Book Review for Verity by Colleen Hoover!

Posted On April 17, 2021

Hi Readers! I am back again with another book review! I recently joined a Group on Facebook for Book Recommendations. I already get a lot of those on Instagram, Twitter & Goodreads, so what’s another channel, eh? I discovered this author named Colleen Hoover from the Group. I’m sure you all must be familiar with her work as unlike me you probably don’t live under a rock. Anyway, there were a lot of book recommendations for Verity. And, after reading the synopsis, I thought it would be interesting to read it. Also, it wasn’t too long a novel, so I started it & finished it in 2 weekdays. I am still quite unsure about how I feel about the book, because it did not live up to the hype. Anyway, here I am giving it a shot at its review! 

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. 
 
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died. 
 
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her. 
 
A standalone romantic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover. 

~~THOUGHTS~~

~~GENRE~~

I read somewhere that Verity is a romantic thriller which made me curious to read it. After having read the book, I believe it is more of an erotic thriller. The suspense & thriller part of it was interesting. I read this well into the night & finished it at 2 AM, so understandably I was shook at some of the parts. But I didn’t mind that as it comes only with good writing. However, the romance part of it was a bit repetitive, as Lowen herself has mentioned in the prose. Be it Verity & Jeremy’s scenes or Lowen & Jeremy’s scenes, it was a bit much & bordering into erotica, which was not really necessary for this kind of novel. 

~~WRITING STYLE~~

This was the first time I read a book written by Colleen Hoover & I was impressed. I took to her writing since the first chapter & it did a great job at holding my attention. Usually I have a shitty concentration, so it’s amazing how she had me glued to the book for 4 continuous hours without a food or pee break! 

The story is divided into two story lines; first one is the present state of events, and second is the story of Verity in the form of an autobiography. Needless to say, that the autobiography was the most interesting aspect of this story. I have never read anything as twisted, inhuman & derogatory as was Verity’s autobiography. It started off as an honest retelling, but became way too dark way too soon. No matter how twisted it was, this was the part that made me read the book as fast as I did. And then we had the present events with Lowen in the Crawford home being spooked by Verity & flirted with by Jeremy. 

Given the kind of potential this had, a lot of it was never utilised, which was disappointing. The story had Jeremy lock Lowen’s door from the outside, yet there wasn’t a part where she was trapped in the room/house unable to escape. There was Verity in a pretend-comatose state which also could have been used in many more instances to make it spookier. We had Jeremy being the goody dedicated husband only to never having him flip as a major villain. We had Verity sleepwalking in that creepy house, but never did she anything minutely creepy or monumentally criminal. The setting & circumstance had a lot of potential, but a lot of it was never actually put into the story. 

~~PREDICTABILITY~~ 

I have said this several times ‘ the predictability of a thriller & suspense novel plays a KEY PART in how I eventually rate & review it. But Verity played a game on me. I was expecting a lot of things to go wrong as I have described in the above section. But, none of them happened, making it a relatively simpler, obvious unpredictable story in the most predictable way. Given how highly it is rated on Goodreads, I was honestly expecting something at least half as good as ‘The Woman in the Window’ or any of Jane Harper’s books! 

And, about that ending. Not nearly as epic as it could have been. Jeremy’s reveal was not at all a shocker. The ambiguous ending whether Verity was evil or not was not questioningly mind-numbing at all. At that point, I didn’t even care if she was evil or not, such was the book’s ending’s last impression on me. Not to mention, I did not like any of the characters. Usually, flawed characters are what make readers love them, but not in this case. Too many flaws spoiled it. 

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~

If you are an avid reader, I would not recommend reading this book, because it is not worth it. If you are looking for a book to get you out of a reading slump, then I would surely recommend it. If you are looking for a thrilling suspense novel, then I will not recommend it. If you want to start reading Colleen Hoover’s books, then I suppose it would be a good place to start. Overall, I have rated it at 3.5/5 stars! 

Until next time,