The Hating Game

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Published August 9, 2016 by William Morrow
Rating: ★★★

"I type my password: IHATEJOSHUA4EV@. My previous passwords have all been variations on how much I hate Joshua. For ever."

Lucy Hutton hates Joshua Templeton with every fiber of her being. In fact, these days, hating him is about all she's doing with her life. Ever since the personable publishing house she works for merged with a heartless, number crunching competitor, Lucy spends countless hours at work. She lost her best friend in the merger, and her super supportive parents live hours away. Now, she and her nemesis are up for the same promotion, and the loser has to resign. Will she lose her job, too?

I liked this book well enough, but I was really expecting it to be more fun (and funny) than it was. The bit about the passwords is the only genuine laugh I had the entire book. It starts off with a misstep, going into the business merger instead of the meat of Lucy's war with Joshua. The two don't seem to antagonize each other all that much. If you're expecting Jim/Dwight levels of office shenanigans, you'll be disappointed. 

The characters didn't seem consistent to me. As the story progresses, Lucy starts having "freak outs" that didn't plague her earlier in the book. Joshua gets more socially awkward and closed off. The romance just didn't work for me. I didn't buy the characters together.

I'm seeing it more and more in chick-lit type books, but the dialogue tagging was at times incorrectly done and confusing. How does this keep getting past editors?

Overall impressions: Devoted chick-lit fans will find a lot to like in this book, but other audiences might want to think twice.