The Hate Project

By: Kris Ripper

Narrated by: Gomez Pugh

Oscar is a grouch. That’s a well-established fact among his tight-knit friend group, and they love him anyway. Jack is an ass. Jack, who’s always ready with a sly insult, who can’t have a conversation without arguing, and who Oscar may or may not have hooked up with on a strict no-commitment, one-time-only basis. Even if it was extremely hot. Together, they’re a bickering, combative mess.

When Oscar is fired (answering phones is not for the anxiety-ridden), he somehow ends up working for Jack. Maybe while cleaning out Jack’s grandmother’s house they can stop fighting long enough to turn a one-night stand into a frenemies-with-benefits situation. The house is an archaeological dig of love and dysfunction, and while Oscar thought he was prepared, he wasn’t. It’s impossible to delve so deeply into someone’s past without coming to understand them at least a little, but Oscar has boundaries for a reason - even if sometimes Jack makes him want to break them all down. After all, hating Jack is less of a risk than loving him....

©2021 Kris Ripper (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

I loved the hate project

I think if I had been reading the book I would have become frustrated by the way Oscar's thoughts jump around. The narrator, however, is great; he really seems to get Oscar and conveys his frustrations, anxiety, doubts and feelings so well. The book is laugh-out-loud funny and the sex is hot. The relationship between Oscar and Jack is a little unusual and the road to the end is full of real and imagined obstacles but kind of beautiful. Kris' depiction of Oscar's anxiety is on point and both hilarious and sensitive to his genuine struggles. I loved the hate project.

Really glad I stuck with this one

I'm not a fan of most surprises because, like the main character, Oscar, I typically need to rehearse things in my head before I feel comfortable doing them with people in real life. Mine is not as severe, but most definitely relatable. This book surprised me...in a good way though. I almost stopped reading it because the depictions of Oscar's thought processes were a bit too close for comfort. Luckily, I stuck with it.

Just like with the first book in the series, Kris Ripper creates characters you can't help but fall in love with for all of their quirky awkwardness. If you are on the fence about reading it, or have started it and find yourself questioning that decision, I can say that sticking with it is the right move even if it is just for Jack's confession to Oscar that comes in somewhere in the last 30 minutes of the book. It is probably the hottest quote I've hear in a book in several years. Gomez Pugh's delivery makes it even better. Having finished it, I'm going to have to say I actually liked it better than the first book, and I was not expecting that to be the case.