Ever since I found out what her books were about, I’ve stayed away from them and I’ve always disliked her and her books, without a good reason because I’d never read anything from her. So I finally decided to read something so that I could know for sure whether I liked her books or not , and so form a more educated opinion. I finally finished Verity today and I’ve also started November 9 and below I’ll express my thoughts on Verity only.
*But be warned; for there is a lot of darkness ahead*
What in the 2018 wattpad, trauma porn, tie matches the colour of his eyes, fuckable dress, headboard biting, child choking, green furry piano, chocolate pudding cake cheating, planned murder, fucking bullshit was this!!!!
I should have stayed THE FUCK AWAY!
This book opens up with a guy’s head being smashed under the tires of a truck. Does this have any relevance to the story? Absolutely not. So why is it there? Because fucking Colleen Hoover Dam said so.
Our main girl Lowen is just a variant of Bella Swan from Twilight. She’s shy, doesn’t like people, she’s introverted, trying to be invisible, hates the smell of blood, if fucking horny of the god damn time and she doesn’t like pizza because SHIZ SO KUËRKI.
Jeremy is the most basic straight white guy you will ever meet but for some reason thinks he’s something special and has all the ladies lusting after him.
So Jeremy hires Lowen to finish a book series that his wife started because she got into an accident and is kinda paralysed. So she goes into their house for a while to get all the stuff his wife has left in order to get a sense as to how continue the series. There she find Verity’s diary where she reveals some very dark stuff like for example how she’s a fucking beaver that like chewing on headboards. In the diary in explained how she meet Jeremy, how many time they had sex, how they had sex, in what positions… so it gets graphic. And then when she’s pregnant, she gets jealous of her daughters and tries to kill them while they’re still inside her. After they’re born she kinda connects with with one but hates the other. When the one she loves dies she blames the other one and kills her and then she fakes an accident so that Jeremy won’t suspect her. So basically she’s a murdering psychopath.
Lowen finds out all of this and what she gets from this is that she should fork Jeremy instead of tell him and get the fuck out of that house as soon as she can. So things unravel, they have sex, a headboard chewing competition ensues, and it turns out that Verity has been faking her injuries all this time. SHOCK!!!!!!!!
Lowen confronts her because she loves Jeremy now for some reason, tells him the truth, and he tries to choke her( verity that is). Now Lowen kinda stops him and tells him to think about his son and so he stops but they can’t let Verity live. So instead Lowen tells Jemery of a way to end her so that is seems like an accident and he does it. Later on they get married and are living happily until they’re not.
They go back to Jeremy’s old house to get some stuff back because they’re selling the place, and there Lowen finds a letter from Verity. There Verity explains how the Diary was a writing exercise and that she intentionally paints herself in a negative life.
SO THIS WHOLE THING HAS BEEN A FUCKING LIE AND YOU JUST KILLED SOMEONE IN COLD BLOOD?
This is just a brief summary of all the issues I have this book. The plot was kinda okay but the execution… absolutely terrible. Colleen just doesn’t know how to write. I’ve read wattpad fanfics better written than this. I’d rate this a 3 star on wattpad, but if I were to rate this as an actual book… that rating is so low the devil said hi to it.
Now excuse me while I go and mourn for all the trees that had to be cut in order to make copies of this abomination.
by Blendi_369
44 Comments
Haha! Great summary!
This review convinced me to stay away from Wattpad fanfiction.
You’ll be OK. It might take a while, there might be an occasional relapse, but in time… you’ll be OK ❤
I would like to subscribe to further reviews please, this was perfection!
I’ve always heard negatives about her on here, so like you, I stayed away… but A+ review lol!!! Definitely confirms we should all stay away from her.
Thank you for taking one for the team… we will remember you.
November 9 is so bad. So much cringe and ick.
Verity was the first and only Colleen Hoover book I read and it was before her surge in popularity. I didn’t need to read anything else to know that i was not her target audience
Honestly the twist in Verity is such cop-out bullshit that makes absolutely no sense if you consider it for more than five minutes.
Your mistake was thinking that a framing device to set up an elaborate situation in which sexual taboos can be broken was a novel instead of something to get off to.
I enjoyed Verity
The fact that Coleen Hoover is so successful makes me feel like anyone that knows how to edit and use grammar can write romance and get published
So, about this book. . . My wife had back surgery and was having trouble sleeping. Sometimes when that happens I will read to her to help her get to sleep. Well, out of the roughly 1,500 books she has to choose from, this is the one she settled on this time.
I had no idea who Colleen Hoover was, certainly not the reputation she has. I got about 10 pages in and just stopped and asked my wife “What in the Fifty Shades of Fucked Up do you have me reading?” She gave a brief rundown of Hoover’s reputation (she’s read several other books by her) and basically said that her writing style tended to put her to sleep even when she was reading, so it was an ideal candidate for this.
So over the course of the next two weeks I read about 80% of the book to her, occasionally with color commentary thrown in, (the headboard thing was just so. . . specific) before she is finally well enough to not need the help and she just powered through the rest of the book in one sitting. She gave me the CliffsNotes version of the ending and we agreed that Colleen Hoover is no longer allowed on the Daniel-reads-out-loud list.
She’s one of those writers, along with Danielle Steel, whose books I feel like I should read at least once, simply because it’s weird to check out 20348492034 copies of them to patrons and have no idea what’s inside.
Op read the bonus chapter and tell us what you think I got even more confused after that.
I still enjoyed her book as I had a lot of fun reading it. I like reading what some consider poorly written books if there’s a fun plot. perfect marriage and the housemaid where really fun. I read housemaid in a day which rare for me. I read it ends with us and I really didn’t like it. so I didn’t think I’d read more of her books but my friend convinced me to try verity and I enjoyed it and will probably try more of her books
I just started reading “ugly love” because it was the only one available. I also had to see what the fuss was about. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but I have found many many things that made me cringe.
Wow, this plot almost sounds like what E. L. James and M. Night Shyamalan would come up with after they went on a days long binder, binge drinking and huffing glue.
> SHIZ SO KUËRKI.
10/10 for this alone
I was okay with the story until the reveal at the end. Then it felt like a, “It was all a dream” garbage ending. If you’re gonna commit to writing a sociopw, make her a real sociopath.
It’s weird, I’d consider myself picky about writing ability and I don’t consider Colleen Hoover a bad writer at all. Maybe it’s a target audience thing. I enjoy her writing for what it is: it’s easily consumable like popcorn, unadorned and plainspoken.
The first book I read was This is How it Ends. It has some cliche romance tropes, but what romance novel doesn’t. It surprised me for being deeper/hitting on some heavier topics (it should have had better trigger warnings tbh). The depth and nuance of emotion was better than expected. I especially enjoyed the backstory with Atlas.
I’d say Verity is unlike what she typically writes, more in the thriller category. If you are a romance reader, you might like her standard romance fare much more. There are hits and misses for sure. Really disliked Regretting You and thought it was a slog. November 9 was extremely far-fetched but I suspended my disbelief and enjoyed it.
I don’t know, I guess try her romance if you like romance before discrediting her entirely. I think she’s an interesting writer and her fiction hits that spot for me when I want a mindless, quick sort of romance read.
This review is epic. I never want to read her either, probably for similar reasons as you. Thank you for solidifying this for me!
Feel free to do more reviews – incredibly more entertaining than a Colleen Hoover Dam book 😂
Her not liking pizza made my eyes roll so hard and I said out loud: nobody in the fucking word ‘doesnt like pizza’! Haha I liked your post though.
Verity also made me go to r/namenerds to see wtf were up with the names in that book
I know Hoover is beloved on TikTok, but I don’t use that app so I don’t see people praising her often. The book reviewers I have similar tastes to on YouTube have all generally disliked her books so even if her genre interested me (which it doesn’t), I wouldn’t be inclined to read them. Your review summary is fantastic lol
My main issue is that you can’t just shoehorn a plot twist in for shock value. There needs to be foreshadowing, there needs to be plausibility. Anybody can write a mystery that nobody can guess the ending to bc they can introduce a bunch of wild stupid shit that doesn’t make any sense at the end. The problem is that that makes it *a bad book.* That being said, she even failed at that level, bc from the quality of the writing I already knew it was going to end with something like that.
Just goes to show that just because something is popular and widely published and widely read *does not mean* it is well written or that it isn’t also complete drivel.
I read Verity too, and nothing else by her, and was equally bothered. What a waste of time. And a waste of money! I bought that and another book of hers during a Target BOGO sale in a moment of weakness (I normally check out from the library). Both books were donated, the other one never touched.
This is the only Colleen Hoover book I’ve read and I likely won’t read more unless my partner decides to, but I really liked it for what it was.
To me it seems like the majority of people disliking the book seem to think we’re supposed to like Lowen somehow, or to be rooting for her romance, or something. But that’s not really what it is; it’s a Gone-Girl-like story where we’re supposed to be deeply unsettled by everything that happens, sex scenes included. That’s the reason the book begins with someone getting their head smashed – it can be titillating but certainly not romantic. We can sympathize with Lowen because her circumstances are difficult but we’re not supposed to agree with her choices and we’re supposed to find her obsession with the teeth in the headboard to be weird and a clear sign of her unhealthy fixation with this family.
The ending also clarifies that indeed this is not a happy ending, and it’s supposed to make you feel queazy if you thought you were approving of Lowen. The fact that she buries the letter without dwelling on it just confirms that.
I’ve heard Verity was horrendous but have never read the summary of the actual plot and all I can say is… what the hell, Colleen Hoover. 😭
Very enjoyable review and basically how I felt reading this book. I had the exact same Colleen Hoover journey as you.
I feel like CoHo owess her success to middle aged women that have never had a fanfic phase. Like they just don’t know that there are better options for erotica and haven’t gotten the bad Wattpad phase out of their system
These books sound like VC Andrews back in the 90s. We used to pass them around and giggle about the absolutely wild plotlines and smutty scenes.
My sister loves Verity. When I asked her to tell me the plot twist it just sounded like bootleg Jane Eyre with some Yellow Wallpaper thrown in
Yeah, *Verity* is a joke of a book. The kid is the most hollow character ever, like Hoover reached the end and then had to make up a character to humanize Jeremy. Hated that book.
And that opening scene is bizarre. So she meets a stranger on the street and he’s accompanying her into the starbuck’s bathroom a minute later to strip her down to her bra? Like weirdly sexualized and predatory (how many women would let that guy go in with them? Because Lowen can’t clean up by herself?).
I read one Colleen Hoover book because it was recommended by someone I appreciate, and because Colleen is so hyped I thought “It’s worth a shot”, right?
I also agreed with the twilight references… it’s aged for teenagers imo. It’s ok I guess if you’re looking for an easy read, but it was just too simple for my liking.
I hated it so much and it kills me how many acquaintances (in thriller writing forums/clubs) gush about it. That was a BAD twist! Just because “no one will see it coming” doesn’t mean it was clever. This is some “it was all a dream/she was dead all along!” level cop-out (which are twists two other extremely popular recent thrillers used…and ruined the otherwise very engaging book for me).
Also can we talk about how implausible it was? 1. that’s such a stupid writing exercise, 2. Her HUSBAND doesn’t know her well enough to be like hey babe wtf is this 3. If the letter was so damn important, you’d think she would have made it easier to find or sent it to someone trusted?
Literally all the twists are so manufactured.
Another thing that makes that final twist bad? It accomplishes NOTHING other than sort of make the rest of the book irrelevant. It is, at best, an “oh shit lol” moment. Like it’s almost comical.
13/10 would read more reviews like this.
(Please do Freida McFadden next)
As a speech therapist, I would *never* be able to read this book. I would be too triggered the whole time wanting to teach Lauren how to say her r’s correctly. *Try again sweetie, remember, pull your tongue back. It’s not “Lowen,” it’s LAURen.*
> What in the 2018 wattpad
Now I need more context about this and I am a bit afraid to ask, haha.
I didn’t realize that we were actually supposed to take the “twist” at face value. I read it as Verity trying to get one last degree of manipulation out into the universe even after dying. I just keep thinking that someone has to be legitimately, absolutely, bug fuck nuts to fake a coma for as long as she did AND write an “evil” diary. There’s no question in my mind that Verity was a monster. That said I’ve never read the bonus chapter, so maybe that would change my mind but I doubt it
But no I didn’t like the book either and it makes me irritable I’ve spent this much brain power thinking out the ending.
THANK YOU, reading this was actually cathartic after having read that trash book. It was the first and only time I have ever read a Colleen Hoover book and I gotta say I was expecting some Matrix ass plot twist craziness based on all the hype and praise it got. “She’s a fucking beaver that likes chewing on headboards” lollllll for real! I enjoyed this review much more than the book itself.
The only Colleen Hoover I ever read. The only one I will ever read. Not every book has to be a masterpiece. It was a quick read, and didn’t require too much thought (except all those WTF!s) Obviously, there’s a market for that. I’m just not part of it. You aren’t either.
Me over here whistling to myself with my hands in my pockets because I liked Verity
OP this is gonna get buried in comments but **please** “review” more of this trash, I work with stocking books occasionally and her stuff is EVERYWHERE and I need validation in my hatred for this writing.
I (35m) joined my town’s book club. This was the first selection. I was the only man save for 1 other, and the youngest by 20 years. It was a very weird vibe discussing this
Never read any of her books, but this review is probably one of the top most wild things I’ve ever read. *What. The. Heck?!!*
I’m sorry but, *headboard chewing competition? Pardon???*