2019 5 Star Read # 5 - The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Published Aug 2016 by William Morrow

Format Read: Print book from Personal Library

Description from Goodreads:
Nemesis (n.)
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

My Review: 

So, you know those books that everyone's read and recommends and you think the story just won't live up to the actual hype?  Yeah, this book was one of those for me....and BOY was I wrong.  If you need a little romance in your life, this is the book to pick up, for sure! 

I LOVED Lucy's character with a passion.  She was fun, she was flawed, she was funny, she felt deeply.  She was unapologetic in her Lucy-ness.  Even better, I LOVED Joshua.  Not in the "he's so perfect, you can't help but love him" way, but in the "oh god, he's not perfect, and I love him anyway" kind of way.  These characters were both amazing and their chemistry practically burned the pages in my hands as I was reading.  This book hit the absolute sweet spot of being hot, but without being uncomfortably graphic, and I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.  

This was absolutely a one sitting book for me, and I keep looking at this book trying to decide how fast I want to read it again.  That is RARE.  This book made me laugh, it made me cry, and I felt like my heart swelled with amazing perfect happiness at the end... please give this book a try if you haven't read it yet.