Book Re-Review | The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Hello Friends! I haven’t done a book re-review in quite some time. I tried to reread The Hating Game and .. it was a journey. I couldn’t even finish it this time around. Is my reading preferences changing? Or am I just not as easily swayed by really hyped books?

The Hating Game
Author: Sally Thorne
Orignally Read: September 2018

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. ​​

I really can’t believe I rated this 5 stars back in 2018. I remember loving this so much and fast forward to 2022 and I can’t even finish it. The writing is weird and Thorne’s descriptions are super strange and far-fetched. 

I don’t understand how Lucy is thought of as a nice character. She’s judgy and always is super “woe is me”. She kept saying that the promotion was hers and she should get it, however, 

nothing was shown to say that she would be good at it. While she was hating Josh we go to see that he at least had a good work ethic. All Lucy cared about was hating Josh and ordering Smurfs. Also, this girl had no friends. That’s a sign right there! 

As far as the romance goes, either Lucy was dumb or really naive. Anyone could tell that Josh liked her. He was going along with this game because of her. To be honest, I don’t know what Josh really saw in Lucy. Not saying that he was perfect, but they weren’t on the same level. This book really should have had a duo POV.

I know a lot of people loved this and I did too at a time. But now, I can’t decide if it’s the author’s writing or a terrible main character that didn’t work for me. Both of those with a lackluster romance and I’m donating my copy of this book.

DNF

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