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jess_thefacts's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Yall left at an important part when recommending this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I liked the switch between perspectives.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Abortion, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Car accident, Child death, Blood, and Cursing
rosiecip's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Read the entire book in one sitting, probably because it was so uncomfortable I needed to get to the end. A little gratuitous with the sex scenes which isn’t my jam but worked for the plot. Definitely need a breather from thrillers after this one WHEW!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, and Sexual content
ellarobini's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Child death, Gore, Violence, Murder, Torture, Abortion, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Blood
sakisreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-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
3.0
✨ Gifted ✨
I swore never to read another Colleen Hoover after ‘It Ends With Us’, but since my friend bought this for me I decided I might as well give it a go.
Devoured it, only because everyone was so delusional and had to be questioned! I kept saying ‘She crazy girl, she crazy’ because I could not believe Verity’s audacity 🥲
I’m giving this 3 out of 5 stars, thank you ✨ Content warnings will also be included below.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, Abortion, Body horror, Death, and Gaslighting
_anouk_'s review against another edition
1.0
Wtf did I do to deserve encountering The Silent Patient (Colleen’s Version)
Disclaimer: I do recognise that Verity covers sensitive topics and that it is important for those topics to be covered. However, if a book about said topics is as shitty as this one, we probably would’ve been better off without it <3
No but really you’re expecting me to believe that Verity successfully faked permanent brain damage? Here I was hoping that Hoover wouldn’t go with the obvious and surprise me instead, but instead we’re expected to believe that this random author was just able to fool medical professionals, nurses, and basically everyone else? Like no one thought to double check when the five-year-old started blabbing about talking to his mom? Literally no one??? Did Verity somehow manage to fake brain scans and other medical stuff as well??
As for this majestical plot twist everyone and their mom was hyping about: it’s been done before. I’m sorry but revealing that the person the protagonist just killed might have been innocent all along is not as revolutionary as some people are making it out to be. It has been done before in better, more surprising ways by better authors with better stories. Maybe I would’ve appreciated the whole letter thing a little more if the rest of the book was actually any good. Speaking of the freaking letter: when has doing your entire plot twist in a letter ever actually worked before?? That trope has always fallen flat to me, even if the rest of the book didn’t absolutely suck. Ever heard of show, don’t tell? Also, if you have to explicitly tell your reader that one of your characters might be an unreliable narrator, you should probably rewrite parts of your book. And if you wanted to make Lowen an unreliable character, you should’ve just done so instead of having her lie for no reason a couple of times and then forgetting all about it to focus on how scary Verity is.
Lowen as the narrator was almost unreadable at times. She is such a flat character, after almost 400 pages I still had no feelings towards her aside from a mild dislike and annoyance about the pointlessness of most of her observations. If I had a penny for every time Lowen mentions how Verity writes from the villains perspective (really subtle btw) or how attractive Jeremy is in situations where that really shouldn’t be a priority, I would be as rich as Verity and the fam. You just saw someone’s head get crushed by a truck and you’re worried about the marital status of the stranger in the bathroom? Really? What happened to Amos and Corey btw? I had to read a whole lot of filler about them only for them to disappear never to be mentioned again.
Jeremy has the personality of a wet cardboard box. I’ve been more intrigued by brick walls.
As for Verity herself, I don’t care who Hoover was trying to bamboozle with a plot twist at the end. The way that she writes the character and has Lowen react to her was at times absolutely disgusting. A lot of her character was giving ‘written by a man’ vibes and it was exhausting to read. It would be interesting to read about a character in similar circumstances as Verity if it were written by an author who actually knew how to write complex characters. Too bad, we got Colleen Hoover and her anti-woman, anti-choice wreck of a story instead. It is sad to see the two female leads be this poorly written. There was such an opportunity to turn the premise into a great novel, but it just wasn’t. If this is how Colleen Hoover writes her female characters then I don’t want it.
This book could’ve been great. There was a lot of potential with the general premise of the novel, which is why I decided to read it in the first place. Unfortunately, a mediocre plot twist can’t fix bad writing. This was my first attempt at reading a Colleen Hoover book and as you might have guessed also my last. I can confidently say that I wouldn’t ever even touch a book of hers again with a ten-foot pole.
Disclaimer: I do recognise that Verity covers sensitive topics and that it is important for those topics to be covered. However, if a book about said topics is as shitty as this one, we probably would’ve been better off without it <3
No but really you’re expecting me to believe that Verity successfully faked permanent brain damage? Here I was hoping that Hoover wouldn’t go with the obvious and surprise me instead, but instead we’re expected to believe that this random author was just able to fool medical professionals, nurses, and basically everyone else? Like no one thought to double check when the five-year-old started blabbing about talking to his mom? Literally no one??? Did Verity somehow manage to fake brain scans and other medical stuff as well??
As for this majestical plot twist everyone and their mom was hyping about: it’s been done before. I’m sorry but revealing that the person the protagonist just killed might have been innocent all along is not as revolutionary as some people are making it out to be. It has been done before in better, more surprising ways by better authors with better stories. Maybe I would’ve appreciated the whole letter thing a little more if the rest of the book was actually any good. Speaking of the freaking letter: when has doing your entire plot twist in a letter ever actually worked before?? That trope has always fallen flat to me, even if the rest of the book didn’t absolutely suck. Ever heard of show, don’t tell? Also, if you have to explicitly tell your reader that one of your characters might be an unreliable narrator, you should probably rewrite parts of your book. And if you wanted to make Lowen an unreliable character, you should’ve just done so instead of having her lie for no reason a couple of times and then forgetting all about it to focus on how scary Verity is.
Lowen as the narrator was almost unreadable at times. She is such a flat character, after almost 400 pages I still had no feelings towards her aside from a mild dislike and annoyance about the pointlessness of most of her observations. If I had a penny for every time Lowen mentions how Verity writes from the villains perspective (really subtle btw) or how attractive Jeremy is in situations where that really shouldn’t be a priority, I would be as rich as Verity and the fam. You just saw someone’s head get crushed by a truck and you’re worried about the marital status of the stranger in the bathroom? Really? What happened to Amos and Corey btw? I had to read a whole lot of filler about them only for them to disappear never to be mentioned again.
Jeremy has the personality of a wet cardboard box. I’ve been more intrigued by brick walls.
As for Verity herself, I don’t care who Hoover was trying to bamboozle with a plot twist at the end. The way that she writes the character and has Lowen react to her was at times absolutely disgusting. A lot of her character was giving ‘written by a man’ vibes and it was exhausting to read. It would be interesting to read about a character in similar circumstances as Verity if it were written by an author who actually knew how to write complex characters. Too bad, we got Colleen Hoover and her anti-woman, anti-choice wreck of a story instead. It is sad to see the two female leads be this poorly written. There was such an opportunity to turn the premise into a great novel, but it just wasn’t. If this is how Colleen Hoover writes her female characters then I don’t want it.
This book could’ve been great. There was a lot of potential with the general premise of the novel, which is why I decided to read it in the first place. Unfortunately, a mediocre plot twist can’t fix bad writing. This was my first attempt at reading a Colleen Hoover book and as you might have guessed also my last. I can confidently say that I wouldn’t ever even touch a book of hers again with a ten-foot pole.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, and Gore
jessewatt24's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Death, Abortion, Murder, Gore, and Child death
rainbowfairie's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Death, Child abuse, and Child death
rbrown's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I have yet to write a 5 star review for a book but Verity has left me absolutely at a loss for words. I will avoid spoilers but this book contains all of what you would expect from a Colleen Hoover novel and more.
I literally couldn’t put this book down and finished it in 2 days. I cannot recommend it enough!
I literally couldn’t put this book down and finished it in 2 days. I cannot recommend it enough!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Minor: Abortion, Gore, Medical trauma, and Suicide
felixthesmexyfox's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
1.0
What the flippity fuck did i just read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Child death, Fatphobia, Blood, and Gore
witcheslovingwitches'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? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Murder, Vomit, and Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage, Gore, Car accident, Alcohol, Abortion, and Drug use