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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:
Yes
thought it was okay but upon further inspection, it's terrible because its characters are horrible people
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Racial slurs, Toxic relationship
TW MENTIONS OF SA⚠️
DNF/5. 0/5.
I bought this book from one of those blind date with a book things. It started out not to bad. It was kind of slow and it didn't keep my attention too well but there were a few cute parts. Then there was the elevator scene. Not only did he forcefully kiss her and not ask for consent but she literally talks about how she hated how he kissed her and how she wishes he didn't do it. Not to mention tha characters SUCK. They get a little better later on around where I stopped but I still hated them. Lucy (the mc) gave me Wattpad quirky girl mc vibes. Her whole personality was being short, letting people walk all over her, and liking smurfs. Josh was such a bitch too. He is the basic straight white man. He doesn't ask for consent and he is so full of himself. He fucks with Lucy's mind and manipulates her the whole damn book. Hes a walking red flag. Not to mention the books is so boring. It took my like a month and a half to get 200 pages in which is where I stopped. Not to mention that fact that the author is problematic with I only recently found out about. If I hadn't got this book from the blind date with a book I never would have picked this or chose to support a problematic author. I don't recommend buying this book. Don't waste your money on this book.
DNF/5. 0/5.
I bought this book from one of those blind date with a book things. It started out not to bad. It was kind of slow and it didn't keep my attention too well but there were a few cute parts. Then there was the elevator scene. Not only did he forcefully kiss her and not ask for consent but she literally talks about how she hated how he kissed her and how she wishes he didn't do it. Not to mention tha characters SUCK. They get a little better later on around where I stopped but I still hated them. Lucy (the mc) gave me Wattpad quirky girl mc vibes. Her whole personality was being short, letting people walk all over her, and liking smurfs. Josh was such a bitch too. He is the basic straight white man. He doesn't ask for consent and he is so full of himself. He fucks with Lucy's mind and manipulates her the whole damn book. Hes a walking red flag. Not to mention the books is so boring. It took my like a month and a half to get 200 pages in which is where I stopped. Not to mention that fact that the author is problematic with I only recently found out about. If I hadn't got this book from the blind date with a book I never would have picked this or chose to support a problematic author. I don't recommend buying this book. Don't waste your money on this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
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
I really went back and forth with this book. I enjoyed that it broke some misogynistic patterns that are often found in romance novels. The characters are unique and had me giggling at times. I truly wanted to love it, BUT there was a scene that did not feel consensual. There was clear fatphobia. There was no diversity. Use of an ableist slur. And as other reviewers have mentioned, the tiny woman/large man mentions got excessive. I'd love to read more by this author when she stops nicknaming characters "Fat Little Dick."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Sexual assault
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Toxic, sexist trash that casually includes ableist and racist slurs, jokes about the deaths of sex workers, fatphobia, toxic masculinity, rape culture and nonconsensual acts played as sexy. DNF @ 20%. The MC is an entitled childish brat who has internalized sexism and possibly homophobia and transphobia. The love interest is embodies textbook toxic masculinity. Clearly I'm not the target audience here. I don't think feeling physically threatened by a man three-times a woman's size is playful or sexy. Not to mention the stalking. They also have no chemistry and the book is boring and childish. This is the crap that is popular?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Stalking, Sexual harassment
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
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
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Vomit
Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Medical content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Self harm, Sexual assault
So many reasons. They try to frame SA as a cute, romantic, and spicy moment. Like no. He sexually assaulted her. Not to mention the characters aren't likeable and it was boring. Like there were some good parts but everytime I thought about reading this book I dreaded it. This is only some of the shit I saw cause I never finished reading it. I can't imagine the other shit that happens in the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit
Minor: Sexism, Sexual assault, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first half of the book was a little disappointing. Yet another romance trying to gloss over SA/SH* as romantic because ✨he’s attractive✨, but in the later part and especially the last few chapters I really found the the charm in this book that people talk about. I also really liked how the writer handled the Danny thing, story wise, and that spicy reveal at the wedding had my mouth drop.
Ignoring the few tropes and flaws this book has, it was a cute, quick read.
* The male lead stops the elevator, backs her into a corner lifts her up and kisses her “because he thought she didn’t actually have a date and is wearing that dress for him”. You could argue that she was in fact wearing it for him and she was kissing him back so it isn’t sa (yes it is), but later he reveals that he actively records if she’s wearing a dress or a skirt since the SECOND DAY they start working together and he pays attention to what type of bras she’s wearing, before they got romantically involved. I don’t know why the author thought this was okay and romantic and not creepy and even bordering on purely perverse, when they even incorporated a character that always stares down the cleavage of the female lead and is portrayed as gross, which in my opinion is not far off from what our male lead does here.
It made me really happy when I saw the trailer for the movie after reading this and saw they changed the scene in the elevator. Glad the screenwriters recognised it for what it was and knew where to draw the line at faithful adaptation.
Ignoring the few tropes and flaws this book has, it was a cute, quick read.
*
It made me really happy when I saw the trailer for the movie after reading this and saw they changed the scene in the elevator. Glad the screenwriters recognised it for what it was and knew where to draw the line at faithful adaptation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
I found the characters quite irritating and found the 'games' that they played with each other petty and immature. I get the that was perhaps the point of the start of the book and was willing to keep going until I got to the elevator scene.
While some people may find this scene 'saucy' I couldn't get past that it began as sexual assault. Josh emergency stops the elevator and Lucy is clearly uncomfortable. He then picks Lucy up and when she says to put her down he proceeds to push her up against the wall and starts to kiss her. She ends up kissing him back so it is brushed off that this is okay. It is not.
I skim read through the rest of the book only to find it rather boring and also full of more problematic behaviour.
Numerous times Josh tells Danny not to talk to Lucy, or deliberately tries to distance them. Near the end he snatches Lucy's phone from her while she is talking to Danny and tells him to stop talking to her. This is very much controlling behaviour and I am unsure why this book is glorified as being a 'cute romance'. There is nothing cute about Josh's behaviour.
I really don't understand why this book is so hyped up??
I skim read through the rest of the book only to find it rather boring and also full of more problematic behaviour.
I really don't understand why this book is so hyped up??
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Fatphobia