Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Verity

I’ve heard a lot of things about this book and I do think it lives up to the hype! I’ve never read anything by Colleen before but you can really tell she’s a romance author from the amount of sex in this book.

The themes in this are heavy - please do check the content warnings.

Overall I really enjoyed the structure of the book and the writing was actually super enjoyable. I like how the story kept me guessing - I enjoyed the plot twist too (not my absolute fav but definitely unique).
Would recommend if you’re looking for a dark and surprisingly sexy thriller about evil wives (and husbands??)

Read the bonus chapter - it left me viewing Jeremy in a completely different light!! Kinda want a sequel now just to see what happens to them in the future.

Content Warnings

hellliliom's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

kinda blah lifetime movie style

Content Warnings

mishasbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

velvetreads_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

ivegotyourpaperback's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I read this.

It was terrible.

The end.

Ok, I’ll expand.

I can honestly say I didn’t enjoy this book. The content was a mixture of gratuitous trauma porn (which left me feeling nauseous) and actual porn (don’t get me wrong, I like a spicy book but this was severely discomforting).

I’ll give this to Colleen: she can write a gripping first line/scene to get your attention (at least in this instance - I can’t speak for her other books). The rest of the story was only just compelling enough for me to think “I guess I’ll read another chapter”. This was more because the writing was simple and less to do with each chapter leaving a breadcrumb of information designed to make you feel like you need to binge the story.

The book is full of unbelievable actions/situations, ‘that would never happen’ scenarios, and things that are never explained (New line idea for Shania Twain: “So you’re a sleepwalker? That don’t impress me much.”)

⛔️potential spoilers incoming⛔️

All the characters were either boring or downright unlikable. Lowen is a boring, basic bitch and Verity was portrayed as a pretentious, self important, narcissistic, co dependent, obsessive psychopath. Or to put it bluntly: a self absorbed cunt.

As for some of the more harrowing scenarios, I don’t think they can be explained away by post natal depression/psychosis (though full disclosure, I’m far from an expert on the subject).

This book does nothing to help the pro choice movement. Of course a woman is a villain if she doesn’t want a child/ren or doesn’t immediately bond with her foetus 🙄 don’t get me wrong the heinous actions that follow are inexcusable but the text seems to infer that if you don’t immediately bond with your foetus then you’ll go on to do terrible things. Not true. I swear the pro lifers would have a field day if they read this.

Back to Lowen. Like people before me have pointed out, her thoughts about a disabled woman and her family - thinking she knows better and it would have been better if Verity had died - feel quite ableist.

And the sex scenes. Sweet baby Jesus. The mountains of sex scenes added nothing to the story and got repetitive. I’ll give it to Colleen: she’s the first author I’ve come across to write a book containing sex where none of it is sexy or romantic. Big slow clap for her 👏

There’s a line in the book “reading this is wrong in so many levels” - I would argue that the writing of ‘Verity’ by Hoover was wrong on so many levels. It’s a compelling story. The amount of graphic detail is unnecessary though.

This is a book where I was rewriting it in my head as I went along. And I preferred the version in my head.

Trigger warning for basically everything. Proceed at your own risk:
⚠️mention of cancer
⚠️death of a parent
⚠️death of a child
⚠️mention of miscarriage
⚠️attempted self abortion/filicide/infanticide
⚠️child neglect
⚠️murder
⚠️adultery

Ps: I read the bonus chapter online and GOOD GOD it not only wasn’t needed at all, but contained the most drastic overreaction I’ve ever seen by a character.

Content Warnings

bmitch21's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This is one of the hardest books I’ve ever read. There were points where I HAD to put it down and walk away bc it was so dark.
I’ve never read a book that made me feel so disgusted and sick to my stomach and made me cry like this. There absolutely should be a trigger warning before the book even starts.
There’s no romance to me in this book. It’s smut, which I’m okay with, while others aren’t.
If you have triggers of child death and abuse, this book is NOT for you.

Content Warnings

0liviamarie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

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