The Hating Game: A Spicy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance
Now a movie starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell, USA Today bestselling author Sally Thorne’s hilarious and sexy enemies to lovers 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 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 and witty banter 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, a classic grumpy sunshine dynamic.
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 in this slow burn romance, 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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Readers say *The Hating Game* is a charming, polished romcom celebrated for its witty banter, strong chemistry, and playful workplace rivalry. Reviewe...
Hating someone feels disturbingly similar to being in love with them...the most essential thing anyone needs to know about me, is this: I hate Joshua Templeman. And thus begins our enemies-lovers story.
Remember growing up when you were told that the more someone picked on you, the more they supposedly were crushing on you? Well that pretty much sums up the story. Yes - Joshua Templeman is mean to Lucy because he's loved her from the moment they met. I'm not entirely mad at that, mostly because it stems from the revelation of Joshua's background that he grew up neglected and is actually really shy, so would rather strike first as a defence mechanism. Lots of people can relate to that - I know I certainly can. I think it was an interesting characterization of a MMC, and I quite enjoyed him as a character. Lucy on the other hand...what an annoying, juvenile creature, who's main character trait is that she's short. And if you didn't realize that she's 5'0", don't worry - it's mentioned practically every 5 pages or so! It seems such an odd thing to focus on, and I can't think of anything else interesting about her.
Now back to the slow burn...I wish there was more burn! The overall sexual tension was well done and very effective, because it kept me wanting more. By the time they 'seal the deal', so to speak, we're practically finished with the book! Which, by the way, wrapped up really too quickly and neatly. I found I was missing the typical epilogue to catch up a few months down the road.
Anyways - cute fluff that was enjoyable, but just lacking something overall.
Why be intentionally antagonistic to the person you like? Does not do the enemies to lovers trope justice, in my opinion. More like emotionally stunted love interest.
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