Unwrapping a Review of THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne

When asked if I wanted to read and review THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne, I was a little hesitant because I thought the blurb teaser sounded a little bit blasé, but then my Avon Addict sisters started raving over how they couldn’t put it down. So I gave in, pushed back a read I’ve been waiting all summer for and gave into THE HATING GAME. I’m so very glad that I did.

***eARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest and unscripted review

Blurb for THE HATING GAME:

Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.

Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.

2) A person’s undoing

3) Joshua Templeman

Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.

Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.

If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.

Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

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Lucy Hutton and Josh Templeman work opposite each other for two different bosses. Every day, they act pretty much like a couple of fifth graders with their games—mirroring each other’s moves, making snarky remarks, and one-upmanship behavior. Only when they go up against each other for a promotion that might end up costing the other his or her job…that’s when the real competition begins. They begin to learn things about each other that might turn the Hating Game into something much different, and much more serious.

I love a debut novel because it’s an introduction to a fresh new voice and it’s always interesting to see where that new voice might take us as readers. Sally Thorne is a new voice with an extraordinary knack for creating truly fabulous banter between characters. My only real complaint was that there were times when I had trouble discerning which character was saying what. Otherwise, I loved the romantic comedy nature of this story, and Lucy and Josh are perfection albeit at times, a bit corny. The story started out a little slow for me but once we reached the elevator scene, the true nature of the relationship exploded within the pages and had me hooked to the point of choosing to keep reading rather than sleep. Normally, not a good move on my part but it was totally worth it.

I highly recommend THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne to anyone who is a fan of romantic comedies such as The Proposal or You’ve Got Mail…this is a love/hate relationship with enough sexual tension burning so hot beneath the surface that it could cause volcanic eruptions worldwide. I’m looking forward to reading more from Sally Thorne.

Happy Reading Everyone!

THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne, William Morrow Publishing, available now in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.