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The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

 

The Hating Game


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.

 

****

 The Hating Game

Author : Sally Thorne

Published year: 2016

Pages: 387

Language : English

Genre : Romance, Comedy

Age Recommendation : 18+ 

 

I've been waiting so long to read another romance book after my reading slump lately. I thought this book will be a safe choice to reignite my mood, but not really. Even after reading it, I watched the movie and still feel nothing.
Referring to the title, we know that this is a story about a nemesis finally falling in love, even without reading the burbs. I always love this trope, especially in the early Korean Drama era.

There is Lucy Hutton, a small, beautiful, and cheerful woman, who works as an assistant to the CEO of a publishing company. She's a typical office's favorite girl, who is always helpful and brings brightness to the room. Meanwhile, Joshua is tall, big, neat-freak, gloomy, and OCD and also works as an assistant to the co-CEO. Joshua just arrived when both companies merged. Bring the dark clouds whenever he went.
Every day is a mind game between Lucy and Joshua since they both sit face to face and try to spy on whatever they're doing.

There is a man in the office that seems interested in Lucy. He will resign soon, and because Joshua questioned Lucy's eligibility in the dating market, Lucy set the date with that man.

If only Joshua didn't have a bad attitude and big grumpy, he is a fine man with handsome and manly looks, and sometimes, Lucy steals a glance or....have a yummy dream at night with him.

Especially after that dream, Lucy's mind is unfocused on her hatred. Whenever she is close to Josh, she remembers how Josh held him in the dream.

Josh looks like gets that vibes, one time he passionately kissed Lucy in the elevator, and lucy kissed him back. When they supposedly STILL hate each other. (I mean.........is it possible to hate someone but kissed him passionately? If it was me, I don't even want to see his eyes).
Through the half of the book, the hating game still continue, though their hearts desire otherwise. Josh show her humanity little by little, but Lucy didn't believe in him easily. Even though she wants him so badly, and they are together, Lucy is unsure if this is part of Joshua's plan to crush Lucy eventually.

Well, since this book is popular and there is a motion picture based on the book, I expect a lot. I expect the snarky yet hilarious exchange between them, but what I got the most is the sexual tension between them.
Lucy is supposedly smart, bouncy, and funny but here I got the vibes she is only a people-pleaser and indecisive. Meanwhile, Josh's character is not really hateable. He's a nice guy but cold-blooded and doesn't put other people's feelings above his feeling(different from Lucy's). So there is nothing really to be hated of him instead of he came at the wrong time and wrong place.

The plot story is predictable but I don't mind since we can expect it from the title. But I expect more from the book since it is very popular. I only remember how Lucy objectifies Josh most of the time. This is like 50% of romance, and 50% of an adult novel but disguised into the supposedly funny heroine. So my idea is, it is the story of two people who hate each other as big as their sexual desire.

The climax is like a melted snow mountain. I've been waiting for the encounter will be fantastic, but no, the part, when they spent the night together, is more weighted in the novel.

But It is still worth reading if you want to keep up with what's one of the most popular romantic-comedy novels nowadays. 

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