ARC Review: “On the Corner of Love and Hate” (Hopeless Romantics #1) by Nina Bocci

“On the Corner of Love and Hate” (Hopeless Romantics #1) by Nina Bocci

Publishing Date: August 20, 2019

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

Page Length: 336 pages (electronic review edition)

Synopsis:

What’s a campaign manager’s worst nightmare? A smooth-talking charmer who’s never met a scandal that he didn’t like.

When Emmanuelle Peroni’s father—and mayor of her town—asks her to help rehab Cooper Endicott’s image, she’s horrified. Cooper drives her crazy in every way possible. But he’s also her father’s protégé, and she can’t say no to him without him finding out the reason why: Cooper and her have a messy past. So Emmanuelle reluctantly launches her father’s grand plan to get this Casanova someone to settle down with and help him lose his lothario reputation.

Cooper Endicott wanted to run for Mayor, but he never wanted the drama that went with it. Now that he’s on the political hamster wheel, the other candidates are digging up everything from his past. Even though he’s doing all the right things, his colorful love life is the sticking point for many of the conservative voters. He wants to win, badly, and he knows that if he wants any chance of getting a vote from the female population, he needs to change his image. The only problem? He might just be falling in love with the one person he promised not to pursue: the Mayor’s off-limits daughter.

A perfect blend of humor and heart, On the Corner of Love and Hate is the first in a new series from USA TODAY bestselling author Nina Bocci. (description from Goodreads)

Review:

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.

Final Verdict: