Review | The Hating Game

The Hating Game // Sally Throne

Disappointment is not the word. This book was explicit without having to say the words. In the effort to stave off explicit language, there is some confusion in place of sexiness. But don’t get me wrong this book was a trip. I enjoyed it, even though I hated that I did. Unlike Sophia Kinsella books that I know I love despite myself because of their syrupy sweetness, this book was marketed to me as a new kind of romcom. But it was exactly the same in every way, the stony, muscly man is an asshole to everyone but softens for the ingenue. 

I enjoyed it for what it was: a quick read with no substance. The characters were little more than two dimensional and towards the end, it looked the author ran out of time and just ended it. 

As for it being new and different?

Rant beginning in 3…2…1…
I did appreciate the question that was posed about halfway through the book to her mother, “did you regret giving up your dream?” And in a way, her mother did. There is something there that could have been explored but it is dropped and never spoken about again. 

The tropes were endless. The cute short girl with the tall gruff guy. The tiny quirky girl with a weird obsession. The tiny girl who eats like a hippo and doesn’t gain weight. The ridiculously beautiful girl who doesn’t think she’s beautiful. The gruff guy with a bad attitude whose hardened heart is melted by the beauty. The fawning that Lucinda does over his body is ridiculous. Why are you acting like you’ve never seen a muscled man before? The hating that turns into love. We all knew that it was going to happen, but the way Lucinda tarted herself to finally get his attention, to get him to act was absolutely the wrong message to send. She was so desperate that he was holding her off of him. She was smelling him.

If the roles were reversed, this would be a horror or psychological thriller book. I was waiting for the whole book for her to gain a backbone and then when she did, it was in defense of him. Did she not have a battle to fight before? Why did she say he was going to be better at the COO position if it was something she really wanted? We are never given any resolution which makes me feel cheated out of 4 hours of my life. We don’t know why she doesn’t visit her parents. We don’t know if she gets the job or not. You could argue that the job is not the point of the book, but it is because that is the freaking catalyst. Then he just gets another job, because he wanted another one anyway and kept his job so he could be around her. It’s only not insanely weird because he’s attractive. The fact that he bows out solidifies my thought that he didn’t think she would beat him out for the job. 

Overall for a book that was so highly praised, the traps were right in there and the author fell right into them. The last seven pages were so painful for me to read because they were utterly cheesy and felt so out of a place in a book that just spent the last 350 pages trying to convince me that it was different. I guess 3 stars. I wouldn’t recommend for a good read but it’s good if you are at the airport and want to fill the time with the same formulaic rom com nonsense. Again enjoy it for what it is, not what is hyped to be, because it’s not. 

2019 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge – A book that includes a wedding
2019 ATY Challenge – A book about reading, books or an author/writer