USA Today Bestseller!
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 undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. … undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.
Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
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The Hating Game *SPARKLES.*
The banter, the characters, the amazing writing.
The story is so well executed that it’s inspiring me to challenge myself, to be bolder in my choices, and to take some risks.
The Hating Game has shot up to top of my favorite contemporary romances. No, I’m not talking top reads of the year. I’m talking about top contemporary romance reads *ever.* Up there with Emma Chase’s Tangled and Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed.
I came to read this book knowing it was a standard novel. I was wrong. This is a completely different book than I thought. The book is funny, witty, lighthearted and very enjoyable. This book is a great break from the noise of the day and routine stories of this genre.
I adored this story so much. I put off reading it for a while, afraid it wouldn’t live up to the hype, but it completely blew me away.
What a great book! Loved it from beginning to end. A must if you enjoy great romance novels – you won’t regret reading this one!
This was an amazing debut book for Sally Thorne! The Hating game is one of the slowest burn enemies to lovers romance book I’ve read, even when the characters moved to the lovers aspect of their relationship they kept it slow. Both Josh and Lucy were great characters, Lucy a bubbly people person and Josh a stern loner. Josh was an a$$hat most of the time, but he wasn’t unredeemable and a lot more became clear about him towards the end of the book. When he reveals his total devotion to Lucy in the end he is completely swoon-worthy! The back and forth between the two is realistic and funny, I absolutely loved all the childish games they played.
Katie Schorr has a great voice for narrating Lucy, but there were many moments where the same voice was used for both Lucy and Josh so it kept me guessing on who was talking. I would have enjoyed the audio more if it was done as a duet narration, or maybe just read the book.
OH MY! This novel debuted in August 2016 but it’s a Top Read 2017 for me! It’s a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, office romance.
“I have a theory. Hating someone feels disturbingly similar to being in love with them.”
Joshua Templeman is tall, dark and handsome, but also humourless, icy and unrelenting in his pursuit to make Lucy’s life a misery. From the first day they met, when he completely blanked her sunny smile, they’ve been rivals and enemies. They play games of one-upmanship and tit-for-tat.
“I’m getting dangerously high on his smiles. This is my third one now? I’m stuffing them in my pockets. I’m cramming them into my mouth.”
Lucy Hutton is a five-foot-nothing firecracker who resembles a Disney princess. She gives back as good as she gets but, deep down, yearns to be Joshua’s friend. Why didn’t he want to be her friend? They sit day-in day-out playing various games – the Mirror Game, the Staring Game, the HR game. Lucy thinks the aim of the games is to make the other one smile. That was never Josh’s aim.
When a new promotion comes up for grabs, the Hating Game begins, but one insane, hot moment in the elevator throws Lucy completely off-kilter, followed by a night of sickness where her enemy shows a hidden side to himself, and her view and perception of Josh start to unravel.
“Shortcake.”
The sweet little word dissolves and I swallow.
“I’m not going to kill you. You’re so dramatic. “ Then he presses his mouth lightly against mine.
I just LOVED everything about this book!! It was refreshing and I adored the author’s writing style. I found the story funny and moving. I loved the hate-flirting, the witty dialogue, the sexy, slow romance of Josh and Lucy’s budding relationship, and the trust and the truths that emerged. I loved how much they understood one another. Once they crossed the enemy line, all their animosity translated and transformed into some electric foreplay. This story made laugh and it made me cry. The conclusion made me melt so much that I was just a useless, slushy puddle by the time I read the final line.
Gah! Just a FABULOUS book and I cannot recommend it enough! I’m chomping at the bit for this author’s next release. Cannot wait!!
It took a while to get into the story and connect with the specific personalities of female and male protagonists that are matched here. Initially, their interacting games appeared fantastic and far-fetched and more of a constructed drama, than a natural flow. I almost gave up on it. But I am glad, I didn’t. In the course of the story, the characters revealed more depth, bit by bit. Until I found myself rooting for their HEA. The big dramaturgical obstacle at the end was predictable but nevertheless I enjoyed the story. I will definitely read the next book by this author.
Love, love, love it!!!! 100% recommended. Just read it and you’ll see. A must for romance/contemporary readers.
Let me start this review by saying that I canvassed people on Facebook – I was looking for something frivolous and fun, preferably with a romantic theme. This was amongst the suggestions, and it fulfilled the spec beautifully.
The dynamic between Lucy and her co-worker Josh is tense and ridiculous all at once.
The result may not be terribly surprising, but the journey is wonderful. I chuckled many times, and sometimes cringed. I willed her to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’.
Both have their own story to tell, full of torment. But not before they have tormented each other.
A story well told.
One of those books I really had trouble putting down. A proper page-turner.
So, if like me, you’re in the mood for something frivolous, pick this one up now.
It’s a workplace romance and an enemies to lovers trope all wrapped up in a delicious package with a cherry on top. This is my favorite book.
Wonderful characters a fun romantic book
Because I could not stop listening to The Hating Game and had it on for 20 min in the car so I could listen to just one more min .. listened with earbuds while packing lunches this week and on my blue tooth while organizing junk drawers .. or found myself just sitting and listening because Lucy and Josh were absolutely charming the socks off of me!
Predictable. Repetitive.
I loved this book! It’s fresh, smart, sexy, wickedly funny, and wonderfully romantic.
All time favorite book!
This was a fantastic read!! I did not want to put it down. I had heard a lot of wonderful reviews and recommendation about The Hating Game. I decided to give it a try and am so happy I did! The characters are wonderful and complex. The story itself moves at a great pace and drew me in immediately. I loved the opening chapter stating that it is hard to tell the difference between loving and hating someone! I am excited to read the next book from Sally Thorne.
very nice! Great
First, I have to say the narrator wasn’t right for the book. I think I was annoyed she didn’t change her voice to a deeper male tone. It was hard to tell which character was talking. I wonder how I would have rated this if I read the book vs. listening to the audio.
The story I think was too hyped for what it was. It was good, but maybe I was expecting a lot more banter? Idk. I hope the movie does happen, bc I’d still watch it.
Oh my gosh. This book was everything I LOVE in a romance book.
Enemies-to-lovers
Office Romance
Slow Burn
Quirky comments and witty comebacks
Banter that’ll have you hunched over laughing
It had it all and I’m a big puddle of happiness right now! It’s not often I come across I book I love so much I just can’t stop smiling and that’s exactly what the Hating Game did for me.
Lucy and Josh and exactly what I needed right now. After having a serious book funk throughout January I decided to give this book a try and see if it would snap me out of it. I’ve been wanting to read this since back in 2017 and it did the trick. I was so consumed by this book from the moment I picked it up and as soon as it ended I was incredibly happy and grateful to have my reading mojo back.
Sally Thorne did an absolute incredible job on this book. It’s fun, sexy and entices a lot of laughing out of you but it’s not all sunshine and roses. Lucy and Josh both have their problems. Josh just has it harder, he’s dealing with what no child should ever have to. It’s hard, it’s sad and it’s simply heartbreaking. Having gone through what he did I know the pain and sadness he feels which just made me love him that much more. He’s an amazing and incredible human and quite possibly just became one of my top 10 book boyfriends. Sally captures his feelings perfectly and I’m so so SO glad I read this book.
All the stars for this book and it’s incredible characters and storyline. It blew me away.
I wasn’t surprised I loved this book. I always like enemies to lovers, hate to love, or whatever you like to call it. I found the characters so endearing, and the narrator for the audiobook did a great job capturing Lucy, the pint-sized little shortcake firecracker heroine.
Josh was a hard nut to crack. He totally had the brooding, stick up his butt, poker face game on point, so when everything came together at the end, it was just even that much more endearing to find out what we came to find out.
The nicknames in this book are quite hilarious. Ahem… here’s looking at you, Richard Bexley. This really was an enjoyable read, and I can’t believe I waited so long to finally read it. I went back and forth between the ebook and audio on this one, and both were just as enjoyable as the other.