Review - 'The Hating Game' by Sally Thorne

I feel so conflicted about The Hating Game. It was like I was playing out my own version of the love/hate game with the book while reading it.

Lucy and Josh work in the same office, but cannot stand the sight of each other. They trade daily barbs and insults, fueled by their mutual hate and dislike. Or, could it be the hate is a mask for something else?

There is so much I enjoyed about this book. I blew through the first two-thirds in the blink of an eye. Josh is adorable, brooding and silent on the outside, but sweet and squishy on the inside. The hate-banter between Josh and Lucy is filled with clever and witty barbs that had me chuckling to myself page after page. And the tension between the two characters is so visceral and delicious, pretending to hate each other when really they want each other bad. Yep, I can get on board with all that.

But... Lucy is so weird and she gets weirder as the book progresses. She's hyper, easily freaked out, a people-pleaser, and lacks self-confidence. She takes things the wrong way, so she'll perceive slights when there are none and refuse to believe otherwise. She's always searching for signs that Josh hates her, even with plenty of evidence to the contrary. This happens more as she and Josh get closer to each other, not less, which makes no sense. And she's constantly anxious over what others think of her, as if they have nothing better to do than waste their brain cycles on her. Eesh!

I found the last third of the book to really drag on. Everything I had previously disliked only intensifies. Josh is endlessly reassuring Lucy that she is valued and liked, while she has one freak out after another. It's exhausting to read and think about. And instead of their usual banter, their dialogue switches to the most mushy saccharine language, leaving even me (a hopeless romantic) cringing with discomfort.

In the end, I'm glad I picked up this book for the first two thirds. The last third of the book was so disappointing that I'm just going to pretend it didn't exist.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars