It's a love story

Bestseller Monaghan (Summer Romance) charms with this bingeable beachy contemporary. Former child star turned film producer Jane Jackson does everything she can to distance herself from the geeky, comic relief character she played as a tween, from making sure she always looks put together to plotting out conversations ahead of time. Inside, however, she's still wracked with insecurities, which is why she's driven to prove herself professionally by producing the most honest love story script she's ever read. Unfortunately, Dan Finnegan, a cinematographer "with man bun who ruins everything," is also attached to the project and their visions for the movie differ. Worse, to get the project green-lit, they need some major star power, leading Jane to lie and say she can get pop star Jack Quinlan, her short-lived teenage fling, to contribute an original song. The problem is she hasn't spoken to him in 20 years. Jack's set to play a festival in Dan's Long Island hometown, putting Jane in close proximity to both men. Monaghan mines a lot of joy out of Dan's close-knit family dynamic and the scenic coastal setting, while creating a heroine readers will root for. This is an addictive romp. (May)

Jane Jackson is still figuring out life after being pigeonholed as the wacky sidekick child actor on a 1990s sitcom. Her current job as creative executive involves scouring scripts and pitching movies while trying to avoid cliché, explosion-filled action blockbusters, but she still has not pitched a successful script. Jane has a passion project she's hoping to make work, but it is vetoed by the studio's new, infuriating principal cinematographer, Dan Finnegan. In her attempt to get Dan to reconsider, Jane inadvertently name-drops megastar Jack Quinlan, her former sitcom costar and crush--and now Dan wants to cast him. The last thing Jane wants to do is grovel to Jack, with whom she parted on embarrassing terms, but he's playing a music festival near Dan's family home in Long Island, and this could be her only chance to get the movie greenlit. She'll just need to finagle a face-to-face meeting with Jack while enduring a week with Dan, who may be more than she expected. While the main characters fall in love quickly, there is satisfying depth to the story, with themes of family baggage, abandonment, and low self-esteem. VERDICT Monaghan (Summer Romance) writes another charming rom-com, this time with enemies-to-lovers and forced-proximity tropes. Monaghan fans will not be disappointed.--Nicole J. Suarez