The Hating Game by Sally Thorne Published by William Morrow Paperbacks Publication Date: August 9th 2016
Pages: 384
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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. 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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I didn’t expect to enjoy The Hating Game as much as I did. I thought it would be just another predictable romance, but I was surprised. The dialog and banter between Lucy & Josh that Sally Thorne created was very entertaining. She did a great job conveying the love/hate vibe between those two main characters! I thoroughly enjoyed the biting comments that Lucy & Josh exchanged at every turn. The sexual tension between them keeps readers wanting to read more—you’ll be dying to know if they will EVER get together already! I also loved Thorne’s writing style: “…he’s a stately silver fox, gravely upholstered in heaving tailoring…”, now if you can’t picture that character in your head I don’t know what’s wrong with you! And again when referring to the church organist who, “…began to press several keys in a foghorn of fright…”. Hysterical! Each chapter ended leaving me wanting to know more about Lucy and Josh, so it was hard to put down. This is a cute office romance, so if you enjoy humor and you can take Josh’s “meanness” towards Lucy, you will enjoy it. My only worry is that if they make this into a movie, they will miscast Joshua. Thorne has built him up in my head and I do NOT want to be disappointed if he is played by an inferior looking actor!
