I’m part of a book club that meets monthly. This month’s book of choice was, as I am sure you could assume, Verity by Colleen Hoover. I have heard tons about this book online and in other book communities, and the rest of my book club was super excited to read it.
Colleen Hoover is not my typical type of reading material. I’ve tried handfuls of her books here and there but never could quite feel a connection with them. The few times I’ve tried, I ended up not finishing them. I just don’t jive with her writing style. However, I decided to give Verity a fair chance and read it through.
To read more about the book, you can visit its Goodreads page here.
Summary
Verity starts out in New York City, narrated by main character Lowen Ashleigh. Lowen is a struggling writer trying to make ends meet in the big city. As an author, she doesn’t make much of an appearance to the general public, and her books sell, but hardly enough to keep her afloat.
Living in an apartment she can’t really afford, a week after losing her mother to her battle with cancer, Lowen is notified of a potential job offer. Pantem Press, a publishing house, wants to discuss the terms of the job offer in person. Jeremy Crawford, husband of the crazy successful author Verity Crawford, wants to hire Lowen to complete the rest of the books in his wife’s series. Lowen doesn’t know much about why she would be needed to do this job, aside from the fact that Verity had been involved in a car accident weeks earlier.
Lowen accepts the job offer and heads to the Crawford home to begin sifting through the notes, manuscripts, and files Verity has left in her home office. In her search, she uncovers what seems to be a manuscript of an autobiography Verity had written. Startlingly, the manuscript is full of horrendous admissions, including details of the mysterious death, loss, and injury that seems to surround the Crawford family.
After reading the manuscript and experiencing odd phenomena in the Crawford house, Lowen tries to keep the manuscript a secret from Jeremy so as to not add to the grief he is already going through. But as a romance blooms between the two of them, Lowen is not so sure that the truth is best kept from Jeremy.
Writing Style & Content Warnings
Hoover’s writing style is easily recognizable. She utilizes simple prose, and is a big fan of adding plot twists when the reader least expects it. Verity is one of Hoover’s first attempts a thriller novel, and she accomplishes doing so while marrying it to her typical romantic style.
Verity by Colleen Hoover comes with some content warnings. Content warnings include: death, murder, child abuse, abortion, violence, and sexual activity. I would recommend this book for ages 18+.
Characters
Very early on in the book, we meet our key characters- Lowen Ashleigh, and Verity and Jeremy Crawford. There is a very distinct attempt to try to separate the characters between good and bad, but in terms of this story, it’s just not possible.
Lowen is the outsider in this book. She is noted to be an introvert, keeping to herself, and not having much going for her in life other than the occasional paycheck from her books. When she finds the manuscript containing Verity’s chilling admissions, she is horrified by it, but continues to keep it a secret. Lowen also openly lusts after Jeremy, a married man. Though Lowen is by no degree on the same level as Verity, she definitely has her own character flaws.
Jeremy is made to seem like the Prince Charming of the book. Handsome, muscular, caring, knows how to please a woman- on paper, he does seem like a good person. He also cares for his injured wife, adding to the saint-like demeanor we are first introduced to. Just like Lowen, though, he knows and understands the boundaries of marriage, and still decides to get involved with another woman as a married man.
Verity is hands down the most complex character of the book. We don’t get any dialogue from her other than what she has written in her unfinished biography, yet her presence seems to loom over everyone else for the duration of the book. She is what adds to the thriller basis of the novel. We get extremely familiar with exactly what she confesses to in her manuscript as we delve deeper.
The characters continually feed off of each other in Verity. There is a violent back-and-forth of emotions that full add to the thrill, terror, and creepy air to the books.
Opinion
I did follow through with reading this Colleen Hoover in its entirety. That being said, it was not one of my favorites. It was a quick read, and I was finished within a day. It does have the “creepy thriller” sense about it, keeping you engaged, so I found this easy enough to read. The writing itself is what was not my favorite. If it weren’t for the crazy factor of the crazy plot, I probably would have found the writing bland and un-engaging.
My Rating of Verity by Colleen Hoover
I had a hard time rating this book, and eventually decided to give it 3 stars. It was a good enough book, easy to read, with a mostly engaging plot. If you are interested in romantic thrillers, I would recommend that you read it. But overall, I found the book to be plenty okay. It most likely will not be holding a special spot on my bookshelf anytime soon.
To read some of my other book reviews, you can visit my Books archive here.
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