"Hating someone feels disturbingly similar to being in love with them." 
 When I began reading I was looking to make the obvious comparison between The Hating Game and Dating You / Hating You by Christina Lauren. These are two books that came out around the same time with very similar stories. How would one stack up against the other? After reading both, I think the best way to describe the difference between the two books is to say The Hating Game is like the PG-13 rated version to Dating You / Hating You's R-rated version of an enemies to lovers' office romance. The lack of the "R-rating" wasn't anything to complain about because in the end The Hating Game was basically one of the most adorable books I've ever read. 
 The Hating Game is the love story of Lucy and Josh who have acted as each other's nemesis since the day of their meeting. As we get to know the characters we find out how much most of their daily antagonism is actually a really bizarre form of flirting. At this point the romance kicks in and ends with a big happily ever after for everyone. As for Lucy and Josh as characters, you could say my reaction to them was a bit like their relationship with each other. At first, I found Lucy to be pretty immature and Josh to be downright unlikeable. But then as I kept reading, the layers were slowly pulled back and both Lucy and Josh began to grow on me. Towards the end there's this huge scene where I finally began to believe that Lucy was a mature adult. Without giving too much away, Lucy defends Josh by laying into someone like a "rabid lioness" and it was perfect. I was just like: 
 And, in the end, I was overjoyed that they ended up together. I think the thing that really sold me on their relationship was the fact that there wasn't a lopsided power dynamic between them. Neither one was in a position of power over the other nor did there appear to be a significant difference in wealth. Personally, I've read far too many stories featuring a boss/employee relationship or a billionaire/poor woman relationship and it was refreshing that The Hating Game was neither of those. 
 The Hating Game was definitely more sweet than smutty. There are two sex scenes and while explicit, they aren't the most explicit I've ever read. However, the story was about the characters falling in love not lust. The sexy times weren't the main point of the story and I think if this would have been filled with smutty delights it would have lost a lot of its charm. I really enjoyed that this was truly a romantic comedy in the traditional sense rather than something much more continually explicit. I loved seeing Lucy and Josh fall in love with each other and the fact that I had to wait for so long to get to the point where they finally get together made me root all the harder for them. 
 Overall, The Hating Game was straight up delightful. It was the perfect blend of adorable, funny, and quirky and I loved every minute of it. This may have been a "right book at the right time" kind of situation. I had been reading so many "edgy" books lately that this was the perfect palate cleanser. The only thing that I can think of that could have made this better would have been if it was dual POV. I was DYING to hear Josh's side of the story and I wish we got at least a couple chapters from his point of view. But still, even just with Lucy narrating, I found this to be so much fun and a book I didn't want to put down. As soon as Sally Thorne's new book The Comfort Zone comes out I will be sure to pick it up!