Verity by Colleen Hoover: A Book Review
Genre: Suspense/Romance
Colleen Hoover writes a very interesting story in her novel, Verity. As a writer looking at it, it is actually kind of aspiring seeing chapters written in the antagonist’s point of view (like the antagonist’s books that are talked about in the main story). As it stands, this breakage of the story into the points of view of the antagonist and the protagonist is both the reason why I enjoyed the book and the reason I disliked the book. Let me explain.
The only real dynamic character was Verity. She was the only one who changed throughout the story and she was the only one who basically did nothing through the whole story. We only see her interact with the world around her in tidbits – nothing major to life-alternating – but our feelings surrounding her do. In that way only is she dynamic. Lowen and Jeremy, however, are extremely static (especially Lowen). She has no personality besides her severe anxiety and fear of herself and Jeremy, himself, never truly seemed like the good guy people were trying to make him out to be. It doesn’t help that Lowen and Jeremy also seemed toxic – there was something not right in their personalities, relationship, or anything in them.
Another reason why I didn’t truly like the book would revolve around Lowen. It frustrated me with how dense she was and how much she let her bias cloud her judgement. Looking at the pieces of Verity, I could tell that she was at the very least not telling the truth. The more I thought about it the more it made sense – her craft (what she is known for) is from writing from the villian’s perspective; what better way to learn and hone that craft is there then to take your everyday life and look at it from a villian’s perspective (or as if you were the villain). Its called an exercise – maybe Lowen should look them up.
As I said before I neither liked the book or disliked it. Honestly, it was just meh. The idea definitely had potential – but I don’t think Hoover carried it as far as it could have gone. That being said, Hoover is also an extremely popular author, so 1. Hoover probably knows what she is doing and 2. it doesn’t really matter what I think on that huge of scale – she’s the one with a mass following, I’m just a wanna-be amateur writer (though I do have to give myself bonus points for guessing the end).
Who would most enjoy the work and who should stay clear (if necessary):
Fans of Colleen Hoover and Suspense junkies will enjoy this novel.
Other books like the one reviewed:
- Regretting You by Colleen Hoover
- Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
- You’d Be Home By Now by Kathleen Glasgow
- The Color of Lies by CJ Lyons
- The Cellar by Natasha Preston
- That’s Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
- The Secrets You Keep by Kate White
- If We Were Villians by M. L. Rio
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- The Guest List by Lucy Foley
| Plot: | 9 / 10 |
| Characters: | 6.5 / 10 |
| Writing: | 8 / 10 |
| Editor: | 10 / 10 |
| Total | 33.5 / 40 |
Title: Verity
Author: Colleen Hoover
Edition: First Grand Central Trade Paperback
Published: December 2021
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
ISBN: 9781538724736
If you want to get it: Amazon; Barnes&Noble
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