The Hating Game

The Hating Game is Sally Thorne's 2016 workplace romance, published by William Morrow Paperbacks. Thorne's author page and the Vertical Entertainment trailer identify the film as based on her bestselling book, and the current ISBN path is stable through the author and publisher ecosystem.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman work across from each other after their publishing houses merge. They compete, snipe, watch, misread, and keep turning office irritation into ritual. The book's engine is simple: what if the person who annoys you most is also the person paying closest attention?

Read it if you want a fast, funny romance with a clear enemies-to-lovers spine. The film gives the story a screen hook, but the book's appeal is Lucy's voice: petty, insecure, observant, and more wounded than the banter first suggests.

Lucy Hutton is bright, ambitious, and determined to be kind even when her workplace rewards harder behavior.

Joshua Templeman is controlled, severe, and much less unreadable once the book lets Lucy look past the performance.

The merged publishing office acts as the pressure chamber. Promotion anxiety gives the flirting a concrete cost.

The families matter because the romance is partly about how both characters learned to defend themselves.

No. 1 - Banter with stakes. The jokes work because Lucy and Josh are competing for something real.

No. 2 - Workplace-romance clarity. Desk proximity, forced cooperation, and promotion pressure keep the plot tight.

No. 3 - Easy screen path. The film follows a book that already plays like a compact romantic comedy.

Read this if you are...

• Looking for enemies-to-lovers romance with workplace proximity.
• Coming from the Lucy Hale film adaptation.
• Trying to read more contemporary romance without a huge time commitment.
• Interested in banter that hides insecurity rather than pure cruelty.

Skip it if you are...

• Avoiding boss, office, or workplace-power dynamics.
• Looking for a slow literary romance.
• Frustrated by characters who mistake attraction for hostility.
• Uninterested in first-person romantic comedy narration.

• Stay inside Lucy's bias. The book is funny because her certainty is often wrong.
• Notice the office rules. The promotion plot gives the romance pressure beyond attraction.
• Read Josh's silence carefully. The book uses restraint as part of his character.
• Expect genre pleasure. This is built for chemistry, not realism about publishing HR.

• Casey McQuiston - Red, White & Royal Blue. For a larger public version of enemies-to-lovers romance.
• Robinne Lee - The Idea of You. For a more adult romance about risk and scrutiny.
• Emily Henry - People We Meet on Vacation. For contemporary romance with sharper emotional timing.
• Julia Quinn - The Viscount Who Loved Me. For historical enemies-to-lovers with screen demand.
• Jenny Han - To All the Boys I've Loved Before. For a sweeter fake-relationship variation.

1. When does Lucy's hatred start looking like attention?
2. Does the office competition make the romance sharper or more uncomfortable?
3. How does the book use physical proximity without losing tension?
4. What does Josh's restraint hide?
5. Which joke tells you the most about Lucy?
6. Does the film have the same rhythm as the book?
7. Is the promotion plot necessary to the romance?
8. Why does enemies-to-lovers work so well in a workplace setting?