Review: Verity by Colleen Hoover

Love her or hate her, there is no denying that Colleen Hoover is a bestselling author. She has a solid--and extremely loyal--fanbase. She has seen one of her novels made into a film, caused a stir with a colouring book that got cancelled, copped loads of criticism and most of her publicity has been born through her books going viral on social media, first with her (then) self-published first novel Slammed and then again several years later when her novel It Ends With Us became the first novel to go viral on TikTok, four years after it was first published and enjoyed moderate success. While most of her novels can be broadly considered romance, Verity, self-published in 2018 was a sincere attempt at combining her light, breezy writing style with a darker storyline and a surprise twist at the end. The result is, well ...

Verity tells the story of Lowen Ashleigh, a reclusive writer in her early thirties who is hired as a ghostwriter to complete a series of novels by bestselling author Verity Crawford. Verity has experienced multiple tragedies. Both of her twin daughters have died in separate tragic incidents. More recently Verity has suffered a severe brain injury in a vehicle accident. However, when Lowen arrives at the house, strange things begin to happen and she has her suspicions that Verity may be faking her injuries. Then she finds a manuscript, an autobiography that reveals Verity as a callous psychopath. As romance blooms between Lowen and Verity's husband Jeremy, Lowen has more and more reasons to become fearful of Verity. Then comes a surprising series of twists.

Several times I found myself reading a chapter or two more than I intended to. I also enjoyed the parallels between Verity and Jane Eyre, with Verity acting as the stand-in for Rochester's first wife who lived in the attic. However, the novel suffers not only from a lack of depth and underdeveloped characters, but from a totally implausible final twist. 

Although I did not enjoy Verity and I found the ending ridiculous, I kept turning the pages to find out what happened next. I also got a slight VC Andrews vibe, with Verity reminding me of the callous and all-knowing family matriarch that appeared in many of her novels. 

Recommended to fans of Colleen Hoover or VC Andrews. 




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