Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Verity by Colleen Hoover

111 reviews

stwriter92's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I must admit that I've been avoiding reading Colleen Hoover because of the mixed reviews I have heard of her work. However, I read this novel because a former student lent it to me. From what I understand, this is one of Colleen Hoover's more well known novels. 

The novel centers on Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who is given an incredible and peculiar offer: continue writing a series for bestselling author Verity Crawford, as Verity can no longer continue writing due to severe health complications. Lowen takes the offer, partially because she needs the work and partially because Verity's very handsome husband, Jeremy, asked her particularly. When Lowen arrives at the Crawford's mansion in Vermont, she sets to work immediately. However, among the boxes of notes Verity has left, Lowen finds a scandalous autobiography written by the currently comatose award winning author. As Lowen reads more and more of the autobiography, she uncovers secrets and scandals that explains the truth of how Verity's daughter died.

I did think that this novel was interesting. The story was good and I love myself an unreliable narrator, which is exactly what Lowen is. However, I was not a fan of how unlikeable nearly every character was in this novel. If they weren't unlikeable, they were too one-dimensional for me to really have any opinion of. The story was straightforward, but the ending seemed sloppy to me (especially the "epilogue"). Lowen as a character was extremely unlikeable, reeking of self pity and a façade of helplessness. She spent more time wanting to sleep with Jeremy than she did doing anything else (including writing the book she was supposed to be there for). I didn't feel strongly about anyone (except the three children, two of whom are deceased for the entirety of the novel). I felt like the ending was quite cheap and a last ditch attempt to keep some sort of "thrill" in a book that was altogether not incredibly thrilling to begin with.

I think this book was just not really my cup of tea. I'm sure it's other people's entire pot, but I think this will be my only attempt at reading Colleen Hoover's work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content, Gore, Pregnancy, Murder, Confinement, Blood, Abortion, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit

clairew97's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Rape, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic relationship, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit

ellianam's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Infidelity, Suicide, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Abortion, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Miscarriage, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Grief, Car accident, Blood, and Violence

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Ableism, Vomit, Terminal illness, Car accident, Miscarriage, Blood, Confinement, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Cancer, Medical content, Alcohol, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Chronic illness

irisvdn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Chronic illness, and Confinement

raemow's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Miscarriage, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child abuse

abbyw923's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

The book is so weird and it felt like it was just going in random directions towards the end. I also feel like this book romanticizes toxic relationships which isn’t ok.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

eimearo_c's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Abortion, Abandonment, Blood, Toxic relationship, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Car accident, Confinement, and Murder

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, Rape, Medical content, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Excrement, and Eating disorder

lillystahl's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Abortion, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

beccamlvn's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Whoa. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Body horror, Child death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Grief, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual content, and Suicide