Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Verity

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Verity by Colleen Hoover

12 reviews

nikrib's review against another edition

dark 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

Zero stars. I’m not on the hate train for CH. If this type of writing engages more people in reading books then so be it & good for them, everyone should read more. However, this is where CH & I go our separate ways. I read ‘It Ends With Us’, ‘It Starts With Us’, & now ‘Verity’. At least I can say I tried. Again, not on the hate train but I will give my spiel.

CH books read like a high school project & an aspiring author. Where is the depth to these narratives? Why are the plots always good in theory but then the execution falls terribly flat? These books aggravate me, yearning for even an ounce dynamic character development. Why over saturate the narratives with numerous sex scenes? Are all CH books smut? ‘Verity’ was suppose to be a thriller? Perhaps this book read as a thriller to those who aren’t avid thriller fans.

Other reviews mention that this book had great twists. What twists? This narrative was predictable & severely underwhelming. It seems the positive reviews stem from readers who are shocked of the subject matter & let that hang over them for the entirety of the book. Just because an author writes controversial topics does not make the narrative automatically shine. Where is the world building to immerse readers? Where is the sufficient depth of themes & motifs? Where are the relatable characters or even likable characters?

I found myself flipping back & forth in the book due to the plot holes, contradictory writing, poor descriptive language, & plot jumping. This book was by no means difficult to read, it reads like a YA, which is how the other two CH books I read also are.

Lastly, the endings to these books. I’ve never shut the back cover of a book & then wanted to re-read the last chapter again & again to ensure I did in fact not miss anything. Why are the endings so unfulfilling? There are far better ways to weave in traumatic experiences into a narrative where the reader feels empowered by the end to seek help or finally fix/leave a situation, but instead we’re left gripping the pages & shaking the book in frustration. What on earth is the moral of the story with all this problematic misogynistic female to male relationship dynamic?

If you read CH books like a campfire story instead of a novel, all is well. If you’re reading this review & are a fan of CH, more power to you & I’m genuinely glad you enjoy the books. I gave it a go & will be returning to my Stephen King TBR pile. Cheers!

Content Warnings

madalina0_0's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

grumpz's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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mimmixoxo's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

0.5

This book made me legit angry in the worst way possible. I don’t know how it ended up with 4 stars on here. Such immature writing and a terrible thriller piece, if I didn’t know any better I would say it was written by a 16 year old on wattpad. To all the people who think this is genuinely good thriller please read an actual thriller like Rebecca or anything by Shirley Jackson or Riley Sager. Or anything would be better than this honestly. (Gave it a .5 bc I got at least one emotion from reading this)

Content Warnings

gingerspark_96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

parchment_and_papyrus's review against another edition

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dark 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

Verity by Colleen Hoover follows a little-known author, Lowen, as she’s offered a life changing opportunity to ghost write for a bestselling author. Tragically the author, Verity, has been involved in a car crash and can no longer write for herself. Verity’s husband invites Lowen to their family home to go through Verity’s notes on the series, but while Lowen is searching through Verity’s office she stubbles across what appears to be a biography of sorts. What Lowen reads unravels her view of Verity and her family and draws Lowen closer to the surviving members of the household.

I had high hopes for the book from the moment that I read it’s first sentence, “I hear the crack of his skull before the splattering of blood reaches me.” But unfortunately, I think the opener was the highlight for me. If you like fast paced plot driven books, then this is a book for you. It was the pace of the book that kept me reading, and Hoover tried to pack a punch with the number of twists, turns and saucy elements throughout the book. Despite this I found myself flicking forward for spoilers, a sure sign it’s not keeping me engaged. I found the plot a bit predictable. There wasn’t really a point in the book where I felt shocked or blindsided, and I’d pretty much predicted the ending by about a third of the way through.

Hoover did do a good job of writing some very ‘grey scale’ characters where even the good had some fundamental floors. I did however struggle to separate whether the narrative was building a character or whether it was more a comment on the author herself. I think the best way is to give an example. At one point Lowen thinks, “this is the first time I’ve ever had a guy open a door for me. Dammit. How messed up is that?” Not messed up at all Lowen, because men don’t have to open doors for ‘the weaker sex’. Now Lowen is written as a character who has never been dependent on anyone else, cared for her ailing mother alone and lives in the modern world. A comment like that seemed a little out of place for her character.

I did think that Hoover described her world well, I was able to build rich images of Verity’s house, where the majority of the story was based, and I felt like I could picture the characters and their energy really well.

Spoiler Alert ahead!

There were some parts of the book that I had huge conflicting feelings about. I know that Hoover was trying to portray an evil, obsessive, and controlling character, but some of the devices she used I thought were a bit stereotypical at best and really damaging at worst. Verity’s absolute disconnect with her babies in the womb and her ongoing lack of bond with her children were used as absolutes on moral judgement. There was no mention of possible antenatal or postnatal mental illness, her wild beliefs screamed postnatal psychosis. It just perpetuates a dangerous narrative that the moment you know you are pregnant a mother should feel nothing but pure love, as evidenced by the dad in the story. Don’t get me wrong, her actions were evil, but perhaps it would help if the general population was exposed to other narratives. I’m just really not into this trope.

For me the pace of the book was the only real thing that saved this book for me. I won’t be recommending this book to others but I’m still going to try and give Hoover another go, just maybe not a book in the thriller genre.

Content Warnings

hanneke12's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

camdentomlinson's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

karenroma's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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? No

2.0

I set 2 stars basically because it entertainment me and had some good ideas, but it has so much waisted potential, you can’t even say its a plot twist at the end. Super predictable and vanilla, wouldn’t call it a thriller. Had a lot more better plot twist in my head, sorry not my style

Content Warnings

jordanleigh321's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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