The Hating Game

Back of Book Summary:

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.

*Spoilers ahead as I am unable to avoid them as I will be discussing the relationship development between the two main characters and how their relational closeness changes throughout the development of their relationship. But, I will not give everything away so if you would like to read you can! To look at their relationship closeness I will be looking at major turning points.*

1. Coworkers forced to work together after a company merger

   1. This is the start to their relationship, it starts out higher because after their first meeting they are pushed apart almost italy because they do not make a good first impression on each other.

2. Competing for the same position

   1. After some time with the company, they decided to create a new position, one in which Lucy and Josh pitted against each other. Not so interestingly enough this pushed both of them to work harder which increased their productivity. This is something that is very common when coworkers are pitted against each other, they produce more and better quality work ( Samnani & Singh 2014). This drive drove them farther apart.

3. Sexual dream

   1. Lucy later in the book has a sex dream about Josh, showing her that the feeling of haterd they have towards each other could be something more. This causes him to become more interested in Josh and to learn more about him. But it also sets her off a bit and causes her to be careful around him.

4. Kissing in the elevator

   1. Their kiss in the elevator is the first positive turning point in the book, and it is not something you see coming. After this kiss, you can tell there are a lot of questions hanging in the air.

5. Taking care of her when she is sick

   1. Lucy gets sick at a team outing of paintball, josh brings her home and takes care of her , although Lucy is very vulnerable this allows for their relationship to develop even more. Vulnerability is a place where close turning points can happen. Taking care of someone when they are sick is a big job and you do not do that if you do not care about the person.

6. Lucy says yes to going to his brother's wedding

   1. Lucy is asked to go to her brother's wedding as a favor, she says yes. But, you do not just ask anyone to a wedding. Creating thoughts and questions as to what they are.

7. Kissing in the closet

   1. They kiss in the closet at work and express that they want to be in a relationship which is a peak in their relational closeness. Both of them admit feelings.

8. Date with Danny

   1. In order to make sure this is what Lucy wants Josh asks her to go on a date with an old coworker, this turns Lucy off a bit and angers her. Causing a negative turning point.

9. Fight at work

   1. Fighting at work is clear in its-self, I believe any fight can cause a major turning point, especially one like these where they possibly stop talking.

10. Going to the wedding

    1. After this fight, they decided to go to the wedding which, after a fight like they had I would not have gone to such a slight positive turning point.

11. Finds out his brother is marrying his ex

    1. At the wedding Lucy finds out that the girl Josh's brother is marrying is Josh's ex, making her feel like she was just there to impress and show that he is okay.

12. Having sex

    1. After this they have a talk and Josh explains it's not like that, leading to them having sex.

13. Josh’s father berates him in front of everyone

    1. Josh’s dad berated him for not becoming a doctor in front of everyone and Lucy stood up for him without being asked.

14. Admits feelings

    1. After this, they get together because they realize how much they mean to each other.

15. Josh quits and gives Lucy the Job.

    1. The only problem in their relationship was the job position they were both fighting for standing in the way. Josh secretly found another job and quit allowing Lucy to have the job, making them be able to be happy together without the competition hanging over their heads.

This book had lots of twists and turns when it came to the relationship between the two main characters but what I expected was an enemy to romance.

References:

Samnani, A.-K., & Singh, P. (2014). Performance-enhancing compensation practices and employee productivity: The role of workplace bullying. Human Resource Management Review, 24(1), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2013.08.013