The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

*spoiler-free*

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is a classic enemies to lovers trope with the perfect mix of romance and comedy. Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman work together at publishing house Bexley & Gamin and compete with each other constantly. They play the Staring Game, The Mirror Game, The HR Game and more all in an attempt to win over the other in petty disputes. Their intense emotions of hatred soon change as they start to develop other feelings for one another. This happens at the worst time as a new promotion is announced, and Lucy and Josh both compete for it.

As this book is set within the publishing industry, I instantly felt more attached to it as this is the industry I work in. I appreciated many of the corporate culture references made throughout which made the context of Lucy and Josh’s working relationship even more entertaining. I also related to Lucy career-wise in terms of wanting to aspire professionally in publishing and having to push through the realms of bias that are against her.

I loved Thorne’s style of writing, it reminded me of books by Beth O’Leary (such as The Flat Share and The Switch) which I also really enjoy. I found the pace of The Hating Game to be solid, and Lucy and Josh’s undeniable chemistry to be paramount throughout. As with most rom-com books, there is an element of cringe that is inevitable, but it worked well with this book, as it balanced out the spicy scenes. I also found the ending to be quite predictable, but I would have found any other ending less effective and so I’m not mad that I guessed the ending.

The Hating Game is a perfect light-hearted read, and it was exactly what I needed to get me out of my reading slump. It genuinely made me laugh a few times and resulted in me finishing this book within a few days. Josh is the perfect example of a character who the reader learns to love and has good character development that isn’t just surface level.

The Hating Game has also been made into a film which I enjoyed watching, despite the trailer giving away the whole plot! The film also Americanized the book and cut out some good bits from the book, but it always makes me happy to see successful books be made into films. They also nailed the casting and so it was interesting to compare how I imagined the book and how it was portrayed in the film.

Overall, I would recommend The Hating Game to anyone looking for a perfect rom-com read that is light-hearted, funny and full of emotions and lovable characters.

5/5 stars