Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.

Nemesis (n.)

1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman

Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.

Trapped in a shared office together 40 (ok, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything – especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking. If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date?

After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth-shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.

Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

Book Type:

Romantic Comedy

Review: The Hating Game

Every now and then a book comes along to remind you of why you love to read so much. The kind of book that elicits non-stop smiling while the rest of the world fades away. The fun-I-can’t-wait-to-recommend-this-to-the-whole-wide-world kind of book that consumes your life until the very last page.

THE HATING GAME was that book. I couldn’t put it down, couldn’t get enough of Josh and Lucy. Theirs is an enemies-to-lovers romance rife with equal parts hate and longing. I’m talking big-time chemistry, big-time heart, and as you can imagine, non-stop bickering.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman work together as executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Day in and day out, from their respective desks across from each other, they hurl words dripping with venom as gazes collide, prepared for their daily battle of wills.

“What are you imagining? Your expression is filthy.”
“Strangling you. Bare hands.” I can barely get the words out. I’m huskier than a phone-sex operator after a double shift.
“So that’s your kink.” His eyes are going dark.
“Only where you’re concerned.”

Both his eyebrows ratchet up, and he opens his mouth as his eyes go completely black, but he does not seem to be able to say a word.

It’s a war of passive aggressive games, each determined to be crowned victor. From their staring game to their mirror game, their incessant one-upping makes hating each other their favorite past time. But when a promotion is dangled in front of them both, the gloves come off.

“I’m going to destroy you. The Hating Game. You versus me. It’s the only way this can possibly end.”

As we know, however, the line between love and hate can be razor thin, and as the whole situation escalates, they both begin to see a side of each other that makes them re-think how they feel. With fracturing defenses and a chemistry they can’t help but give in to, they begin to wonder whether the whole thing is the ultimate game—the permanently crushing kind—or perhaps a whole new game they’ve never played.

Read, read, read this book! Charming, effervescent and delightfully fun, it’s rom-com gold, and I promise you’ll be wanting to start back at page 1 the moment you finish.