Verity Book Review

Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog! I am so excited for today's post because I will be reviewing Verity by Colleen Hoover. I'm sure most of you have heard this name floating around the internet. She has been all over Booktok. And I have to say, I really thought her books were overhyped. Usually when I read "trending" books I don't like them because everyone had set really high expectations for me. BUT not this time. I loved this book, and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I loved this book.

I don't know a lot about Colleen Hoover or the type of books she writes. From what I gathered from the internet, she is more of a romance writer than a psychological thriller. So, props to her because this book MESSED with my head. Before I touch on the nitty gritty, I do want to say that there are some warnings that come with this book. I would say trigger warnings for death (just in general), murder, depression, suicide, etc. I also want to add that if you don't like dark and twisted stories then you won't like this book.

Now, this book is about struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh who gets an amazing opportunity to finish a bestseller series by bestselling author, Verity Crawford. Verity was in an accident and was badly injured and unable to finish her series. Lowen basically has to stay in her creepy house to dig around her office to find notes, outlines, excerpts, etc. on the last three books.  When Lowen is digging around the office, she discovers Verity's unpublished autobiography. As she reads it, she learns truly dark and terrifying secrets about Verity and the things she has done to her family. Add in a complicated romance because Lowen starts to fall for Verity's husband, Jeremy. And she's beginning to wonder if she should show him the manuscript and all of Verity's twisted tales.

This book is the definition of a dark and twisted psychological thriller. To be honest, there were points where I was so creeped out because I was reading this while I was home alone, and I don't know it was just a lot sometimes. Actually, to clarify, I listened to the audiobook. As part of my New Year's resolutions, I wanted to try something new and that was audiobooks. This was my first one ever, and I really enjoyed it! I finished the whole audio in less than 12 hours.

Also, I work from home for majority of the week, so when I am doing mindless work I like having something in the background whether that's music, a YouTube video, or a podcast, etc. it just makes the time go by faster. And my god was this just so good.

Now for the actual review, there were so many things that I liked. This book was gripping from the very beginning. Right out of the gate, things are happening and they're are gruesome to say the least. It's a pretty fast moving novel. And as Lowen finds and reads Verity's manuscript, the chapters will alternate between present Lowen and the autobiography.

I also really enjoyed Hoover's writing style. She was very blunt, as in there was no sugar coating what was happening. Which adds to the all around spooky vibe of the book.

The chapter lengths vary, but they aren't like LOTR where its almost 40 pages per chapter. Some are short and some are longer, but honestly the long ones always hold the most action and anticipation.

Additionally, I really liked the characterization of Verity. She was a very complex character and by that I mean you never knew what to expect from her. You never knew what exactly she was capable of. She was definitely a wild card. I know a lot of people (at least in the Goodreads review section) didn't like her. Yeah, she's insane but I like the way she was written.

And lastly, I would definitely say this book is worth the hype. Towards the end, I was on the edge of my seat. Which speaking of the ending, OH MY GOD. THE ENDING WAS CRAZY. I don't think I have ever loved an ending as much as I did this. I am still thinking about it. I won't spoil anything, but I have no idea what to believe. Manuscript or letter?? The ending totally messed with my head. And it's so ironic because the definition of Verity according to the Oxford dictionary is, "a true principle or belief, especially one of fundamental importance. Truth." Are you kidding me? The title, the ending, the insane characters, it's just the perfect equation for a great book.

I would give this a 5/5 stars. My first 5 star read of the year and its only January! This book makes me want to check out more of Colleen Hoover's books. I hear everyone talking about It Ends with Us so I might give that one a go next. From what I can tell from the synopsis that one is definitely more romance. It honestly sounds really good.

I highly recommend this book if you are okay with more gruesome stories. It's not too graphics, it just has a lot of dark content which I had no idea about before going into things.

Alright, folks! That's all I have for today. Come back next week for another post and as always, thank you for reading!