The Hating Game: A Spicy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne 5 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.”

REVIEWED BY KINDLE GAL So, I had to see how legit all the hype was for THE HATING GAME... The good news: The hype is pretty legit. This was a fresh, funny, romantic read. It did take me a while to get into the story, though. I wasn't a fan of the many (many!) games the hero and heroine played, most with no obvious goal or purpose. Their feuding felt superficial and juvenile, and I found myself skimming a bit. But then ... THEN ... things got interesting. And then they got good. This is an enemies-to-lovers work romance written in first-person and told entirely from the heroine's POV. Lucy, the heroine, is quirky and eventually grew on me. Josh, the hero, is stoic and impossible to read, which drives people-pleaser Lucy INSANE. They have some really great banter, thanks to some unexpected quips and retorts by both characters, and there were several times I laughed out loud while reading. On the other hand, there were a few things I definitely didn't love (beyond their tiresome games). For example, Lucy nicknamed her nemesis's boss "Fat Little Dick," which I found unnecessarily obnoxious and made her difficult to like at all in the early chapters. I also felt like there wasn't a smooth enough (and therefore, believable) transition between the hating and the lusting. That said, once this story hit its stride, it was very well done. It has some of the best sexual tension I have read, and this is a debut author, you guys! I was seriously impressed! Was THE HATING GAME the best romance I've read this year? No, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what this author does next. Rating: B

5 Shortcake Stars I'd be lying if I said I didn't totally love this book. In fact, I have a major book hangover. And no that's not from the wine I drank while reading it last night ;) This was the best contemporary romance novel I've read in a loooonnnggg time. And just when I was about to drop romance altogether from boring plots, one-dimensional characters, and overused cliches. This had none of those! I feel like a fangirl or something. I had a smile on my face for a good portion of this novel. It was like a cheek workout. The banter between the H and h was hilarious. Their 'games' were completely entertaining. The dialogue was spot on. Especially the dry humor we got from both of them. The relationship build-up was perfect. This was definitely a slow burn romance. The heroine was strong and nutty. She was weird. And I loved her. Literally laughed out loud at some of her complete weirdness. She was short and cute and the H loved to call her 'Shortcake' just to piss her off. And then we got the hero. Cue eyes rolling into the back of head. I'm not even going to begin on his legit hotness or I'll be here all night. He's a very well developed character. He isn't just a caveman with no other thoughts than beating on his chest. There are many different facets to him that I loved and made him so real. But that sensitive side is deep down under that perfectly hot exterior ;) The plot was completely entertaining. There weren't many side characters, but I didn't care at all because reading the interactions between the H and h was just perfect. They have a hate relationship at the beginning. They are new rival employees and find ways to complain about each other to HR. And bicker and banter and play funny staring games. But soon they realize their feelings. The h is a 'get what she wants' kind of gal. But the hero has other plans. It was a very entertaining read. And I highly recommend this to... really anyone. Do yourself a favor and go buy this book. You won't regret it.

This sure is a 5/5 for me ! The best Romance novel I have ever read and the best book I have read this year.. I was soo glued to it that I had to finish it in a day .. Men like Josh are exactly why my standards and expectations of the gender are high ... Enjoyable feel good rom-com . Totally in love with Lucy and Josh ! Awesome work by Sally for a debut . I Will surely be picking up her other books ...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Sally Thorne is quickly becoming one of my new favourite authors. I loved the wit and the banter between Lucy and Joshua and the slow burn kept me enthralled. I especially loved the ending. Please be aware that there are some very spicy scenes.

Principalmente compré este libro porque lo vi tan bien de precio que dije pues por probar tampoco voy a perder tanto. Con lo que no contaba era con todo lo que iba a ganar. WOW. Sigo sin superar este libro, de verdad. La forma que los personajes y la historia te atrapan y no te dejan soltar el libro. Sí que es verdad que al principio el enemies es llevado a un extremo que te quedas ????? Tampoco hace falta. Pero muy rápidamente se rompe la barrera y aunque sigue esa rivalidad se va viendo como los personajes van cayendo (o habían caído ya antes sin darse cuenta 😉) y es algo maravilloso. La forma en la que Josh y Lucy se complementan, se conocen tan bien, como se han dejado absorber por esa rivalidad que realmente era mucho más. Increíble, 100% recomendando. Tanto la lectura como la compra. Si sois fans del romance, del enemies to lovers, este es vuestro libro. Además no es muy difícil de entender (por ser en inglés, que quizá eso pueda tirar para atrás) y el ritmo es muy dinámico y pasan los capítulos que ni te enteras. Los últimos capítulos uf, menuda montaña rusa. Shortcake 🍓♥️

Das war so ein gutes Buch. Ich war erst etwas skeptisch, weil ich den Kleinkrieg der beiden nicht so positiv entgegengeschallt habe aber am Ende war die Umsetzung super. Die Charaktere fand ich beide so toll und die Persönlichkeiten sind super klar geworden. Natürlich war es klar, wie es ausgeht, weil es eben Romance ist, aber die Umsetzung und der Weg dahin ist so gut gelungen. Auch Josh Vergangenheit konnte ich super nachvollziehen. Ich hatte echt das Gefühl, dass ich genau verstehe, wie es ihm geht. Das Buch hat mich so gut unterhalten! Ich will es gleich nochmal lesen :D! An Deutsche, die sich unsicher sind, auf englisch zu lesen: Ich fand die Sprache sehr einfach. Kalt versteht man einige Dinge vielleicht nicht richtig, aber aus dem Kontext wird dann immer alles klar.

it starts off pretty slow but towards the middle gets really juicy. i would give it a 3.5 stars because of how it dragged on a lot until it got into their final connection or communication.Cute ending tho.