Hello, amazing people, and welcome back with another book review. I hope you all are doing fine. In this article, I’m going to talk about the book “Verity” by Colleen Hoover, which I love.
When I completed this book, I was in complete shock and also going to shock you people telling you about this novel before you go through this and be prepared. I am going to tell you the plot summary, my honest review of this novel, and other small things which you should keep in mind before reading the novel.
Verity by Colleen Hoover Overview:
So here comes the overview of the book. Don’t worry; I’m not going to give you any spoilers. I hate when someone gives me spoilers. I will not give you the spoilers. The character, Lowen, she’s a writer, not so pop-famous. She was given an offer to complete a book series by a well-known author, Verity. Verity was not able to complete the series because of her physical condition.
So Lowen accepted that offer because she wanted money. Verity is married to Jeremy and has a son. And she also had two daughters, and both of them are not alive. So Lowen moved to their house to complete the series. So she can go through Verity’s life. She can go through Verity’s office and notes so that she can think about how she should start writing the series and complete it.
There, Lowen gets to know so many things about Verity through the manuscripts that Verity herself wrote. Which is evil and creepy, and there are so many horrible things that Lowen came across in those manuscripts. I’m just going to stop there. There are so many things going on in this novel, and I don’t want to give you spoilers.
Genre:
There are thriller, suspense and paranormal romantic scenes in this novel. There is also a small amount of dark romance between Jeremy and Lowen. Colleen Hoover mostly writes romantic stories, and this is one of them.
Age Rating:
Because of its extremely mature content, I recommended that readers must be 18+.
There are many sensitive contents, which include graphic child abuse, explicit sex and murder.
Number Of Pages:
There are about 336 pages in the novel by Colleen Hoover. They may be different depending on the publisher of the book.
Main characters:
The following are the main characters in the novel on which all the story revolves.
Lowen Ashleigh: She is completing the remaining book of Verity, which could not be completed due to the Verity accident.
Verity Crawford: She is the successful Arthur in the book who had an accident and cannot complete her remaining book. She is the wife of Jeremy. And the mother of Harper, Chastin and Crew.
Jeremy Crawford: He is the husband of Verity and father of Harper, Chastin and Crew. He is a handsome guy, and he loves Lowen.
Crew Crawford: He is the only remaining child of Jeremy, and he is five years old.
Harper and Chastin Crawford: They both are the daughters of Jeremy and Verity.
Verity loves Chastin more than Harpar, whereas Jeremy loves Harpar. They both died.
Plot Summary:
Here is the spoiler-free summary Bonus chapter included:
The story begins in Manhattan, where Lowen Ashleigh witnesses a car accident, and blood splatters on her shirt as she is near the accident. A man, Jeremy Crawford, takes her to a nearby coffee shop and helps him clean up. Jeremy offers her his shirt as he is covered in blood. And tells her that my daughters died here five years ago. Seeing him emotional, Lowen tells him that my mother had died recently.
As they leave, Lowen notices a wedding ring on his hand. Verity Crawford is a famous book writer and Jerre’s wife whom Lowen recently met. Verity was working on a popular book series, but recently, she got into a car accident. Verity becomes paralyzed in a car accident.
Due to this, Lowen is offered a job to complete this book series. Lowen was a bit nervous, but the amount of money he offered was good, so she accepted the offer to complete Verity’s remaining novel. Jeremy requests Lowen to come to his house. There, Lowen meets Jeremy and his little boy. Lowen is attracted to Jeremy right before where she meets him at the time of the accident. Some incidents like this happen with Lowen, and she feels that Verity is just faking her medical condition.
Lowen learns that the book is written in an antagonistic way with a criminal mindset. Lowen finds an autobiographical manuscript where Verity reveals her dark secrets and nature. In the manuscript, she describes her anger toward her daughters. Verity writes that Jeremy loved his daughters more than me. Verity admits that she loved Chastin more than Harper. Because she dreams that one day, Harper will kill Chastin. Eight-year-old Chastin dies of anaphylaxis.
All this happened when Chastin and Harper were together. Verity thinks that Harper may have killed Chastin. Verity also admits that she is the reason why she killed Harper.
Publisher | Grand Central Publishing |
Publishing Date | First published December 7, 2018 |
Language | English |
Pages | 336 Pages |
Literary awards | British Book Award for Pageturner (2023), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Romance (2019), Lovelybooks Leserpreis for Romane (2020) |
Settings | Verity Crawford, Lowen Ashleigh, Jeremy Crawford |
Characters | Warren Raymond, Billy Dunne, Daisy Jones, Simone Jackson, Graham Dunne, Camila Dunne, Eddie Loving, Karen Karen, Teddy Price |
ISBN-10 | 153872474X |
ISBN-13 | 978-1538724743 |
Lowen is traumatized after reading this; Lowen is unsure whether she should show this manuscript to Jeremy because if she shows this manuscript to Jeremy, Jeremy will become even more upset. By the way, Jeremy and Lowen sleep together and plan a future together.
As Hello Hi begins to think, she sees Verity walking. She tells Jeremy everything she read in the manuscript and Verity’s nature so she can protect Jeremy.
Jeremy confronts Verity and finally admits that she is faking having paralysis; this makes Jeremy very angry. And seeing this, Jeremy attacks Verity. Lowen asks him to stop and tells him that we should not treat it like this, but we should make it all look like an accident so that no one will suspect us. As per Lowen’s advice, they both kill Verity and a few months later, Lowen becomes pregnant.
One day, when Jeremy, Crew and Lowen are going to leave the house, Lowen finds a letter from Verity’s room in which it was written: It was my exercise to write in the book Genetic Way, but I wrote the book in biographical manuscript in such a good way that if someone reads it, he will feel that there is no difference between truth and fiction and that is why I wrote this manuscript, Jeremy.
After reading all this, she did not say anything related to this letter because she did not want Jeremy to panic. Lowen becomes interested and starts wondering whether it is Jeremy who loves his children very much or Verity, the manuscript writer. She tears the letter, but Iowen is still interested. The story leaves us with suspense about what would have happened after this.
Bonus chapter:
After six months, Jemeny and Lowen moved to a new house with Crew and their newborn baby, Nova. They wanted to move away from everyone because they didn’t want anyone to know or recognize them. Lowen wanted to be a better mother, writer, and wife than Verity, and she also loved Crew very much but did not trust him. Once, she asked Crew what to name her new sister, and Crew said, I don’t care because she will die anyway. Lowen gets very nervous after hearing this; after knowing this, she tells Jeremy about him.
But Jeremy tells her that he is traumatized now after seeing her sisters being murdered. But Lowen doesn’t believe him. One day, Lowen asks Jeremy if they should go on a vacation. Jeremy takes them on a vacation to a beach nearby. The Crew was pleased because the Crew loved beaches and liked to play there, and Jeremy mostly went there for morning walks and had a walk near the beach. While Crew was playing, a man came and started talking with Crew. Looking at this, Lowen got very nervous, and then Jeremy came there and said he was none other than Verity’s old Friend Pier.
- Find Colleen Hoover different and unique writing style
- The story keep interesting from start to end
- Flips the usual villain narrative, presenting Verity as a misunderstood tragic figure
- Some of the parts are really unique, like when verity acts weird and when there are creepy scenes.
- The unique story-telling style and grabs your attention and keeps you interested.
- Plot become predictable, especially when Lowen and Jeremy get closer.
- So many adult scenes make this more like a romance than a thriller.
- No hidden messages and no deeper idea
- Ending was not perfect because some of the characters acts wired
- Some of the parts can be harsh or disturbing
Jeremy told Lowen to take the kids and all the stuff and return to the car. When Lowen was walking towards the car with her children, she looked back and saw that the man was not there as Jeremy was killing him, laying him down.
When they came back home, Lowen was very nervous, which is natural, but Jeremy was normal and came to her and told her that it was okay and that there was no need to worry. She went to sleep. Jeremy was speaking in such a way as if he had also done all this work before. She gets scared after seeing so much work, and she feels that if she does not support him, then he might even kill her, and she gets terrified.
One Day, Lowen went to Nova’s room to see her, and when she went there, she saw that Nova was not there. She got very nervous. After seeing that, she called Jeremy and ran towards the Crew sitting in the hall. He was watching TV and asked where Nova was. He said that she was crying a lot, and from the sound of her voice, he could not watch TV properly, so he left her outside the house; after hearing this, Lowen and Jeremy ran out and got her back. Lowen wants to go far away from this family as she fears Jeremy.
My Review:
This is a thriller, romance, and borderline horror type, which will keep me on the edge and give me creepy vibes. It’s a page-turner book. Once you start reading it, you won’t be able to stop yourself from reading. Just one more chapter, one more chapter, one more page, one more page, and you’ll keep doing that because that’s what I did.
This book will be my all-time favorite, and I’ll give it five stars. The ending is something you will not expect. This was my reaction when I read this book the whole time.
I was like, what? This was my reaction to the ending twist of this book. I got emotional when I read the last part of the book. I was like, what? All of that was a lie? It’s, of course, not. This is what this book will give you to think about after you complete it. You will choose which side you want to believe in and which truth you want to believe in.
I’ll talk about one of my favorites. Like, there’s a scene in this book. I’m not going to give you too much description about it. There’s just one scene which had me. The scene is where she sleeps in one place but wakes up in another. This was amazing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
What genre is “Verity” by Colleen Hoover?
A novel which has elements of suspense, mystery, and romantic fiction–it is a psychological thriller called Verity.
Does Verity appeal to all readers?
No. “Verity” is sexually explicit, has mature themes and graphic violence that may not be suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised.
How does “Verity” differ from other psychological thrillers?
This is a layered story of romance, suspense and psychological drama. A distinctive aspect of the book is its attempt to draw blurred lines between reality and fiction.
Does “Verity” have any trigger warnings?
Yes, everything from abortion to child abuse is in there. There’s the killing of a baby by its mother; it has got graphic content, all sides covered. These are the themes that readers should be aware of before reading the book.
Conclusion:
Overall, this novel was excellent. Colleen has done her best to deliver the story of Jeremy and Lowen to us very well. The way Lowen got into Jeremy’s life was sudden, as there was no plan for Jeremy to make her own. Although the book was not completed for which Lowen was hired, she got a chance to be Jeremy’s wife and Nova’s mother.
But she cannot stay with Jeremy anymore after some time due to his evil side. Many suspense scenes make me nervous, but after reading more, they were meaningful. So, if you are a fan of Colleen Hoover or romantic and suspense novels, go through this novel as soon as possible. I recommend you grab this and start reading.