This week we are looking at an excellent tale of small town life and life long best friends who have a tumultuous history as adults. This week, we are looking at On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci.
I gotta admit, I really, really liked this one. It is no real secret that I am a former political activist who actively left a political project to start this very project. In that former period of my life, I even ran for City Council twice in a town very similar to Hope Lake, and indeed the things pushed by our narrator and her family and friends are actually similar to my own goals for that town back in the day. So I really identified with this book. 🙂 For those who need a political fix but don’t want to pay attention to real world news, this can be your Nicorette. 🙂
But even without such a personal connection, this book is genuinely solid in a Hallmark movie kind of way. Lots of angst, quite a few misunderstandings, and even a nefarious opponent or two. Maybe my only minor quibble is that I like the actual title of a book to show up in the text somewhere, and that is missing here – though the title does indeed describe our narrator’s struggle quite well.
Excellent work, and very much recommended.
And as always, the Amazon/ Goodreads review:
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.