If you’re a fan of the enemies-to-lovers genre of romance, do I have the book for you! Lucy and Josh are executive assistants for the co-Editors in Chief of a publishing company, and they hate each other’s guts. Every day since the day they met has been a series of games of one-upmanship, whether it’s the Staring Game, the Copycat Game, or something else entirely. Lucy and Josh are oil and water, chalk and cheese – they have completely different ways of looking at the world and never the twain shall meet.
So when their bosses announce a new position is being created, and whoever gets it will be managing the other, Lucy and Josh make a deal. Neither could stand reporting to the other, so whoever doesn’t get the job will quit the publishing company. The competition lights a fire under Lucy’s ass, and she’s determined to beat Josh at any cost. Until she has a surprising sex dream featuring Tall, Dark, and Asshole himself. And then Josh starts being nice to her. And then maybe she kind of likes him? But they’re still competing for the same job, so how could they even make a relationship work?
The Hating Game was a very fun read with flawed protagonists and a believable enemies-to-lovers arc. Lucy isn’t perfect – she makes plenty of mistakes because she’s still caught on the idea that Josh is trying to trick her. And Josh isn’t perfect either – you can’t expect someone to know how you feel about them if you don’t actually tell them, dude! But they’re likeable, and they’re sweet together, and you start rooting for them very quickly. (It didn’t hurt that I watched the trailer for the movie and so was picturing Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell while I was reading. Two very attractive people!)
Overall a fun read, would recommend.