Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Verity, by Colleen Hoover

2506 reviews

amberv92's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Colleen Hoover just knows how to take your imagination and put you in the book! Verity is a true love meets heartbreak, heartbreak meets terror story in the best ways possible. I literally started this book yesterday and I couldn’t rip myself away from Low and Jeremy that I finished it just now as I type this. I was actually worried that Verity was not going to be given enough space in the book but Colleen put her through out the story even when she wasn’t being specifically mentioned you could feel the suspense in every word. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Murder, Abortion, Blood, Infidelity, and Child death

haileyehughes's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Spoiler

  This book contains major triggers for child loss, infant loss, and domestic violence. However, this book is a whirlwind and didn't end at all how I thought it would. I never expected Verity to die, I more expected her to do the killing. I'm still not sure which side of Verity to believe; the manuscript or the letter. Lowen started out as a likeable character that was 'forced' into the situation. But, by the end of the book she seemed very much like a willing participant.

Also, I had Lowen on my list of future baby names and now I won't ever be able to look at a child and like that name... 

Spoiler

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Car accident, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, and Mental illness

rainey_el's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Car accident, Death, and Domestic abuse

lindseyc's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Drug use, Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, Child abuse, and Car accident

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.25

Better than I expected! I decided to read Verity after reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and while there definitely were many similarities, Verity also gladly had so much originality in it that I wouldn't call them the same. The mystery and suspense were rather well built, though the plot was overall very predictable and thus didn't manage to surprise me as much; it also relied too much on shock value when I would have preferred subtlety and reading between the lines.

I definitely prefer this book to Hoover's other books that focus more on the romance, though also in this one I hated the romance the most — I wouldn't call it unnecessary, but definitely unnecessarily detailed and too sex-focused, at least to my (dis)liking. Also are there any CoHo books that are not problematic at all? Just wondering, as Verity also very much lacked in the discussion and presence of consent and protection in sexual acts... also blaming women's clothes for men's uncontrollable arousal (and eventually rape) is soooo last century — could you please stop upkeeping rape culture, especially as a fellow woman?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Vomit, Fatphobia, Excrement, Body shaming, Car accident, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Infidelity, Medical content, and Miscarriage

katerainy's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Murder, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Grief, Death, Child abuse, and Abortion

stphcls's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Colleen Hoover is fucked.

I doubt this is the first of Hoover's books I should've read because if I pick up any of her romances I'm going to be distincly disappointed by the lack of murder.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Sexual content, Death, and Abortion

courtneyluna15's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

Just wtf 😂
Also, check TW's before reading!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Abortion, Murder, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Grief, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit, Sexual violence, and Cancer

LOOK UP TW'S BEFORE READING!! Graphic details!!

ciwanski's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

2.5

BEFORE ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING!!!! I read this book because coho is my best friend’s favorite author rn and I’ve always been anti coho but I told her I’d read one of her books to form an opinion on her writing by myself. Hopefully the rating and this review proves that I am still anti. 

Obviously I’m biased coming into reading, but I tried to remain objective. I’ll start with compliments! Colleen Hoover definitely writes in a way that makes her book very digestible . Not necessarily talking about subject matter, but just the language she uses is easy to read making her books very quick reads. She also definitely knows how to add tension and thrill! Her twist at the end does make you question things which is kind of fun! That’s about all I have as far as compliments go lmao 

Now my complaints…. I won’t be TOO heavy handed here but Jesus. This book was published in 2018 but I felt like I was reading something from 2013 wattpad most of the time. I hated literally every single character. The characterization was shallow and the relationships were shallow. The timeline didn’t make sense. Colleen told us so many things instead of opting to show us. Many details were brought up that could’ve added to the story but ultimately very much did not. Spoiler but

Spoiler

pregnancy trope

AND THE WORST THING!!! NO ONE HAS CHARTREUSE EYES COLLEEN WTF IF YOURE GOING TO USE A COLOR DESCRIPTOR AT LEAST LOOK UP THE FUCKING COLOR 

so yeah sorry to my best friend but this was not a good book. It was an engaging book. It was not good. I remain a coho hater.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Cancer, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

kaelajonson's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Good book however I felt disturb by it, and don’t connect with books where children are involved and get hurt. I ended up just wanting the book to finish 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Abortion, and Child abuse