Meet Me on Love Lane

In the feel-good second installment of Bocci’s Hopeless Romantics series (after On the Corner of Love and Hate) a tepid love triangle takes a backseat to the plucky heroine as she learns to love herself. At age 10, Charlotte Bishop was torn from Hope Lake, Pa., by her parents’ bitter divorce. Two decades later, she moves back to the quaint town her mother despised. Her father and grandmother, Gigi, welcome her with open arms, as does her childhood friend, Henry, now a high school teacher, and the town’s handsome new doctor, Max. As Charlotte rediscovers her home town, she begins a relationship with Max, but their dates are frequently interrupted by medical emergencies, and she can’t deny the pull she feels toward Henry, though she remembers very little of their early connection. The love interests feel oddly flat, but the idyllic setting is vividly rendered and Charlotte’s personal growth as she builds a home for herself is handled with compassion. Readers will enjoy this sweet, fluffy tale that sits squarely at the intersection of romance and women’s fiction. Agent: Kimberly Brower, Brower Literary & Management (Dec.)