A Problematic Romance: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
This was possibly the most problematic romance I’ve ever read. Now, given I haven’t picked up “It Ends with Us” by Colleen Hoover yet, you can take this with a grain of salt. This book was named by many the original “Spanish Love Deception” and I take that as a direct insult. While a workplace enemies-to-lovers romance, that’s where the similarities end. Using HR violations as foreplay and obsessive behavior as a coy declaration of love, these two have a lot to work on with their respective therapists before entering any type of healthy relationship.
It all begins with Lucy and Josh, sworn enemies at Bexley & Gamin. They’ve been sworn “nemeses” since their companies merged. The Capulets of Gamin Publishing wear glasses and funky clothes and love literature. The Montague frat-bros of Bexley Books wear suits and have closed-door guys-only meetings, which absolutely means “locker room talk” about women. Ick! It’s all very Romeo and Juliet, if Romeo made a tally of every time Juliet wore a skirt to work and then crashed every almost-date or work meeting Juliet had because he was jealous, followed by telling sexual dreams from the night before. No, I am not making this up.
I feel like one of the main problems with this book is that all the problematic behavior is almost dropped in there as cute foreplay for the overarching romantic storyline. But it stopped me entirely from getting into these two. I really tried. But through the fake-dating tropes and caring-when-sick scenes that usually make me swoon, I just couldn’t see them together. It made me sick. It’s incredibly childish and creepy and an absolute HR nightmare. Don’t even get me started on her obsession with Smurfs (and how he thinks it’s hot!).
And yet, it was the ending that made me the most upset, because even though their relationship was an HR logistics nightmare, I really could tell they cared for each other at the end. Until he quit. That’s right, throughout their bloodthirsty battle for promotion, her long nights of presentations and undercover ebook designs, his boys-night meetings with Mr. Bexley, he never cared about the position or her. He quit because he didn’t want her to leave (like she promised she would if he won). It wasn’t even an idea in his mind that she would win. He needed to bow out and spare them both the awkward moment of their relationship. Are you KIDDING ME! This is the ultimate disrespect. There is no coming back from this. To not respect or believe in your partner means there is no relationship. No happy ending.
2.5 stars
Though I hated the book, the writing wasn’t bad. I’m not disappointed but more confused why so many people absolutely loved it. The Spanish Love Deception is a million times better. Fight me on that.
