For fans of Lauren Layne and Kristan Higgins comes a delightfully “fun bit of fluffy entertainment” (Publishers Weekly) in the first book of a charming new series, in which a young woman is forced to help her old friend revamp his image for the upcoming mayoral elections…and discovers that she might not be as immune to his charms as she once thought. When Emmanuelle Peroni’s father–and … Peroni’s father–and current mayor of Hope Lake, Pennsylvania–suggests she help with Cooper Endicott’s campaign, she’s horrified. Cooper, one of her (former) oldest friends, drives her crazy in every way possible. But he’s also her father’s protégé, so Emma reluctantly launches her plan to help him win the local election.
It’s not as easy as it looks. Cooper’s colorful love life is the sticking point for many voters, and his opponent is digging up everything he can from his past. It seems that every time Emma puts out the flames from one scandal, another one flares up. Emma knows that if Cooper wants to win, he needs to keep his nose clean. The only problem? She might just be falling in love with the one person she promised never to pursue: the mayoral candidate himself.
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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.
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.
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
‘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.
Author Nina Bocci delivers a refreshing romantic book.
I enjoyed that this book had a good dose of romance, politics, love, humor all rolled into one.
As the title states, these characters were a pleasure to read.
Emma & Cooper kept me throughly entertained.
I liked that these two characters were childhood friends. Emma & Cooper lacked in communicating to each other their love for one another which made reading this story fun to see their development and love grow.
I love a good angsty read which builds you up on finding out whether these two characters will finally find love in each other.
This book delivers it!
Go One Click it & I look forward to the next book in this Series!
4.5 Popped
On the Corner of Love and Hate felt more like women’s fiction to me than romance except that it’s more fluff than fiber where the storyline and characters are concerned. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, we could all use a little fluff from time to time, but the romance here is a slow burn – like the flame is barely there type of slow. I expected an enemies to lovers story, but I never really got that from Emma and Cooper. They do have some fun banter, and we’re told that there were some sparks in the past, but I just didn’t see much chemistry between them. They could’ve ended up just good friends, and I would’ve been fine with that. I do like small town stories and on that, this one delivers. The town is charming, and the characters are quirky and fun. I even enjoyed the politics and Cooper’s double-dealing opponent made for an interesting bit of trouble in the mayoral race. I did have one pet peeve with this book, and that was the random ‘Emma thoughts’ that would pop up. At first they were amusing and even cute, but after so many, it was more distraction and started to wear at me. Fortunately, those do fizzle after a while and they don’t happen as often in the last half of the book. In the end, this one wasn’t quite what I expected or hoped for, but I did enjoy meeting the characters of Hope Lake, and I will check out other books from this author.
4.5 Delightful Stars!!
On the Corner of Love and Hate is book #1 in the Hopeless Romantics series by author Nina Bocci. This is a political romantic comedy about a guy (Cooper) running for major who depends on his ex-childhood best friend (Emma) to help him out with his campaign.
Cooper had been Emma’s first love crush, and eventually they went their separate ways out to college, until years later when they end up working in the same office, where there is a lot of tension, and competitiveness between this two.
However, Emma’s dad wants Cooper to take over his job by becoming the new mayor, and for her to run his campaign, which includes cleaning up his image after the other candidates decide to play dirty. Anyways, this is all I’m telling you about this amazing read, because I hate spoilers.
All in all, in my personal opinion, this delightful read is fun, complex, romantic and refreshingly amusing. I love the characters, the push and pull, the playfulness, the slow burn romance, and their town. I really loved and enjoyed following Emma & Cooper’s journey, and the fact that their story didn’t became an insta-love one.
This book really evokes more than just emotion in me, and that’s exactly what I love about stories like this one. Now I want nothing more than to start listening the audible version of it!
Can’t wait for the next installment in the series!!
I recently finished reading the finale in a series that I loved and I’ve been ‘stuck’ on what to read next…wanting to read, but worried that what I chose to read would disappoint…I’m sure you’ve all been there before. Anyway, I received an eARC of this story from NetGalley (Simon & Schuster eGalley) for an honest review and decided to go ahead and read this hoping against hope that the story would be just the thing I needed to get me past my reading slump. I must admit, this story did NOT disappoint!!
Nina Bocci is a great writer and I was drawn into the story very quickly. The writer did a wonderful job writing a … for lack of better words… ‘political romance’ that really wasn’t political and more romance. The main character, Emma, is a strong woman when it comes to her views and work, however, she really doesn’t know how to admit her feelings for her love interest, Cooper. I enjoyed reading the banter between the 2 characters. I found myself laughing, crying, and relating to Emma throughout the entire book (and I’m not even a political person at all). Nina Bocci used wit, humor, romantic chemistry, a political campaign, and small town charm to write an engaging, exciting, and fun romance. If you’re looking for a book to read that you will enjoy AND root for the couple to have a happily ever after, look no further because this IS the book for you. Nina Bocci has gained a faithful reader in me!! Enjoy, it will be worth your reading time!!
On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci was a slow burning frenemies to lovers romance. Emmanuelle Peroni, Emma, does whatever it takes to ignore and stay away from Cooper Endicott, however, when her dad asks her to help Cooper, she can’t say no. Even if she really wants too. Once friends, now anything but, she needs to help turn his image around as her father, the current mayor, is endorsing Cooper as the next mayor. As they navigate through their working relationship, we see them work through past issues. A romance full of angst and push and pull.
3.5-stars. Happy reading!
There was a lot to like about On the Corner of Love and Hate
A fun and meddling cast of characters
A villainess you want to hate
A reason for the enemies situation
A slow burn that has some serious fireworks when it finally catches
But there were a few things that just didn’t work for me
The unresolved Whitney storyline X
The somewhat awkward kitchen scene X
The whole crisis mode post the kitchen scene that didn’t really make sense to me X
Overall I liked the book and I’ll definitely give the author another try.
I received a complimentary review copy of this book but all opinions are my own.
On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci is book one in her Hopeless Roamntics Series. On the Corner of Love and Hate is a full, lengthz, standalone romance novel. A slow burn, a witty and fun summer read, excellent written, beautifully thought out and beautifully told.
Emmanuelle Peroni is a successful campaign manager and when the local lothario needs a image update, prim and proper Emma gets roped in a whirlwind of a romance.
I’m a huge sucker for swoony heroes and smart and witty heroines. OtCoLaH meets this 100 percent.
I was captivated from start til the end and read the book in one sitting. 5 Stars.
I am always on the lookout for a love story that revolves around politics. So after reading the book blurb, I just had to request On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci. This is a friends to enemies to lovers romance, with a cast of characters that are interesting and entertaining. Unfortunately, the pace was a bit sedate throughout the first half of the book, and the slow burn between Emma and Cooper took too long to heat up. Happily, the ending and the epilogue left me smiling from ear to ear. This is the first book from the author’s brand new series, Hopeless Romantics, and it can be read as a standalone.
Complimentary copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
On the Corner of Love and Hate is a “frenemies to lovers” workplace romance set against the political backdrop of a pivotal mayoral race in the fictional town of Hope Lake, Pennsylvania. It’s a charming, mostly light-hearted story that fans of Hallmark romance movies will likely relate to and enjoy, complete with a happy ending.
Emma and Cooper, its two principal characters, have a love-hate relationship that, at least temporarily, is heavy on the hate, light on the love, and fraught with conflict. Theirs is an often-painful journey that’s steeped with possibility–but also burdened with unresolved, unspoken, deeply conflicted feelings for one another. Add in their defensiveness and an utter inability to communicate honestly, openly, and non-judgmentally, and it’s a recipe for disaster from the beginning until nearly the end. Sometimes I wanted to hug them; sometimes, I wanted to smack them in the head and tell them to grow the hell up. But I felt something, every step of the way. So will you.
Like any good story, the villains are shallow, self-serving, and ultimately doomed to fail. Emma and Cooper are idealistic, intelligent, hopeful, and reasonably lovable, but are also imperfect and relatable. The secondary characters–parents, townspeople, old friends, and co-workers–are quirky and memorable, supporting the MC’s while adding depth and setting the stage for two promising sequels. I’m especially looking forward to Henry’s story–he deserves his very own happy ending.
On the Corner of Love and Hate is a delightful, thoughtful late-summer read that will happily tide you over until the annual Hallmark holiday movies begin. I hope to see more of Emma and Cooper as the Hope Lake saga continues. I think you will too.
Nina Bocci gave me a book I couldn’t put down. I was drawn into Emma and Cooper’s story. I loved the fact they had been childhood best friends who grew up in a tiny town. Friends turned enemies turned co-workers. They had a mutual respect of each other in business, but some of Cooper’s personal choices left him as a giant thorn in Emma’s side.
These two, the humor, the banter, the bickering…yep. That’ll hook me every single time.
Add in the long lost feelings and the obvious crush and you can’t get rid of me.
I am a sucker for an enemies to lovers romance.
I am a sucker for a friends to lovers romance.
Somehow, Nina delivered on both of these.
4 Stars!
Emma Peroni is a 28 yr. old woman from a small town in northern Pennsylvania called Hope Lake. Her dad is the mayor, and she herself has a government job as well. She worked in an office together with her childhood friend Cooper Endicott. They were considered the home base for the town, and had their hand in pretty much everything. When emergencies happened, they fixed them, but lately Emma finds herself picking up most of the slack since Cooper is busy running for mayor.
Cooper and Emma were inseparable as kids. They had a lot in common, and both of them grew up in politics, and loved their hometown. They’d known each other over twenty years, and had gone from best friends to often being at odds. He was her first crush, and had driven her crazy for over two decades. Their relationship was now fraught with tension and competitiveness, and she was tired of cleaning up his messes. He was a gorgeous, guy with a magnetic personality. He was Hope Lake’s golden boy, and the town loved him. Even though she couldn’t stand him lately, she agreed he would make a wonderful mayor. What she didn’t plan on is being involved in his campaign. When the other candidates decide to play dirty, she reluctantly agrees to help him revamp his image in the public eye. Spending so much time together, will she be able to resist falling for the enemy?
On the Corner of Love and Hate is the first in a new series by author Nina Bocci. This book is Hopeless Romantics, #1, and Nina’s solo debut. It’s a flirty, workplace romantic comedy with a fun political twist. I really enjoyed this lighthearted, charming enemies to lovers romance!
3 stars. On the Corner of Love and Hate is Ms. Bocci’s debut book. This is Cooper and Emma/ Emmanuelle’s story. Cooper and Emma were best friends growing up in the same small town, until an incident in college made them grow apart. Now they work together in the town planning office and Cooper is running for mayor. Emma hates Cooper for their past, but still thinks he would be a good mayor. She is drawn into helping him campaign and, somehow, a romance develops. Old feelings emerge and new feelings begin.
Ms. Bocci’s writing is very good. There are vivid details and descriptions of small town life and characters. I can see this book appealing to many, especially general fiction readers. However, as an avid romance-only reader, this book was not exactly what I normally read and love. While I enjoyed the story in general, I didn’t totally love or believe in the romance.
The relationship between the couple is complicated, messy and angsty, full of drama. Cooper and Emma are flawed characters and, while I liked them, they both made big mistakes in their treatment of each other. Cooper is a manwhoring manchild, always getting into scandals with women and acting irresponsible at work. I had no faith that he could handle running a whole town as mayor, when he seemed to constantly slack at his current town planning job. His promiscuous past is brought up on nearly every page. Emma is rude and hateful to him most of the book because of that and because of their past missed connections romantically that are not explained fully util near the end. We only get Emma’s POV and she “hates” Cooper for most of the book, not able to admit her feelings for him, even to herself. Neither of their characters were endearing, but I liked them well enough by the end as they both changed slightly for the better. Cooper and Emma’s relationship develops from hate to love but there is not enough discussion for me as to how they got to love. They only have a few stolen moments near the end of the book where they admit feelings for each other. But there was no time in an actual relationship. There is OW drama in the form of Whitney- a hateful ex of Cooper’s and ex-friend of Emma’s, but we never really find out if Cooper was trying to make a real relationship with Whitney work in the present, if he was sleeping with her, etc., all while secretly having feelings for Emma. Whitney is his “fake” (?) girlfriend throughout most of the book, until the very end. That part was very vague and bothered me. I needed to know that to believe in the love between Emma and Cooper, instead it hung like an unanswered question in the back of my mind the entire book. I also felt like Cooper got off too easy for his behavior and treatment of Emma. I needed a grand gesture from him. Overall, I felt Emma and Cooper’s romance was lacking in chemistry and was lukewarm.
Beyond that though, the book was entertaining. I could see it as a movie, even if I didn’t totally love the romance. The story was fun and interesting. I did find it a little long and drawn out. At times, it is a little wordy and too detailed. But I liked the small town, family feel. I enjoyed the quirky townsfolk and the opportunity for other stories set in this world. I think Ms. Bocci’s writing has good potential and I look forward to more from her in the future.
First thing I absolutely love this cover and so fits this story!! On the Corner of Love and Hate is a slow burn, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers lighthearted romance. It is set in a fictitious small town with their interesting characters.
Emma and Cooper were the best of friends growing up until they moved away, went to college and like most childhood relationships, they lost touch. Time and distance just change things and Cooper inadvertently broke her heart couple times.
Cooper is a big flirt and knows every button to push to get a reaction out of Emma and he does it quite often. Cooper is always getting himself into some kind of trouble.
There was so much up and down, push and pull between these two which in some cases makes for some very funny moments.
I really enjoyed this story with Cooper and Emma and all of the secondary characters of this great little town of Hope Lake.
Small Town Politics. Small Town Romance. This book does an excellent job of showing both small town romance and small town politics – and take it from someone who has actually ran a couple of small town City Council races himself. 😉 Lots of angst, yet still reads like a Hallmark movie and is told from the singular perspective of the female – a rarity in my experience these days. Truly great work, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where Bocci goes in the sequel. Very much recommended.
Who doesn’t love a good rom-com? I keep wanting to think of words that aren’t on the blurb to describe this book but they fit this book so well. Just know you can definitely trust the blurbs. This book is a perfect blend of humor and heart. It is a delightfully sassy romance comedy. I can’t wait for the rest of the books in the series. I could totally see this as a movie on the Hallmark channel.
I really enjoyed this charming, heartfelt, enemies-to-lovers romance! This slow burn, rom-com is filled with witty banter, awkward situations, and a sweet small town storyline with lots of heart. Emma and Cooper have been friends since they were young. When misunderstandings and miscommunication happen, they are at odds as adults. When Emma agrees to help Cooper with his mayoral campaign, old feelings and hurts come to a head. Emma frustrated me at times with her stubbornness, and I also wanted a bit more romance mixed in with all the campaign activities, just sayin’….. I did love Cooper and how determined he was to keep Emma close until he could convince her that they were always meant to be together. I also loved their friends and family who were so loyal and supportive, and made this story even more fun. I would love to revisit Hope Lake, and find out more about their friends, especially Henry!
Rated 3.5 Stars
I struggled with On The Corner of Love and Hate in the beginning but it grew on me. It’s a mash up of a few things, women’s fiction, contemporary small town romance, friends to lovers and enemies to lovers with a political bent. It’s also sweet with a bit of humor. I liked it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Copy provided by publisher through Net Galley