution?

4. Identify three primary symbols and discuss their significance to Jane’s story. For example, what do images like Dan’s hawk photo, Dan’s arbor, Jane’s pie, or Jane’s bracelet represent, and how do they deepen the novel’s themes?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were adapting It’s a Love Story for the screen, who would you cast in the leading roles? Which plot points would you add, alter, or omit to make the adaptation your own?

2. Imagine a continuation of Jane’s story. How do you imagine Jane’s life would change five years into the future? Are she and Dan still together? Does Jane have children? Is she still living in California? What other films or creative projects has she pursued? Consider how Jane’s identity might continue to evolve as a result of the transformations she experiences within It’s a Love Story.