Reviews with content warning for Self harm - The Hating Game

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The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

4 reviews

caitlincrtr's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad tense fast-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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capybooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

4.5

As far as the enemies-to-lovers trope goes, The Hating Game takes the cake. There are so many things I love about this novel - the elevator scene in chapter 6, Josh looking after Lucy when she was ill, the flowers Josh sends Lucy (THE NOTE 😭🥺), Lucy standing up for Josh against his father. All brilliant scenes! One slight issue I had was I feel like ‘hate’ is too strong a word for this story. The characters say they hate each other, but do little to actually show that, although I do understand the whole idea is them saying they hate each other as opposed to admitting the feelings they both have. The Hating Game is a lighthearted, hilarious and feel-good novel, and I can’t wait to read it again soon.

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sarahmcg's review against another edition

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emotional 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

A quick read, perfect for those who love enemies-to-lovers, workplace romance, grumpy/sunshine tropes. This was honestly a fun read, even though I guessed “the big twist” pretty far ahead. It was fun watching the FMC, Lucy, slowly peel back the layers of her co-worker and enemy, Josh, to find out that he could actually be very sweet, caring, and thoughtful under that gruff, aloof exterior.

It’s obviously a rom-com, if you don’t take it too seriously and can suspend some disbelief, it’s a really enjoyable read.

Honestly - there’s two reasons I took a whole star off! And I can’t do this review without noting these critiques.
1) For some ungodly reason, when the author was describing the red lipstick the FMC wears, one adjective was “slit-wrists red.” Why? Just… why?
2) Also, there were some body-shamey moments where the author described the HR lady as a “dumpy frazzled ghost.” And there were a lot of the description of the two MCs focuses on how teeny, tiny and pint-sized she is and how big and muscle-y and giant he is. That’s fine it’s just… I definitely prefer reading romance with more body diversity/inclusivity (*ahem* enter the Brown sisters series by Talia Hibbert).

Anyway, I enjoyed it, even though I needed to make those complaints!

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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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