Book Review: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Title: The Hating Game

Author: Sally Thorne

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Pages: 384

Format: E-book

Published: August, 2016

Price: $7.99 -> Rp106.235 (Amazon)

Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Date started: June 7, 2017 - Date finished: June 8, 2017

Synopsis:

Nemesis (n.)

1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;

2) A person’s undoing;

3) Joshua Templeman.

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.

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.

Review:

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman are both assistants to the co-CEOs of Bexley & Gamin, a publishing company. They both hate each other and are sworn enemies, mainly because they're such polar opposite. Lucy is a friendly person and Joshua is kind of like a robot. One day, the co-CEOs of B&G announced that the company is creating a Chief Operating Officer that'll be working on the day-to-day operations of B&G. Both Lucy and Joshua want that position. Their feud reaches new heights as both are vying for the same promotion and neither wants to work for the other.

During a company retreat, when the company went to do a little paintball. Lucy got a little competitive even though she was a little unwell. At the end of that day, her condition became worse and Joshua took care of her. This introduces a side of Joshua she never knew existed. Then after that things became weird for them, especially after Joshua kissed Lucy in the elevator. They thought maybe they don't have to hate each other, but shared mutual hatred is the only thing they know of each other.

Love and hate are visceral. Your stomach twists at the thought of that person. The heart in your chest beats heavy and bright, nearly visible through your flesh and clothes. Your appetite and sleep are shredded. Every interaction spikes your blood with a dangerous kind of adrenaline, and you're on the brink of fight or flight. Your body is barely under your control. You're consumed, and it scares you. Both love and hate are mirror versions of the same game – and you have to win. Why? Your heart and your ego. Trust me, I should know.

This was also a really entertaining book with great writing (and it's her debut as well!), chemistry between the main characters are top notch. You can definitely feel the hatred, competitiveness and annoyance between Lucy and Joshua and can't help but laugh at their office games and shenanigans. Other than that, the author can also build this deep personality traits in her main characters and throughout reading we get to find out more about Joshua and Lucy, why they are like that, what started their hatred. I liked how it wasn't just dumped in a certain chapter but was told throughout different points of the story.

I am one of those people who like the hate-to-love troupe, and mixed with a dash of office rivalry turned romance? Even better. This book was crazy fun, I enjoyed every part of it from the witty banters to their sweet moments. I laughed, I cringed, I grinned. This book made me change facial expressions multiple times. This book would be a really great movie, I can already picture Anna Kendrick starring in it because in my head she's Lucy. I don't know who to cast as Joshua but I'm really digging Chris Pine right now because I still can't get over how great he was in Wonder Woman. I do know that Rose Byrne would be a perfect Helene though! (Unrelated to the book but I just had to say it).

"You're chronically addicted to making people adore you." The way he says it makes me feel a little sick. "Well, excuse me for doing my best to maintain a good reputation. For trying to be positive. You're addicted to making people hate you, so what a pair we are."

You might ask why I didn't give this book a 5-star rating. Well, the answer is very very very shallow but please don't judge me, having read quite a bit of erotica I'm quite well versed in what makes a good sex scene in books. This book, being really great on other aspects, had a bad score for me on the sex scenes writing. I mean come on, the author kept referring to Lucy's vagina as "my sex." I think by now we all know the word vagina, it doesn't need to be masked by the word "my sex," which is super displeasing for me to read.

"Self indulgence is a tricky thing. It can be hard to get yourself back on track once you begin indulging trivial little impulses."

This is definitely perfect for fans of chicklit books from authors like Sophie Kinsella and Lauren Weisberger. But what's different about this book from those of Kinsella's and Weisberger's is probably the use of sex scenes (I haven't read everything by Kinsella and Weisberger so correct me if I'm wrong) because I don't think they do those things in their books.

That's all for now!