The Hating Game

This may have ruined hate-to-love romances for me!

I AM IN A PUDDLE OF FEELINGS. GAAAAH.

I finished this book days ago, and I still can't deal with the fact that it's over. I both regret and don't regret the binge-reading (finished in less than 24 hours...mid-work week). I'm just glad I have this in both audio and Kindle format so that I can read/listen again and again whenever I want because THIS WAS TOO GOOD. (The audio is done really well, FYI.)

I love love love hate-to-love romances, and this one is done so well and so uniquely. We've got forced proximity on a daily basis, glorious banter, and oodles of sexual tension. OODLES.

If you follow me on Twitter or have read other reviews by me, you might know that I am not a fan of the short and petite heroine thing. Not every damn heroine needs to be a tiny redhead. So I wasn't impressed at first when, lo and behold, Lucy is only five feet tall. Pair that with Josh, who is over six-foot. Authors tend to write these stereotypical pairings without thinking of the logistics; if you take a moment to think about it, making out with a height different of over a foot is going to be uncomfortable at best, and possibly even quite painful. BUT NOT SALLY THORNE. Sally actually thought this one through and acknowledged the difficulties. Lucy has to climb at times, Josh has to bend down or pick her up (to put her against a wall!!!!!!!), there's a lot of "I think you're too big for me"... Thank you so much, dear sweet Sally, for not just ignoring real world problems. (P.S. I want Anna Kendrick in this role right now.)

Lucy was a great character in general. The whole story is narrated from her point of view, and I really felt like she was real. She was hilarious, but also snarky and unsure and flawed. She knew and liked who she was, but she also struggled with self-doubt at times. It drove her absolutely mad that she could get on with everyone except Josh. But, like I'm sure a lot of people can relate with, her desire to be liked by others often meant she was taken advantage of. By everyone...except Josh. Oh, Josh, you were clearly what Lucy needed.

I would have found Josh annoying, too. He's very clearly a Smart Guy, but also sooooo serious. Unlike Lucy, he doesn't try to make friends with everyone, and the reason for his standoffishness is revealed later. What was refreshing was that he was Ridiculously Good-Looking, but he hated being objectified. When Lucy remarked on his looks, it put him on edge. I'm not used to seeing that, especially from a hero. He could be quite direct, but Josh showed he cared when it counted. I especially loved a part in the middle where he had to take care of Lucy; there were so many wonderful and funny moments in that, as well as a few that showed a deeper side to him.

Yes, I loved just about everything about this book, but I really loved was how we didn't have to wait until the very end for things to sizzle. Sally introduces the physical fun relatively early on through some super sexy make-out sessions. The sexual tension runs constantly as the two stare at each other across their desks, and, being an office romance, there are of course moments when the tension gets to be too much and a few not-so-original hiding places are utilised. That being said, it never gets too explicit. And really, their banter is hot enough as it is.

Full disclosure: there is a bit of a love triangle in this. Josh doesn't consider himself a "nice guy". In fact, he's a bit bitter about the whole nice guy thing. And Lucy is a nice girl, at least outwardly (she has a bit more spunk on the inside...hahahahaha). She wants a nice guy, and she tries to be interested in a nice guy, but the niceness cannot compare to the intensity of her "hatred" for Josh. He even encourages her to try it with the nice guy, dares her to be with him, in fact. This was maybe the only time I felt a bit off about the book.

The style of writing and voice were very witty and well-paced in general. Time was shown to pass without unnecessary fillers and enough drop-ins to scenes here and there that truly added to the story and the development of feelings. Honestly, that's one of my biggest issues when reading: unnecessary fillers or there not being enough time for feelings to really develop. But no, these two have worked together for a few years, and the book covers a few months, so I could 100% believe the eventual love between them.

There's a reason I finished this within 24 hours, despite having to work/sleep/etc. It was just so damn good. I'm genuinely worried that it's ruined other hate-to-love books for me for a while, as I've never read a hate-to-love done this well, and I've read quite a few great ones! I will admit that while I'm eager to see what Sally writes next, I'm a little bit nervous that it won't live up to the greatness of The Hating Game!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

love this audiobook

love love love this book! I have re-read this book and will do again. Enjoy

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Kind of gets boring...

In the beginning of the book I really liked the story line, but after a while, chapter after chapter, there was no 'story' any more and the plot became repetitive and quite uninteresting...

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Cute

Cutesy, romancy, a lil’ bit sexy and lots of fun. Although the story was predictable from the start, the build up created an enjoyable journey to the conclusion. I think anyone who works in an office environment will recognise and appreciate some of the power games played by the two main characters. A light, easy to listen to audiobook.

Slooooow

Narrative was drawn out & predictable.
Lucy, the protagonist, is slightly pathetic & not very quick on the uptake! Don’t waste your time.

4 Mustard Shirt Stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mustard Shirt Stars

This was such a fun read I really enjoyed it.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeton are work colleagues...well I say colleagues, but what I really mean is that they hate each other, not even a little bit, they actually HATE each other in caps!!

They work at a publishing house together, side by side, day in, day out, and the hate fuels both of them to get one up on each other all the time.

Joshua is quiet, moody, sly and wears a god awful mustard shirt on a Thursday, every Thursday, this drives Lucy crazy.

Lucy is nice to everyone, and everyone loves Lucy, but people walk all over her and she lets them, this drives Joshua mad.

Now they are both up for the same promotion and ready to Battle it out.

Because it is a senior position, they know that the loser will probably have to resign because they will not work under the victor.

The games they play against each other are hilarious, we have the Staring Game, the super fun HR Game, and the usual general Hating game.

You probably already know that this is going to turn into one of those Hate-to-Love type books, and you'd be right, but this one was done brilliantly.

I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud listening to this book, the characters, the one-liners and the inner thoughts of Lucy were fantastic.

🎧🎧 Narrated by Katie Schorr, who was just fabulous, this is one to add to your ever growing TBR.

Happy Reading

Absolutely brilliant

I loved this book so much I didn’t want it to end. A perfectly choreographed hate to love tale that had me hooked from start to finish. Loved it so much I’m going to buy the paperback to read again

A great book

This book started out as a decent story, and just got better as it went on and I got more emotionally invested and the characters developed. Loved it by the end!

Pretty good

Narrator was great, however, struggled to finish the second half of the book, slightly lost its momentum

Loved it!

Sally Thorne has a new fan. I loved the ebook and the audiobook did not disappoint. ❤❤❤