The Hating Game

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (2016) 363 pages

Two struggling publishing companies have merged, resulting in a two-boss leadership. Lucy is the uber-assistant to Helene, who is more book-oriented. Joshua is the capable assistant to Richard, who is more finance-oriented. Lucy and Joshua share an office where they face each other all day while they work on their projects. Lucy was ready to be friendly to Joshua, but he came across as cold to her. Their working relationship resembles an ongoing war, where at its calmest, they have staring games. At other times, they've gone to HR, where their problems are well-documented. When the bosses announce a new position of a chief operational officer, both Lucy and Joshua apply for the position.

It's a rom-com where we think we know the trajectory, but will the expected‒and unexpected‒bumps along the way bring this couple together or force one of them to quit their job? The novel was made into a movie, which seems true to the book. I enjoyed both. 

Well Played

 Well Played by Jen DeLuca, 323 pages.

When Stacey's friends get engaged it makes it horribly clear to her just how small she's allowed her small town life to get. Her life is pretty much just hanging out in her "apartment" above her parents' garage, working as a receptionist for a dentist, and volunteering at the local renaissance faire for a month a year (that part is her favorite). So naturally she drunk messages her summer hook-up talking about how much she wants to actually get to know him as a person. The more surprising thing is that he messages her back. Even more surprising then that, the usually emotionally shut-off and monosyllabic Dex is writing long, emotionally honest messages that don't sound like him at all. Yet Stacey finds herself falling for the man behind the screen.

So this is a really interesting book, because the "twist" is obvious from the front cover. The person she's messaging is not Dex, but his cousin Daniel, as described in chapter one. However, all of the things that make this extremely obvious to the reader are not things Stacey could know (like the cover art). Which puts the reader in an interesting scenario of knowing exactly what's going on while also not being extremely frustrated by a protagonist to stupid to pick up on the world around them (which I've seen in similar stories).

I picked up this book because I was really missing performing in the renaissance faire for the last couple of years (on account of plague), and I'm so happy I did. It's obvious from the first chapter (even before I checked her bio) that this is a world that the author has been a part of. Outside of all of that, this is a stupid cute story with extremely low stakes. By the end it reminds me a little of the movie "10 Things I Hate About You," which can only be a compliment. 

Fun Fact: This is technically book two in a series, but that's not obvious anywhere, so don't worry about starting here. (I did)