Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Hating Game

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

98 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I liked the writing style, but there was some casual fatphobia that went unaddressed and the author really emphasized how tiny the female MC was in a way that was excessive. And the tone was a little strange; the first half of the book that had the work drama was pretty light, but the end family drama from the male MC's family was a little much.

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uyeb's review against another edition

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funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

1.5/5 stars

you don’t understand the ANGER i feel at this book for so utterly disappointing me. let me go on a rant for a second.

first of all, i actually started this book liking it pretty well. then it went on and the writing style had me a bit confused, but i was still pretty into the story. then about 250 pages through i realized ‘this is bs’ and started looking at the whole book through a lens of ‘how did booktok so passionately promote something so problematic?’. yea sjm is on the list a lot and yes some of the popular books aren’t good but so far, tiktok has done a pretty good job for me. apparently it ends here?

for starters, i was pretty quickly annoyed with both the main character and the love interest. lucy is very adamant about making people know she’s short (fine for a bit but gets annoying after a while), and OBSESSIVELY talks about josh’s body and kissing him, etc. that came across like… super freaking gross to me? then josh’s whole point of existence was being tall and muscular but also mean and the ‘iceman’ that needed to be proven to be nice. first of all, overdone trope. second of all, ew. their romance was bearable for most of the book, but the make out scenes were confusing and the amount of time they spent talking about sex instead of… idk… hanging out? was frustrATING. plus the weird plot point of painting his room the color of her eyes???? no thank you. i also didn’t love the pacing but that’s a me thing not a book problem.

then there was the insanely talked about idea of masculinity? i caught somewhere between 5 and 10 really really weird things that were said, along the lines of ‘saved from femininity’, ‘his manliness’, etc. and it came across as toxic masculinity and misogyny wrapped up into one weird package. no idea if that was the intention or not, but that’s what happened. also should mention the ‘his desk was the male version of mine, with blue post it notes, while i have pink’. yep you heard it here first, blue = men and pink = women. also, not an uncommon thing in romance but i still hate it, groups of women were referred to as ‘females’ at least once in this book. and that’s not inherently problematic but it’s weird. a. vaguely derogatory and b. a little transphobic and/or trans-exclusionary.

then let’s not forget to mention the fat-phobia and strange mentions of eating/food (not even sure how to categorize them), the use of multiple literal slurs??? how have more people not talked about that. there’s also the casual mentions about wanting to die (not in reference to anything like mental health, just about kissing, sex, etc) that multiple people have pointed out are very inappropriate, ableist language that’s used very frequently, and the occasional sprinkle of implying that being a sex worker is inherently a bad thing. yeah the phrases used to describe disabled people (some of which are considered slurs to begin with) used derogatorily are too much. some other reviewers have said it more eloquently than i can but it’s not good. there’s also a blatant lack of consent- especially lacking on lucy’s part- that made me personally super uncomfy. edit: let’s also not forget the fact that josh is lowkey toxic- he was unnecessarily possessive and weird to danny when it was completely undeserved. not possessive in the way some books do it well, trust me.

all this said, the romance was fine for the most part, but the writing style and language used really ruined it for me. i’m starting to think the adult romance genre isn’t gonna do it for me (dw tho, i’m not giving up). i at least definitely should’ve listened to myself when i originally thought i wouldn’t like this. would not recommend, this is the lowest i think i’ve ever rated something even if it’s not the worst book i’ve ever read in terms of actual content. :(

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letyl_22's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

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cait_margaret's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was fine? Which feels so underwhelming to type after the hype it has received for years, but I just never really connected to the story or the characters. Josh and Lucy had a hell of a lot of chemistry but their motivations were so hard to keep up with. Maybe it’s because we’re getting the story from Lucy’s perspective and she seems so over dramatic, but it felt like we were constantly slamming between extremes and I just never felt like I had a handle on where they stood. Also, there was some weird stuff about characters’ physicalities that I didn’t like reading (i.e. the way one boss’s description correlates being fat and bald to the fact he’s a creep and an asshole? not here for that, nor the constant underlining of how huge Josh is and how tiny Lucy is). I also hated how much Josh’s behavior at the beginning just comes across as disgusting harassment. Still, the chemistry was real and the actual romance scenes were fun, and in general I really liked the last quarter of the book.

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smartrabbit's review against another edition

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riddle's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i didn't think i was going to like this book, but here we are. it was an easy and fast read.

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shuelace's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book. This book. I hate to love it, so, so much because it's definitely NOT perfect. It's a whole lot of bad things and YET, I got butterflies at times? What does this say about me? I DNF'd about 25% into the book after the bratty behaviour and childish games they played with one another. The plot was slow but then took an aggressively fast turn. I don't know why this is considered a slow burn (lol), perhaps because one of the character's kept their feelings a secret for so long? But I forced myself myself to continue and finished it in a day.

The character's engage in weird, obsessive (and stalker-y, and intrusive) behaviour towards/with each other, it's a little too territorial, involves way too much objectification to the point of discomfort from the receiving character (like literally is Josh anything more tho), it's too immature at times, a little too much "oh no I completely misunderstood and now I HATE YOU and as a reader you're frustrated as hell but not is a good way", and a little tamer on the spice train than it's hyped to have had (ha).

Some of the plot points were were formulaic, it frustrated me. In spite of communicating his feelings, Josh shows Lucy he loves her by picking on her like an 8 year-old boy. Which goes to show that finally when this mature girl decides decides show his feelings, the couple's "initiating" is unrealistic. But even if he was being a brat, Lucy not even CONSIDERING that Josh had feelings for her? Wat? There are so many obvious signs.

Did I absolutely love the banter? Yes. The quick retorts were 🤌, though it was difficult to track the dialogue towards the end of the book and who was saying what. I enjoyed the character's commitment to one another even if it frustrated me to no end how immature and noncommunicative they both were at times. Aka being spiteful, rude, and insulting to one another and at times, crossing the line beyond civility.

But did I enjoy Josh's (obvious) secret pining? Yes 🥺. I enjoyed his sweet and tender behaviour towards her once they were together.

I give him a lot more credit for character development as he clearly had more complexity and character growth than Lucy had at all. Her plot focuses basically on her needing saving? Am I simplifying it? Maybe. Josh then confesses he's been objectiified and used in the past for just his body and Lucy immediately...does the same thing? She does a half assed job on showing him and telling him otherwise.

Also, why does he keep saying "your freakouts" to Lucy? You mean her rationality trying to understand what's happening in your relationship and your sudden change of behaviour? Is she just supposed to forgive you based on some very unclear motives and barely communicated intentions? Are you saying she's not allowed to have anxious feelings or caution around her heart? And she's just trying to process everything? Does Josh think she suddenly TRUSTS him and can confide deep, dark things to him even though he's clearly broken her trust many times? WHAT.

Finally, one last frustration. WHY is the trope of big strong man and smol little woman so, so prevalent in current population romance fiction? Like, I get it on a surface level that this could be a steamy idea to some but the fact that it's mentioned ENDLESSLY. we GET it. Lucy is SO SMALL. Josh is RIPPED AND HAS ENDLESS PENT UP SEXUAL ENERGY TO WORKOUT. omg. There's probably so much more to say but THESE ARE MY CURRENT FRUSTRATIONS.

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