The Hating Game Review

The Hating Game 

By: Sally Thorne 

Released: August 9th, 2016

Pages: 387

My Rating: 4/5

Goodreads 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 has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.
Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.

If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth-shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.
Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game. 

My Review:
Where do I even begin with this one? The Hating Game was the last book I read in 2020 (literally finished it at 8:30 on NYE) and I couldn't have ended on a higher note. I loved this book to pieces and now am getting extremely excited about the movie that is currently in production.

I'll be honest, for the longest time I hated reading romance, or should I say the thought of reading romance. I always shied away from titles in the genre because I thought they were less than or just not for me, but boy was I wrong. December was basically all romance titles for me (In a Holidaze, The Twelve Dates of Christmas, Mistletoe and Mr. Right), aside from Addie LaRue, and it was a great change of pace. I flew through all the books I read especially The Hating Game and can safely say I no longer consider myself to be a romance snob.

 
The Hating Game follows Lucy Hutton and Josh Templeman, work rivals and each other's biggest critic... or are they? They spend days playing petty "games" trying to make the other crack first. Each one knows how to get under the others skin and all the buttons to push to make the other snap. When the chance comes for a huge promotion they both apply and need to work even harder to reign supreme in this final showdown. However, there's a slight snag when feelings get in the way and they have to discover how they really feel towards each other. 

 I don't want to spoil too much even though I know this title has been out for a little over four years because if you are like me and hadn't gotten to experience this wondrous book you need to stop reading this post and go grab a copy asap. It made me feel so many emotions. I felt fully invested into Lucy and Josh's relationship and truely like I was there - I laughed with them, cried with them, got irritated with them, rooted for them. I loved that you got to see multiple sides each character. You saw what they see at work and then what really makes them tick outside of it. I felt like it was a great reminder that what you see of someone isn't always what's going on when you actually get to know them. The Hating Game reads like a movie and was very fast paced. It kept my interest the entire time and I immediately felt like I wanted to reread it (and that doesn't happen too often for me). This is a great steamy romance and if you are looking for something to take you away, out of your head, for a bit and leave you feeling whole hearted then this is the book for you!

Catch you later, 

Molly