Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - The Hating Game

I think I would've liked it if I had read it in the 2000s. The story is solemnly focused on the male alpha personality of Joshua and the silly quirky tone of Lucy and lacks plot and character nuances. Even though the autor tried to portrait Joshua as a healthy masculinity character, he has a lot of toxic masculinity traits that are romanticized throughout the book.

Thus, I really didn't dig their enemies to lovers relationship—I think the reason they hated each other was ridiculous. Their whole relationship was based on the old concept that if a boy likes you, he treats you badly. Lucy spent a lot of the time being emotionally abused, and Joshua seemed to only care about her emotions once she started to show some interest in him.

This, plus the lack of diversity in characters made it really uncomfortable for me to read it atItimes. I would definitely not read it again but if you're okay with these kinds of things, then you may enjoy this. It has good writing and could've been a great story if it wasn't for the whole romanticized idea of violent love.

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brendaxxo's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted 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? It's complicated

1.0

I feel a chill of fear when I see his big thumb push the B button. He looks down at me, his eyes dark and intense. He's clearly deliberating something. Maybe he'll murder me down there. I'll end up dead in a dumpster. The investigators will see my fishnets and heavy makeup and assume I'm a hooker. They'll follow all the wrong leads.
Meanwhile, Joshua will be calmly bleaching all my DNA off his shoes and making himself a sandwich.
"Serial killer eyes." I wish I didn't sound so scared.

my thoughts about this story can be perfectly summed up in two words: hot mess. on one hand, i was thoroughly entertained (i devoured this in one sitting) but i also have some major gripes with the story. essentially, it was fun until i had a critical thought. then it was weird... and then it was horrible.

one or two mentions about a height difference is fine, but the constant reminders about lucy being tiny and josh's huge stature felt like the story was crossing into fetish territory. couple that with the fact that on more than one occasion lucy feared for her life and felt unsafe around josh, noting his strong serial killer vibes. i'm sorry, is this not supposed to be a thriller about workplace harassment and subsequent murder??? because this is the perfect setup.

to be fair, i’m not the biggest fan of enemies to lovers (

even though it turns out he loved her all along for some reason??

) but i found lucy and josh’s dynamic to be extremely petty and childish. at times josh was too jealous, possessive, and unnecessarily aggressive. his behavior towards danny (and danny’s behavior towards him) was a bit much and quickly became a weird pissing contest. these characters are pushing thirty and if they weren't acting like hormonal middle schoolers, they were basically verbally and emotionally abusing each other. yes, some of it was "banter" but it never sat right with me. neither did the borderline stalking but it was mutual so i guess it cancels out like pemdas.

some of my other complaints are that everyone is one dimensional, neither lucy nor josh had friends or even a life outside of their job, josh’s eyes changed colors like a mood ring somehow, lucy was one of those “i’m not short, i’m fun-sized” people, lucy’s internalized misogyny was never challenged or broken down, and those “and everyone clapped” moments at the end (no they didn’t 😍😍). this is thorne’s first book, so i could excuse the occasional bad or cringy writing, and i could raise my suspension of disbelief enough to allow for certain contrived plot points, but this story has SO many cliches that it simply felt unoriginal and uninspired.

thorne almost lays an interesting foundation, but she never dives deep into her characters.

for instance: josh constantly worked out, never ate, felt uncomfortable whenever lucy made comments about his body, and it’s established that his father's comments led to him developing an unhealthy relationship with food. i was expecting josh to suffer from an eating disorder which would’ve been a great opportunity to bring awareness to men with eating disorders but thorne doesn’t explore this.

the hating game is full of lazy writing. everything, from the plot to the characters to the setting, lacks depth and dimension.

this was a trainwreck i couldn't look away from. the best scenes were the elevator scene (if you block out the serial killer mess) and the singular “you’re always beautiful” moment that was quickly ruined. don't hold your breath, it doesn't get better than that. i originally gave this two stars but then i asked myself, what did i actually like about this book? it's a quick and easy read, but that's all it has going for it. i viscerally hate everything about this book. i'm convinced sally thorne lost the plot. one star.

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jimarable's review against another edition

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Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

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iwantacactus's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing

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

4.5

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outsidestar's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-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

5.0

Reread #2 February 2021:
I was looking through it and ended up reading until 2.30 am. This book just does that to me. It sucks me in and I can't let go.

Reread #1 November 2019:
I'm still waiting for Joshua to show up in my life.

Original review January 2019:
OH. MY. GOD. THIS FREAKIN BOOK.

It's been a long time since a book kept me up until 3am because I had to finish it. It was 100% predictable, just like a rom-com, but it was also 100% unputdownable. I'm reading anything Sally Thorne writes from now on, that's how good it was.

And Josh. Oh God, Joshua Templeman. I need you in my life right this second.

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katiekinsduncan's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.5

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100_pages_hr's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Really enjoyed this enemies to lovers book. The banter was fantastic.

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ricareviews's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

2.0

This book exists for no reason at all. It's clear from the start that the two main characters are in love with each other, but there's no yearning or angst. The enemies-to-lovers trope presented here isn't believable at all. And the stale writing doesn't help. The dialogues don't work, and most interactions these characters had were uncomfortable and confusing. I found the writing to be very repetitive and bland. Bottom line, I just couldn't get into the story. I felt like there was no reason to root for these characters. I usually love romance books, therefore I'm a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy reading this, especially after seeing how well-loved it is by the book community. I was expecting a light and fun read but, instead, I got an unconvincing romance and a boring plot. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

I'm not giving this a one-star rating because I've read much worse, but I was tempted. This book wasn't good by any means.

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