Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Verity, by Colleen Hoover

306 reviews

criticalgayze's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

30 Before 30 - 3/30

A part of me wants to say that I now at least have an understanding of the CoHo craze, but this is her only thriller, and I truly cannot imagine reading a book by her that was just the romantic parts of this one.

I fully intended to give this book 1.5-stars because I am absolutely sick of the trope of painting PPD as some kind of villainous trait in women, but I think that, while the narrator is still disgustingly judgmental of the kind of psychological trauma pregnancy and childbirth can put a woman through, Hoover herself seems (maybe?) to have mostly redeemed her own complicity in the trope with the book's ending. (Although I am largely as confused as the narrator as to whether this is actually the case or not)

Speaking of the ending, talk about rushed. I felt like, throughout the book, the order of escalation was out of whack, there were largely spurts of tension in amongst the drudgery of straight white horniness as opposed to well built and sustained suspense, and that the culminating scene was over largely before I even realized it had begun.

tl;dr: Not good writing, but I tore through it in two days, so maybe there's something to be said for the Hoover phenomenon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Terminal illness, Blood, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Cancer, Confinement, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Car accident, Death, Alcohol, and Death of parent

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Moderate: Car accident, Pregnancy, and Violence

Minor: Cursing

anonymouse_user's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Gaslighting, Child death, Blood, and Death

varlot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, and Cursing

weaverca's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

1.5

Most of the time if I don't like a book, I'm quick to say it's a DNF. This book, however, is the first one where even though I was not enjoying it, I still finished it to see just how bad it was as a whole. A "hate read" if you will. First off, Colleen Hoover's writing is pretty bare bones which unfortunately leaves a lot of room for lacking depth or exploration.

Spoiler

Like I thought the skull-crushing car accident at the beginning would be important to the story later, but then it was just... not mentioned again until one short sentence at the end?

Disappointing. That also made it hard to like the characters, and if there's one thing I hate when it comes to books, it's when they have unlikeable "protagonists." Second, I've read better smut on Wattpad for fuck's sake. All of it was so tasteless and repetitive, almost catering to the male gaze instead of the women the book supposedly gears itself towards. Last, even though I somewhat enjoyed the Gone-Girl-flipped-on-its-head ending of it all, I saw it coming from a mile away.

Spoiler

Verity using the "autobiography" as a writing exercise feels like the contemporary equivalent of when we used to write "Then I woke up and realized it was all a dream" to end the stories we wrote when we were children.

All in all, I was not impressed- and often bored in fact- by this book, and I can't say I plan on reading any of Colleen's other garbage fires.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Car accident, Gore, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Medical content, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Kidnapping and Gaslighting

chumpapagwa's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.0

Dark in a shock value sort of way, not in a mysterious way. Started out with a really intriguing premise and quickly devolved into detailed descriptions of

Spoiler

graphic bad sex, child abuse, child murder

and a predictable and boring "twist" at the end that basically felt like the author assumed the reader was a complete idiot and needed everything explained in mundane detail. You know what they say about jokes? Same goes for suspenseful plot twists. If you have to explain it, it's probably not very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, and Gaslighting

chaotically_katie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Pretty decent book, liked the plot twist towards the end, but the writing is somehow both convoluted and simplistic. 

One of the best pieces of writing advice is to trust your audience. And while I appreciate the spoon-feeding to a certain extent, there comes a point where it’s a bit excessive.

Overall, I recommend reading it. Just not at the top of your reading list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Body shaming, Car accident, Violence, and Vomit

martywelchh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Child death, and Vomit

lostreader_101's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I couldn't put this book down I mean the characters were all so interesting and at the end I still don't know what to think. This book is creepy, thrilling, and very tense and dark. It's definitely a psychological thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Violence, Cursing, Medical content, Grief, Child abuse, Infertility, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gore, Gaslighting, and Child death

samara__don's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Abortion, Car accident, Physical abuse, and Murder