‘Meet Me On Love Lane’ for Old Friends and Second Chances [REVIEW]

Henry’s grown up a lot since the last time she saw him. (Photo by Canva)

She’s down on her luck. To make matters worse, she has to move back home to start over. But it’s only temporary. Or is it? What’s a girl to do when the place she left behind reveals hidden charms? Find out in Nina Bocci’s second Hopeless Romantics novel, Meet Me On Love Lane.

Gallery Books

Charlotte Bishop left Hope Lake in her rear view mirror years ago with her sights set on the Big Apple. But New York City is a tough place to live when you’re unemployed and strapped for cash. Although she hates to leave, she soon returns to her hometown to lick her wounds. Disappointed with her lot, she heads back to Pennsylvania,  braced for boredom. But when she gets back to town, she soon discovers that things are much better than she remembers.

Not that it matters much. She only plans to stick around long enough to earn some money so she can head back to the big city. But before she knows it, small town life envelops her in surprising ways: reconnecting her with old friends and family, finding her a dream job in a local florist shop, and falling for two of the town’s hottest bachelors. Wow! Maybe the girl still has some skills after all.

Decisions, decisions. Does she choose the popular high school English teacher or the charming town doctor? The big city or the small town? Old dreams or new ones? There’s a lot for Charlotte to consider these days, but only time will tell which life is truly worth living.

Meet Me On Love Lane is one of those stories that is going to connect with readers on multiple levels. Most of us have heard the old saying, “You can’t go home again.” Bocci proves that adage wrong and shows that sometimes home is exactly where we need to be the most. This is a story about a young woman dealt a losing hand who returns to the town she started in, a place where remnants of her family still reside and a handful of dear old friends wait to welcome her back into the fold once again. This is a story about new beginnings, and seizing second chances where they are offered.

Readers who first visited Hope Lake in Bocci’s debut novel, On the Corner of Love and Hate, will relish the opportunity to visit beloved characters, and delve deeper into the lives of those we only met in the first book. I know there were plenty of folks who wanted to see more of Henry, the school teacher, and they’ll be pleased to get their wish fulfilled here. But they will also fall for Charlotte’s grandmother, Gigi, a feisty old woman with lots of heart and plenty of sass. For me, she made this novel. Still, she helps set the tone here, and thus makes this a great read for those who enjoy novels by JoAnn Ross and Sheila Roberts. It’s a novel that takes its time leading us to the inevitable happy ever after, but it’s a journey that is buoyant and engaging and one we don’t want to end anytime soon.

Nina Bocci
(Photo by Keith Perks)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nina Bocci is a USA TODAY bestselling novelist who loves reading and writing about swoony, relatable heroes and smart, witty heroines.

If it’s set in a small town, even better. You can always find her chatting on social media about her massive, crazy Italian family, and her favorite person in the world, her son.

To find out more, visit NinaBocci.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Goodreads.

MEET ME ON LOVE LANE
By Nina Bocci
304 pp. Gallery Books. $16.

Purchase Meet Me On Love Lane at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Half Price Books, IndieBound, and Powell’s.

Meet Me On Love Lane is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.