Back in December, I gave in to the hype and read It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. I thought the book told a really interesting story, and I can see why it had huge popularity on social media. Despite its popularity, I have seen some criticism of it, including the romanticization of domestic violence and the lack of accountability by the characters in the story for another character’s frequent abusive actions. These criticisms are extremely valid. I became curious to see what other storylines and genres Colleen Hoover wrote about, and decided to check out her book Verity. I had also seen this book being raved about on TikTok, and reading a synopsis of it made it seem like it was more up my alley than It Ends With Us.
I would categorize this book as a thriller. It tells the story of a writer named Lowen who isn’t that confident in her own capabilities as an author. She gets selected by a well-known fantasy author and her husband to finish an enormously popular book series that the original author cannot complete after she is in a severe accident that leaves her unable to do most activities. In order to better prepare for taking on the task of co-authoring a book with this author, Verity Crawford, Lowen visits the house of her and her husband. While staying in their house, over the course of a few weeks, she uncovers a completed, unpublished transcript that contains deeply personal information about Verity’s life, marriage, and the recent tragic death of her two young daughters, Harper and Chastin. The book switches between excerpts of Verity’s personal diary and Lowen’s experience temporarily living in this author and her family’s house while debating who to tell this information to, or when. I think I loved this book so much because it was relatively easy to read, fast-paced, and never left me bored or waiting for something else to happen.
My absolute favorite type of book or movie is when there is a big plot twist at some point that I am not expecting. I had a feeling there was going to be some conflict or a big reveal of information at the end of the book, but I was still blown away and completely surprised at how this book ended. It was so well-written and interesting that I spent an entire day reading the book because I just couldn’t put it down and had to figure out how it all ended.
Whether or not you call yourself a fan of Colleen Hoover or a fan of thriller novels, I absolutely recommend reading Verity if you get the chance.
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