The Hating Game

A Novel

By: Sally Thorne

Narrated by: Katie Schorr

Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

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 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.

©2016 Sally Thorne (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Loved It So Much, You Have No Idea

Overall 4.5 stars
Performance 4 stars
Story 5 stars

I don't know why it took me so long to read this one! Right from the start, I was sucked into this book. I knew I wanted to savor it, so I both read and listened to the audiobook. I absolutely fell in love with the author's witty and hilarious writing in this enemies to lovers office romance. Thorne didn't reinvent the wheel with this book, and I figured out most the "twists" early on, but it was her writing that kept me engaged and riveted to the story. The banter and back and forth between Josh and Lucy was perfection! One minute I was snorting and laughing out loud and the other rubbing my chest from the squeezing of my heart. Thorne's descriptions were so relatable and honest that I felt like I was experiencing all the confusion, joy, anger, excitement, hope, disappointment, tenderness, and love right along with the characters.

Lucy was quirky, eccentric, and the polar opposite of straight laced and regimented Josh. Their opposites attract chemistry was off the charts and I could not get enough of the push and pull between these two. The slow burn was done so well and it made every look, gentle touch, and stolen moment so much more powerful. Josh is not an easy character to love. He's intense, grumpy, standoffish, and a real jerk most of the time. There are moments though, where you catch glimpses of a different Josh, and those moments make all the butterflies take flight. It's not until later in the book that you really get to see Josh, but it's so worth the wait. Sometimes it felt like Lucy was too over the top and she couldn't possibly be that dense/clueless about what was building, but given her history and antagonistic relationship with Josh up to that point, it made sense. Things wrapped up a little too quickly at the end and after waiting the entire book to get to this point, I was hoping for more of the after. I would have loved to have had an epilogue, as well as Josh's POV in the story (even just a few chapters!) This was such a fantastic debut novel and I cannot wait to read more from Sally Thorne!

Katie Schorr was perfect as Lucy! She was playful and quirky, but also snarky and delivered the jabs and barbs so wonderfully. Her male voices weren't too different from her female, so there were times I wasn't sure for a second if Josh or Lucy was speaking. I also sometimes had a hard time distinguishing between what was actually said and inner monologue, but that is a common issue I have with audiobooks. Katie Schorr is a new to me narrator, but overall I really enjoyed her performance.

Surprised I love it so much

I absolutely loved this book. I usually go for the mystery/thriller type of books but I purchased this on a whim while it was on sale, and did not expect to to love it as much as I did. Give this witty rom-com a listen!

A great Summer read/listen!

If I had to sum up this book into one word, it would be cute. Lucy and Josh work side by side in a publishing house and are competing for the same promotion. They couldn't be more opposite, but the one thing they have in common is that they drive each other crazy. Individually, they are likable characters, but together, they are lovable. I loved their banter and chemistry. Although, I did find Lucy a little too naive at times and often wished I could hear from Josh's POV instead of just Lucy's. But, that is just a personal preference. It's like a Chick Flick in the form of a book, and I would definitely place it in the Chick Lit genre. This would make a great summer read/listen!

Swoon

A slow burn, enemies to lovers? Yeah, I’m always in for that. This is now one of my new favorite books. I loved everything about it from beginning to end.

so good

for all the rom-com lovers, this one will be a new fav! such a good story with lots of heart flutters and laughs.

Loved it

I loved this book. The dialogue is funny and it’s the perfect love/hate read without being corny or over the top. The audible performance was awesome as well. One of my new favorites!

My favorite contemporary romance novel of all time

Words cannot describe how much I love this book. I’ve read it twice now and even before I finished the book for the second time, I wanted to start it over again. I want to LIVE in this story. I know that sounds dramatic, but that’s what this book does to me. If I could pick a book to copy and paste over my life, to jump into a female MC’s body and have her world become mine, it’s this one. I have never identified with a female MC so much. I am also ridiculously short, love books, have a similar sense of style and am a dreamer—just like Lucy—and I fell for Josh just as hard.

Josh and Lucy’s love story is one that I will always hold close to my heart and long for. The setup and execution is perfect. There is nothing I would change and have absolutely zero complaints about this book.

The banter and wit in this novel is off the charts. Josh and Lucy have me laughing out loud, even during the second go around when I’d heard all of their snipes before. The structure of all of their games (The Staring Game, The Mirror Game, The “How ya doing?” Game, etc) is extremely cute, funny and really gives even more life to these amazingly written characters.

The backstories, the obstacles, the humorous commentary, all aspects of this book were perfectly laid out. I just can’t praise this book enough.

If you are a fan of contemporary romance, you need to pick up this book. Now.

Exellent book! I loved it.

This book was very enjoyable to listen to. I liked the story line and the way it was written and read. So many romance novels fall short of having and substance but this one didn't. I loved it. My husband even became interested listening to it and he also enjoyed it. I definitely recommend this book.

Had to listen to it twice!

I really loved this romance! As soon as I finished it, I just had to start it all over again. (I never do that! ) The story is a very clever and witty hate to love romance. It was not cheesy or preposterous. The characters had flaws and were interesting and likeable.
Narration was also cute and suited the main character well.
I am really glad I picked this one up. A cut above the typical romantic novel.

Fun romantic comedy

This book gets off to kind of a slow start, but ends up being really fun and surprisingly sexy.