Bianca

Dec 14, 2021

The Hating Game by Sally Throne

4/5 stars

What a fun novel to pick up and read in a day! I had such a fun time reading this book and I think you will too if some of your favourite tropes are: enemies to lovers, office romance, height difference and many more. Or I'm sure you'll like it if you just love great love stories.

This book was fast-paced and keeps you interested. I really loved the two main characters. I liked how weird the main character Lucy, is with her smurf obsession and her silly reactions in certain scenarios. And even though she dresses like a retro librarian I loved how she is portrayed as excelling at her job and super intelligent and capable, she is a great role model to have in novels. Lucy's character creates such a great juxtaposition which her love interest Josh, who doesn't show emotions and is a hardass but has a soft spot for lucy. I like how throughout the book Sally starts to peel away Josh's layers of his personality and it shows how great Lucy and Josh are together. I like the competition they have with each other in their jobs. I think it adds another great layer to the novel. I read this book on a plane and it kept me occupied the entire time and I was able to finish it that day. Every time I put this down I kept thinking about what would happen next. I liked how this book stands out a bit from other stories since it does truly seem like they hate each other at the beginning of the book. The yelling at each other, the petty games they play and the complaints to HR. It's all very fun to read. You don't read many love stories like this so it's definitely worth picking up. Now it doesn't get a full five stars from me since it was a bit predictable and some scenes at the end of the book are oddly paced but, I still had fun obivously since I finished this book quite quickly. Also! This book just was released as a movie and I was able to watch it right after I finished this book! And obviously, I am a big consumer of cheesy romance so I did infact like this movie. It sticked true to the themes of the book and I thought the actors that played the characters were accurate and it was filmed beautifully. So even if you are not a big reader I would say to go watch this movie if you want something to put a smile on your face.

Overall, I would recommend this book to read for anyone looking for a pick-me-up and a twist on your basic love story. I think Sally did a great job with this book and I can't wait to read more of her books in the future.