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  • The Hating Game

  • By: Sally Thorne
  • Narrated by: Katie Schorr
  • Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,148 ratings)
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The Hating Game cover art

The Hating Game

By: Sally Thorne
Narrated by: Katie Schorr
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Summary

Now a film starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell, globally bestselling author Sally Thorne's hilarious workplace comedy is all about the fine line between love and hate.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman sit across from each other every day...and they hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. 

Lucy can't understand Joshua's joyless, uptight approach to his job and refusal to smile. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy's overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and desire to be liked. Now they're up for the same promotion, and Lucy, usually a determined people pleaser, has had enough: it's time to take him down. 

But as the tension between Lucy and Joshua reaches its boiling point, it's clear that the real battle has only just begun....

This best-selling, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy is an unmissable treat, perfect for fans of Christina Lauren's Unhoneymooners or Emily Henry's Beach Read.

©2016 Sally Thorne (P)2016 Little, Brown Book Group
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Romance

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Critic reviews

"Charming, self-deprecating, quick-witted and funny." (The New York Times)

"The next Sophie Kinsella." (Bustle)

"A smart and funny modern romance." (Good Housekeeping)

What listeners say about The Hating Game

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

So incredibly cheesy I almost enjoyed it

I've never read/listened to anything like this before. I desperately needed something light after the ordeal that was A Place of Greater Safety, but this was massively too far the other way!

Without a shadow of a doubt this is the most predictable, cheesy, contrived and cliched book I have ever read/listened to, by miles.

I was in actual physical pain for much of it. However, for the last hour or so it got so cheesy I actually started taking a perverse pleasure in it!

In spite of the above, for some reason I just couldn't turn it off. Part of that was masochism I think. Part of it though was that I thought surely there has to be a clever twist at some point, but there wasn't even a hint of one, totally predictable throughout!

On a more serious note I did find the book really shallow. In particular I thought the obsession with looks and appearances was pretty unenlightened.

More than anything I just felt like I was listening to someone's sexual fantasy, which is fine I guess if that's what you are looking for, but I was hoping there would be more to it than that.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Abusive not romantic

I've never wrote a bad review before because books are subjective, but this made me feel embarrassed and ashamed to listen to it.
I understand that in hate to love romances we need to start off thinking that the man is a jerk and then discover it was a misunderstanding, but this took the bad boy thing too far.
She's repeatedly physically scared of him yet continues to follow his controlling commands. After intimidating her he actually says 'I love how small you are' which left me very uncomfortable.
The author even makes a joke that she the main character must have Stockholm syndrome, which is the only expiation for this behaviour.
I love romance, but a controlling relationship passed off as romance is very unsettling.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This may have ruined hate-to-love romances for me!

I AM IN A PUDDLE OF FEELINGS. GAAAAH.

I finished this book days ago, and I still can't deal with the fact that it's over. I both regret and don't regret the binge-reading (finished in less than 24 hours...mid-work week). I'm just glad I have this in both audio and Kindle format so that I can read/listen again and again whenever I want because THIS WAS TOO GOOD. (The audio is done really well, FYI.)

I love love love hate-to-love romances, and this one is done so well and so uniquely. We've got forced proximity on a daily basis, glorious banter, and oodles of sexual tension. OODLES.

If you follow me on Twitter or have read other reviews by me, you might know that I am not a fan of the short and petite heroine thing. Not every damn heroine needs to be a tiny redhead. So I wasn't impressed at first when, lo and behold, Lucy is only five feet tall. Pair that with Josh, who is over six-foot. Authors tend to write these stereotypical pairings without thinking of the logistics; if you take a moment to think about it, making out with a height different of over a foot is going to be uncomfortable at best, and possibly even quite painful. BUT NOT SALLY THORNE. Sally actually thought this one through and acknowledged the difficulties. Lucy has to climb at times, Josh has to bend down or pick her up (to put her against a wall!!!!!!!), there's a lot of "I think you're too big for me"... Thank you so much, dear sweet Sally, for not just ignoring real world problems. (P.S. I want Anna Kendrick in this role right now.)

Lucy was a great character in general. The whole story is narrated from her point of view, and I really felt like she was real. She was hilarious, but also snarky and unsure and flawed. She knew and liked who she was, but she also struggled with self-doubt at times. It drove her absolutely mad that she could get on with everyone except Josh. But, like I'm sure a lot of people can relate with, her desire to be liked by others often meant she was taken advantage of. By everyone...except Josh. Oh, Josh, you were clearly what Lucy needed.

I would have found Josh annoying, too. He's very clearly a Smart Guy, but also sooooo serious. Unlike Lucy, he doesn't try to make friends with everyone, and the reason for his standoffishness is revealed later. What was refreshing was that he was Ridiculously Good-Looking, but he hated being objectified. When Lucy remarked on his looks, it put him on edge. I'm not used to seeing that, especially from a hero. He could be quite direct, but Josh showed he cared when it counted. I especially loved a part in the middle where he had to take care of Lucy; there were so many wonderful and funny moments in that, as well as a few that showed a deeper side to him.

Yes, I loved just about everything about this book, but I really loved was how we didn't have to wait until the very end for things to sizzle. Sally introduces the physical fun relatively early on through some super sexy make-out sessions. The sexual tension runs constantly as the two stare at each other across their desks, and, being an office romance, there are of course moments when the tension gets to be too much and a few not-so-original hiding places are utilised. That being said, it never gets too explicit. And really, their banter is hot enough as it is.

Full disclosure: there is a bit of a love triangle in this. Josh doesn't consider himself a "nice guy". In fact, he's a bit bitter about the whole nice guy thing. And Lucy is a nice girl, at least outwardly (she has a bit more spunk on the inside...hahahahaha). She wants a nice guy, and she tries to be interested in a nice guy, but the niceness cannot compare to the intensity of her "hatred" for Josh. He even encourages her to try it with the nice guy, dares her to be with him, in fact. This was maybe the only time I felt a bit off about the book.

The style of writing and voice were very witty and well-paced in general. Time was shown to pass without unnecessary fillers and enough drop-ins to scenes here and there that truly added to the story and the development of feelings. Honestly, that's one of my biggest issues when reading: unnecessary fillers or there not being enough time for feelings to really develop. But no, these two have worked together for a few years, and the book covers a few months, so I could 100% believe the eventual love between them.

There's a reason I finished this within 24 hours, despite having to work/sleep/etc. It was just so damn good. I'm genuinely worried that it's ruined other hate-to-love books for me for a while, as I've never read a hate-to-love done this well, and I've read quite a few great ones! I will admit that while I'm eager to see what Sally writes next, I'm a little bit nervous that it won't live up to the greatness of The Hating Game!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Porn

just boring lady porn, no plot no character development. Questionable use of people for just their bodies?

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

shallow and stupid

who reads this stuff? no story whatsoever, pretty lady falls for controlling, abusive guy - rubbish!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

ALL MY LOVE!

Holy hell. This book is everything I didn't know I needed in life. Totally predictable in places, in the BEST way possible. The plot, the characters, the narration, everything was perfection. I went on an emotional rollercoster throughout this novel and I was Truly invested in Luce and Josh from the off and their journey. Well worth a read, or a listen!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Triggering, fatphobia

Too stereotypical and I felt annoyed at the writing during the entire time, couldn't get past the first chapter

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Should come with a caveat 'trashy romance'

For anyone out there who thinks this book has any thing to do with real life or 'true love', you are sadly mistaken. Applying the ideologies in this book to real life romance would be like trying to shine a mirror by spraying it with raw egg. A few words of caution:
- if you are 5 foot tall, eating ice-cream, cake and cheese will result in excessive weight gain, not a 6 foot 4' hunk lusting after you
- the person you love, becomes the most beautiful / attractive person to you until you have to pick up their dirty socks/pants off the floor, everyday, because they can't be bothered to
- deep, real, true love transcends all boundaries; they say love is blind - it really is; it is not limited to those with a six pack and piercing blue eyes
- the happiness love brings lies in your ability to give, not receive; Lucy could have tried to understand the power dynamics that caused a rift between Josh and his dad, she could have empowered Josh to stand up to his dad rather then hi-jacking the situation
- shouting at your partner's parents and humiliating them in front of family will NEVER get you applause; you will be labeled 'a pycho to be avoided at all cost'.

The excellent reviews for this book are misleading. I couldn't actually finish the book but there were some humerous bits I enjoyed. Josh's character was very cliche and Lucy is really hard to like, the words 'white privilege' come to mind when I think of her.

Hope my future searches for romance don't lead to completely predictable books like these, where the same Mills and Boons story is repeated for the billionth time!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book

Couldn't stop listening, great story well narrated. Lots of laugh out loud moments and I was hooked to know what would happen next

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Funny, lovable story

Really enjoyed this read. Have to admit took me a little while to get into the writing style that at first I found slightly annoying, but didn't take me long to get my head around it and loved it!

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