planetshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Violence, Vomit, Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fatphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Body shaming
Minor: Rape, Alcohol, and Drug use
m4rtt4's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
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?
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Abortion, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, Body shaming, Car accident, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Vomit
squidknees's review
- 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
3.25
Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Suicide, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Self harm, Medical content, Murder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Infidelity, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Ableism, Torture, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Classism, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Drug use, and Dysphoria
Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Animal cruelty
chaotically_katie's review
- 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
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.
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
katherineeweaver's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Excrement, Sexual content, Infidelity, Murder, Car accident, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Blood, Abortion, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Vomit
clairew97's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Rape, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic relationship, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit
lilithreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Murder, Abortion, Violence, Blood, Infidelity, Grief, Drug use, Death, Child death, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy
Minor: Fatphobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Excrement, Cursing, Car accident, Alcohol, and Miscarriage
eimearo_c's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Abortion, Abandonment, Blood, Toxic relationship, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Car accident, Confinement, and Murder
Minor: Vomit, Suicide, Rape, Medical content, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Excrement, and Eating disorder
augustinedreams's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Abortion, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit
kingrosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I gotta start by saying that books where you’re not sure what’s real or not, really freaks me the fuck out. Like when reality and fiction blur and you don’t know if you can trust your own sense? Nah fam, I’m telling you that’s my nightmare and genuine fear.
Okay so we’ve got some weird ass names in typical Colleen Hoover fashion: Lowen Ashleigh is a good author but not super popular, she’s broke af (girl same), and her mom just died after she played caretaker for months. The way this fucking book started, shook me and made me wanna vomit.
“I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me.”
Jesus. Ease me in Colleen. I had no idea what this book was about other then people saying is was freaky and the vague references I saw on TikTok had me thinking some Jane-Eyre-wife-in-the-attic vibes. Anyway, Lowen had the most grotesque meet cute on the planet with Jeremy Crawford (probably the only normal name in the book). Turns out Jeremey is going to the same meeting Lowen’s going to! His wife is Verity who’s like the queen of thrillers. Her books are a sensation, she’s a millionaire, and overall bad bitch. Unfortunately, Verity is in a vegetative state after a car crash with three books left unfinished in her series.
Verity’s publicist and Jeremy are looking for an author to finish the series, but as a co-author, since they’re keeping the extent of Verity’s injuries a secret. Lowen, though doubtful of her skills as a writer, accepts the job cause, let’s be honest, she needs the money. She ends up staying at the Crawford house to go their Verity’s boxes of notes to get in her headspace to finish the series.
So the Crawford family is messed up every which way til Sunday. Verity’s upstairs in a vegetative state, the couple’s 5-year-old, Crew, is running around doing creepy kid shit, and they recently lost their twin daughters, Harper and Chastin. It’s all very upsetting and the darkness just makes me wanna vomit and/or cry.
As Lowen goes through Verity’s things she finds a manuscript for Verity’s autobiography that proves to be the most disturbing thing my eyes have ever read. And even though Lowen’s life is sad and a bit tragic and she makes a lot of good points, she’s got the personality of peeling paint. But I can understand how it took a few weeks for her to get through this manuscript, vomiting and crying throughout, because she believed it was the truth.
Now spoilers. So look away for like 3 paragraphs.
Spoiler
However, she just casually doesn’t show Jeremy this damning and disturbing manuscript? I get in the beginning she wanted to spare Jeremy’s feelings, but it got to a point that shit didn’t matter anymore and he deserved the truth. All of this is going on and Lowen starts to realize that TV’s are being turned off or muted around Verity when she supposedly can’t move. Doors are locking by themselves, knives are disappearing, Crew is claiming his mother talks to him, oh and Lowen just CASUALLY sees Verity standing at the top of the stairs as her husband is sucking on her titties. GOODBYE. That sent my soul out of my body. Mostly, a lot of my fear came from my own fucked up mind making Crew and Verity look creepy as fuck. But yeah, Lowen would just catch Verity stare at her and I’d have like baby gooseflesh moments.“If this bitch turned off that goddamn television, I’m walking out that front door without shoes on and I’m never coming back.” Fam, I would’ve BEEN gone!
I felt like I was going crazy with Lowen. I half expected it to be all in her head. Or Jeremy was really the psychopath. Part of me genuinely believed she was gonna get to the end of the manuscript and it would be a recent addition that like calls Lowen out.
I thought the discovery of Verity’s deceit was anticlimactic. The discovery of the letter was a little comical, cliché, and exhausting. Like I highly doubt Verity was actually innocent. You can do a lot of things to survive, but to urinate on yourself REPEATEDLY and stay still for hours with no reaction to movement or sound? And do this for months? Yeah no. You’ve gotta be a whole ass psychopath for that, life on the line or not. Other than the creepy scene of Lowen ending up in Verity’s room (when she doesn’t mention in the letter) what’s the point of her sleepwalking? I was also thinking she’d wake up attacking Verity. Which would’ve been interesting. And what was the deal with those two women at the Target who claim to be Verity’s friends and are never mentioned again?
Also, why leave the letter? If you genuinely think your life’s at stake and you’re innocent, why leave the letter? And why not put it at the end of the manuscript for the only person who would understand your process and who wasn’t as emotionally invested in the situation to find and help you? Like fam, you have all this time to fake being catatonic but can’t use that time to actually ask for help from either of your two nurses or Lowen? I’m not buying it. She definitely left that letter for Lowen to find to fuck with her. As a last “fuck you” if Jeremy killed her before she could run away or kill him.
As time went on, dry as a biscuit, Lowen, started becoming mad interesting when she started becoming a crazy ass bitch herself. What is up with this man’s dick that got all these women doing some crazy ass shit over it?! Cause Lowen really did and thought some fucked up shit! Lowen was losing her mind over Verity and threatened the woman! Then she lift her hips to let Jeremy’s magic sperm do it’s work?! How fertile is this man?! How fertile are these women?! Honestly, Jeremy is fucked up too. He comes in a girl he doesn’t know, the way he reacted to the manuscript was sus as hell, he was just crazy obsessed with these two women, and then he casually moves on with another woman and having a baby less than a year from losing his two daughters? He was fucking some chick with his wife in the other room and talked about that guilt right before fucking??? Red Flag.
The sex scenes were like hot at first but quickly became creepy as hell as Lowen thought about Verity while in the act, bit the headboard to outdo Verity’s bite marks, and did everything to be the opposite of Verity in bed to please Jeremy. Like she took what she learned about Jeremy’s sex skills in the manuscript and ran with it.
Honestly, other than possibly neglecting her children, trying to abort her twins, and killing her daughter, Verity is the most interesting character in the whole book. Is she manipulative and traumatizing as fuck? Yes. Will Crew need therapy for the rest of his life? Yes. But I recognize the commitment and I respect it. Plus, she made it like her mission to fuck with Lowen, and in retrospect, that shit is funny as hell. Not during, the shit was creepy. But I’ve had time to think back on it these last 71 minutes and have concluded it’s hilarious as fuck.
OKAY YOU CAN COME BACK NOW! No more spoilers
Honestly, this book was a mess. There was a lot of random things that throw you off and seem sus or weird, but are just there. But this thing freaked me out. If you get freaked out over “what’s real and what’s not?” and psychological thrillers where the supposedly vegetative people are running around, then this book will be good to you. I imagine someone who is blasé about that, will find this boring or comical. I mean hell, even I laughed at some parts, and not all of it was nervous laughter. I don’t see how anyone cried doing this book. It was sad that the girls died, but those scenes written from the POV of a psychopath made it easy to be detached from it.
It was entertaining enough. Book holds its own. I struggled to put it down. So check it out if this kind of shit interests you.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse
Minor: Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Confinement, Murder, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Excrement, Eating disorder, Drug use, Car accident, and Abortion