Book Review: The Hating Game

Title: The Hating Game
Author: Sally Thorne
Genre: New Adult | Contemporary | Romance
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: August 9, 2016
Source: Library
Format: Physical

Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;2) A person’s undoing;3) Joshua Templeman.Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna 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 (goodreads).

The Hating Game was equal parts sexy and fun!

Book Review: Trigger Warning

Title: Trigger Warning
Author: Neil Gaiman
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 3, 2015
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Multiple award winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to dazzle, captivate, haunt, and entertain with this third collection of short fiction following Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things--which includes a never-before published American Gods story, "Black Dog," written exclusively for this volume.
In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well "Black Dog," a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.
Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In "Adventure Story"--a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane--Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience "A Calendar of Tales" are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year--stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother's Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale "The Case of Death and Honey". And "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we're all alone in the darkness.
A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day (goodreads).

Neil Gaiman is the only author who can write home-run short stories again after again. 

Book Review: Tease

Title: Tease (The Ivy Chronicles #2)
Author: Sophie Jordan
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: May 27, 2014
Genre: New Adult // Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased (BN.com)

What happens when a girl who always calls the shots meets a guy who's too wild for even her?
A born flirt and good-time party girl, Emerson has never had a problem finding a willing guy. She's always chosen her hookups carefully, and she's never broken her three cardinal rules:
Never let them see the real you.Never fall in love.Always leave them begging for more.
Then Shaw comes along. A hottie from the wrong side of the tracks, he's immune to her flirtatious banter and come-hither smile. After rescuing her from a disastrous night at a biker bar, he doesn't even try to take her to bed—he calls her a tease and sends her home instead. Unable to resist a challenge, or forget the sexy, dark-eyed, bad-boy biker, she vows to bring him to his knees.
But instead of making Shaw beg, Emerson finds herself craving him. For the first time in her life, she's throwing out her rule book. Suddenly, she's the one panting for a guy she can't control—a guy who won't settle for anything less than the real Emerson and who forces her to do things she's never imagined, including facing a past she thought she'd buried.
A guy who just might leave her wanting more. . . .(goodreads)

After reading Foreplay, I new I had to continue this series, and I'm happy that Tease did not disappoint!

Plot: We are first introduced to Emerson in Foreplay, but this is quite a different Emerson I remember reading about. Emerson was portrayed as coy, free, and a downright heartbreaker, we get a completely different story in Tease. Emerson's story will punch you in the gut and you'll be rooting for Shaw and Em from the first time they make eye contact.

Characters: To be honest, Emerson threw me off for most of this book because she was so different from how Piper portrayed her in first book, once I started to imagine her as an independent character from the Ivy Chronicles trilogy, I  was able to understand her better. Shaw proves himself to be a worthy adversary for Em, the girl who had been dubbed a tease on campus. Their chemistry is undeniable and I loved how they were a mixture of sweet and downright sexy. We see returning characters from Foreplay and get even a little more insight to Georgia who is the lead MC in the series' third installment, Wild.

World Building: Just like in Foreplay, Tease is a college romance in title only. The girls go from class to dorm to bar with very little emphasis on the college experience. I would have really liked it Sophie Jordan balanced the romance with classmates, and assignments, and just university tomfoolery.

Short N Sweet: Tease is equal parts sexy and sweet. Emerson's story kept me turning pages in hopes that both characters would find their happily ever after.