The hating game
Ratings270
Average rating3.7
*4.5 stars
Yes, I've read this book three times.
Yes, I will probably read it again.
4,5⭐️
Not the full 5 stars because a leak in the story, but I was annoyed by the continual use of the words ´tiny, small, short...´
YES we all know by the middle of the book that Lucy is only five feet, thanks for pointing It out fivehundertbilliom time - really not necessary
I seen Lucy Hale in the trailer and read the book like she was narrating it. I loved the movie and this book. The author writes so well, I loved the things Lucy worried about, her freak outs, and worries.
His Blue Bedroom
“Watching you pretend to hate that nickname is the best part of my day.”
I decided to start my review of the hating game because it truly reminds me of the play ground in grade school where guys would pick on the girls as a way to show they were interested and while some girls truly hated it some actually secretly loved it. I think there should be a bit of Lucy Hutton in all of us and I will tell you why. Lucy Hutton always dreamt of working in the publishing industry, as an avid reader her love for all things books was greater than anything she'd ever known, being hired by Gamin Publishing was everything she had ever imagined, but when her beloved company was on the brink of collapse and merger with another struggling publishing house, Bexley Books, became her reality, her career goals stayed alive, just barely, with a host of personnel cuts and the loss of her best friend Val, her work world was rocked. The day she met Joshua Templeman seemed like a possible new beginning, but his cool disregard of her almost immediately sent shockwaves through her usually cherry demeanor, a war began that day and with every day that past their mutual dislike of each other grew. He tries to break her and she lives to hate him. it's a rollercoaster that I didn't want to get off of until the very end. I started the journey with Sally Thorne a bit backwards because I was first introduced to her with 99 Percent Mine. I however am so glad that I ended up coming back around and reading The Hating game because it is pure perfection.
“You've broken me down so completely, I can't even handle it when a guy tells me I'm beautiful.”
The Hating Game written in the first person point of view painted Lucy as both incredibly smart, and extremely funny, every snarky thought, every snappy comeback, every moment of despair mixed with joy as Joshua slowly became Josh in front of her eyes and ours. Every moment in this book served to cement my love of the author's words, I was invested immediately, but each new chapter brought with it feelings of awe, the more I read the deeper in love I fell, the more real Lucy and Joshua felt, the more their personalities jumped off the page and straight into my heart.
“I'm about to lose something I never had to begin with.”
The Hating Game is slow burn in the very best way, Thorne builds not only the connection between her hero and heroine but the readers attachment to them, their witty dialogue assisted to entice the reader into losing themselves in one of the best bouts of drawn out verbal foreplay that I have ever experienced. Usually when I enjoy a book it only serves to make me want to devour the words, here however I simultaneously wanted to speed read my way to end, and slowdown in order to savor every moment. I loved every second here, I wanted to drown in Thorne's words, I wanted to escape into Lucy and Joshua's world, stand in the corner, watching them like a creeper, I wanted to befriend them, I wanted to relax with Lucy over a glass of wine after a long day at work and get book recommendations from them both. , I wanted to know everything that happened in between every moment, every lost look, every sigh, every secret smile. I have slowly fallen in love with the beautiful and easy writing style that seems to be Sally Thorne's way and I can't wait to read more.
Overall, I think this book was way over-hyped for me. I was disappointed with how much I didn't love it. A majority of my dislike stems from the fact that I could barely tolerate Lucy. I also didn't really feel the chemistry between Lucy and Joshua.
Main character is extremely hateful. Also why would you stay in a job because you hate a guy so much. Idk, main character annoyed me and seemed super childish and couldn't continue.
Listen to this on audio and fell asleep a little bit while listening, but I was able to follow most of the story. Going to abstain from a rating since I technically miss some parts, but since it's a romance it was pretty easy to keep up with.
This book was soooooo cute.
You follow office rivals both competing for a new management position. They hate each other, and constantly create tension in the office. You watch as this hate slowly dissolves and becomes something new entirely.
I really enjoyed this book. I read the first 70% via audiobook, then switched to ebook. The best part of this book is for sure the banter. Their conversations and Lucy's inner dialogue were so funny, I found myself laughing out loud multiple times. Josh and Lucy's relationship is fun, snarky, and sexy. I definitely recommend this book to romance fans.
Thinking ab this book again and how much I did not like it....... Down a star it goes lol
big nope
—————-
- during their first kiss: “Shut up, I hate you so much.” is this meant to be.... hot?
- literally don't even have sex until 86% of the way into the book yet they talk about having sex the entire time
- felt NO chemistry
- weird hatred of “nice guys”??
- constant reminders of how small Lucy is & how BIG and STATUESQUE and BEAUTIFUL Josh is
- constant referral to Josh's eyes as “serial killer eyes”????
- Josh is weirdly jealous towards a guy Lucy is working with & tells him not to talk to her again as if she's not a grown ass woman
- the word r*tarded being used in a book that was published in 2016.. yikes
- the ENTIRE CONFLICT of the book is the fact that Josh and Lucy both want the same promotion and we doN'T EVEN FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS WITH IT IN THE END (like I guess it's assumed but ?? couldn't include an epilogue with Lucy at her new job or w/e?)
HELLO BEST CHICK LIT IVE EVER READ HANDS DOWN THANK YOU EMILY FOR THE RECOMMENDATION THIS BOOK WAS A FUCKING RIDE
reread june 2019
damn this book was still sooooo hot the second time. listened to the audiobook this time around and i loved it!!!! now gotta find some other enemies to lovers books to fill this void 😫 so excited for the movie as well, i think lucy hale will make a great lucinda!!!
I dnf'd shortly into this book because the characters felt so immature. Perhaps I'm just not in the mood to read a “funny” contemporary romance, I use quotes because obviously I didn't enjoy the comedy. Maybe I'll try again in the future when I'm in a better mood for a overly fluffy rom-com-esque novel, or maybe not.
“I love him so much it's like a thread piercing me. Punching holes. Dragging through. Stitching love into me. I'll never be able to untangle myself from this feeling. The color of love is surely this robin's-egg blue.”
The Hating Game is about Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman. Two co-workers who hate each other. Lucy is the girl who can't say no. Joshua is the boy who only says no. There's a huge promotion coming up, and each person wants to beat the other. They both agreed to resign if the other co-worker wins.
Joshua is an asshole, but all girls love assholes, right? No. Lucy has made it very clear she wants a nice guy, and Josh assures her that will never be him. There's tons of built-up tension between the two, which leads to Josh “testing” something in the elevator.
If you thought the tension before that was heavy, you are in for a ride. Lucy cannot stop thinking about Joshua. I wouldn't either, to be honest, that kiss was hot. But Lucy begins second-guessing her feelings for Joshua.
They have playful banter. Which is supposed to make it seem like they hate each other... girl where?
Joshua comes up with the brilliant idea of a paintball match between all their co-workers. On the battlefield, both Lucy and Josh go out of their way to protect the other. Lucy gets sick, Josh stays at her apartment to help out, and that's when we see Josh's soft side. Stuff goes on from there.
And I love it when Josh gets soft. You see him be an asshole all the time and then he looks at Shortcake and his hearts swell. So cute. Anywho, things get awkward between the two.
Danny comes in, Lucy likes him because he's nice but we all know she's trying to get over Joshua. But she just can't stop thinking about him. Neither would I.
No one told me there would be S E X in this book... I was very unprepared but perhaps I liked it. Possibly. I thought it would be that one time but after the first time, the book keeps going on with those “gentle touches” and “sweet kisses” and I kept wondering where the plot went.
UGH but Joshua is so soft for his Shortcake and I love them both so much.
All the tropes and clichés aside this was book was cute. It served the unrealistic escape that you go to the romance genre for. Sure there are cringey bits, but none that were dnf worthy. (Got a star knocked off for the slur though.) The cover design artist clearly didn't read the book. Not robin's egg blue, their eye and hair colors are wrong...weird choices overall. The spice was real nice.
I watched the movie first, and while I loved that (reason I wanted to read this) it took me FOREVER to get through the audiobook. I just wasn't interested in picking it up
I really enjoyed this book, I was after something light and funny and this delivered exactly what I wanted. I thought there were a few moments that were just too cringey so I couldn't give it a full 5 stars, but I still enjoyed it overall, especially the ending which just has me smiling the entire time. Well worth a read!
First third of book was really not that interesting but when sparks started flying I just couldn't stop reading.
It's funny as hell, and it so incredibly writen.
It was cute and quick to read. Meh. I know people love this book but I don't quite get it. It seemed to follow all the “I'm not a nice guy” “I'm an insecure girl” “s/he's mean to me but actually likes me” tropes. And most of the romance and chemistry they have is all around her being tiny and him being huge and ripped. Which is fine, I guess, but seemed to unnecessarily rag on men who are shorter or lean. Lame.
Alright for a romance novel. The main problem is how much the author fetishises the height difference (the girl is 5ft and the dude is somewhere over 6ft) and how buff the guy is.
The girl even disses an ex for being “fragile and boy-sized” at 5'6” which just feels mean spirited too.
Still I enjoyed it, mostly, so 4 stars.
3.5/5
Sweet, easy workplace romance read. I was invested in the characters and their growth but it is a bit cheesy, in an endearing way. Toward the end, it gets super cringe but the tension throughout is electric.
This book reminds me of The Proposal; different trope but parallels with the enemies to lovers, office romance. Also, no Betty White but you do get daddy issues!
Drinking Game: take a shot every time
a) Lucy's height/shortness is mentioned
b) Josh's body-ody is mentioned
Good luck!!
This book just left me unsatisfied.
In the beginning, the main character Lucy really annoyed me, she acted like a teenager and was just really immature. After the first part I eventually did get into it, I especially enjoyed the dialogue and the dynamic between Lucy and Joshua. There where several cute moments, and some tropes that I had fun reading about.
But after I finished it, I thought to myself, this isn't the end right? There has to be more. I didn't think this because I was sad that the story ended or that I wanted more of these characters. No, it was because the conflict in the ending was very week and practically non-existent. Call me dramatic but I really did want to see more drama and conflict, also I would have appreciated to dive deeper into Lucy's and especially Josh's past. The ending was in my opinion rushed, anticlimactic and unsatisfying.
