The Hating Game
For Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman, executive assistants to the CEOs of newly merged Bexley-Gamin Publishing, it's hate-at-first-sight. So begins a series of daily passive-aggressive maneuvers, including the staring game, the mirror game, and the HR game, each played with the intensity of the Hunger Games. Their mutual antipathy grows when a new executive position opens at Bexley-Gamin, and both their bosses put their names up for the promotion. Then, the high-stakes games begin! After another 60-hour work week, Lucy logs off her computer and hops on the elevator to head home, as does Joshua. When Joshua hits the emergency button and stops the ride, Lucy is certain her nemesis is going to kill her. Instead, he plants a kiss on her, and Lucy begins to wonder if she really does hate Joshua after all, or if this is yet another game. --
Where The Hating Game keeps showing up
Seven of our editors' lists feature this novel.
Books in conversation with The Hating Game
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about The Hating Game
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman are the two executive assistants at the merged publisher Bexley & Gamin, sitting at facing desks and openly hating each other. When their two CEOs post a single managing director job, the office war turns into something neither one wants to name.
Yes. The Hating Game contains explicit on-page romance scenes, around 4 out of 5 on the spice scale. Sally Thorne's enemies-to-lovers debut helped revive the contemporary romance market in the late 2010s.
Yes. The Hating Game contains explicit on-page romance scenes, around 4 out of 5 on the spice scale. Sally Thorne's enemies-to-lovers debut helped revive the contemporary romance market in the late 2010s.
Yes. A 2021 film adaptation starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell was released. The film follows the novel's enemies-to-lovers premise closely.
The Hating Game was written by Sally Thorne, published in 2016 by PIATKUS.
The Hating Game is 379 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Hating Game takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
The Hating Game is a standalone novel by Sally Thorne, not part of a series.
The Hating Game is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
