Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Verity by Colleen Hoover

21 reviews

nikrib's review against another edition

dark 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

Zero stars. I’m not on the hate train for CH. If this type of writing engages more people in reading books then so be it & good for them, everyone should read more. However, this is where CH & I go our separate ways. I read ‘It Ends With Us’, ‘It Starts With Us’, & now ‘Verity’. At least I can say I tried. Again, not on the hate train but I will give my spiel. 

CH books read like a high school project & an aspiring author. Where is the depth to these narratives? Why are the plots always good in theory but then the execution falls terribly flat? These books aggravate me, yearning for even an ounce dynamic character development. Why over saturate the narratives with numerous sex scenes? Are all CH books smut? ‘Verity’ was suppose to be a thriller? Perhaps this book read as a thriller to those who aren’t avid thriller fans. 

Other reviews mention that this book had great twists. What twists? This narrative was predictable & severely underwhelming. It seems the positive reviews stem from readers who are shocked of the subject matter & let that hang over them for the entirety of the book. Just because an author writes controversial topics does not make the narrative automatically shine. Where is the world building to immerse readers? Where is the sufficient depth of themes & motifs? Where are the relatable characters or even likable characters? 

I found myself flipping back & forth in the book due to the plot holes, contradictory writing, poor descriptive language, & plot jumping. This book was by no means difficult to read, it reads like a YA, which is how the other two CH books I read also are. 

Lastly, the endings to these books. I’ve never shut the back cover of a book & then wanted to re-read the last chapter again & again to ensure I did in fact not miss anything. Why are the endings so unfulfilling? There are far better ways to weave in traumatic experiences into a narrative where the reader feels empowered by the end to seek help or finally fix/leave a situation, but instead we’re left gripping the pages & shaking the book in frustration. What on earth is the moral of the story with all this problematic misogynistic female to male relationship dynamic? 

If you read CH books like a campfire story instead of a novel, all is well. If you’re reading this review & are a fan of CH, more power to you & I’m genuinely glad you enjoy the books. I gave it a go & will be returning to my Stephen King TBR pile. Cheers!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

breezy17's review against another edition

fast-paced

1.5

it gets half a star for at least being the fastest i have ever read a book bc unfortunately i could not put it down. the most criminal aspect of this thriller was how so many people recommended it to me as "so good!" with not an ounce of shame or sarcasm. what the actual fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

yourlocalredpanda's review against another edition

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? No

3.5

Everyone is unhinged and someone needs to take Cruise out of this mess of a family, please save this child :']

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Car accident, and Abortion

Minor: Misogyny

trishrva's review against another edition

I had to double check that this book wasn’t actually written by a man. I put the book down when I read the line “The mistake women make when they choose their clothes […], is that they don’t think about them from a man’s perspective.” Disgusting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Minor: Misogyny

revolutiondeathsquad'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? It's complicated

0.5

i went into this knowing i was gonna hate this, but as a hate-read it was incredibly entertaining. just not any good. please look at the content warnings before you read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny

ladylucy22's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

pam_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

The best Colleen Hoover novel I’ve ever read. The twist at the end was actually good (though yes, there was a lengthy explanation). Parts of this book were horrifying. I was constantly trying to guess how it would end and I could not stop reading (finished this in four days). This reminded me of “Flowers in the Attic” by VC Andrews for some reason.

The only negative: the main character is annoying and downright unlikeable by the end (but it works with the ending imo).

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

coolkid's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.75

This was one of two Colleen Hoover books I read at the same time. I will give her this, her reading style is soo easy to consume. I can't believe how fast I got through these given how bad they are. This one is much better than Nov 9. Hoover's writing style is still for actual toddlers, but she does decent with darkness. If she didn't try to make it romantic, it might even be worth 3 stars. 

As is, though, this book is average at best. Lowen is very unlikable. Verity was a much more interesting character - and, as always, Hoover's shaming of motherly women who like sex remains a constant.

Also what's the weird deal with Lowan's drug addiction? Why was that never like... followed up on? And why did Crew eat a knife? Like? Hello?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse

mimmixoxo's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

0.5

This book made me legit angry in the worst way possible. I don’t know how it ended up with 4 stars on here. Such immature writing and a terrible thriller piece, if I didn’t know any better I would say it was written by a 16 year old on wattpad. To all the people who think this is genuinely good thriller please read an actual thriller like Rebecca or anything by Shirley Jackson or Riley Sager. Or anything would be better than this honestly. (Gave it a .5 bc I got at least one emotion from reading this) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Drug use and Car accident

giannaa01's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

this book was INSANE. i’ve never read a book like this but i loved it. 

the ending was absolutely INSANE. team manuscript or team letter?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt