This book just wasn't for me. Normally I love enemy to lovers but I just got super frustrated with the characters in this book. Emma seemed to overreact to everything and didn't allow anyone to give explain themselves. I DNF'd at 65%.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the ebook of On The Corner of Love and Hate.

I love romance stories where characters go from hate to love. My favorites include The Hating Game and The Unhoneymooners. I can now add this to my favorites list.

I loved Emma and Cooper’s relationship. I thought their banter was hilarious. I thought Emma’s strength and no b.s. attitude was a highlight in the book. You can not go wrong with strong female characters.

Cooper’s antics were frustrating, but in a good way. I could not stop turning the pages to see if his antics were going to make Emma realize her feelings for him.

I also loved the characters of Henry and Nick. I can not wait for their books!

I loved everything about this story and the characters except the fact that there was way too much political mumbo jumbo and logistics when there should have been more romance! I wanted to feel all the feelings when Cooper and Emma were in the same room but the focus was solely on his political campaign. Emma needed to be a little more playful and fun but she could not let things go that related to work and that started to lose me at times. I am all for aspirational and being a work-a-holic but she needed to have other hobbies in her life to make her more likable. Other than these few issues, this was the sweet romance I needed. I liked the writing style; I could see this as a great Netflix romance. It read like a movie and I loved that.

Will post review and call to action on Sept 8th in instagram. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you for the galley copy.

I recieved this ARC copy from Netgalley. Emma and Cooper are frenemies working together in the same office as well as together on Cooper's campaign for mayor, a postion Emma dad fills. I love the frenemies concept and the author nails it but where the book lack was Emma change of heart for Cooper. Emma drove me nuts and I did not connect with her at all. Cooper developed so well but Emma just fell flat for me. Other than that I loved the concept and premise very much

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The good...the cover is gorgeous!! I love it! The enemies ...or in this case, frenemies to lovers trope is one of my absolute favorites...and I didn't hate it here. This story was just sort of slow and plodding and predictable for me. Which isn't a bad thing...but in an enemies to lovers story did feel a bit out of place ...pacing wise. 3 stars.

This is a frenemies to lovers story.I enjoyed the small town set up and the atmosphere.The romance was great and the characters good. I didn't feel connected to the characters and this was my main problem.


"He might have been the single most irritating person in the world to me, but still, I could appreciate his appearance."

I'm sad that I didn't like it a lotbutI'm definitely going to read her next book!

3-3,5 stars

This is a frenemies to lovers story.I enjoyed the small town set up and the atmosphere.The romance was great and the characters good. I didn't feel connected to the characters and this was my main problem.



"He might have been the single most irritating person in the world to me, but still, I could appreciate his appearance."

I'm sad that I didn't like it a lotbutI'm definitely going to read her next book!

I am a sucker for hate to love books and this is no exception. Emma and Cooper has been friends for years until a girl came between them. They are both now adults and she is now trying to help Cooper’s image while he is running for mayor. While she is trying to deal with all the emotions during this the girl that came in between them comes to town. I love this book! I need more! It always makes me happy.

4.5 Hearts

On the Corner of Love and Hate is the first book in the Hopeless Romantics series by Nina Bocci. I read her first book, Roman Crazy back in 2016 and was excited when she announced she was releasing a series! I don’t want to spoil anything and the synopsis explains a lot so I will make this fast.

Cooper and Emma have been friends since they were in diapers. Their friendship has gone through some ups and downs throughout the years. Working together in the same office since after college has had the same results. They are friends but she always wants to slap him. Even more so now that he was running for Mayor. His focus is on that and not his day job which she gets but it doesn’t make it less frustrating. Especially when he says he has a meeting when he really means a date. He needed to get his act together and somehow she was roped in to helping him keep him from a sex scandal before he is even elected. She knew he was the right man for Hope Lake. He just needs to listen to her. Can he keep it in his pants long enough to get elected?

Cooper and Emma seriously act like an old married couple. Everyone sees it. And everyone thinks they would make the perfect pair. Except, he is too much of a Manwhore and she is too much of a planner. But, what will happen when they are forced to really look at themselves and each other?

I enjoyed their story. It was a bit slower than I like but the end result was wonderful. I do love a good enemies to lovers romance. The banter is dynamite. Ready to explode.

Overall...it’s a great start to a new series. I did fall for the characters even if they frustrated me. I also fell for the town and the secondary characters. I am excited for their stories.

Quotes:

Thankfully, he wasn’t shirtless, instead wearing a thin white T-shirt that looked a few sizes too small. “Baby Gap have a sale?” I quipped, side-eyeing the way the sleeve gripped his biceps.

“You got this, Cooper,” I said gently, brushing a piece of fuzz from his shoulder. “Be yourself. The kids will react to that, since you have about the same maturity level as they do.”
“Hardy har har,” he mumbled.

“That promise of yours didn’t last very long.”
“Oh, I think we both have an idea of how long I can last, Emma.”
“Jesus, Cooper, can’t you curb the innuendo for a minute!”

I think perhaps this small-town romance was just not for me. Felt kind of like a caricature of small town life/city vs. country divide/"careerist" women?

On The Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci, is set in the small town of Hope Lake, PA. The story is a deep dive into small town politics, specifically a mayoral election and the community development office, and a slow burn romance between life long frenemies. Super slow burns typically miss for me but, I enjoyed how Bocci brought Hope Lake to life as its own character and the verbal sparring between Emma and Cooper. I was rooting for them to get it together from the first chapter! This is the first in Bocci’s Hopeless Romantics series and I’m looking forward to book two, Meet Me on Love Lane (Dec 2019).
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Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the gifted ARC and eARC copies of this book. All opinions are my own.

* I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.*

This book was published on 8/20/19 so if you're looking for a sweet romance with an HEA, pick it up!

It has been way too long since I've reviewed a book! I've been in a reading slump lately, and hadn't been able to find something to keep my interest since the last book I tried to read and had to DNF (which I HATE). On the Corner of Love and Hate is a book I will never forget, because it not only got me out of my slump, but it kept my mind off of the seriously sad stuff going on in my life at the moment.

Our main character Emmanuelle has a love/hate relationship with her former friend and current coworker, Cooper. They grew up together and were able to understand each other, both having come from parents with political backgrounds. Now Emma is trying to help Cooper win his own campaign, while trying to guard her heart from falling for him. This was a sweet read. There wasn't a TON of sex, and it wasn't so graphic that I couldn't read the book at work, even though I didn't. The romance itself was built up in a way that made it believable, and even though it wasn't a plot twist type of book, it was a HEA, which I definitely needed in my life. I truly enjoyed ALL of the characters in the story and the small town itself. Having grown up in a small town, I could appreciate the characters' love for their homes and how that affected their relationship. I would definitely recommend that my library purchase this series, and I look forward to reading the next one coming.

I wish I liked this one more. It reads like a YA contemporary romance, even though the characters are in their late 20s with real careers.

What I Liked:
1. The setting. I love small town romances, with the nosey neighbors and community mindset.

2. The parents. They have opinions, but aren’t pushy.

3. An ethnic heroine. My best guess is that the heroine is of Latin American heritage. The hero seems Caucasian.

4. The political storyline including how actual fake news runs amuck and is created and pushed by a thoughtless politician.

5. There’s a HEA

What I didn’t like:
1. The moments of immaturity, for a lack of a better word, are frustrating.

2. I think the story suffers most from only being told from the heroine’s POV. There were countless times when knowing what the hero is thinking would humanize him in the same way the heroine strives to, for the sake of the mayoral campaign. At any given time he’s a jerk, clueless, or aloof because that’s the heroine’s read on him. Frankly, I don’t trust her opinion. She’s still raw because of a decision he made in college and his occasional (or maybe frequent) bouts of acting like a horny frat boy are colored through that lens. I so wish I could have read his thoughts and judged him for myself. I know it would’ve made the book better.

3. I actually like the friend Henry more than the hero. He seems like an attractive, kind, standup guy. I think a story misses its mark when you kinda wish the heroine ended up with a different guy who happens to be a pretty minor character.

My final thoughts:
While I can’t recommend this one, I do think that if your'e a YA fan, you’ll appreciate this romance a lot more than I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Enemies to lovers stories are really not my jam and this book did not convince me to change my mind. The writing was well done but the characters were lacking and the romance was lukewarm. I did enjoy the small town setting.

The Cover is the first thing that drew to me this book. After reading the blurb I couldn’t start it fast enough I love a good enemies to lovers book.

Emma and Cooper work together and he has been slacking lately. With him running for mayor he has slacked on his job. Emma decides to help Cooper; she likes being around him even though she will never admit it.

They focus so much on the past and the hurt there. There were times I wish they were more focused on now and what was going on between them. There were some great parts in the book that had me smiling. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more of Nina Bocci ‘s work.

Nina Bocci is a tremendous presence on social media, championing authors and books in the romance community for several years. She’s a devoted mom and a heck of a person. So, when I heard she wrote a book (her second book), I had to pick it up. I’m so glad I did.

First, I am not a fan of new adult stories. Their angst-ridden storylines always tear me up, leaving me physically ill which is why I avoid them. I didn’t know this was a new adult book until I began reading. And even though there were some parts that I had problems with, the writing was just too good for me to stop. I could not put the book down!

The dialogue was funny, engaging and occasionally exasperating. The plot was crazy good, and the characters were lovingly and intricately crafted. Cooper and Emma had intense chemistry. Their scenes were always powerful with their love/hate relationship spanning over two decades. That’s a lot of freakin’ history!

I wanted to punch Cooper in the nuts several times and I wanted to shake the hell out of Emma just as many. These two absolutely deserve each other. They were exhausting. And yet, they were deeply complex characters that provoked so many feelings and emotions.

Cooper and Emma were supported by an amazing secondary cast of characters that complemented the storyline well. They also helped cut through some of the tenser scenes with comic relief. I do hope we’ll see them in future books.

Ms. Bocci did a fantastic job bringing this story to life. While I did have some issues with the angst level, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I’m looking forward to the next one.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆
This story of love and small town politics focuses on the relationship between Emma, the mayor’s daughter, and Cooper, her lifelong frenemy and the next mayoral candidate. As the election becomes increasingly heated, Emma and Cooper must put their personal issues aside and work together as professionals.

Despite Emma’s professional roles, she manages to be almost completely emotionally incontinent. Emma has way too much whiney Bridget Jones self-pity for me to really enjoy her as a character but there are a few moments when she grabs a backbone and I liked her. Emma is at her best when she unleashes her smart, waspish tongue and she’s at her worst whenever she’s thinking about Cooper – which is most of the book.

Cooper is an interesting character. He’s the embodiment of every charming, handsome, and work-shy man I’ve had the opportunity to work with and I hate that he never notices how much he depends on Emma cleaning up after him. We only get a few glimpses of the real Cooper under his polished veneer and in moments of vulnerability he is likeable.

I’m not a huge fan of the relationship between Cooper and Emma. I think the constant stand-offs, shouting, ghosting, etc. are supposed to suggest sexual tension, but I just kept wanting Emma to sever ties and start fresh. These two aren’t nice to each other. Their connection is pure angst and Cooper’s actions cause Emma constant self-doubt. By the end, I just wanted to shake some sense into them both. The tension between these two made me tense and the story made me frustrated.

For me, the strengths of this book lay outside the two main characters. I enjoyed the town and the quirky residents. I really liked Emma’s family and I enjoyed Emma and Cooper’s friends. There is also an almost magical screen romance worthy moment when Emma walks away from Cooper’s party that I loved.

‘On the Corner of Love and Hate’ is the first book of Nina Bocci’s ‘Hopeless Romantics’ series. It is also Nina's solo debut. I really enjoyed her writing style; it was fluent, lighthearted and intriguing. I have been struggling with two thoughts from the beginning till the end....
1. What will happen next?
2. I don’t want this to end.

So to say the least it was a pretty fast read for me :)

Emmanuelle, aka Emma, Peroni was born and raised in Hope Lake. Emma is smart, kind, hardworking and really loyal. She loves her hometown and the only time she was away was when she was in college. Her father is Hope Lake’s mayor and he has been the mayor as long as she can remember. However, he decided to retire and for the next elections he is supporting Hope Lake’s golden boy, Cooper Campbell-Endicott. Cooper’s mother is Governor Clare Campbell and his ancestors were one of the town’s founders so it is easier to say he has big shoes to fill. Emma and Cooper grew up together. As kids, they were really close since they were both grew up with politicians and had to attend most of the festivities with their parents. After college both Cooper and Emma moved back to Hope Lake and started working for Hope Lake Community Development Office (CDO). However, now their close friendship is long gone and they can barely tolerate each other. He has been slacking his responsibilities in CDO due to his campaign work and Emma had to pick up the slack. As you can imagine she is not really happy with extra workload and Cooper’s attitude. Since Cooper is known as a ladies man and his social calendar seems full with dates, Emma assumes Cooper is just using elections as an excuse. What she doesn’t realize is Cooper has too much on his plate and not enough time to do everything. He is also under a lot of stress because he doesn’t want to disappoint his mom and Emma’s dad. When Emma’s parents pursue her to become Cooper’s campaign manager, she starts to understand Cooper’s busy schedule and the pressure he is under. But the problem is Emma has a huge crush on Cooper and she is having hard time to let go of the past. To tell you the truth, at one point it gets annoying and I just wanted to shake her so that she can act like an adult and not like an immature adolescent. The biggest problem between Cooper and Emma is lack of communication. Instead of talking with each other to solve the issues, they ran away. Towards the end of the book you finally get more insight and see how the misunderstandings caused by lack of communication effected their relationship. I wish this book was written in dual POV. It would have been great to understand Cooper and his actions more.

‘On the Corner of Love and Hate’ is sweet, charming and lighthearted small-town enemies to lovers story. Thank you so much Nina for taking me to an amazingly sweet journey. I cannot pass without mentioning it, I loved the side characters including town's meddling elder population :) I am looking forward to read Henry and Nick’s stories. Second book of the series ‘Meet Me on Love Lane’ will be released on December 20th and I cannot wait to read it :)

Would I recommend this book: Yes.
Would I re-read this book: Yes.
Would I read future books by this author: Yes.

Thank you @netgalley for my free copy of On the Corner of Love and Hate by @ninapolitan in exchange for my honest review.
When Emma’s father the mayor asks you to help turn the image of his protégé and mayoral candidate around, Cooper, she couldn’t exactly say no. So despite their messy past, Emma has to help Cooper find his lady love and settle down, while Cooper may just be falling for the mayor’s daughter.
I always enjoy and good enemies to lovers and this book was no exception. If enemies to lovers, small town romance is your jam I say give this book a try. You’ll have to have some patience though, because this won’t be dropping until August 20,2019.

On the Corner of Love and Hate is a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance with a really great small town love story with some politics mixed in. I really loved Emma- she was smart, funny, and had an amazing love for her town. Cooper was sweet, but clueless. Their relationship was interesting - at times they appear to have a strong chemistry between them and then at other times there was no heat. So my interest in the book was on again/off again. The really liked the politics of the story though and the connection to the small town. I also would have liked more of Emma and Cooper’s past at the beginning of the novel rather than the end. I think it would have changed the way I felt about their relationship and kept my interest more.

Overall, I really fun and heartwarming romance that is perfect to read in one sitting. Thank you to Galley Books so allowing me to read an early ARC.