In the second installment of this series (Hopeless Romantic) - Nina Bocci has given us a small-town romance the likes of a Hallmark movie!

This time of year everyone is gearing up for Hallmark Christmas movies, but I am going to suggest - Hallmark Summer Movies and this book needs to be the first movie made.

Charlotte's return to Hope Lake after her life in NYC has fallen apart.  She hasn't been there since she was a child and little did she know she has memories that have molded her.

Charlotte is broken, but slowly she's returning to her glory.  Learning to forgive herself and love herself too.  She's funny, smart, driven and a bit indecisive at times.  But seriously - choosing between the hot English teacher (who was her childhood best friend) and the new town doctor who looks like Idris Elba isn't an easy decision.  Both of these men offer two different paths and Charlotte doesn't know which road to take.

The cast of characters in this story is what made me love it even more.

Emma - the best BFF ever (who we fell in love with in On The Corner Of Love and Hate).

Cooper & Evan - the childhood friends of Charlotte's who made me laugh through the entire book).

Henry - oh Henry, the ultimate man - the hot English teacher, volunteer at the local bookstore with the town's kids (swoon) and all-around good guy.

Gigi - Charlotte's grandmother who is an absolute spitfire and also had me cracking up through the entire book.

Another sweet, small-town romance with just a touch of spice...I love this kind of book, it just makes me smile.

Meet Me on Love Lane was a fantastic and realistic story about small towns, friendships, love and always being able to come home. This book was funny and heartfelt as we followed Charlotte and her return home twenty years after being forced to leave by her mother when she was ten years old. We get to see her reconnect with family, friends, the town and even herself as she navigates learning who she is, what she really wants and why she always loved Hope Lake. ⁣
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We also see Charlotte being pursued by two men…the charming Dr. Max and childhood best friend Henry. But Charlotte does plans to return to NYC, so which man is willing to be happy with the “for now” relationship she is willing to offer?⁣
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This is my first book by Nina and I really enjoyed it. I was completely pulled into all the craziness and small-town atmosphere of the people of Hope Lake. I was totally invested in which man Charlotte would end up choosing and the love story was very slow burn, which is my favorite thing ever. This book is full of amazing characters, like Gigi and Emma, plus we get to see a beautiful love story. If you are looking for a book that will touch your heart, check out Meet Me on Love Lane.⁣
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I received an ARC from in exchange for my honest opinion. Meet Me on Love Lane releases on 12/10. .

I fell for Henry after meeting him in On the Corner of Love and Hate and have been dying for his story. Nina Bocci did not disappoint! Meet Me on Love Lane is such a beautiful, feel good novel. It's funny and romantic and though there are sad moments in the book, the book itself was so hopeful. This is book 2 in the Hopeless Romantics series, but can be read as a standalone. It would be most enjoyed, however, if you read the books in order since previous characters appear and that is where we first meet our hero, Henry.

I was hooked from the very first chapter and couldn't wait to get back to it whenever I had to unfortunately put it down. I really enjoyed Charlotte's healing journey back home. Yes, there are serious moments and heartbreaking ones too, but I loved how everyone in the town of Hope Lake came together to welcome Charlotte with open arms (well, maybe not Birdy). The cast of secondary characters were fantastic and I loved catching up with Emma, Cooper, and Nick. It was Charlotte's grandmother, Gigi, who really stole the show though. She was so supportive and had me laughing out loud so many times! I can only pray that one day I am half as amazing and cool as Gigi is when I'm (hopefully!) a nana myself.

Oh, sweet Henry. There hasn't been a character in a long time that has checked all of my boxes the way he did. Henry was everything I love in my heroes. He was smart, understanding, compassionate, loyal, honest, thoughtful, and so much more! I know that many readers (myself included!) love all different kinds of characters. There are the bad boys, the alphas, the manwhores, the jocks, etc, but no one ever beats the all around good guy to me. I loved everything about him and when I learned the story behind his cochlear implants, I only loved him more.

I was worried at first when I read the synopsis, because I was afraid this would be a love triangle. Once you start reading though, you will see that that's not the case at all. This childhood friends to lovers/second chance-ish/slow burn romance will have you smiling and swooning throughout. The epilogue was the sweetest and was truly perfect for our characters. I can't wait for Nick's story next and those sparks that were flying between him and Parker have me very intrigued. Meet Me on Love Lane is not to be missed!

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

4.5 stars
This book had me on tenderhooks wondering why Charlotte couldn’t remember certain moments of her past! The memories that did surface were minimal at best and she struggled as to why!
I was captivated after initially wondering whether things would get more interesting and the storyline grabbed my attention the further into the book I read!
I genuinely loved Charlotte’s grandma, she was fantastic and the way she was with Charlotte made me miss my grandma! I thought the connection between her and the group of friends was wonderful and how certain things brought the past to light and I especially loved how the book ended!
This was a beautiful book that reminds us some things can stand the test of time and all with a small country town feel!

Meet Me on Love Lane is a slow-burn small town/second chance romance. Charlotte lived in Hope Lane as a child, but her parents' divorce took her away from the town, and her best friend Henry, when she was just 10 years old. Years later she returns, expecting it to be a short stay, but the town has a way of pulling her back in.

A lot of time is spent on the town, on the ambiance, and the setting. Charlotte and Henry don't actually start interacting until well-into the book, which is a little bit too slow of a slow-burn. We don't get to really experience them falling in love until very far into the book, which makes it a little hard to become invested in their relationship. You're pretty invested in Charlotte and Henry individually, thought.

This is a sweet small-town romance. An easy read.

What I Liked

-I’m obsessed with that cover! I think it just screams Fall, which is my favorite season. I’m just going to ignore the fact that this book mostly takes place in the Summer and not the Fall, though…

-I love the small town setting. I wish Hope Lake was real because I would totally move there. I loved how close the residents are and how they support each other.

-I liked seeing the characters from the the first book again. We get to know Henry and Nick a little better in this installment and I am looking forward to Nick’s story next.

-I liked Charlotte’s relationship with her father and grandmother. Her grandmother was kind of crazy and unrealistic, but she brought a lot of comic relief that I enjoyed.

What Didn’t Work For Me

-While I liked Henry and Charlotte, I never really felt their chemistry. We were supposed to rely on their childhood friendship to support their strong feelings in the present, but we only get one scene with them as children, which Charlotte doesn’t even remember, and they haven’t seen each other in twenty years. It just wasn’t enough for me to buy it. I could’ve used more development.

-After Charlotte was made to move away, she completely blocked out everything from her childhood. Honestly, this was a little hard to believe. I felt like the really traumatic part of her life was living alone with her mother in New York and blocking out those memories would have made more sense.

-There was a lot of repetition in the writing. Take a shot every time Charlotte says “You’re not wrong” and you will quickly become too drunk to keep reading.

-The whole subplot with almost dating Dr. Max didn’t really accomplish anything. It was barely a love triangle, which isn’t my favorite romantic trope anyways, and it just didn’t work for me.

Overall

Overall, Love Me on Love Lane was just ok for me. I did like the characters and loved the small town setting. However, the pacing felt very slow, I was never really sold on the romance, and most of the big plot points didn’t work for me. That said, I still plan on reading the next book in the series because I like Nick.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Wow what a good story. I devoured his book and want more from this series. Highly recommend this story

This was a new to me author, and I am looking forward to reading more from her. This was a fun, heartfelt romance.

A heartfelt romance that shows it’s ok to go home again!

Home is where the heart is but for Charlotte her heart wasn’t in the town she found herself in again! She made it her life’s mission to get back to New York; but the town she grew up in and the town she was standing in where total opposites and she found herself falling deeper and deeper in love with the charm and the people!

We get to experience Charlotte’s growth and see how she is adapting and learning to see the world again through different eyes! I loved this story because it’s not just a love story but a “how to love myself story” we get to see Charlotte navigate life and learn just how beautiful small town life can be!

In the quest to figure out her life Charlotte A very good looking kind doctor that enjoys spending time with Charlotte. She also reconnects with an old friend and Henry holds a piece of her heart that even she didn’t know about!

*5 Stars*

ARC kindly received in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, and much more than the first in the series (not that I didn't like that one though). I really liked watching Charlotte get to know her old friends, and learn what the town of Hope Lake was really like.

I was really intrigued to find out who the boy from the prologue was, and I had a few suspicions which were eventually proven right. And what may seem to be a love triangle on the outside, really turns out to be something else than that. I was very curious to learn about Charlottes past, and why her mother had done and said all these things.

Charlotte's friends were great (we did meet Emma, Nick and Henry in the previous book), and I truly loved her grandmother Gigi. What a larrikin! This was a wonderful tale of a young woman trying to find herself and her place in the world, and I enjoyed every second of this book. I also think we have been given a glimpse into who the next couple may be, and I cannot wait. Definitely recommend.

I enjoyed this sweet story of small town living and coming home. Charlotte returns to the home she hasn't visited since she was torn away by her mother as a 10 year old. She is planning on this being a temporary stay but her dad and grandmother want her to stay. Reunited with childhood friends, Charlotte finds the small town is not what her mothers rantings led her to believe and old memories are reawakened. I enjoyed the characters and the dialogue in this charming book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for a copy of this book to read and review. For me it was an ok read! 🤷🏻‍♀️ I had head great things about book 1, On The Corner of Love and Hate. I haven’t read though and I wonder if I would have enjoyed the book more if I had. This story is about Charlotte who is forced to return home but just temporarily. She meets a Dr. and a teacher. Love triangle commences. I must say though this has the best cover! I love it! Most people seem to LOVE this book so I think I’m in the minority with it being ok.

This story is sweet. It's funny and intelligent. It's heartwarming and it made me smile. I loved reading this book. The characters and the town are so much fun and I can't get enough of them. I am definitely looking forward to reading more from Nina.

Very cute read. Easy to get lost in the story of a young woman returning to her small town roots and the love she left behind. It's like every glorious romance movie set in a small town and I his just warmed my heart.

How cute is this cover?! The story inside is just as adorable. Full of heart and fun, this story of second chances brought me so much joy! The setting is idyllic, the characters realistic, the storyline sweet and happy. This is all the makings of a perfect Hallmark movie! Sometimes you just need a little sweetness in your life, and Meet Me On Love Lane was just the book I was looking for. For me, this was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 read. Thank you @gallerybooks for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

This Hallmark-esque story was brimming with sweet moments, both romantic and otherwise.

I've "known" Nina Bocci ever since I became a blogger, as she has represented some of my favorite romance authors. However, this was the first book of hers that I've read, and I was really impressed. Sometimes that transition from blogger/PR to author has been a rocky one, but that is not the case here. She featured a slew of likeable characters - Charlotte (the heroine), Henry and Max (two potential love interests), Gigi (Charlotte's sweet grandmother), Emma (one of her BFFs), and Nick (Henry's friend). On top of that, she brought a small fictional town, Hope Lake, to life - a town I wish was real so I could visit it, at the very least.

The story itself is more about the direction of Charlotte's life, having been blacklisted in her NY field of work as a florist/party planner. Short on funds and opportunities, she returns home for the first time in over a decade. Charlotte learns quickly that the town and people within it have changed a lot since her last time there. As an outsider, I was drawn in immediately and don't know why it took so long for Charlotte to see the appeal and potential for her in the town, both career-wise and romantically. There are certainly a lot of people in her corner that try to make the decision to stay, an easy one.

What I didn't understand in the story was why she has lost all memories of her childhood friend, Henry. I've heard of blocking memories, but usually those are bad ones, not happy ones. So, the reconnection between Charlotte and Henry is a very slow one (yes, I'd qualify this story as a slow burn). But ultimately, the memories are impossible to escape, and Charlotte runs out of excuses.

Although Charlotte was a little frustrating at times with her lack of direction, I really fell in love with the town of Hope Lake and its community, all focused on one thing, making the town successful. I loved how the town embraced Charlotte's new venture, making it more than a temporary one.

If you are looking for a book that is full of character, and enjoy sweet reunions, check this one out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC.

I loved this. It happens to be the second in a series and I've also read the first. These are sweet novels with lovely characters who are loyal and kind, and it's just the perfect setting. Makes me want to live in a small town. Now I just need someone to write a book telling me how to find that perfect small town!

Charlotte moves back home to regroup and ends up falling in love. With the town, with her long time friends, with her family. A heartwarming balm that came at just the right time for me.

This was my first book by Nina Bocci, and the plot made me excited to try it! Reading it was like watching a cozy Hallmark movie. Charlotte was a good character, and I'm always down for someone having to choose between two men. This is a second book in a series, but can read as a standalone.

This book is begging to be made into a Hallmark Channel movie. A big city girl who comes back home to her small town after many years, to reconnect with her childhood best friends, finds her dream job, and of course gets inadvertently stuck in a love triangle between the hot high school English teacher and the sexy doctor. Charlotte was a bit of a mess. She was undecided, unsure, and completely lost. She came back hoping to find direction in her life, but she ended up finding herself along the way. Henry was a book lovers dream. Seriously, where can you find a more caring, patient, and oh so swoon-worthy lead. He’s an English teacher ✔️, who reads to kids at the local bookstore✔️, with a banging bod and is completely unaware how good looking he is✔️, and wants to be in a committed relationship and isn’t looking for something temporary✔️. The first half of the book was a bit slow for me because I felt there was a lot of explaining and background of each of the characters and how they all intertwined. It made me a bit impatient for the romance story to start. There’s also a lot of the story that references parts of the first book and I feel like you wouldn’t understand if you didn’t read it. I felt like there was a missed opportunity to give Charlotte’s characters depth. I felt like her mental health and her relationship with her dad were just brushed over. Also I would have loved to have seen this book with alternative POV’s. Henry was an amazing character in this and I was dying to see what his thoughts were. What this book had going for it were its strong side characters. Gigi was amazing. She was the wit, humor, and a bit of the heart of the book. She was the stable constant that Charlotte needed, encouraged her when she needed it the most, and was there for her when she needed a good laugh or a shoulder to cry on. The writing was captivating enough to keep me interested and the author has a way of making the scenes and characters come to life. Here’s to hoping Nick gets his own story soon!

This book was very sweet, which is something I’m not always into, but there was just enough mystery and comedy to spice it up and make it perfect. I really enjoyed Hope Lake and the cast of characters. The details about floral arrangement and the quirky, techie grandma, Gigi, were great touches. I liked the mystery surrounding Charlotte’s lack of memories from her childhood in this cute hometown and it was nice to see her get back involved with not only the town, but her friends, family, and business dreams as well.
Just like any hallmark-movie-ish-book, it was a little unbelievable in its cuteness. Of course there was a festival, a quirky cop, a local watering hole... the perfect building to fall into place for a dream business and creating town council committees and park developments were just easy-as-pie, but the dialogue and details were enough to keep me from rolling my eyes.
The love story was very sweet. Of course Henry & Charlotte are dramatic about their romance and both unnatural stubborn for anyone actually “looking for love.” I didn’t love the “love triangle” aspect or the forwardness of Dr. Max (seemed way too unbelievable for me), but he was a fun addition otherwise.
Random side note: I’m not sure why the cover has a pile of fall leaves when the entire book is set in summer, but it’ll definitely draw the attention of basic girls like me, haha.
I’d recommend this one to fans of romance, small towns, grandparents, flower shops, and cute friend groups.