Verity by Colleen Hoover (Not Your Typical) Book Review
2
By Kgunstoppable
As one of my New Year's resolutions this 2025, I am determined to read at least 2 books per month. My dilemma is that I'm on a reading slump. My favorite genres to read are fantasy, historical fiction, and historical non fiction. I thought to myself, how would I meet my goal of reading 2 books per month if I'm on a reading slump? The solution I think of is to read something that's out of my comfort zone. And that's when I started looking up for books in psychological thriller. I was going to pick one of Freida McFadden's but for some unknown reason, I picked a book by a different author and chose Verity. I read the book information on iBooks, read some of the reviews there, and purchased the ebook version.
I will try to break this review into how I felt about different parts of the story. So here it goes:
1. The number one reason why I didn't like this book and made me turned off was the excessive amount of sexual scenes between Verity and Jeremy, and later on Lowen and Jeremy. It was absurd and unnecessary. I felt as if the story revolved too much on the sexual scenes rather than building the suspense of the story.
2. I can't believe how Jeremy, although he already suspected that Verity has something to do with their daughter Harper's death, still was able to live and cared for her. I understand the part where he tried to kill her too in the beginning, by making it look like an accident, but to eventually kill her in the end? He already knew it. He already read the manuscript. At least that's what I found out during Verity's letter, that Lowen found under the floor with the knife and the twins' picture. He faked his reaction in front of Lowen. And Lowen found out in the end after reading the letter.
3. Lowen is pathetic. First of all, to fall in love with a married man, albeit being married to a crazy wife. The descriptions used on Lowen's feelings towards him, such as "I have a huge crush on him", " I am desperate for his touch", etc. Like really? A grown woman who is already suspicious of whatever is happening in that house, still had the time to fall in love with a married man? Being jealous of Verity while reading her manuscript? And later on compete with her, that she felt the need to do everything the legal wife didn't do. To be pregnant with his child while they are still married?
4. Verity's coma - how come no one suspected that she can actually move? Only Lowen, who was only there for a few weeks?
5. The twists. (Facepalm). Verity realized she loves Chastin. Chastin died due to accidentally eating a snack containing peanut. She suspected that Harper gave her that snack on purpose. She already hated Harper after her vivid dream. Verity is convinced that Harper killed Chastin, and wanted Harper to die as well. I, as a reader, already knew halfway that Verity is the one who did it to Harper. So revealing it and admitting it on the manuscript wasn't a twist for me. Lastly, the letter. THE LETTER!! After writing the autobiography admitting to being an evil, here you write a letter in the end explaining that it's all made up. And that Verity was just doing it to be an effective villain writer. It was very illogical to try to exonerate yourself by writing that letter. No one can make up the contents of that autobiography, unless you really did it. Moreover, how can a mother who claims to love their children, write such a thing even such a joke, and not even get scared that someone might find it and read it, and not believe it?
I liked that first three chapters of the book, that made me want to read it. I was disappointed to read the next few chapters, realizing that I was already in the middle of the book, and the suspense part hasn't built but focused more on the sex scenes. I kept reading, hoping that it will give me something solid, a wow factor that makes me understand how this book became so phenomenal. Then I reached the part where Jeremy killed Verity, and realized that it's almost the ending. This book is a NO for me. I watched the movie "It Ends With Us" - it was a no for me. In conclusion, this author is a no for me. I have to write how I feel about this book, otherwise I won't be able to move on to another book. Now that I did, on to my next book on my TBR list - James.
