Part 2 of my the Hating Game Rant.

Sighs.

If you don't want to read this long rant, then see this review. I agree with most points from here.

https://youtu.be/6LJ2GLSorcg

Let's talk about the good things from The Hating Game.

1. The descriptions were actually pretty good. Unfortunately 25% of the descriptions were Josh's abs, but you know.

2. The book had some good banter between Lucy and Josh.

3. The book was kind of funny. Unfortunately I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

4. Some scenes were actually cute. Like where Josh took care of Lucy when she was sick, and when Lucy defended Josh against his father.

Now let's discuss the story in more detail.

The Writing:

The best part of the book, easily. The writing was accessible and I didn't really see any prose problems. The author did have a strong, distinct voice.

I found some metaphors and phrases in this story very irreverant, though. (eg, 'Josh should have been... a hunchback.' It feels like you're trying to say hunchbacks are ugly. And Lucy describing her lipstick as 'slit wrist red'- just why? Also Lucy describing the love interest's eyes as 'serial killer eyes'...)

The descriptions were good. Overall, writing quality was there... it's just the story.

The Plot:

The plot was simple and not overcomplicated, which is good for a light romance. I thought the pacing in the book was good. However I didn't like the content of the story for several reasons (MILD SPOILERS: sexual harrassment not addressed properly, romanticization of some unhealthy stuff, unnecessary smut and the hypersexual tone of the story, stupid misunderstandings). 

Some subplots weren't tied at the end at all. I didn't like the resolution of the book. We didn't even see Lucy fighting for the job until the end. 

Characters:

The main characters, Josh and Lucy, did have strong voices, however in some parts of the book it was confusing who was speaking. 

Lucy was 50% like a Wattpad protagonist. She was different in the sense she liked makeup and being pretty, and wasn't 'innocent goody two shoes' like most bad boy protagonists. However, she was quite dormant for a lot of the story. It felt like Josh pushed her around and she was pretty helpless about it. I think Josh should have been the MC- 

*flashbacks to some of the weird stuff Josh says*

- or maybe not.

And Josh. Oh my god. He was literally a Wattpad Bad Boy, but older, so some stuff felt ok (like Josh's abs.. ugh so sorry to mention this guys but why do fifteen year olds in bad boy books need abs? At least an adult having it is a little more realistic. 

Oh my gosh I'm really defending this book the hell-)

Josh had a traGic pASt, a tAll prEttY gIrl WHo HuRT hiM, AbUSivE dAd. He didn't have a motorbike and didn't smoke, so um, yay. 

He also has a grudge against nice guys. The reason ( SPOILERS, skip to next paragraph. His ex married his brother, who was a nice guy. This seems really stupid for many reasons. Firstly, how much does your brother have to hate you to marry your ex? Secondly, your brother is not a nice guy if he did this to you. Thirdly, why the hell are you so hurt she left you, Josh? You're creepy as heck).

The side characters in this book were pretty one-dimensional, not very likeable. I liked Elaine until the ending. Then I just disliked all of the characters except Josh's brother (but I only liked Josh's brother because he pissed Josh off. Not really a good reason.)

Cliches in this book:

1. 'Good girl' likes Bad boy: Lucy was hypersexual and not 'innocent' or anything, but she was still pretty Mary Sue-ish.  Josh had some serious flaws which the book brushed over.

Eg, Josh calls Lucy 'Shortcake', is pretty perverted towards her, treats her bad because he 'loves' her? 

2. Derogatory Nicknames: Josh calls Lucy Shortcake and says 'You pretending to hate the nickname is the best part of my day'. I don't know about you but if someone called me Shortcake I'd stay away from them. 

3. STUPID Misunderstandings: Josh and Lucy hate each other for the stupidest reason ever. (Spoilers: The first day they met, Josh didn't smile at Lucy.) 

4. Insta Love (Mild spoilers): In the ending Josh said he 'loved Lucy as soon as he saw her'.  I know this is getting repititive, but if you love somoene as soon as you see them, you just like their looks. 

5. Office Romance: Josh and Lucy share the same office and compete for the CEO position. Also they can't keep away their bUrnIng lUSt for each other.

6. Elevator kiss Scene: I've complained about this. For a whole chapter.

7. No consent: Ok, but why is this a romance trope?

Mild Spoilers: Josh forces a kiss onto Lucy, and later in the book Lucy said the kiss was 'hot'. 

8. Abusive Dad: Josh had an abusive dad. Kind of the bad boy trope, but eh.

9. Tragic backstory: Josh thinks his tragic backstory is an excuse to be an a-hole.

Spoilers: It's really not. 

10. Love Interest changes Main girl's clothes: Mandatory Bad Boy Romance scene.

Lucy gets sick and the only one who can take care of her is... JOSH. For some reason. Why does this girl have no female friends? I dunno. Maybe it's because of her excessive jealousy of other women who are slightly prettier than her? Could be.

SO Josh ends up staying over at her house and 'taking care of her'. Also he changes her clothes without her consent, which is really creepy and um ew.

11. Love Triangle: I don't hate love triangles, but this one was poorly handled. It was pretty obvious throughout the story that Lucy would choose Josh.

After all ladies, who would you choose?

A. A normal, well-adjusted gentleman who is nice

B. A perverted douche with 'serial killer eyes' who is cold and sexually harrasses you?

If you choose A, are you crazy? Why would you even want that? Why would you want someone who is nice to you and respectful of women when you can date a walking red flag? 

Women these days, amirite? Expecting equality and all that shiz. 

Anyways, Daniel was out of the picture pretty pathetically. Definitely one of the worst love traingles I've read. (Maybe Freaking Romance raised my hopes of love traingles too much heh)

12. Blondes are the worst!  I didn't like how blonde girls were put down in this book.Blondes were considered 'the beauty standard' for a long time. But it isn't really their fault, so I didn't like that. I just didn't like how Lucy, a woman, kept putting down other women just because they were more conventionally beautiful, and it wasn't shown as wrong in any way.

13. 'I want a woman who loves me for my personality and not my jacked up supermodel body': In the book Josh talks about how he wants a woman who can love him for his 'personality' and not his body.

Let me just say it's hard to love someone's personality when they don't have one.

Okay okay, maybe he had some personality. He was driven about his job, he did have a life outside of Lucy. But it seemed like he thought of Lucy WAY too much, in my opinion. 

The Hating Game: Romanticization of 'Challenging' Relationships

There is one thing about this book that really stood out to me. 

Spoilers warning. Skip to Final thoughts.

Towards the end of the book, Josh's mother has a conversation with Lucy. She talks about how 'Difficult men' give a challenge that 'nice guys' don't. It didn't sound totally absurd in the book itself, due to the soft wording, but the meaning was pretty clear.

This book heavily romanticizes 'challenging' relationships. Josh's hatred of nice men because his girlfriend dumped him for one, the conversation between Lucy and Josh's mother, how Daniel was so one-dimensional (he was the 'nice guy' in this book).

And I think this is why most 'romances' tend to show toxicity. A healthy relationship is happy to be in, but it's perhaps not 'exciting' to read about?. Meanwhile toxic relationships are a challenge for the MC to overcome, making the story more interesting? 

I didn't like how Josh was always portrayed as 'Masculine' and 'strong' even though really, he was just a douche. Sure, he did have a soft side towards the end, but the way he acted and messed up her life in the beginning just because he liked her was just... no.

I disagree with the nice guy hatred in this book because in real life, nice people are rare. I know several boys in real life who think getting into fistfights, pulling down girls, smoking and rebellious behavour is cool (and yes, they are real people. Who really think that). They think they're being 'masculine'.

But in real life, I think it's much more' masculine' to restrain yourself from hitting others. Because it's easy to let your emotions get in the way. I'm sorry teenage boys who think punching people is hot: you're not being a man. You're being a child. 

In real life, I find it so much cooler when someone is insulted, but instead of swinging their fists, the person says something sassy or just ignores it instead. That takes control over yourself. That takes STRENGTH. That is true strong femininity/ masculinity. 

Josh was just physically strong. And I'm sure a lot of guys think being physically strong is the only strength. The thing about being physically strong is that it's easy to calculate. But emotional strength is harder to calibrate, and really? Harder to be.

GREAT examples of this:  ATLA (Zuko, Aang, Sokka), Zelan from Freaking Romance.

Good examples of positive masculinity: Peeta from The Hunger Games, Suho from True Beauty, Aidan from The  Hawthorn Throne, Landon from 'Where Tangents Meet', Shon and Ian from 'Siren's Lament',  Maxon Schreave from The Selection. 

Final Thoughts:

You know what most disturbed me about this book? I actually LIKED some parts of it. I actually liked the moments were Josh and Lucy were defensive of each other and vulnerable. 

Unfortunately 90% of the book was just two horny people being horny.

After I read this book I searched up some reviews. Many people gave this book a five stars, even though I completely disliked it. I didn't HATE it, but it was really absurd and totally not romantic for me.

WHICH MADE ME REALIZE SOMETHING.

I'll talk about later in this book (yes yes cliffhanger skilz go me-)

What were your opinions on The Hating Game? Let me know if you liked it/ didn't, it's completely fine either ways.

AND if you don't like my review and want to give me a piece of your mind: You can find my writing in a previous chapter of THIS book! Feel free to rip my work out.