The Hating Game: Summary
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| The Hating Game by Sally Thorne |
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is the story of Lucinda Hutton and Joshua Templeman. Both of them work in the same publishing company as executive assistants to the co-CEOs of Gamin and Bexley publishing. The feelings of hate between Josh and Lucy are mutual and neither of them shies away in displaying it openly.
Lucy is the happy-go-lucky kinda girl, who always tries to accommodate other people even if she has to deal with the trouble. She likes wearing bright clothes, always smiles at other people and has a quirkiness to her nature. Contrastingly, Josh Templeman abhors all these qualities in her and doesn't like her for allowing people to walk all over her.
In the same way, Lucy Hutton doesn't seem to understand Josh's tedious and uptight nature towards his job and everything in general. He never smiles. He wears seven particular shades of shirts, repeated in the same pattern. Lucy notices every single thing about his manners and behaviors since they spend more than 50 hours a week while sitting few feet across each other in their offices.
This mutual resentment for each other has started 'The Hating Game' between Lucy and Josh. This game takes a strange turn when a new promotion is lined up for one of them. Both of them have to fight with all their might and intelligence to get this promotion and be the BOSS of the other. But, who knows this new competition brings out the most strange things for Lucy and Josh in the most unexpected ways.
The Hating Game: Book Review
When I picked up this book I had sky-high hopes for a fun engaging story because of the hype and its high rating on Goodreads. And I was going to read YA fiction after a longggg time.
Did this book meet my expectations or disappointed me?
Well, "The Hating Game" disappointed me real bad. Out of 363 pages comprising this whole book, 85% of the story is just about the main characters obsessing over each other. It felt like the only thing they do in their office is stare and keep an eye on each other and nothing else.
After every two pages, Lucy and Josh are acting weirdly desperate and thinking about ways to grab each other's attention.
I know it was a romance novel, but where's the story build-up...?? Isn't it supposed to be them competing for the promotion but NO...
Plus, why do people call it Funny and Humorous? I was unable to find a speck of humor till the end...
Another thing that bothered me about this book was the gender stereotyping through colors and their office desks, like pink colored post-its on Lucy's desk and blue ones on Josh.
I enjoy reading the haters to lovers trope but this one wasn't up to par. I didn't get what the hype was about...? 🤷
The only good thing in the whole book was when Josh motivated Lucy to speak for herself and not let people use her for their own good. And she did it!
P.s if you want to read a good YA fiction, check It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. I've posted a spoiler-free book review. So don't forget to check it out.