Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Hating Game

Lucinda is so problematic! Lol.
The fact that whenever she describes Bexley’s incompetence, she speaks about him being fat and never actually mentions what really makes him incompetent. All the creepy sexual harrassy stuff? Nah. He *is* fat though and apparently that’s all that makes him terrible. She references him as such multiple times ☹️

This was made worse for me with how very often she spoke about just how small and teeny tiny she is. 💀 This book came out in 2016, right!!?? 👀👀 Sally, you ought’a know better, boo! 5 foot nothing hahahahaha 😶

There are a number of weird references that made me cringe when she said them. Comparing your somewhat messy apartment to a slum in Kolkata is so racist! 😷 What do you mean?!! I struggled to read past that. I also noticed the use of the “old” spelling of Kolkata in the book 👀👀. The name was corrected to right spelling in 2001…!

Not long after that there was a problematic reference to albinism to describe someone Lucy hated. 🫤 I hat to re read that because I honestly couldn’t believe it.

Then there were just a bunch of obtuse comments relating to mental health that seemingly messed with this lily-white world of Lucy and Josh.

Lol. What’s with the hate on blondes? 😂😂 Sending love to all the blondes tall and brown-eyed🫶🏾

Also, the ridicule of short men?? So unnecessary. Just to emphasise how big big Josh is all big and big. Urgh. Because it’s not like we had any idea how big and perfect he is.

The writing was also so sporadic. Parts of it just threw me off but I honestly didn’t care enough to try and understand it or keep track. Josh’s pining was cute until it got a bit creepy and controlly. The creepy blue-eyed fetishisation wall paint business??? Girl, run!!

Sally, girl… 👀👀👀

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joensign's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.5

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snslayer's review against another edition

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Too repulsed by the fatphobia to keep going.

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aditiy's review against another edition

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i liked it except for the fatphobic comments...can we not

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annick's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I read it a few years ago (before the film version) and enjoyed the office enemies to lovers trope, and banter. And the sexual tension in some of the scenes.

the narration needed more editing.

In the end I prefer the film version because it lacks a lot of the annoying narration of the book.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

I have been seeing this all over the book community and my best friends kindly got me this for my birthday and I decided it was finally time to read this. I enjoyed this book; I was just hoping for more and waiting for more.

This book is based around Lucy Hutton, she is the baker of cakes, she is an outstanding assistant and professional nice girl. She is waging war. She's got the whole office on her side – except for tall, dark and charmless Joshua Templeman he’s been nothing but hostile since the moment they met and now it feels like nothing matters as much as taking him down. They are tapped together under the fluorescent lights, they become obsessed with this addictive rivalry. There's the Staring Games, The Mirror Games, the HR Games. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything, especially when there is a huge promotion up for grabs. She is going to destroy the man she can’t seem to get out of her office, the man she hates, the man who’s taking up far too much space in her head. If Lucy wins, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. The race is on – but the real games have only just begun.

I liked this book. I think Lucy was hilarious and her smurf addiction was so funny even if it was only touched on for a moment. I was expecting this book to be more of a slow-burn, like one touch and they were nearly combusting and it wasn’t really like that. It was like they kissed, they realized their feelings, they both get jealous, they both kick off and then smut end of. I wanted more of the office tension, I wanted Josh to stay on the job and to hear who actually got the interview. I would have loved to see them make out in the office after everyone expected they loved each other. I thought the story like was a great idea, I just wanted more of the slowburn, enemies-to-lovers trope. I think what would have elevated it would have been Josh’s point of view throughout the whole book and maybe started it when the merger happened. The timeline kept jumping and it wasn’t clear at times.

Overall it was a good book, I was just wanting more and was expecting more.

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lindsayerin'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? It's complicated

3.75

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bectothebooks's review

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lighthearted fast-paced

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

1.0

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