The Hating Game: A Novel Paperback – August 9, 2016

I rarely post reviews for books I hadn't agreed to review, mainly because I read a lot and I would spend days writing reviews if I did for all of them. But I HAD TO write a review for this book, it was so absolutely great. This is one of the few books I've read that warrants a sixth star - it hits all the key points to make five stars, such as plot, character development, etc. but this one also has that...je ne sais quoi, something special that hit me in the feels. I LOVED it - and I actually want to sit down and reread it right now, even though I just finished it a few days ago. Now I see it's a movie on Netflix, so I'll have to check it out, but it's awfully rare for a movie to hold a candle to the book. Plus I somehow envisioned John Krasinski as Josh in my head (though I think he doesn't have blue eyes but otherwise matches the description reasonably well), so I might have set myself up for disappointment in whoever's cast in the movie. But I digress. If you like enemies-to-lovers and contemporary rom-coms with a bit of steam, this should be right up your alley. I laughed out loud at some of the jibes Josh and Lucy say to each other, and even a few times at the madcap situations in which Lucy finds herself. A really amazing book, I'm glad I chose this one out of my TBR pile to read!

This was a cute and fun little enemies to lovers book. It could have been just as good without the spicy (nothing against the spicy)...which to me means that the love story itself was decent.

I actually laughed out loud at times Very clever word play between the haters. I enjoyed it so much and will be looking at what else the author has written.

I watched the movie first and was intrigued enough to buy the book. The restraint and patience of Josh's pursuit of his love isn't something I'm used to seeing in American romances. It's a welcome breath of beauty and love.

I don't think this book lives up to the hype... for me. Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable enough. But there was so much that just grated my nerves.Lucy was so juvenile that I often couldn't even picture a grown woman. She came off as a young, inexperienced teenager who had never had a serious relationship. Which would make all the games they play make more sense, but no. These were two grown adults working in corporate America. It often felt like Josh was her older crush and he was just tolerating his young admirer. But there was enough entertaining content to keep me reading, too.Another thing that was blaringly obvious was that the author wasn't American. Just certain terms we don't use, or even the way the characters spoke sometimes. But that wasn't nearly as annoying.Overall, it was fine.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne5 stars!!!“My hostage. My blackmailed, unwilling captive. Stockholm Shortcake.”There is nothing like a good hate/love book to get your reading mojo well and truly pumping and that is exactly what The Hating Game delivered. Sally Thorne captured everything about those office relationships where competition takes on a whole new meaning and to think that this is her debut novel, I was totally blown away.Enemies to lovers is one of those tropes that literally has me salivating. You learn more about a person through their actions in that kind of environment, especially in the work place. It is harder to hate than it is to love and there is often a very fine line between the two. Sometimes there is that genuine hate, because let’s be honest, there are a lot of douches and b****es in the world, but more often than not we hate as a veil of our true feelings and that was definitely the case with these two.“Shortcake, if we were flirting, you’d know about it.”“Because I’d be traumatized?”“Because you’d be thinking about it later on, lying in bed.”Two publishing houses struggling in the economic climate merge to ensure the viability of at least one of them, two CEO’s, two assistants. One male assistant, one female assistant who knock their a**es out week after week to be the best. This was all about one-upmanship. Who could work the longest hours, who was more efficient, who has the best ideas etc.: Their competitiveness was the source of many hilarious scenes, yet so relatable having been in a similar environment myself. But they loved to hate one and other, their inter-office games of “hate” had me laughing so many times and this book was written so well their story effortlessly flowed from page to page. This was an easy read, a real page turner.“The trick is to find someone who’s strong enough to take it. That one person who can give it back as good as they get.”Lucy Hutton was working in a place that she had dreamt of since she was a teenager. For her, publishing had always been her dreams albeit maybe not as a PA to the CEO. Her position had left her friendless because of everyone’s “snitch” mentality and her only source of enjoyment in her working day were her battles with Joshua. These two sat in the same office where daggers were drawn from clock in to clock out. Where juvenile staring competitions were the norm and trying to decipher codes and logins were their speciality.“I feel like your Easter egg.”Joshua was a whizz with numbers, he kept himself to himself and was definitely a closed book. He was an ornery man of rituals and order and was as predictable as they came. But who was Joshua Templeman? With a new position being made as COO, a promotion for Lucy or Joshua, battle lines are well and truly drawn as both know that neither one could work for the other. This was a fight to the death in more ways than one. Lucy begins to see a different side to Joshua when little chinks in his armour are slowly revealed, could this be who Joshua Templeman really is and god forbid Lucy for actually…falling in love.“The energy that usually lashes ineffectively inside each of us now has a conduit, forming a loop of electricity between us, cycling through me, into him. My heart is glowing in my chest like a bulb, flashing brighter with each movement of his lips.”The humour and banter in this book was contagious from start to finish, the dialogue was spot on and the chemistry was seriously off the charts. Even in hate mode you could feel those flickers of electricity and you were constantly on edge just waiting for them to ignite into a raging inferno. These two as enemies were hilarious, as lovers totally swoon worthy. I adored EVERYTHING about this book. I made the mistake of starting this late in the day and then read into the early hours of the morning, I couldn’t put it down. The characters were infectious, the plot was riveting and as each layer of Joshua Templeman was revealed my heart just got mushier and mushier. For those that love enemies to lovers this is a must read and the story will speak for itself.“This is the best game I’ve ever played in my entire life.”

Movie was terribly shallow. There had to be more. And there was. Truly enjoyed the book. Exactly the same story line but the first person narrative filled out the characters, the plot points and the story arc.

I recently stumbled on the movie while browsing Netflix. When I found out it was based on a book, I was conflicted if I wanted to read it. I loved the movie so much, I watched it 3 times over the weekend. In total, I’ve seen the movie about 6 times now. I loved the enemies to lovers trope so much and this movie has forever stolen my heart. However, the book was even more impactful than I could have imagined, it provided more context and really showed Josh’s personality in more of a dimensional way than the movie captured. I will say the first half didn’t quite match Lucy the way in the movie so that was a bit hard to get passed at first but I am glad I did. I am honestly wishing this type of love finds me one day and absolutely fell in love with Josh!