It's a Love Story

It’s a Love Story traces Jane’s internal work to balance who she once was with the person she wants to become. At 33 years old, Jane feels trapped by fear and insecurity. Her social anxiety and shame over past mistakes keep her lodged in an immature iteration of herself. Although Jane knows how “to show up for work looking like a winner” (1), she uses clothing, hair styling, and makeup to disguise her true self. Jane was a child actor and is thus familiar with manipulating her exterior to control how others see her. Although years have passed since her appearance on the television series Pop Rocks, Jane still feels like a teenager at her core—incapable of expressing her veritable emotions, needs, and dreams. As she grows over the course of the novel, Monaghan traces her journey to explore the necessity of leaving one’s past behind in order to move ahead into a fulfilling, mature life.

To reconcile with her past, Jane must learn to confront her mistakes, disappointments, and traumas. For Jane, this means acknowledging the ways that she’s been hurt—in vocational, social, and familial contexts. Jane was not only bullied and demeaned by her co-stars on Pop Rocks, but her father abandoned her and then died, and she’s never had a lasting romantic connection.