I felt this was a great book by a new to me author. Emma and Cooper go way back, what happens when her father asks her to help with his campaign? All around good book to settle in and read. I would love to read more from this author in the future!

Emma and her family has lived in Hope Lake for most of her twenty-eight years, and her father has been the town’s mayor for most of that. Now he’s decided to retire and has hand-picked her childhood friend turned nemesis, Cooper as his successor. And that’s a solid choice: Cooper is a direct descendant of the town’s founder, his mother is governor, and he’s utterly in love with the town of Hope Lake and wants to see the best for it. So much so that, after university, he came back to work for the Hope Lake Community Development Office with Emma – in fact the two of them were so god that they are ‘splitting’ the job once managed by one person, and have increased business to the delight of residents and businesses. And with Emma being the ULTIMATE organizer, she and the assistant, Nancy have been ‘managing’ all of Cooper’s work with the DOC since his primary win. Stressed, working multiple hours in a week, and presented with an opportunity that some eight years before Cooper in his lothario phase torched in spectacular fashion, she’s ready to take on the challenge and demand Cooper step away from the job to concentrate on the race.

But all is not well between Cooper and Emma. Growing up it was she, Cooper, Nick and Henry – an inseparable foursome. But when everyone splot off for college, Emma thought the crush she’d had on Cooper was worth exploring, until her roommate Whitney used her looks and a bit of information to scoop Cooper up in a dating frenzy. Needless to say, Emma felt horrid and their relationship was strained at best, antagonistic at worst and strained all that time. It’s not helping that Cooper is still making HUGE playboy-esque gaffes and frustrated that no one believes he’s grown up, when it is decided he needs a campaign manager – and Emma is she. Emma won’t work ‘in front’ though, she doesn’t want to taint her father’s legacy, nor be another piece of kindling for the fire that is surrounding Cooper, most due to his opponent’s willingness to toss dirt, and spread rumors in his attempts to become mayor and bring in several large box stores, ruining the tourist and family-friendly atmosphere of the town.

This was a super fun and frequently funny book, as Cooper and Emma are dancing about their felings for one another, in ways that range from childish stuttering and stammering to serious determined efforts to antagonize or claim alone time. With the addition of Emma’s parents, a group of very involved seniors, the rest of their childhood gang and some serious bitch moments from Whitney, the story is clever and easy to follow – with Emma’s abilities to organize, manage and direct a winning campaign are front and center. Unlike many books that claim “if you like X author you’ll like this” – there was an apt reference as the interpersonal dunamics reminded me of titles from Lauren Layne and Christina Lauren.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpos e of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-av7/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

On the Corner of Love and Hate is such a fun book to read that I did nothing else until I finished it! Nina Bocci introduces us to small town life in Lake Hope, Pennsylvania. Emma (Emmanuelle) Peroni, daughter of the current mayor and co-chair of the Community Development Office, loves her life, even though she works looong hours and has very little time to herself. Her business partner and former best friend, Cooper Endicott, is not pulling his weight since he's thrown his hat into the mayoral race. To top it off, in addition to picking up Cooper's slack, Emma's parents ask her to help Cooper with his campaign.

Cooper is a handsome, and charming man - a shoo-in for the next mayor except for his wild and very public social life. Cooper, the son of the Governor, is well aware of the ins and outs of politics. In spite of that he dates gorgeous women, but rarely more than once or twice. His constant presence in social media is starting to be very detrimental to his chances in the election - more so thanks to harmful press and nasty comments made by his opponent. Cooper desperately needs Emma's help, and is grateful when she agrees. The only problem is that he seems as oblivious to Emma's increasing attraction as he is to why they grew apart in the first place..

How Emma is able to help Cooper, and in turn help herself makes for fun, exciting and romantic reading. Fans of modern romance are going to LOVE this, but Nina Bocci's writing is smart enough to attract any reader. The romantic scenes were very well-written, but not too graphic so I had no problem passing this on to both my teen-agers. Its definitely a book for adult readers, but totally appropriate for young adults as well.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to read an ARC. This was one of my favorite books of the summer!!

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. I should have known this one might not be for me when I read on the cover blurb that this is perfect for fans of love/hate relationships, like Dating You/Hating You which I did not enjoy. Truthfully, this is my least favorite trope when it comes to romances. It feels very disingenuous to me. The political plot of this left me cold, I didn’t feel any sense of connection to either main character and got tired of the office jargon pretty quickly. Also, there were these strange EMMA THOUGHT: quotes throughout the book that totally confused me. It was written in first person narrative, so I don’t understand why these were formatted this at. To use a theater term, it was like the author was trying to break the fourth wall. Maybe it’s a formatting thing in the ARC, I’d be curious to see the print version.

I love a great steamy romance, but every once in awhile I want something sweet and romantic. This enemies to lovers romcom (and a little bit second chance romance) was exactly that and I devoured it in one day.

What I loved about this book:

~ This book talks about the importance of voting regardless of which way you vote. Voter turn out is important for all elections and I enjoyed having a book stress that point. It was also nice to imagine that there are wholesome politicians out there, a girl can dream right?

~ I loved the characters of this book. Even though they're flawed (which makes them realistic), most are likable and relatable. Emma was my favorite and I loved all her little quirks. She was a bit of an emotional mess and a workaholic, but I think all it made her so realistic. I also enjoyed Copper's character growth throughout and I was rooting for the two of them the whole time. I also can't talk about the character without mentioning all of the great friendships and how awesome Emma's parents were.

~ The plot and setting of this book immediately drew me in and I just couldn't put it down. I loved that it took place in small town that was considerate of its carbon footprint and tries to be more environmentally conscious. The will they/won't they gets me everytime, and Emma and Cooper's story was no exception.

What kept me from giving this book 5⭐?

While the romance between the characters is definitely a slow burn, I still found it enjoyable. I really think this story would have benefited from Cooper's POV. I say this a lot about romances, but I really wanted to know what Cooper was feeling throughout the book.

Overall I really enjoyed this one (I laughed more than I expected to) and would recommend it to romance readers everywhere.

Steam rating: 🔥

I really enjoyed my first read by this author. On the Corner of Love and Hate is a great friends to enemies to lovers story. I used to really enjoy political thrillers and stories...it's been a long time since I read one like this one. I read it in a couple of days...an easy read with some fun snark which I absolutely adore...references to the Golden Girls had me cracking up. But throughout the story, what stuck with me was how MOST everyone was working together to keep this small town together and successful. AND how even when you are feeling you want to throw in the towel on whatever you are dealing with, talking to others about how you feel becomes so very important so you don't waste time. But in the end, what should happen will happen, just not in the way you expect it to. I would most definitely read more from this author.

Nina Bocci has been a big part of the book world for years, and after collaborating, On The Corner of Love and Hate is her first solo release - yay Nina!

I live in a small town, so I adore a story set in a small town. I love a friends/enemies to lovers story.

Though our lovelies Emma and Cooper are not on the corner of love and hate - they are pretty much toeing the white line down the middle of a national highway!

It did take me a while to get into this one - I think Cooper at the beginning was so unlikable that he just frustrated and annoyed me. I hated that he had everyone snowed and they all thought he was the bees knees when we could see that he wasn't all that.

And Emma - hoy, make up your mind girly! If you don't want to do something he asks you, don't get sh!tty when someone else does it.

This does have that small town, a bit prudish feel to it (that's probably just me though. It felt more like a bible belt, southern town rather than up in Pennsylvania. I think the only thing missing was somebody clutching their pearls lol.

I did like the secondary characters. and am looking forward to Nick and Henry's stories to come in the future.

I did like that there wasn't toooo much drama or angst - yes, our lovelies had their problems, however there was nothing too OTT or stupid.

I also did find that at times, this story was a bit verbose (look at me, pulling the big words out today!) and could have been 20 or 30 pages shorter.

I liked the story, it flowed well and kept me captivated.

I am now looking forward to see what happens in Hope Lake next.

Emmanuelle Peroni is happy owning and running a very successful business with two of her friends. The last thing she needs is to secretly run Cooper Endicott's campaign for Mayor of Hope Lake!! Her and Cooper have a history - one that she refuses to ever think about and, one that Cooper has secretly hoped, for years, would become more. Now that her father, the active mayor and, Cooper's mother, the Governor of the state, love the idea of Emma and Cooper working together, Emma feels that she has no choice to put the time in. She knows she will be successful but, she 's SO not sure how much more she can deal with spending so much time being around Cooper!!!
The ups and downs and, roller coaster ride of emotions make this story quite an interesting read!

Childhood friend who, somewhere along the way, became enemies.
Emma Peroni and Cooper Endicott have known each other their entire lives and have been the best of friend; but somewhere between high school graduation and college graduation they became enemies. Now the two work together and Emma couldn’t be more annoyed with Cooper with his endless string of women and his womanizing ways. What’s worse is EVERYONE thinks he’s great. Now Cooper’s looking to take her father’s place as the Mayor of their small town and her father is backing him one hundred percent. The problem, Cooper’s reputation. The solution, find Cooper a girlfriend.
I enjoyed Cooper and Emma, although I have to say…Emma drove me batty. Emma rejected Cooper’s suggestion to pose as his girlfriend; yet when he finds someone else, she’s livid. It’s obvious to everyone, including Emma and Cooper that they are attracted to one another, but Emma just won’t let it happen. Cooper was very open and honest with her and Emma shot him down, going for the jugular every single time. There were times when I thought he was downright mean to Cooper. Don’t get me wrong, Cooper was no saint but Emma was just a straight up bitch to him.
I loved the banter between the two when Emma would let her guard down around them; hell, I even loved the banter when they were at each other’s throats. This corner of love and hate had Cooper on the love in and Emma on the hate (although I’m still not sure why she hated him so much. What happened wasn’t really his fault).
Bocci does that thing that I love, she gives you supporting characters that you become very invested in. Rounding out Emma and Cooper’s little quartet is Henry (who I absolutely adore), and Nick. The four have been inseparable most of their lives. I can’t wait to read about them. I’m even curious for Whitney’s story. Whitney just happens to be the root of all that’s wrong with Cooper an Emma.
While I did enjoy this book, there is something that just didn’t click for me which prevents me from giving it four stars.
Add to your TBR beach read.

Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Emma and Cooper’s story made for a perfect vacation read. I enjoyed the small town setting, and the fact that the main characters didn’t go from being extremely annoyed by one another to loving one another at the flip of a switch. The political aspect of the story made for interesting reading without being a “political “ book.

As soon as I read the premise to On the Corner of Love and Hate, I knew I was going to enjoy it. The novel follows Emma, who works for the city of her small town, as she becomes the campaign manager of her best friend turned frenemy Cooper.

"You can't put him first if you're going to lose sight of yourself. His feelings are no more important than yours. You come first. Period."

On the Corner of Love and Hate is a hate to love story. Cooper and Emma grew up together and were best friends, until they had a falling out. They don't get along anymore and are constantly bickering, but they try to get along because they work together, and want each other to succeed.

It was so fun reading about these characters who don't really get along, have to work together to make sure Cooper wins the mayoral race. I enjoyed reading about the campaign and everything that went into campaigning. Both characters enjoyed what they were doing, and it was easy to see that. I also liked the small town vibes from the book. At times while I was reading I got Gilmore Girls vibes because of the setting.

Not only was this novel fun to read, but it was funny too. Emma and Cooper have the best banter. They're so sarcastic with each other and make fun of each other, and I laughed out loud so many times while reading.

"Thankfully, he wasn't shirtless, instead wearing a thin white T-shirt that looked a few sizes too small. 'Baby Gap have a sale?"

Just a heads up, the summary makes it seem like the book is going to be told from both Emma and Cooper's perspectives, but the entire book is just Emma's point of view. I didn't have any issues with this, but I was confused the first few chapters when they were only from Emma's pov.

Overall I really enjoyed this contemporary. It was light and fun, and I can't wait to read more of Nina Bocci's writing!

Have you read anything by Nina Bocci yet?

Emmanuelle's Mayor Dad has tapped her co-worker, who she can't stand, to run for office now that he's retiring and Emmanuelle is the one that has to help him win. Cooper is a PR nightmare - a playboy who doesn't seem to take things seriously, so Emmanuelle sets out to craft a new image of him as someone ready to settle down. But what happens when they both start to wonder if they should settle down with each other?

I really enjoyed this book - it was more than just the romance story, full of small town politics and all of the characters that made the town what it was. I became invested not just in the burgeoning connection between Emmanuelle and Cooper, but also in the mayoral race and Emmanuelle's own personal journey. This was a great contemporary romance to read in the summer.

4/5 stars

I love slow burn, friends to lovers romance. This is my first Nina Bocci book to read and will definitely not be my last.
Bocci has created a small town that I want (actually NEED) to know more about.
Emma and Cooper were the best of friends growing up. Until they went to college and moved away and like most childhood relationships, you lose touch. Other circumstances came into play namely unreciprocated crushes, other people... and when they moved back home and began working in the same field of work, competition struck changing that friendship into more of a hate for each other.
Or so we thought...
You see, I LOVED their interactions—Cooper's smirky smirk, his flirtatious nature, his desire to push Emma's buttons (how he calls her Emmanuelle)... I also liked Emma... how good she is at her job, how much she knows about the campaign business, her desire to help Cooper win despite her at odds feeling about him.
The push and the pull was so much fun... And while I love slow burn, at times, I wished it would have sped up a bit because I wanted more of them together, but I really did enjoy how their journey came to be... especially the epilogue.
I am VERY MUCH looking forward to reading more in this series and this small town. When we are young, we want to move away from our hometowns to get away from our families and experience something different... but that realization that home is where the heart is... where you belong and are meant to be... I enjoyed that feeling in this book... the emotions that Bocci was able to pull from me and can't wait to return to Hope Lake, Pennsylvania.

Enemies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, and for 50% of the book, you get that and it comes through perfectly. From that point everything drags and drags and drags. It’s such a shame because the hate between Emma and Cooper is real. There’s also so much flip-flopping with each of them it gets frustrating. There was also a lot filler about the local town and goings on, some of which I did skim as I didn’t care for it.
Also, for a story that is so focused on Cooper’s campaign, I don’t understand why she never investigated the paper and source of misinformation, as was foreshadowed by the governor’s email early on. The way it was solved was SO unsatisfying.
I also would’ve liked the relationship of convenience aspect to have been played up more, as well as a whole heap more romance!
I really wanted to like this book, the enemies to lovers aspect, as well as the spin on relationship of convenience should’ve been fantastic, but it fell flat.

Slow burn, friends to love and small-town romance all mixed into one...a romance reader's dream.

Cooper and Emma have been friends since childhood. As children the mayor and governor they spent lots of time together as kids.  As they grew up - things began to change but Emma wasn't who Cooper choose and that changed their relationship.  In college, Cooper dated Emma's freshman roommate - they lost their way but after college, they found themselves back in Hope Lake and working at the same job.  There is some serious hate going on between these two. Cooper the ladies man and Emma always picking up his slack.  But all along there is a friendship buried beneath the hate and anger.

The slow burn was sloooooowwww...A little slower than I had hoped but worth the wait.  The back and forth was just enough to keep you going, keep you turning the pages to just see when they would figure each other out.  Nina Bocci's writing is clean and precise and descriptive enough that I thought I was in Hope Lake with her characters.

I read this book in one day -  if only I was on the beach it would have been better.  A perfect, end of the summer read.  Some politics, some friendship, some sexy - all the good stuff in one book. I am so looking forward to more from Nina Bocci - hoping to see some Nick and Henry books in the future!

On the description of this book, it specifically says, “For fans of Christina Lauren..” UM YES. Whatever is being marketed with that, I will for sure pick it up. This book is a typical enemies to lovers but it didn’t pick up for me until around the 70% mark. While the anticipation does build (Will they ever confess what they feel!?), the main character really frustrated me. I found her to have such little redeeming qualities that it hindered me from really loving this one. 3 STARS This is the start of a series and who am I kidding? I am a sucker for enemies to romance so I will probably pick up the next one and hope to love it more than this one.

I was intrigued to read On The Corner of Love and Hate because I always enjoy a good enemies-to-lovers romance. The story follows Emma and Cooper who are childhood friends that work together. Emma takes on the role as campaign manager and Cooper is running for mayor their home town Hope Lake. The two have spent all their lives in their hometown and they’ve been tight-knit friends up until college where they hit a rough patch. Even though they work together, their connection has been broken and it’s not the same as it used to be.

Emily is the mayor’s daughter and she’s always on top of everything. She’s very organized, hard-working, and dedicated. She has lots of ideas to bring to the table and basically ends cleaning up after Cooper’s messes on the campaign trail. Cooper, on the other hand, is the son of the governor and he manages to get caught up in scandals and flirts with lots of women. He’s not always focused, but he’s very passionate in wanting his town to prosper so he wants to win the election.

As Emma and Cooper start to work on the campaign with each other, old feelings start to rekindle. Both of them mourn the loss of their long standing friendship and how working together has actually pushed them farther apart. As they work on trying to reconnect, those residual old feelings of love pop up making things even more difficult for the two of them.

The setting of the book, Hope Lake, is a cozy small town by the lake. It seems quiet, idyllic, while also bustling with many small businesses. Everyone seems like one big family and its a tight knit community that’s trying to strengthen their town and tourism.

While this is a romance most of the book is focused on rekindling Cooper and Emma’s friendship. They work together all the time, but they haven’t really had the time work through the problems that led their friendship to become estranged. They learn to trust one another so that they can win the election and stop the opponent from taking away everything that makes Hope Lake so special. The people and our main characters have such strong pride in their city.

This was a cute romance! At times, it felt a bit formulaic because of the way things happened and I felt like some of the other characters could have been more fleshed out. I liked that the romance was slow-burning and how Emma and Cooper despite take the time to the time to really mend their relationship. On top of that, they grew as individuals figuring out what they wanted in life, but also how to excel in their careers.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a little angsty but really good. There's alot to this book which is why I really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, this book didn't do it for me.

I was excited when this book was pitched for fans of Christina Lauren books, but I can definitely say that that's really not the case. This had more of a Hallmark movie feel to it rather than a super hot/intense romance like Christina Lauren's books. I found myself bored throughout majority of this book because politics played such a huge role in the plot. If there was a little less politics and a lot more romance/tension between the two characters I think this would have worked a lot better.

As far as the characters go I can't really say I was smitten. Emma was rather annoying and there was nothing that really captured my attention as to why Cooper is supposed to be the greatest guy ever. It's hard to power through a romance when you just don't really care about either of the characters. I was also expecting A LOT more of the enemies lovers to trop but this was just more of childhood best friends who grew apart and couldn't connect as well anymore. It was pretty obvious from the first page their neither of the characters hated each other.

Overall, while I wasn't really intrigued by this I did enjoy the writing style of the author. I just wish I could say I liked more than that.

I liked the simplicity of this cover and a small town romance is always good. I enjoyed Nina's previous books this was a little more angsty and serious though. Emma and Cooper were best friends and had a falling out, now with a strained friendship and animosity work together. But then Cooper runs for mayor as a successor to Emma's dad. His campaign is not doing too well as his many past transgressions and love life come to play. Along with him not pullimg his weight at work.

Bring in Emma as campaign manager, that was a whole complicated situation in itself. She wanted Cooper to win at the same time she's frustrated by everything he does.So it goes so many factors into this whole political game, what will win an election. Emma's maybe residual hurt from Cooper making it hard to always be around him.

The angst factor was strong even if there are light moments between them, it was a definite slow burn in terms of them discovering feelings. Lots of almost moments but never followed through. I felt for Emma she struggled with her own feelings she used to really like Cooper but things happened and it all changed.

Cooper was charming and charismatic but he has his failings. He can be better, he loves his hometown with his own political background the pressure makes him screw up. Aside from the main characters there is also two other best friends in their gang Nick and Henry which I think will be the next books. They are colorful and interesting characters as well. The shift in Emma and Cooper's relationship was very subtle and coupled with all the mix emotions and tumultuous history t's not smooth sailing.

This story has many layers friendship, family, community and also politics to unpack. The title is very apt for Emma and Cooper's love hate issues. The enemies to lovers feel is something many will like even if it took the long way to find happiness. I wish there was more of them getting along and not at each other. While some parts didn't work for me I still liked the the plot and the writing. I'm interested in reading the next books still.