Annabel Monaghan, IT'S A LOVE STORY

Totally Booked with Zibby

Zibby Owens

Connection, Inspiration, Moms, Entertainment, Arts, Reading, Books, Parenting, Literary

4.4 • 602 Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bestselling author Annabel Monaghan returns to the podcast to discuss her latest novel, IT’S A LOVE STORY, an adorable, poignant rom-com about a former teen star-turned-Hollywood producer navigating second chances, big lies, and a complicated love with a charming (and quiet) man. Annabel reveals how the story evolved over twelve drafts, why she’s drawn to messy characters, and what she’s learned from nearly 30 years of marriage about real love (“Love actually happens over breakfast…during our morning dog walk… in line at the DMV and in hospital rooms…”). The two also bond over big families, awkward Substack lives, and The Notebook.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive
0:24.0	look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't
0:29.3	have to.
0:30.3	Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day.
0:36.2	For more information, go to zibbimedia.com and follow me on Instagram
0:40.1	at Zibby Owens. Annabelle Monaghan is the author of It's a Love Story. Annabelle is the
0:49.2	USA Today bestselling and library reads Hall of Fame author of Summer Romance, same time next summer,
0:55.9	and Nora goes off script, for which she was on this podcast to discuss many times, as well as
1:01.8	two young adult novels, and does this novel make my butt look big a selection of laugh-out
1:06.9	loud columns that appeared in the Huffington Post, the week, and the Rye record. She lives in
1:11.5	Connecticut with her family. Her novels have been translated into 20 languages. Go Annabel. Welcome,
1:17.4	Annabel. Thank you for coming back on Totally Booked with Zibby to talk about it's a love story,
1:22.5	your fourth novel. Congrats. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is the highlight of my year coming on your podcast.
1:29.7	Thank you for having you back.
1:31.2	I was looking.
1:31.7	You have like two more live events, I think today for this book, right? Don't you have like a substack live, which I've never done, by the way? I do. Tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow. And the stress that I feel having to press that button and maybe it's the wrong button,
1:45.9	like I don't know. It's all very mysterious when it works out. Yeah. I actually did try to do
1:51.2	a substack live, not knowing that it immediately sends an email. So I was just like walking
1:55.3	out on the street at a retreat. And then I realized that like everyone had gotten the email and I was like,
2:01.5	this is not good. But anyway, yeah, so I hope you have better luck than me. Okay, it's a love story.
2:06.6	What is this love story about, please? So it is the story of Jane Jackson, who is a former teen
2:14.2	who was sort of when she was on TV as a teen, she was the punchline of every joke.
	...

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