Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Verity by Colleen Hoover

118 reviews

sldibened's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Cursing, Body shaming, Car accident, Violence, Abortion, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Gore, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Sexual content

ink_and_wings'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child abuse, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Murder, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Minor: Body shaming, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Fatphobia

taulkstoomuch'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? Yes

1.0

This book had such potential to be an excellent novel on the struggles that women face, especially surrounding pregnancy. Not only were those problems not addressed, but the women were also villainised for resenting children that they did not want in the first place.

After seeing my visceral reaction to the awfulness of the book, my sister asked me if the book was actually good since it was able to get such a reaction out of me. I wondered about this for a while, maybe she had a point, but after thinking about it for a couple of days, I can say that she was wrong. It's not that the book was amazing bar one thing... it was awful bar one maybe. The plot was awful, as mentioned above; the ending felt like a cop-out.

All that disgusting description of all the things Verity can't be justified by it all being antagonistic writing. That doesn't make up for the fact that all that horrible stuff was written.

This was accompanied by not-so-good writing. How are 2 women so besotted by what seems like the most average man in the world, to the point where they are able and willing to commit actual crimes? There's no man in the world that is worth that, it has to be a joke.

I can't think for a second why someone would enjoy this book, let alone make it one of their favourites. If this is the case, I thoroughly recommend some sort of psychiatric help, even if it is for reassurance purposes. If you are considering reading this book, I suggest you heed the instructions written in Colleen Hoover's acknowledgements to her husband and 'don't' :)

Anything I have missed is more eloquently and passionately said by Cindy (withcindy) in her YouTube videos about this abomination people call a novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Body shaming, Ableism, Abortion, Car accident, Death, Gore, and Emotional abuse

artistic_nightsky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Body shaming, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Torture, and Vomit

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Better than I expected! I decided to read Verity after reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and while there definitely were many similarities, Verity also gladly had so much originality in it that I wouldn't call them the same. The mystery and suspense were rather well built, though the plot was overall very predictable and thus didn't manage to surprise me as much; it also relied too much on shock value when I would have preferred subtlety and reading between the lines.

I definitely prefer this book to Hoover's other books that focus more on the romance, though also in this one I hated the romance the most — I wouldn't call it unnecessary, but definitely unnecessarily detailed and too sex-focused, at least to my (dis)liking. Also are there any CoHo books that are not problematic at all? Just wondering, as Verity also very much lacked in the discussion and presence of consent and protection in sexual acts... also blaming women's clothes for men's uncontrollable arousal (and eventually rape) is soooo last century — could you please stop upkeeping rape culture, especially as a fellow woman?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Abortion, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, Body shaming, Car accident, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Vomit

squidknees's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

Quick and fun. Thrilling!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Suicide, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Self harm, Medical content, Murder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Infidelity, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Ableism, Torture, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Classism, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Drug use, and Dysphoria

Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Animal cruelty

loujanae's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

1.0

I just had to know, yah know? 
Wild anti choice propaganda, which I was NOT expecting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Body shaming, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent and Cancer

Minor: Suicide attempt and Car accident

emiliakajsaa_'s review against another edition

challenging 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

2.0

I don’t think much of Colleen’s writing, she’s not the best author I’ve read from. But I have to give her this, she has a great and disturbed imagination that can come up with flawed characters like these ones. I read this book for a school project and all I can say is, I have ALOT to talk about….

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Cursing, Death, Suicide attempt, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, and Domestic abuse

cocoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Murder, Death, and Infidelity

Moderate: Body shaming and Pregnancy

hon3y's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

look at the tws before

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Car accident, Murder, Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Child death, Death, Violence, Self harm, and Toxic relationship