• Title: On The Corner of Love and Hate
• Author: Nina Bocci
• Series: Hopeless Romantics Book 1
• Pages: 336
• Genre: Chick Lit
• Rating Out of 5 Stars: 3


My Thoughts: When I read the premise I thought, slow burn romance with sass. Sign me up. I’m all for the hate to love trope.
Emma and Cooper have been close friends all their lives until college comes around. Just as Emma thinks she might have romantic feelings for Cooper and is ready to act on them, she finds him in bed with her room-mate. Insert shoving of feelings into a tiny box to ignore for the rest of time.
After college, both move back home and take up positions in the towns development offices. When Emma’s father announces his desire to retire, Cooper decides he wants to campaign for the opening position but he’s going to need Emma’s help to curb his playboy image. The more time they spend together, the more Emma realizes that maybe those feelings haven’t truly gone away. Only she finds his antics so glaring offensive and obnoxious that she’s not sure if she really does care for him or not.
The verbal sparing in this title is fantastic. Not just between Emma and Cooper but pretty much everyone. This has a wonderful cast of characters to it. I found myself really enjoying Nick and Henry. (I personally would love a story involving Henry. I found him to be an absolute delight and my favorite character in the book)
My big issue was with the romance or lack there of. The political story-line was far heavier then the romance. This may be an odd analogy but the romance is a bit like the underground coal fires of Centralia, PA. They’ve been slowly burning for years but don’t seem like their doing much. Occasionally there will be a break in the surface and things get a little heated for a minute but it heads back underground pretty quick. Everyone and their brother knows it there but they politely ignore it.
The Hate-To-Love trope is very one sided on Emma’s part. Cooper, yes needs to grow up, but I didn’t find him to be so horrible of a person as Emma paints him to be in her head.
When the pair finally do get together its so far into the story that the whole things falls rather flat.
Would I recommend, yes, absolutely. The romance frustrations aside I really enjoyed my time reading it. If this had been plugged as Chick Lit I probably would have rated this higher. Going into it, expecting it to be more of a romance and it taking such a secondary run I had to go more middle of the road.

I really enjoyed this book! On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci is an adorable Political romance between Emma Peroni, daughter of the soon to be retired Mayor of the Town of Hope Lake, and Cooper Endicott, the newest mayoral candidate. Emma and Cooper have known/hated each other for years. So, when Emma’s father convinces Emma to manage Cooper’s campaign, it is with great trepidation that Emma agrees. As the campaign gets underway, Emma puts out the fire on scandal after scandal involving Cooper and his past Playboy antics. But what infuriates her the most is the one flaring up in her own heart, as she realizes that she just might be falling for Cooper.

This book is hilariously adorable. The town of Hope Lake, Pennsylvania sounds like such a cute place to live. The author did a great job describing the details of small-town life. I would totally live there! The main characters, Emma and Cooper were the perfect frenemies. I enjoyed their friendly/ sarcastic banter throughout the novel. When they finally did get together I could feel the fireworks practically shooting out from the page!

On the Corner of Love and Hate is categorized as a Hate to Love romance. I really enjoy hate to love, but this one needed a little bit more. I never got the feeling that Emma hated Cooper. When they would argue, Emma never really seemed mad, just fondly irritated. As the book progressed this irritation projected itself more as jealously when Cooper was interacting with other women. I also wish Emma would’ve stopped arguing with herself and explored her possible feelings for Cooper a little earlier in the book so there would’ve been more romance instead of avoidance.

The ending however was perfect and so romantic! I would definitely recommend this book to readers of romance, chick-lit, and Rom Com! I look forward to reading more by this author!
Thank you so much to Gallery books and NetGalley for this advanced ecopy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Threshold/Pocket Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a sweet book, with a fairly common premise. Boy and Girl fight all the time, oops, they're secretly in love and have been for years. I enjoyed reading it, and liked the style.

My only complaint is that it takes place in Pennsylvania, and when the Governor's Mansion is mentioned, they say it's in Philadelphia. I almost stopped reading right then and there. That's just wrong, and if you want the Governor to live in Philadelphia, just make something up so that that is actually believable. Yes, I did grow up in Philadelphia. Why do you ask? :)

3 1/2 stars

This book was good. Entertaining. Likable characters. But I didn’t believe any of these characters were real. I also felt like some of the story was choppy and there was some stuff left out. There seemed to be some main characters that differed from the first half to the second half of the story.

It was a cute story. Anyone who likes a cute quick romance story would like it.

This didn’t quite work for me. This was an enemies to lovers story about childhood friends Emma and Cooper. Cooper is running for mayor of their small town and Emma agrees to be his campaign manager. While it was a cute premise, I never felt the sexual tension between the two leads and I struggled to like either of them. It seems I’m in the minority with this opinion so I still recommend this to fans of small-town, VERY slow burn contemporary romance looking for something light and fun.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this digital review copy. The publisher emailed me directly and sent me a widget in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

Emmanuelle’s father is stepping down as mayor in the town of Hope Lake, Pennsylvania. His protege, Cooper, will be running for office. Cooper (and let’s be honest, Emmanuelle’s parents as well) tries to convince Emmanuelle to run his mayoral campaign.

Here’s the catch: Emmanuelle and Cooper have a complicated friendship. Growing up together, they used to be inseparable. But they’ve grown apart over the years, specifically due to an incident in college. Now, Cooper is a ladies man and Emmanuelle is a workaholic.

Cooper’s campaign is about to change their relationship, making both Cooper and Emmanuelle question what they can handle.

This was a light, fun read. At times I wanted to laugh out loud, and at times I wanted to strangle both Cooper and Emmanuelle for their stubbornness! The story does a great job of explaining why Emmanuelle very much dislikes Cooper, but you also hope she can move past it.

The anticipation that builds over whether or not they’d act upon their feelings was killing me. My only complaint was that it felt a little slow moving.

Great summer read, nonetheless!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

my blurb!
Two friends who were in a long term "frelationship" (a friendship that virtually functions as a relationship) gone awry, now try to coexist as coworkers.

3.5 stars
🔥🔥 out of 5 steam level


what I liked-
This book was really funny. It actually started out funnier than it ended, but I still laughed quite a few times throughout it. I wonder if there will be a companion book because there are so many characters described in the friendship group that seemed to have enough of a backstory to warrant other books!
I liked all the scenes at her apartment… does she need a hypothetical roommate because I’m available. The town she lived in was really cute, I could totally live there! Definitely Stars Hollow vibes.
Her parents were really enjoyable. I loved the scenes featuring her mom.
For the amount of sexual innuendos that were present in this book – I was expecting the actual steam level to be a lot higher than it was. I think this will be a really good book for fans of the unHoneymooners who like a low steam novel!
I read this book really quickly! It was honestly almost four stars, you’ll have to read on to find out why it wasn’t!
You know when two characters really dislike each other and you read the whole book and you’re like… wait what was the big deal? This book explained why she had hatred for Cooper really well. It made a lot of sense and I appreciated that.
So, this also turned out to be a second chance romance…which I tend to really dislike. So overall this rated a lot higher than most second chance romances I read!

what I didn't like-
It featured my least favorite thing in a book where the characters in love with somebody but once they can get together they’re not sure if they actually want to be with them which is annoying to read about. It would have benefited from dual point of view chapters. Cooper could have explained it the scenario with his girlfriend a lot better than he did so that left me wanting more.
So, I almost gave it four stars but I can’t get over the annoyance of a character who isn’t sure if she is in love with somebody or not and then think she’s in love with them but then isn’t sure if she should be with him because it’ll change the friendship. Kind of gave me Josh and Hazel vibes in that sense and I just find that to be really annoying.

I would definitely pick up other books by this author I really enjoyed her writing style and if she does right companion books for the series I would read them!

Happy Reading,
Dux

3.5 Stars!

Today, I have a book I'm excited to share with you for a couple of reasons. If you're a romance blogger like me, you have probably communicated with Nina Bocci or at least heard of her in some way. It's always exciting to see a name you're familiar with publish a book. Or maybe you're like me in another way and became a fan of Nina Bocci's writing with her collaboration with Alice Clayton on Roman Crazy. Either way, I was excited for On the Corner of Love and Hate for both of those reasons. Here is what I thought of Nina Bocci's solo début.

What I liked:

*I knew I liked Nina Bocci's writing based on what I read in Roman Crazy. I wasn't sure how that would translate to a solo novel. I was very happy to find that her writing felt just as strong by itself.
*Emma was a strong female character. She was successful in life. She didn't need a man to hold her hand through life. I liked that when she finally had a man in her life, it was because she wanted one instead of needing one.
*Emma's family. Her relationship with her dad was sweet, but her relationship with her mom was sweet and funny. I loved the texts they shared.
*Emma's friends were adorable! I loved Nick and Henry! I can't wait to see them again.

What I disliked:

*There was too much going on. There were three big things going on all at once and it was a little overwhelming. I didn't know where to focus my attention: the mayor's race, Emma's tense relationship with Cooper, or Whitney?
*The lack of Cooper's point of view. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of Cooper because all I got to see through Emma were the bad things. Even when she moved from hate to love, it was hard to understand why. There wasn't much to show their love for each other. It was so slow burn, the romance was almost non-existent.

Overall, On the Corner of Love and Hate was a strong solo début for Nina Bocci. It made me excited to find out what's next in the Hopeless Romantics series.

What initially drew me in, was this book was recommended as something I would like because I enjoy Christina Lauren and Lauren Layne books. This was a really slow burn for me... and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the characters. I really did enjoy Cooper a lot, Emma is the character I’m not so sold on. I was able to read this in a day, so I love that it was so fast, but I was still left wanting more at the end. I really wish that there is a half star rating because I think I’m on the border of 2.5 and three stars. The story was pretty straightforward and Predictable, but I was wanting a little bit more action and excitement throughout the plot.

Sadly, this was not what I was expecting. I didn't feel anything between Emma and Cooper. If I'm being honest, I thought there was more chemistry between Emma and her friend Henry. This was an extremely slow burn. To be honest, again, I sat this book down several times to read other books. It didn't hold my attention and the main reason I kept going back to finish was because it was an arc and I felt I needed to finish. There were moments in the book where I got excited and thought, her we go it's gonna get good...then it just fizzled out again.

Having your book compared to the genius that is Christina Lauren is something to definitely be proud of. There’s no getting better than those two but it’s also something to dread. That’s a lot to live up to. Nina came close with this one but it didn’t quite make it.

Emma and Cooper have been in the spotlight their entire lives. With their families in the political game and Copper’s family being the founders of this small town, they lived most of their lives in front of the camera.

Emma works for the CDO along with Cooper but it seems as if Cooper has other things on his mind. Those other things being something that puts him into the tabloids. Emma always picking up his slack and it’s coming between their friendship.

With the Mayor retiring, Cooper decides to run for office. If they thought he was slacking off then, he becomes nonexistent as the race heats up. But Cooper has something up his sleeve and has Emma lead his campaign. She starts leading him in the right direction and even suggests him to settle down, even if it makes her jealous. No one wants to vote for a playboy, no matter how gorgeous he is.

With his opponent turning up the heat on Coopers drama and the tension between Emma and Cooper turning heads, can they put their differences behind them to secure the Mayoral race or will their pettiness swallow each other whole?

This was not what I was expecting at all. I was hoping for more awkward moments and all the sexual tension but that was few and far between. This was a political race with some drama thrown in. Not much stood out and it took too long for things to heat up.

On the Corner of Love and Hate was a super slow-burn romance. By the time you got to the romance, you were more invested with the political race. It had its cute moments and was decent to read once. It’s definitely one of those ones you pick up at the library.

I enjoy the finer things in life and literature: slow-burn romance, hate-to-love romance, a healthy dose of angst. Thankfully, On the Corner of Love and Hate delivered everything I wanted in this fun, witty, charmingly romantic story.

I don’t often comment on book covers in my reviews, but I really think this book is going to fly under the radar undeservingly. I don’t hate the cover and I don’t think it’s terrible, but I really think having a cover that was brighter and more fun would attract the eyes of more readers (think along the lines of Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners or Tessa Bailey’s Fix Her Up).

The crux of this story is a frenemies-to-lovers romance, so obviously I was all onboard. Emma and Cooper have a rocky relationship: they were childhood best friends who had a bit of a falling out later in life, and now work together in the same department. The two of them seem to be constantly bickering and arguing, but it’s still obvious that they care about each other.

I don’t think there was a single thing I didn’t love about this book. I adored the characters, the writing was fantastic, and the plot was super compelling. When a book gives me, the reader, a series case of butterflies during the first kiss scene, that’s when you know it’s done a tremendous job building the tension!

On the Corner of Love and Hate is the perfect summer read. It has a great blend of humor, politics, anst, and romance. I’m so thankful the publicist reached out to me about this title because I absolutely adored it. Nina Bocci has another book coming out this fall and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for it!

I'm stretching a little to give this book 4 stars. It's well written. The characters are interesting. Somehow though it failed to wow me. In part, I never felt the hate between these two. Emmanuelle and Cooper snipe at each other quite a bit but the heat isn't there. You know that delicious love-hate that creates a sexual heat the reader can almost feel.

The story is full enough to keep the reader turning pages and the result satisfying though so the book is worth reading for sure. I really did want to see these two work out their issues and find their happily ever after.

Thank you NetGalley for my Arc. I found this book to be a bit of a slow read. The story focused on friends turning to lovers. The main character, Emma, I did not care for. She seemed very rude and bossy most of the book.

Really enjoyed this cute friends to romance book. It is somewhat of a slower read, but still completely enjoyable and a very cute book with a very enjoyable writing style.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good friends to lovers romance. This a great slow-burn story about two childhood friends who finally find themselves where they were meant to be.
This story is filled with humor, angst, and swoon worthy moments. I loved it! I am looking forward to reading the second book in this series.

Overall, I would say I enjoyed this book and would give it 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the author's style of writing, the premise of the story, the background of the characters, and most of the characters within the story.

My mixed feelings come when I try to understand why Cooper is still friends with Emma. I realize that after being friends since early childhood, she got hurt and they drifted apart, but her harshness and disrespect toward him was sometimes so extreme I wanted him to fight back and not take it from her. He may not have been a perfect person, but he seemed much kinder than Emma and I wanted to see that leveled out a bit. She definitely needed to be a strong character that stood up for herself to be in the position she was in, but to be that cruel to someone who has been a friend and who you may have feelings for became a bit frustrating.

The sexual tension between Cooper and Emma was well-written. The secondary characters added a great deal to this book - especially Henry, Nick, and Sophia. The small town feel made the characters come to life because everyone knew them and had opinions about them.

Probably one of my favorite parts of the book was the epilogue. The way it wrapped up was a wonderful wrap-around from where they had come from to where they were headed. Perfect!

I did enjoy this story, and I hope to read about Nick and Henry finding their true loves in books to come!

If you enjoy a slow burn, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers book with a heavy dose of local politics then this is the story for you. The first 2/3 of the book drags out the politics and enemies portion of the story. The final 1/3 deals with the original friendship of the two main characters of Emma and Cooper and then moves that forward into the love affair portion. The plot moves slowly, the romance moves slower. While on the one hand, the character building the author does is well-written, there’s a bit too much angst for me throughout the first 2/3.

Ultimately, for the first 2/3 Emma and Cooper were annoying characters on and off, with hearts of gold underneath. If nothing else, one is very clear that they both LOVE Hope Lake and have put all (or most…) of their energies into supporting the town in a variety of ways. Both characters prove themselves to be good people and hard workers – their personalities are very relatable. For all the sturm-und-drang of the first 2/3, the readers are rewarded with a solid love story at the end.

I loved the small town political backdrop of this fun, flirty battle of wits between two former best friends. Emma is exactly the sort of heroine I could see myself being best friends with.