The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Series: Stand-alone
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks on August 9th 2016
Genres: Romance
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Library
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Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.2) A person’s undoing3) 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.

Oh my god! This book is so good, so good you guys. I picked the book up on the whim when the bloggers that I trust and follow, sang such high praises for it. I knew I had to try it out, and although it started out a little slow for me at first, after 20% I was completely in love.

Anyone who has ever loved romance should give this one a try. Sally Thorne absolutely nails it with her humor and talented story telling. The writing was hysterical, smart, emotionally charged, filled with snarky banter and sexual tension.

Lucy and Josh are both assistants to two CEO’s of two book companies that had merged, Bexley and Gamin. Josh is a Bexley through and through, he is well dressed, he appears well calculated and the staff is scared of him. Lucy is a Gamin, and is quite a bit of a dork - which was one of her redeeming qualities as the book went on. She collects Smurfs, she is from a family who owns a strawberry farm, she is nice and also a bit easy to push around. They share an almost antagonistic relationship that had me laughing through the book.

I will be honest, I didn’t like Lucy as much as I wanted to, but maybe it was because I felt a little protective of Josh - especially when his intentions and feelings were starting to become a bit clearer. I was a little worried that Lucy might be a bit mentally challenged, because I didn’t understand how she kept failing so helplessly at picking these said signals up. I really, really wish Thorne had implanted Josh’s point of view in this book, I think it would have been an A+.

Or as Lucy would have put it;

“I want to know what’s going on in your brain. I want to juice your head like a lemon.”

Her dorky personality did redeem her character for me later on, because it was something I could relate to. But the number of times she wouldn’t stop talking about Josh’s body felt at times over the top.

I loved Josh. I wanted to know what was his story. Josh came off a bit damaged, which was clear by the way he handled himself around Lucy - he didn’t know how to. The moments that Josh did expose himself were sweet, raw and left me with a lot of feeling.

Nor did I understand or fully believe the issue between Josh and his dad and how Lucy handled it, but that’s just a small gripe.

I can’t describe the amount of love I felt for this book, it was nearly perfect. It is now my top favorite read of 2016. I loved the banter, I loved the tension, I loved the hate to love romance. I literally went two days with only a few hours of sleep because I couldn’t stop reading this late into the night. I didn’t want it to end, even if the ending was sweet and near perfect. I am feeling like I am not going through a book withdrawal. This was Thorne’s debut novel and she blew it out of the water and earned herself another loyal fan! I already cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next, even if I am going to miss Josh oh so much.

If you love romance, I highly recommend you read this book if you have not yet. It is worth it. Just take the plunge and let it surprise you, because this book is big must read.

Memorable Quotes

But Clark Kent is such a darling; all bumbling and soft. Joshua is hardly the mild-mannered reporter. He’s a sarcastic, cynical, Bizarro Clark Kent, terrorizing everyone in the newsroom and pissing off poor little Lois Lane until she screams into her pillow at night.

“What are you imagining? Your expression is filthy.”

“Strangling you. Bare hands.” I can barely get the words out. I am huskier than a phone-sex operator after a double shift.

“I love strawberries. So much, you have no idea.” He sounds so kind that I feel a wave of emotion. I can’t open my eyes. He’ll see I have tears in them.

“My evil brain is thinking about grabbing some dinner soon.”

“Mine is thinking about strangling you.”

“I’m thinking if we plunge off a bridge I won’t have to go to this wedding.” He looks at me, perhaps only half joking.