The Hating Game by Sally Thorne Published by HarperCollins on August 9th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Fiction, General, Humorous, Romance
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Nemesis (n.)Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.
Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
So basically everyone and their mother has been raving about how good this book was… it had been sitting in my queue for quite a few months and I just hadn’t gotten to it. When the amazing reviews started coming in, I decided to grab it and start. That said, when books get tons and tons of glowing comments I tend to read with a bit more of a critical eye than I usually would. So yes, short story, I loved this story, but there were a few things that bothered me and kept me from giving it the full 5 stars.
Lucy and Joshua hate each other… no, not just dislike… but hate. They don’t even hide this fact, anyone and everyone they are associated with know all about this hate.
As you may or may not know, I really love hate to love stories! I’ve admitted before, but it’s probably one of my favorite tropes out there. So Lucy & Josh work for the same company, they are executive assistants to the Co-CEO’s of the publishing company they work for. They also just happen to be vying for the same promotion. Lucy has to get this position because she refuses to have to answer to Joshua and she vows that if she doesn’t get it she will quit.
But as the saying goes… there is a very thin line between love and hate, and as we get to know both Lucy and Joshua, you realize maybe they don’t actually hate each other, and maybe they have more in common than either could have imagined.
First of all, I really loved the characters. Thorne really lets us get to know these two really well… I loved all their interactions together. The banter is witty and smart and the dislike is so believable you almost worry that things really won’t work for these two! And I think that is where a bit of my issues came up. First, and please keep in mind, these are pretty minor things, but they did bother me, the amount of times that Lucy talked about how Joshua looked kind of drove me nuts. I honestly would normally not have noticed this but for some reason it just stuck out to me every time she mentioned it. Second, the things that Joshua said to Lucy and how much it affected her… it just about broke my heart. The plus side to that is that Joshua does realize pretty quickly how harmful his words are and can be to her and does a lot to acknowledge that and apologize for it.
Overall, this book had me smiling and laughing and turning pages like a madwoman. I really loved the ending, it was sweet and believable! If you’re looking for a sweet, fun, romantic comedy, this is the book for you. Thorne is definitely an author to watch and if you haven’t yet read this book, I highly recommend it! I’m excited to see what is next for this author.
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