The Hating Game (Starting June 1st 2020)

[— Massiel]

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.

[Darcey]

ooft just reading the blurb makes me excited to start this hehe. how are we doing this? read a certain number of chapters and then stop or just read as much as you want and rant as you go? your choice xx

[— Massiel]

I specially prefer everyone read at their own pace and just hide the spoilers, for example: I just read until the chapter 5 so I posted "Chapter 5 - (hide spoiler)", and then we can discuss when the other comments while catching up.

[Darcey]

yep sounds good! i'll start today sometime :))

[— Massiel]

awesome! enjoy <3, I'll start in a few too.

[— Massiel]

Chapter 3
(view spoiler)[Joshua and my friends are so alike I'm dying laughing. I think now is where drama comes... Can't wait! (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Chapter 3
[spoilers removed]"

yesss oh my god Josh is actually so funny i can't even! i feel bad for Lucy because she gets pushed around so often, but i'm sure Josh will help her get over that ;)
i'm really loving where this is going!

[Darcey]

Chapter 5
(view spoiler)[ ooo Josh is gonna get so jealous when Lucy is actually out with someone at the bar, i can't wait ahah!! i'm so excited for these two to get together, their antics are hilarious! (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "yesss oh my god Josh is actually so funny i can't even! i feel bad for Lucy because she gets pushed around so often, but i'm sure Josh will help her..."

Totally agree! (view spoiler)[I get mad when Lucy cried because she needs to know what she is dealing with and also realice how her coworkers treat her. (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "Chapter 5
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I know right??? I want to yell Lucy he is so damn jealous and she doesn't notice! (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Chapter 11
(view spoiler)[OMG LUCY WAKE THE HELL UP GURL! Joshua is so damn jealous I know he wants to shake Lucy and punch Danny in the face. I love their interactions but they to tell each other the damn true! I hope Lucy realices all the misreadings she is giving from Joshua. Also, I KNEW THE FLOWERS WERE FROM JOSHUA! It was so damn obvious he doesn't know how to say sorry and just act. (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Darce wrote: "yesss oh my god Josh is actually so funny i can't even! i feel bad for Lucy because she gets pushed around so often, but i'm sure Josh will help her..."

Totally agree! [spoilers remo..."

yes she really does :((

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Darce wrote: "Chapter 5
[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I know!!! he's clearly insanely jealous about everything to do with what's his name (Danny or something? i can't remember ahah) but noooo, she just has to ignore it! (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Chapter 11
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ yessss the flowers were soooo clearly from Josh and Josh is so clearly into her he just doesn't know how to say it!! i bet the X markings in his book are like times she turned him on or he fell a bit more in love or something lol (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

I know right? She is so damn blind.

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "— Massiel wrote: "Chapter 11
[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I'm so curious about the agenda! I want to know what really means everything he put a mark on! But most at all I want them to real talk and to Lucy be so damn blind. (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

Chapter 14
(view spoiler)[ i really don't know why Lucy has this 'one time only' sex rule.... like you're clearly both into each other so why not keep it going... she's just going to break Josh's heart :((
also i know Lucy's weird (and we love her for it) but she actually acted super weird even for her when she was at Josh's apartment ahaha.
but yeah what's with this one time rule! why not date! why not just admit that you both like each other! the sexual tension is killing us all and everyone at work and stuff can clearly see that they're into each other lmao, just talk it out *sigh*

anyway i am loving this despite my rant hehe, i keep laughing out loud! the characters are so cute, i really love Josh. i can't wait to read more tonight! (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Darce wrote: "— Massiel wrote: "Chapter 11
[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ yes i can't wait for his explanations on his notebook markings! but god yeah she's gotta stop with the blindness it's killing us (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

AGREE!!

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "Chapter 14
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I think she created that rule because she thinks Joshua just want her for that and hate her, if you see in all the chapters she always assume Joshua despise her even when he is clearly in love with her, she is so damn blind with everything Joshua does and doesn't get he truly has feelings for her but again they don't talk to each other, Joshua is saying things but he is not clear about it so he just confuses more what Lucy already thinks. They really need to talk and say everything. Also, I'M SO DAMN GLAD SHE BROKE UP WITH DANNY, he was so dumbass. (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Darce wrote: "Chapter 14
[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ yeah it's probably because she thinks that.... she's so blind though! and i wish she would tell Josh that she likes him for more than his body (and his matchbox cars ahah) because i feel like he's self-conscious that his good looks are the only reason she likes him :((. also god yeah Danny was dumb af! (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

Chapter 19
(view spoiler)[ this wedding could either go really well or outright ruin everything..... hopefully the first option!! i bet Josh will has some ex-girlfriend or something there ahah, just to add to the tension and make Lucy angry. just a guess ;)).
oh and i honestly loved when Danny told Lucy that Josh is in love with her, Lucy's reaction was priceless! it's so clear that Josh loves her, even Helene can see it....
who do you think will win the job? (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Let's hope she wakes up soon! And I was thinking about that but when she said she is getting tired of the hating game maybe it means she will see him differently. (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

Chapter 27 (sorry I read a lot haha)
(view spoiler)[ that wedding scene where Lucy yelled at Josh's dad was sooooo cute! i love that she did it and i loved that she's finally realising that Josh is more than just a hot body, and oooo that last sentence... she finally loves him and it's so obvious that he loves her back! i'm pretty worried for the outcome of who will get this job position.... it would be real funny if it was one of the external people though ahahah.
also i totally called that Josh was gonna have an ex-girlfriend at the wedding!!! (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

The end! (it turns out there was only one more chapter from my last update ahahah)
(view spoiler)[ SO CUTE. SO. GODDAMN. CUTE. the fact that his walls were the blue of her eyes... i can't even, these guys are the single cutest. i'm so glad they finally admitted their love for each other. ahhhhh!! (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Chapter 17
(view spoiler)[FINALLY! Lucy is starting to realize Joshua has truly feelings for her, I hope he invites her to the wedding and I'm still waiting they have a real talk, they like each other but both of them ended up thinking about is just sex. (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Finished
(view spoiler)[I loved this book so much! I didn't like everything went so fast the last chapters but I'm glad Joshua and Lucy did talk at least and she defended Joshua, that was so damn cute. I knew Patrick's fiance was related some how to Joshua but his father is really another piece of character. I want so bad an epilogue but I'm happy with that open ending. (hide spoiler)]

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "The end! (it turns out there was only one more chapter from my last update ahahah)
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I DIDN'T EXCEPT THAT! IT WAS SO DAMN CUTE! And when he explained everything about the agenda I died of cuteness. I also loved the way Lucy defend him, the only thing I didn't like was go every went so fast at the end but I loved this book anyway. (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Finished
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ yes i loved this too! it did go pretty fast and an epilogue would be amazing but yes it was 100% amazing how Lucy defended Josh, Josh's father was definitely something ahah. (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Darce wrote: "The end! (it turns out there was only one more chapter from my last update ahahah)
[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ YESSS I KNOW and the agenda was adorable :)) it was a pretty fast ending but ah well, still an amazing book!! (hide spoiler)]

[Darcey]

thank you so much for doing this buddy read with me! i've really been needing to get around to reading this and you 100% helped me with that! so thank you!! it was a super fun buddy read, hopefully we can do more in the future :))

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

Agree!!

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "— Massiel wrote: "Finished
[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

I still like the ending but an epilogue won't be hard still loved the book not gonna lie.

[— Massiel]

Darce wrote: "thank you so much for doing this buddy read with me! i've really been needing to get around to reading this and you 100% helped me with that! so thank you!! it was a super fun buddy read, hopefully..."

Same! I hope we can buddy read more sooner <33!! I had this book so long in my TBR and want to punch myself for taking so long to read it so thanks for buddy reading it with me!

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "Same! I hope we can buddy read more sooner <33!! I had this book so long in my TBR and want to punch myself for taking so long to read it so thanks for buddy reading it with me!"

yes we will definitely have to see what we each put on our TBR lists, check if there's anything in common! thank YOU :))

[— Massiel]

@Darce: Send me a PM whenever you like and we can buddy read other books, you just have to click in "compare books" and there it shows our to-read books in common. Always ♡

[Darcey]

— Massiel wrote: "@Darce: Send me a PM whenever you like and we can buddy read other books, you just have to click in "compare books" and there it shows our to-read books in common. Always ♡"

thank you so much :)) i'll definitely take you up on that sometime soon❤️

[— Massiel]

@Darce: Always 💕