The Hating Game
Ratings379
Average rating3.7
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.
Oh my!! This book gave me all the feels. The love-hate dynamic is perfection. Great enemies to lovers story I've read in a long time. It's funny and adorable cute in every way. I highly recommend!!
OOOHHEsto fue muy lindo
No soy mucho de romance sin acompañamiento de otro género, pero ésto valió la pena
I read 99% Mine last year, and it was very “meh” for me so I put off reading The Hating Game.
I don't know if the delay helped it, but I ended up liking The Hating Game a lot. The trajectory of the relationship wasn't a complete surprise, but the characters were so well developed that I was actually invested. It was a fun, quick read full of banter. I'll try the author's next book out and hope it's more like this one.
The trick is to find that one person who can give it back as good as they can take it.
It was mostly fun. The will they won't they part was fun but of course, afterwards it became the typical cheese factory. (I might have also been sick of the no. of times the psychical perfection of the main leads was brought up. Honestly, when are we going to move of from this trend?
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?)
This is one of my favorite books ever! The dynamic in this novel is something that I love and this is the best I've ever seen it done. This author really allowed for a slow gradual build in the relationship between Lucy and Josh and I really appreciated that. The slow gradual build really allowed the hate to love trope to flourish (this is one of my favorite tropes). Both characters were so different from each other but relatable and that really enhanced the dynamic between them. The characters were very unlike what I expected and I think to a certain extent both characters contradict themselves in ways but it worked so well. Not to mention Josh literally looks like the guys, girls dream about! His personality really shines through about halfway through the book a well. I also really loved the family aspects of this novel. It shows many different sides to a nuclear, traditional family that most people don't discuss.
I am only a teenager but I loved reading from the perspective of two successful adults who had office jobs. I was never bored with the setting and I thought it really magnified the intensity of the hate in the beginning. It allowed a competitive streak to blossom between the two characters which made them hate each other.
Now to talk about my real favorite part. The banter between Josh and Lucy! Josh and Lucy's games/banter really made this book what it is. There are parts of this book where I was laughing out loud or my heart was melting. I am a very emotional reader so when a book can appeal to my emotions in that way, I tend to love them! I love how they would always threaten to report each other to HR or the passwords on their computers.
The writing style in this book was also fantastic because of how descriptive it is. I feel like there is a fine line with having beautifully descriptive writing and writing that is weighed down by too many words, and Sally Thorne found that balance. The way that the characters talked was also so unique to each character which I loved.
And lastly, one of the things I loved was how this novel twisted stereotypes on their heads. Sally Thorne took stereotypes and tropes of these characters and really changed them to be something unique. Josh I think defies the odds a lot of what a stereotypical cold, brooding, buff, tall guy would act like all the time. I think that adding a really surprising and interesting aspect to this novel.
All around I love this book so much and I will be re-reading this for sure in the near future because I already want to.
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!!!
Lucy was sometimes a little too clingy, Josh sometimes a little too mean, but damn this was a lot of fun to read.
Maybe I read way too many romance novels but I don't find Josh & Lucy's romance particularly enthralling or even mature. I feel like I'm watching two junior highschool kids awkwardly stumbling towards romance.
I love this book. It's been probably 2 years since I've last read it so wasn't sure how it would compare given everything I've read lately. It's sweet, a little steamy and just ticks all the boxes. I love it, I still love it, and I'm already looking forward to the next re-read.
Não digo que foi o melhor livro que li até agora, mas foi um livro muito engraçado! Foi mais adulto, talvez foi por isso que gostei mais. As personagens foram interessantes e dinâmicas, a maneira como interagiam um com o outro era engraçada e fofinha ao mesmo tempo. Achei que, no geral, a história e o desenrolar foi bastante perfeito, nem muito longo nem muito curto! Teve aquele romance e erotismo certo nos lugares certos. Gostei bastante! Acho que quem gosta dos livros no estilo odeio-te/amo-te, devia ler este livro!
The synopsis of this book caught me, so I put it on my TBR and kept checking to see if it was available at the library, but it always had holds! It has been out for almost two years, what the heck? So, I broke down and put a hold on it, figuring I'd most likely be in the mood to read a romance once it came in. Thankfully, I was. I now also understand why there are so many holds on this book.
I'm absolutely blown away.
Are there cliche parts and problematic portions? For sure, but from the first chapter I was hooked.
I loved the way they competed against each other and their desire not to lose. Yet, they still challenged each other and grew. Everything they do was a Game and they both know it! The Staring Game is a fun one and I love how they feel compelled to compete once the other person starts. This really added fun to the book.
I do have some problems with the romance and some things, require suspension of belief, but in a way, I felt it added to the fun of the book. Or creating shocking moments that I could appreciate.
I also enjoyed how their personalities come out and they work together. This is one of those books where we learn that the characters like each other for more than their looks and it shows, even if they still are admiring each other's looks. They compete and talk bad about each other, but it isn't okay if someone else does because ‘hey! They really are good at what they do!' So cute. :)
How things ended up I was also able to appreciate. I won't go into it, but I love those kinds of moments.
I will say that Lucy's character sometimes annoyed me– only when I thought she couldn't make up her mind. Other than that, she is super cute. Josh is lovely and his portrayal is awesome. He has insecurities and shows them to Lucy– he doesn't hide behind his macho exterior with her. It is so sweet.
Definitely will be recommending this book to others and I plan on reading more by this author.
I've had this book for a very long time and it has great reviews but I was always apprehensive about it. And now I know I was right.
Hate to love is an interesting trope and I have enjoyed reading it in a lot of New Adult novels, but not this one. Spending the whole book in the head of Lucy didn't help either. She spends most of the time either thinking about how much she hates Josh, how she can one up him or how unfairly attractive he is – it just gets too exhausting after a point. Josh is an asshole in the beginning but he does show a softer side of him sometimes and I liked him a little towards the end.
The pacing was quite slow here and there is not much of a plot except waiting the whole book for Lucy to realize Josh loves her and she loves him back. There are also hardly any developed side characters and it gets a little repetitive to just read her internal monologue and her conversations with Josh throughout the book.
That doesn't mean this book isn't entertaining. The writing style was unique and very very metaphorical, which made me laugh quite a few times. The dialogue is quite flirty and the banter was a lot of fun to read. Overall, it was just an okay book for me which didn't give me any flutters like my other favorite romance novels.
4.5 Stars
I participated in the #24in48 readathon this weekend and I decided to start it off by reading this book. I'm glad I did because I really got into it and didn't want to put it down. I was able to read this whole book in a little under 8 hours. Like I said I really did enjoy this book but I had a couple issues with it that made me take off half a star. First off Lucy was kind of childish in my opinion and every time she would describe what someone looked liked she always threw in some negative comments about them which got on my nerves. I mean why do you have to be so judgmental. This is a hate to love romance and as you all know by now I love me some romance. I absolutely adored the romance between Josh and Lucy and to be honest I might be in love with Josh myself (shh don't tell my husband) what got on my nerves at first was when they “hated” each other. These 2 were supposed to be grown ups but here they were acting like immature teenagers. Even with those two issues I had the romance between them hooked me and I really enjoyed this book.
It was okay. However, I expected more. Just not worth all the hype around this book.
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!
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.