The Hating Game Book Review

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman are coworkers who hate each other. Due to both workplaces, Gamin Publishing and Bexley Books, going under and having to file for bankruptcy, they are forced to merge with each other’s companies. 

Lucy is a people pleaser. She always has a positive attitude. She is sweet, fun, and looks to the bright side of things. She is all for her company and strives to make it a better workplace. Her coworker, Joshua, is the exact opposite of her. He doesn’t care if he pleases people and doesn’t always have a great attitude. He is grumpy and he just wants to get his job done. The only thing they have in common is they both love what they do and work so hard to please their bosses.

They spend hours of work together because of their shared space with desks right across from each other. Most of their hours are spent competing with each other or playing their favorite game, “The Staring Game.” The game is where they stare deeply into each other’s eyes while copying what the other person does. 

After a company-planned workshop playing paintball goes wrong, Joshua takes Lucy home after she vomits all over him. He stayed the whole two nights she is sick; he’s by her side 24/7 while she recovered. This sparks something between the both of them. Lucy doesn’t admit what is obvious because she doesn’t want it to be true. She is slowly falling in love with Joshua Templeman. 

This book was fantastic! I loved how we got to see how Lucy and Josh’s relationship grow throughout the book. This book really had the enemies to lovers trope and the author did a great job with it too. I liked how it was told from Lucy’s point of view and how she saw Josh through her eyes, how she noticed the little things with Josh like the order he wears his shirts every week. It was the little details like that in the book that would hint that they would end up together.  I liked the way Lucy complemented Josh. She evened out his grumpiness with her bright spirit. In the beginning of the book, Lucy had thought Josh really hated her, but throughout the book we get small hints that he never hated her. I love all the small details there are in the book. It’s the small things with Lucy that Josh remembers. Like he sent her flowers for multiple occasions. 

 Towards the end of the book when he told Lucy he loved her from the moment they met, she didn’t believe him till he asked her what his favorite color was. Blue. The color of his shirts, his walls, and Lucy’s eyes. Not only that but he says “I love strawberries. I’m so lovesick, I eat them constantly. Can I nickname you Shortcake? It’ll be a dead giveaway that I love you.” Shortcake is Josh’s nickname for Lucy because when they first met, Lucy told him she grew up on a strawberry farm as she was introducing herself to him. 

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good romance story.