Shannon Returns to Review the Adult Romance Hit – The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is an adult romance novel that was released in 2016 & makes for the perfect Book Rewind! Check out my thoughts below. Also, it feels so good to be reading again!

---

Book Rewind is a meme where we review a backlist title to distinguish reviewed books that are not a new release. We noticed we tend to review almost all new or newly released books and wanted to have a feature to spotlight some older books that we either just read or are just reviewing because we never got around to it, or possibly didn’t blog back then! This meme will be posted on Thursdays as a ‘Throwback Thursday’ kind of deal.

We totally encourage others to participate in the Book Rewind Review meme! Backlist books need love too! Feel free to use our banner and be sure to link back to our page and tag us on social media so we can help promote your posts too!

 

The Hating Game

by Sally Thorne
Published by: William Morrow Paperbacks
on August 9, 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance, Mature
Pages: 384
Bookshop
Goodreads

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.

 

Review:

I’ll admit it’s been awhile. Much like Lucinda in The Hating Game, I’ve been celibate, book celibate that is, for quite sometime. So when I finally found the time to devote to a book (after my dry spell) I wanted something quick and easy. I had heard about The Hating Game from a few trusted Instagram influencers who had it on their must read list. Of course, I was skeptical as traditional contemporary romance isn’t usually my jam, I typically need an angel or a fairy to spice things up, but this had such solid reviews I thought why not.

Here’s what has transpired since I devoured The Hating Game in one sitting, I have reread it twice. I have reread my bookmarked favorite parts more times than I feel comfortable admitting. I’ve been walking around with a SEG (shit eating grin) for days. Someone call the Dr. Josh (hint that’s from the book) because mama has a book hangover.

You guys this is SO good. Like curl your toes, crazy grin from ear to ear good. I admit in the romance trope department the enemies to lovers genre is a personal fave. It’s the slow burn, the build-up, it’s that final payoff that makes your cheeks turn red and turns your book into a fan because good lord HEAT. Lucy and Josh start out as bitter enemies, work colleagues who pass the time engaging in petty office games to one up each other. It’s cat and mouse, it’s one HR violation after the other all in the name of annoying the other party. However, there is a layer of sexual tension that threads through every interaction that you just know is going to implode…and it does in an elevator.

Lucy and Josh have chemistry, they have the witty banter, and did I mention Josh is described as looking like a young Clark Kent and his body is described as more than a little man of steel if you catch my drift. I have to admit, I couldn’t not picture Henry Cavill as Josh after that little tidbit.

The book had a cinematic quality to it and I could fully realize every scene like I was watching it on a screen. That is a testament to the talent of author Sally Thorne. Did I mention this is her debut novel? Something this good right out of the gate? I have already pre-ordered her second book if that tells you anything!

As far as contemporaries go, this is one for the books. Lucy and Josh are so fully realized, so complex and interesting that I found myself wanting more well after the final page was turned. Lucy in particular had such a zest to her and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the things that would pop out of her mouth. And Joshua Templeman? Where do I begin? Was it the intensity of his dark blue eyes, the way you knew he deep down cared about Lucy or was it the abs…definitely the abs. I also loved the way Sally Thorne wrote her romance scenes. They were sexy as hell (obviously) but also done in such a tasteful way.

I could prattle on about this book forever but I won’t as I have a few bookmarked scenes I need to re-read…

To quote another enemies to lovers romance, 10 things I hate About you, to sum out my thoughts on The Hating Game:<

I hate the way I don’t hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.

FIVE FREAKING STARS