Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Hating Game

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Hating Game, by Sally Thorne

15 reviews

psliz's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

thought it was okay but upon further inspection, it's terrible because its characters are horrible people

Content Warnings

thefairfae's review against another edition

Go to review page

TW MENTIONS OF SA⚠️

DNF/5. 0/5.

I bought this book from one of those blind date with a book things. It started out not to bad. It was kind of slow and it didn't keep my attention too well but there were a few cute parts. Then there was the elevator scene. Not only did he forcefully kiss her and not ask for consent but she literally talks about how she hated how he kissed her and how she wishes he didn't do it. Not to mention tha characters SUCK. They get a little better later on around where I stopped but I still hated them. Lucy (the mc) gave me Wattpad quirky girl mc vibes. Her whole personality was being short, letting people walk all over her, and liking smurfs. Josh was such a bitch too. He is the basic straight white man. He doesn't ask for consent and he is so full of himself. He fucks with Lucy's mind and manipulates her the whole damn book. Hes a walking red flag. Not to mention the books is so boring. It took my like a month and a half to get 200 pages in which is where I stopped. Not to mention that fact that the author is problematic with I only recently found out about. If I hadn't got this book from the blind date with a book I never would have picked this or chose to support a problematic author. I don't recommend buying this book. Don't waste your money on this book.

Content Warnings

wilybooklover's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted fast-paced

2.0

I get why people like this so much, purely from a romance standpoint. The narrative is so tightly focused on the two main characters and all of their interactions, it’s almost as if they were in their own little Romance Bubble and you know what? I’m here for it. I don’t care about side-plots, give me the two characters together on page in every scene! The dialogue and banter were cleverly written, and the sex was very, well, sexy

Spoiler

(aside from a kiss scene which is basically the hero sexually assaulting the heroine but written as if it's supposed to be sexy).

It’s a very sensual book. But sadly, these were about the only things I liked about the book.

The main reason the romance didn’t really work for me because Joshua Templeman is like, the exact opposite of what I find attractive or sexy, and the book is so focused on him and his appearance and behaviour that it's hard to forget it. He’s controlling and mean bordering on cruel to the heroine for no real reason. He’s creepy

Spoiler

(I’m sorry, who paints their bedroom walls the exact same shade as their coworker’s eye colour??).

He’s super tall and muscular and chiselled, which I know is virtually inescapable in the romance genre but incredibly unattractive to me. Not to mention his woe-is-me attitude because people use him for his looks and then leave him when they get to know his shitty personality (has he ever considered maybe possibly being nice to people? Just a thought!). I cannot imagine a man who is more likely to turn me off and leave me stone cold if I created him myself.

And then there’s Lucy. I was sympathetic to her work situation, but that’s about it. Her inner monologue is so judgemental about everyone and everything that it was hard to read at times. And really offensive — if you can think of any type of shaming, -phobia, or -ism, Lucy engaged in it. Fatphobia, racism, ableism, slut-shaming, gender essentialism, even height-shaming which is ironic considering she’s literally five feet tall herself and never shuts up about it. I’m not sure why all of these little quips are even in there because they don’t serve any real character-building purpose; all they do is make it unbearable to be in our main character’s head. And I get that it’s romance so of course our characters are going to find each other attractive, but the degree to which she objectified Josh’s body made me a bit uncomfortable.

Also, RIP to the HR department in this fictional company. I know these two were the bane of your existence.

Content Warnings

meleewee's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really went back and forth with this book. I enjoyed that it broke some misogynistic patterns that are often found in romance novels. The characters are unique and had me giggling at times. I truly wanted to love it, BUT there was a scene that did not feel consensual. There was clear fatphobia. There was no diversity. Use of an ableist slur. And as other reviewers have mentioned, the tiny woman/large man mentions got excessive. I'd love to read more by this author when she stops nicknaming characters "Fat Little Dick."

Content Warnings

micaela_ru's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Toxic, sexist trash that casually includes ableist and racist slurs, jokes about the deaths of sex workers, fatphobia, toxic masculinity, rape culture and nonconsensual acts played as sexy. DNF @ 20%. The MC is an entitled childish brat who has internalized sexism and possibly homophobia and transphobia. The love interest is embodies textbook toxic masculinity. Clearly I'm not the target audience here. I don't think feeling physically threatened by a man three-times a woman's size is playful or sexy. Not to mention the stalking. They also have no chemistry and the book is boring and childish. This is the crap that is popular?

Content Warnings

afterlife's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

Content Warnings

capybooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As far as the enemies-to-lovers trope goes, The Hating Game takes the cake. There are so many things I love about this novel - the elevator scene in chapter 6, Josh looking after Lucy when she was ill, the flowers Josh sends Lucy (THE NOTE 😭🥺), Lucy standing up for Josh against his father. All brilliant scenes! One slight issue I had was I feel like ‘hate’ is too strong a word for this story. The characters say they hate each other, but do little to actually show that, although I do understand the whole idea is them saying they hate each other as opposed to admitting the feelings they both have. The Hating Game is a lighthearted, hilarious and feel-good novel, and I can’t wait to read it again soon.

Content Warnings

n_readers's review against another edition

Go to review page

So many reasons. They try to frame SA as a cute, romantic, and spicy moment. Like no. He sexually assaulted her. Not to mention the characters aren't likeable and it was boring. Like there were some good parts but everytime I thought about reading this book I dreaded it. This is only some of the shit I saw cause I never finished reading it. I can't imagine the other shit that happens in the book.

Content Warnings

writtenbydnicole's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.5

Content Warnings

nadichocoladi's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The first half of the book was a little disappointing. Yet another romance trying to gloss over SA/SH* as romantic because ✨he’s attractive✨, but in the later part and especially the last few chapters I really found the the charm in this book that people talk about. I also really liked how the writer handled the Danny thing, story wise, and that spicy reveal at the wedding had my mouth drop.
Ignoring the few tropes and flaws this book has, it was a cute, quick read.

*

Spoiler

The male lead stops the elevator, backs her into a corner lifts her up and kisses her “because he thought she didn’t actually have a date and is wearing that dress for him”. You could argue that she was in fact wearing it for him and she was kissing him back so it isn’t sa (yes it is), but later he reveals that he actively records if she’s wearing a dress or a skirt since the SECOND DAY they start working together and he pays attention to what type of bras she’s wearing, before they got romantically involved. I don’t know why the author thought this was okay and romantic and not creepy and even bordering on purely perverse, when they even incorporated a character that always stares down the cleavage of the female lead and is portrayed as gross, which in my opinion is not far off from what our male lead does here.
It made me really happy when I saw the trailer for the movie after reading this and saw they changed the scene in the elevator. Glad the screenwriters recognised it for what it was and knew where to draw the line at faithful adaptation.

Content Warnings

More...