A review by ajlawford
Verity by Colleen Hoover
4.0
I was excited to read this as all I’ve seen is fantastic reviews. I’ve never read anything by Colleen Hoover but what I do know of her is that she normally writes YA/ New Adult romance and that this is her first time writing a thriller. I just assumed it was a YA thriller and never read the synopsis properly (as I do to avoid spoilers) so I suggested my YA bookclub read it and we are and yeah this is a very very adult book.
I don’t normally give any trigger warnings as I feel they can be spoilery. So be warned I’m about to give trigger warnings in 3...2....1.........for self abortion, non sexual child abuse and child murder.............so yeah definitely very adult themes and I read a lot of dark books but as a mother of a toddler, I found these topics very disturbing but oddly addicting to read about. Also there is a lot of very descriptive sex scenes which I was not expecting.
This book is about two authors, Lowen and Verity. Lowen is hired to finish a series that Verity can’t complete because of health reasons and the story follows Lowen during this process. Lowen finds and reads an autobiography written by Verity that she isn’t supposed to see and we get chapters of the autobiography interspersed with the main narrative. This sort of storytelling is fine normally but what I found annoying is that every time Lowen would read more of the autobiography, she would overly think about it and justify to herself for reading more. It felt clunky and got a bit repetitive and felt like it was just a way to further the plot.
I was very frustrated trying to find a copy of this book. I could only find it on kindle and audible but any physical copy for sale on the internet was ludicrously expensive. Not a single library in my entire state had it in their catalogue! Then I found out she self published it, as an indie publication as her publisher was not onboard with her foray into another genre. I think that’s kind of cool. To have the balls to say f u to your publisher, follow your instinct and then succeed.
I’m trying to get in the habit of reading the preview on goodreads to get a taste for books before I commit to reading them. I would have read this one anyway as it’s for bookclub, but I wanted to read it closer to when we are meeting so I don’t forget the details, which I have a habit of doing. So I thought I’d just read the preview and that’s all it took. I was utterly hooked and my reading plans went out the window. The only reason it’s taken me 4 days to read it is because so many life things getting in the way (argh!). I easily could have read this in one sitting. The writing style is so effortless and Colleen Hoover is a fantastic writer. I now want to read more by her, even though I know the content is drastically different, I just love her binge-able style.
I read a lot of thrillers and while I found this addicting and intriguing I didn’t find it overly thrilling, twisty or shocking. For this reason I’ve docked one whole star. Also the main character says “I hate pizza” so like how was I supposed to like her and relate to her after that??? At the 40% mark I had partially guessed the twist though my imagination went a lot further and I found the actual reveal to be a letdown in comparison. I wish I could give an author my twisty book ideas and they write it, is that a thing? That’s a job I could get onboard with lol
Also can we talk about that Cover? Hands down the most pretty book I’ve read this year. Most likely the true reason I wanted to read this book!
Overall an enjoyable read. Probably won’t be a full five stars for seasoned thriller readers but a good time nonetheless.
I don’t normally give any trigger warnings as I feel they can be spoilery. So be warned I’m about to give trigger warnings in 3...2....1.........for self abortion, non sexual child abuse and child murder.............so yeah definitely very adult themes and I read a lot of dark books but as a mother of a toddler, I found these topics very disturbing but oddly addicting to read about. Also there is a lot of very descriptive sex scenes which I was not expecting.
This book is about two authors, Lowen and Verity. Lowen is hired to finish a series that Verity can’t complete because of health reasons and the story follows Lowen during this process. Lowen finds and reads an autobiography written by Verity that she isn’t supposed to see and we get chapters of the autobiography interspersed with the main narrative. This sort of storytelling is fine normally but what I found annoying is that every time Lowen would read more of the autobiography, she would overly think about it and justify to herself for reading more. It felt clunky and got a bit repetitive and felt like it was just a way to further the plot.
I was very frustrated trying to find a copy of this book. I could only find it on kindle and audible but any physical copy for sale on the internet was ludicrously expensive. Not a single library in my entire state had it in their catalogue! Then I found out she self published it, as an indie publication as her publisher was not onboard with her foray into another genre. I think that’s kind of cool. To have the balls to say f u to your publisher, follow your instinct and then succeed.
I’m trying to get in the habit of reading the preview on goodreads to get a taste for books before I commit to reading them. I would have read this one anyway as it’s for bookclub, but I wanted to read it closer to when we are meeting so I don’t forget the details, which I have a habit of doing. So I thought I’d just read the preview and that’s all it took. I was utterly hooked and my reading plans went out the window. The only reason it’s taken me 4 days to read it is because so many life things getting in the way (argh!). I easily could have read this in one sitting. The writing style is so effortless and Colleen Hoover is a fantastic writer. I now want to read more by her, even though I know the content is drastically different, I just love her binge-able style.
I read a lot of thrillers and while I found this addicting and intriguing I didn’t find it overly thrilling, twisty or shocking. For this reason I’ve docked one whole star. Also the main character says “I hate pizza” so like how was I supposed to like her and relate to her after that??? At the 40% mark I had partially guessed the twist though my imagination went a lot further and I found the actual reveal to be a letdown in comparison. I wish I could give an author my twisty book ideas and they write it, is that a thing? That’s a job I could get onboard with lol
Also can we talk about that Cover? Hands down the most pretty book I’ve read this year. Most likely the true reason I wanted to read this book!
Overall an enjoyable read. Probably won’t be a full five stars for seasoned thriller readers but a good time nonetheless.