The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

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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.

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Review

If you want a book with two fantastic characters that are beyond witty, a little sexy, and just so stinking adorable, I can’t even! Then The Hating Game, my friends, is the book for you!

Are there characters a little immature? Yes, I will be the first to admit that their passive-aggressive behavior is frankly a bit ridiculous! Do I love it and secretly wish I had someone to act this way with? Yes. Lucy and Joshua are funny! Laugh out loud funny. I laughed aloud, which made it a bit awkward listening to this book at work. That and other things… more on that later.

The story is told from Lucy’s POV. I usually find the first-person POV in these stories to be insanely annoying, but Lucy is quirky, and I love her. I related to her quite a bit. She’s hilarious, and her inner monologue is frighteningly similar to mine. Joshua is, well, he’s an ass, but that’s just my fictional type.

The banter between these two is fantastic, and the enemies to lovers trope gets me every time! And this book is sexy! Like NSFW (Not Safe For Work) sexy. But it isn’t raunchy. I also really enjoyed seeing these two characters develop. The plot lends itself very well to that. I enjoyed seeing how Lucy and Joshua handled each new situation.