Review: Verity by Colleen Hoover

Published December 7th 2018 by Hoover Ink, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

A standalone romantic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, releasing December 18th.

My Review

“...the things lurking around inside the mind can be just as dangerous as tangible threats.”

I had forgotten how much I like Hoover's writing sometimes. It isn't that her books have some mind boggling plot lines or because they have something new to offer. It's just the way she writes her characters. She makes her characters seem so real and her books read so easily that it's impossible to put them down. It's very easy to connect to her characters because Hoover knows how to get inside her readers' minds and manipulate their emotions. I've always thought that she is one of those authors who writes angst very well. After reading Verity I realized that she can write creepy even better.

Throughout Verity, she creates an eerie atmosphere of foreboding and doubt. I couldn't help but turn page after page, coming up with my own theories as to what might happen next. It was interesting to read about a character who's an author from an author's point of view. 

“A writer should never have the audacity to write about themselves unless they’re willing to separate every layer of protection between the author’s soul and their book. The words should come directly from the center of the gut, tearing through flesh and bone as they break free. Ugly and honest and bloody and a little bit terrifying, but completely exposed.” 

It was also easy to imagine how writing about fucked up characters might fuck up the author's mind in the process. Because, aren't all fictional characters a piece of the author's soul, however small that piece maybe? Don't the events of a book sometimes have an element of wish fulfillment attached to them?

The only issue I had with the book was that even though the plot escalated quickly, the actual climax was a bit meh. The ending felt kind of rushed, almost as if it were an afterthought. It left me feeling dissatisfied and I didn't find it worthy of the buildup.

I had come up with my own crazy little theory that the whole manuscript was written from Verity's husband's POV and he was the actual author in the story, writing under the pseudonym of his wife's name. That would mean that all the crazy things mentioned in the manuscript were his doing and writing them down as though his wife did it was just a way of covering his tracks and putting the blame on her. Yes yes, my mind works in twisted ways.

But overall, it's definitely a great quick one time read that is bound to give you the creeps. Rating: 3/5 stars!