I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

Those are the first words I want everyone to read. This book is simply amazing. I loved it. I absolutely loved it!!

Summary :

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. They are executive assistants to co-CEO’s of a publishing company resulting from a merger, for survival. It is an unlikely merger between two companies with vastly opposite approaches to book publishing.

Lucy and Joshua are no different and have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive manoeuvres as they sit across from each other. Lucy loves the art of book publishing and understands the emotions behind each book while Joshua is uptight, meticulous and focuses on analytics and profits.

Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s approach to his job and simultaneously, Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and happy-go-lucky chirpy attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

My Thoughts :

I have been on a spree of reading romance novels off late and they’re all different in their own way, but one thing always tends to stand out. This book has a backdrop similar to the movie ‘The Proposal’ starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Two stark opposite personalities, coming together through unlikely circumstances and tolerating each other.

The back and forth between Lucy and Joshua, their constant taunts and smart quips aimed at each other, constant banter and passive-aggressive behaviour will have you hooked immediately. These tiny details add a lot of richness to the plot and the characters. 

Sally Thorne does such a wonderful and brilliant job of penning down raw these tiny details, that you can feel the tension building between the characters. She does a brilliant job at capturing passionate hatred and raw carnal human behaviour (Imagine the heat between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the movie ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith). You know there’s going to be an explosion from that buildup and you’re just waiting for it to happen. And then it does. 

First, a tiny explosion followed by what ends up being a nuclear reaction. 

Honestly, the story is not unpredictable, the characters are lovely but not extraordinary (they resemble very other Rom-Com Movies out there), BUT THE WRITING…..  the writing is simply amazing. I know for a fact that I am going to read this book again in the future, which is a HUGE deal for me (also a first because I have severe FOMO and usually find it a waste of time to re-read a book).

So yes, please PLEASE read this book if you’re into this genre. You’ll love it.

“The trick is to find that one person who can give it back as good as they can take it.”