Reviews tagging Violence

Verity, by Colleen Hoover

527 reviews

mac96's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I did not like this book at all. I didn’t care about it, it wasn’t interesting, it was poorly written, and it was gross for shock value.  The only reason I did not DNF it immediately was that I read it for a book club that my MIL is part of and for her I will do anything 🫡 even push through the worst book I have ever read. 

Spoiler

The end twist was like an after-thought that didn’t make sense. I don’t even care if the letter was real or fake, the book was just bad and that little bit of mystery was not going to save it. All of the characters sucked and their motivations always fell flat. Also the names were stupid.

All in all it was a waste of time and there are a million better thrillers to spend money on. If you absolutely must read this book to see what the hype is about, get it from your library or other ways that don’t give this author any more money. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Child abuse, Sexual content, Child death, and Gore

Minor: Ableism

holliesatchell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Abortion, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

schanschan's review against another edition

dark lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

honeybunchesofoats06's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Abortion, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Child death, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

tjbkorean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

2.25

This book seriously needs some content warnings 😫
🫥
I would not have read it if I’d have known of the disturbing violence towards infants/children in it. If you are a fan of being in shock/horror/disturbed then you may enjoy this more than me. I just don’t have the stomach for that type of thing since my first pregnancy and I actively avoid anything of that nature whenever I can. 

With that being said. It definitely made it easy to visualize how much of a psychotic disgusting person this character is when you read it. You can’t help but be completely blindsided by the level of evil. Now that’s by design obviously for the character and for the book to have that shocking effect, but just not my cup of tea. 

🌶️There is also plenty of seggs scenes sprinkled throughout and while I haven’t read any of Hoover’s other books, I’m sure her history in romance lends well to those parts in this story. For that, I am considering reading one of her romances to see how that compares to this book. I can’t say I enjoyed them as much cause I was constantly reeling from the fact that these people are sickos….

⭐️For me this is a solid 2.5 star book but if you aren’t swayed by violence towards children you may have a higher opinion of this mysterious/thriller romance.

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS AHEAD***

So I’m not sure when the bonus chapter edition of the book came out but if you haven’t read it then the story would be so very different and idk if that’s in a good way or not. After being brought to a level of disturbance that I have yet to find in other stories, you get a twist that doesn’t solidify anything other than, you just don’t know wtf happened. There is no truth, not really. It makes EVERYONE in the story look absolutely psycho and horrible, INCLUDING Crew! 

There’s also a handful of loose ends that make you wonder why those details even exist. The sleepwalking? The knife thing with Crew? The home nurse? Just stuff that could have been more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Child abuse, and Abortion

Minor: Body shaming and Vomit

rachmco's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Car accident, Miscarriage, Death, Murder, Abortion, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

allya2259's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Sexual content

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Abortion, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Suicide

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Car accident, Medical content, Confinement, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Murder, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault

justjay_xx's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Abortion, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Murder

caseyae96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I do like a mystery thriller, and didn’t mind a romance thrown in the mix. Unfortunately I found a lot of it… meh. The sex scene’s began to feel repetitive and somehow off (even if it is somewhat explained in Verity’s letter). I felt like I came up with more exciting twists about the manuscript than what existed, though it is interesting to be left wondering what the truth is. All of this would have left me with 4/5 stars, but the child abuse, real or imaginary, really disturbed me and turned me off of the book. I don’t vibe with child abuse in books at all. For fans of this book I recommend Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeny. It has mystery and marital suspense, though certainly less sex. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Vomit, Murder, and Child death