New Release: On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci + Review!

On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci is now available! 

For fans of Christina Lauren and Lauren Layne comes a delightfully sassy and sexy romance about a campaign manager who reluctantly works with the local Lothario to help revamp his image for the upcoming mayoral elections, only to discover that he’s hiding something that can turn both their lives upside down.

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. 


Buy Links:  

Amazon: http://bit.ly/OtCoLaHZon
B&N: http://bit.ly/OtCoLaHBN
iBooks: http://bit.ly/OtCoLaH

Giveaway!

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/c19552ce22/

Review:

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.