The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

This post contains affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I get a small commission so I can buy more books to review! Full disclosure here.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Genre: Romance | Pub: 8.9.2016

Book Jacket 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.

Purchase link: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Arielle’s Notes

Book Format & Source: Paperback purchase

Review & Thoughts:

Great first opening lines!
A featured common concept is the idea that love and hate aren’t that far off from each other. This book focuses on a seriously unhealthy relationship based on addictive personalities and attraction, however it made for great entertainment!!
I was most curious to know more backstory, to see where the relationship actually grew into the competitive game that it became. Once you learn more about his backstory, it almost doesn’t make sense how they ended up where they did at the beginning of the book. How could she have been so incredibly blind?
Steamy, sexy read. Great pick if you enjoy unrealistic relationships, enemies to lovers, and close proximity tropes.
I really enjoyed this one. Again, it was a deeply unhealthy relationship but was so entertaining. I liked the author’s writing style. Apparently this was her debut novel and I’m late to the party (thank you for making it into a movie and I refuse to see a movie after I’ve read the book, because yes, the book is always better!) and I’m interested in looking up her other books.
Topics & themes: family, professional workplace, competitiveness, shyness, physical attraction, romance, professional goals, strong-willed and seemingly confident individuals.
Theme: the importance of seeing someone, they way others don’t, the way they truly are.
One of my favorite scenes is when she really gives it to his father. It felt liberating to read that and I loved how she stood up for him.
Fun fact: I love when a story has a Josh because my husband’s name is Josh!

Recommend for: fans of steamy romance, fans of enemies to lovers and close proximity tropes

My Review Rating: ♥♥♥♥.5

Romance Steam Factor: R