Series: Hopeless Romantics

Item: Meet Me on Love Lane
Rating: 5
Author: Arielle

BOOK REVIEW: Meet Me on Love Lane (Hopeless Romantics #2) by Nina Bocci

December 10, 2019 / Arielle / 4 Comments

Meet Me on Love Lane (Hopeless Romantics #2)
by Nina Bocci
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
From the USA TODAY bestselling author of On the Corner of Love and Hate comes a romantic comedy about a woman who grudgingly returns home to small-town Pennsylvania, only to find herself falling in love—not only with the town, but with two of its citizens.

Charlotte Bishop is out of options in New York City. Fired, broke, and blacklisted by her former boss, she’s forced to return to her hometown of Hope Lake, PA to lick her wounds. Although she’s expecting to find a miserable place with nothing to do, she is pleasantly surprised to discover it is bustling and thriving.

She’s only supposed to be in Hope Lake temporarily until she can earn enough money to move back to New York. She’s not supposed to reconnect with her childhood friends or her beloved grandmother. She’s not supposed to find her dream job running the local florist shop. And she’s definitely not supposed to fall for not one but two of Hope Lake’s golden boys: one the beloved high school English teacher, the other the charming town doctor.

With a heart torn between two men and two cities, what’s a girl to do?

A perfect blend of humor and heart, Meet Me on Love Lane is the second in a new series from USA TODAY bestselling author Nina Bocci that is sure to charm fans of Josie Silver and Sally Thorne.

Review:

While I truly did enjoy On the Corner of Love and Hate, the first book in this series pales in comparison to this. After I read the summary I was a tiny bit leery about the possibility of a love triangle and then the person that I liked better NOT being chosen, you don’t have to worry about any of that. I knew it from the prologue and was so excited to see how things were going to pan out. You see, I am constantly changing what romance trope I love best. Is it friends to lovers? Is it hate to love? It really depends on the exact situation and the specific writing and characters. While hate to love always seems to be more steamy and explosive once the couple FINALLY gets together, there is something about friends to lovers that ALWAYS takes my breath away and has my heart pounding deep within my chest. And what could make that situation even better? Um, obviously those friends having been childhood best friends, that’s what.

In the beginning of this book we see Charlotte coming back to Hope Lake after a series of very unfortunate events back in NYC. She moved away when she was really young after her mom and dad’s tumultuous divorce and hasn’t been back since so in her mind, this homecoming is going to be short-lived and last only throughout the summer while she can get back on her feet. She ends up staying with her Gigi (who, is obviously one of my favorite characters because she’s so darn sassy and scandalous and made me miss my grandma something fierce) and immediately falls back into a fast friendship with Emma. One of the most interesting parts about this book was Charlotte’s memory. When she gets back to Hope Lake, she basically remembers NOTHING about her childhood there because being forced to leave had been so traumatic on her. That includes Henry. Sweet Henry. Fuck, characters like him are what keep me going back to romance time and time again. He’s an ENGLISH TEACHER, sweet, caring, wears tight shirts, and does nice things for Gigi (like gets her secret binge-purchases sent to his house so she won’t get in trouble with Charlotte’s dad, lol).

Every interaction that they had together had me on the edge of my seat and had my heart in my throat. He was so tentative at first and basically heartbroken at the thought of her not remembering him or leaving him again. *sobs* And then I lost it at the end when Charlotte finds a certain something and realizes stuff because of that certain something. Seriously, tears just ah-streaming down my face the entire time. Basically all you need to know is that this book is really good and will grab you by the heart and not let go. I am so glad I got my hands on it and I can’t wait for Parker and Nick’s book!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the eARC! ♥

BOOK REVIEW: On the Corner of Love and Hate (Hopeless Romatics #1) by Nina Bocci

June 13, 2019 / Arielle / 2 Comments

On the Corner of Love and Hate (Hopeless Romantics #1)
by Nina Bocci
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
For fans of Christina Lauren and Lauren Layne comes a delightfully sassy and sexy romance about a campaign manager who reluctantly works with the local Lothario to help revamp his image for the upcoming mayoral elections, only to discover that he’s hiding something that can turn both their lives upside down.

What’s a campaign manager’s worst nightmare? A smooth-talking charmer who’s never met a scandal that he didn’t like.

When Emmanuelle Peroni’s father—and mayor of her town—asks her to help rehab Cooper Endicott’s image, she’s horrified. Cooper drives her crazy in every way possible. But he’s also her father’s protégé, and she can’t say no to him without him finding out the reason why: Cooper and her have a messy past. So Emmanuelle reluctantly launches her father’s grand plan to get this Casanova someone to settle down with and help him lose his lothario reputation.

Cooper Endicott wanted to run for Mayor, but he never wanted the drama that went with it. Now that he’s on the political hamster wheel, the other candidates are digging up everything from his past. Even though he’s doing all the right things, his colorful love life is the sticking point for many of the conservative voters. He wants to win, badly, and he knows that if he wants any chance of getting a vote from the female population, he needs to change his image. The only problem? He might just be falling in love with the one person he promised not to pursue: the Mayor’s off-limits daughter.

A perfect blend of humor and heart, On the Corner of Love and Hate is the first in a new series from USA TODAY bestselling author Nina Bocci.

Review:

Alright everyone, this was pretty dang good. When I saw that Nina had a book up on NetGalley, I jumped to request it. See, she’s the name I see every now and then in my e-mail that usually deposits a wonderful ARC of the next Elle Kennedy or Sarina Bowen book. Obviously I thought to myself “um yeah if she’s working with these ladies, her stuff is going to be just as good.” Mhmmmm, I wasn’t wrong.

This book is a delicious hate-to-love romance featuring Emma and Cooper. Emma is the daughter of their town’s current mayor and has known Cooper her entire life. They have worked together the past few years in an office that reminds me a lot of the one of Parks in Rec in the sense that they champion for their town to bring in new business and keep young people there to start families instead of moving on to something bigger and better. Cooper now is running to be the next mayor since Emma’s dad wants to retire, so most of the book spans the campaign up until and right after the election actually happens.

For as much as I don’t like politics, I really enjoyed those aspects of this book. Again, maybe it was because it was local government and reminded me a lot of Parks and Rec. It is so frustrating reading about certain aspects though (like Cooper being slandered and shit being brought up that’s been manipulated into sounding worse than it actually is) because like…why? Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t people just tell the truth and win on their own merit?! Gahh it’s sickening knowing how corrupt certain aspects of politics are.

ANYWAY. Emma and Cooper. These two stubborn a-holes, I tell you haha. I honestly wish it wouldn’t taken quite so long for them to actually get together but that could just be me. And actually, I was a little upset at first because we weren’t getting the entire story about their past but it all eventually comes out and makes sense. Also, that ending was just…too good. I HOPE HOPE HOPE that the rest of this series features books about the other two parts of their adorable quartet because they were wonderful, too. I always like a friend dynamic with a few guys and a girl. Overall I definitely recommend!!!!! I will 100% be waiting ~~not so~~ patiently for more books.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Gallery books for the opportunity to read this eARC and honestly review! ♥