The Hating Game: A Novel

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I feel so conflicted about The Hating Game. It was like I was playing out my own version of the love/hate game with the book while reading it. This is somehow a magical blend of adult Sarra Manning + Sarah Mayberry + Jennifer Crusie. It's funny and sharp and serious, with seething workplace rivalry and career drama coupled with crazy great chemistry and delicious banter. It also has unbelievably sweet and tender moments one of my favorite parts is them simply holding hands, though you'll easily laugh a minute after that! It captures that weird obsessive behavior you can't help when you first fall in love, and also convinces you that after a hard-won relationship, these two won't ever stop being endearingly, ridiculously fussy over each other. Hate-to-love relationships are so fun when they're done well, and this is the best one I've read, in no small part because the "hate" part is pretty convincing in the beginning. It hits all the tropes and scenarios you've read before, but the way they're done here is just irresistible. The next day, Lucy overhears and misinterprets a conversation between Josh and their boss, concluding that Josh has been using their romance to distract her from the promotion. Enraged, she vows to beat Josh for the job. At the day of the promotion competition, Lucy gets the job as it turns out Josh had already quit to join another company. The two kiss and become a couple. I’ll never be able to untangle myself from this feeling. The color of love is surely this robin’s-egg blue.”

I should mention that the ultimate aim of all our games is to make the other smile, or cry. It’s something like that. I’ll know when I win.” Now a film starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell, globally bestselling author Sally Thorne’s hilarious workplace comedy is all about the fine line between love and hate.WOW! OMG! WHAT DID I JUST READ?! I AM NOT FUNCTIONING RIGHT NOW! MY HEART IS ON THE VERGE OF FAILING. Other then the annoying cliche story there is a odd amount of nice guy bashing in this book. What a weird bloody stance to take Sally Thorne. Lucy is used as the barometer of why nice is a bad thing to be since her people pleasing tendencies cause people to walk all over her. I'm sorry Sally Thorne you are mistaking insecure weakness for kindness. At one point Josh tries to gain the readers sympathy by mentioning how upset he gets when people comment on how handsome he is because he's always used for his looks and then left because he has a bad personality? You mean you won the genetic lottery and the one thing you are capable of changing is what turns people away. NOBODY FEELS SORRY FOR YOU, YOU LUNATIC!

But mostly I think this was a letdown. And these characters are mean to each other. And I think just are really really really into the idea of boning each other, more than they are in love. At any rate, I ran across this in my ongoing quest to find funny romances that make my heart go pitty-pat.Re-read 12/30/17: Had to re-read this one last time in 2017 because I love it so damn much. Every time I re-read it I expect to like it less, but I just like it more and more and more every time. This book is my life, y’all. in: The office gang has a paintball match. Danny, a designer who used to work with Josh and Lucy, is clearly interested in Lucy, and in that moment, she is as well. Danny tries getting close to Lucy but Josh snaps at Danny when he talks to her. He also shot him with his paintball gun when Danny waved to Lucy. Like, seriously?? You’re that jealous???

Everything seems to get worse between Lucy and Josh when they find out one of them will be the other boss. But the dynamic between them changes again with an earth shattering kiss.

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Josh and Lucy's story tugged at my heartstrings in an unexpected way. They were two characters beautifully crafted, with their flaws and insecurities. Lucy was always sociable and charming, she wanted people to like her but in the end, she was lonely. Josh was a clinical asshole that made everyone tremble, and tiny Lucy was the only one that stood up to him. Little did she know how shy and caring he was. Sally Thorne is the USA Today bestselling author of the office rom-com The Hating Game (2016). It is her debut novel that has sold in over twenty-five countries and is being made into a major motion picture, directed by Peter Hutchings and starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell. Filming wrapped in December 2020. It was named in the top 20 romance novels of 2016 by the Washington Post and was a top ten finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards romance category. The Hating Game has been cited as a book that has reinvigorated the romantic comedy genre. One of the tragic things about being so out of the loop with the book world is I DID NOT KNOW THERE WAS AN EPILOGUE. And not only an epilogue, but probably the best epilogue ever written, anywhere, anytime!