Nemesis (n.)
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.
Lucy and Joshua are executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company, and they hate each other. Lucy’s quirky nature contrasts with Joshua’s uptight manner, and their strong dislike of each other has manifested into daily passive aggressive maneuvers in their shared office. When an opportunity for a promotion arises and puts the two in direct competition with each other, tensions reach an all-time high. But slowly they start to discover that they may not hate each other, after all.
I have to admit that I do love a good hate-to-love story, and The Hating Game is one enjoyable read. The characters of Lucy and Joshua are compelling and their relationship/dynamic is sweet, caring, as well as entertaining and funny. Joshua feels more developed as a character and I found him more interesting overall, however Lucy is very likeable and someone you want to root for. I particularly liked that the two took the time to get to know each other and really communicate. There were moments, however, that felt really odd and would take me out of the story completely. One thing was Lucy’s behaviour on certain occasions, which was quite bizarre. This seems to often be the case with characters that are described as “quirky,” but quirky does not equal crazy, and at times it does come across that way. The other odd choice was the repeated use of words like “creepy” or “serial-killer eyes,” and I mean repeated. Despite the strange choices, the story is enjoyable and worth reading, especially if you are a fan of fun, contemporary romances.
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