The Review Game

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go home for the weekend. For those who don’t know, I live in a small town in Iowa. This meant I had a few hours in the airport and on a plane. My favorite activity to do on a plane is to read a book because I can never hear movies well, due to what the pressure does to my ears. This brings me to my media of this week, The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.

I can practically guess what most of you are thinking, why a romance? Listen, I never used to like romance books, but something about enemies to lovers is just sheer perfection in my eyes (hopefully there are no psychology majors reading this). Anyway, I am also a complete sucker for Barnes and Noble. This is why when I saw this book on a table titled ‘Book Tok,’ I bought it and trusted the combination of TikTok and Barnes and Noble. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

With nothing else to say, let’s get into the review!

Characters:

Lucy Hutton is an interesting protagonist. She has layers to her personality, but is also really to understand. Her character is quirky and determined. It’s really nice to read about a female protagonist that never quits and has her own goals. I also enjoyed reading the book from her perspective in 1st person because of how entertaining her thoughts were. Lucy Hutton is easy to relate to, including the amount of character growth she undergoes throughout the book.

Lucy Hutton is an amazing protagonist to see the story through because she is flawed, overthinks, and in her own way, hilarious. So it only makes sense that her love interest is also a great character. Josh Templemen is one of those characters that readers root for. He is hard to guess and read, but ultimately charming. Despite playing the role of the love interest, Josh has a solid character and personality of his own. It is clear and evident that he is more than just a love interest.

This book didn’t have a lot of focus on the side characters, due to the amount of stuff happening to just the main two characters, Lucy and Josh. However, The Hating Game still made the side characters stand out and impact the plot. Luck and Josh’s bosses, Mr. Bexley and Helene, are each unique characters in their own. Every time they appear, they add humor or some other important element to the story.

For characters I give The Hating Game a 9/10.

Plot:

The plot seems like a typical ‘enemies to lovers’ trope. Coworkers, both assistants to the heads of the publishing company, compete for a new promotion. And of course, they hate each other.

Josh and Lucy are very much opposites and the plot plays on that really well. It was entertaining and held my attention. While romance is mostly predictable, this book still left me wanting to know how everything would come together and unfold. The detailing in the plot is perfect and makes the ending so much better. Everything is well thought out and well positioned in the story.

Overall the plot was cute, left me wanting more, and extremely enjoyable.

For plot I’m giving The Hating Game a 8.5/10.

Enjoyment:

I love the enemies to lovers trope, as I have already mentioned. The Hating Game lived up to my standard of that trope. Now was it the best book I’ve ever read? No, it isn’t even my favorite romance book. However, The Hating Game was a really good read. It made me happy, sad, and anxious all at the same time. I fell in love with Josh and Lucy’s dynamic as well as their story.

While some parts of the story seemed to drag and I was able to easily guess the ending, I couldn’t help but smile at some parts of the book. It was realistic, cute, and definitely a good read.

For enjoyment I give The Hating Game a 8/10.

Overall:

Overall I rate The Hating Game a 25.5/30.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! If you would like to order the book or read the synopsis, click here!