Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Verity by Colleen Hoover

332 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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Car accident, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, and Sexism

aimeefranks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, Dementia, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Confinement, Murder, Abortion, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Pregnancy

gracielou2000's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Abortion, Child death, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Rape, and Gaslighting

butcherlibrary's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Terminal illness, Abortion, Blood, Cancer, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Death, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Sexual content

laurak483's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.75

I feel like the author was trying so hard from the literal first sentence to scream "this book is dark and edgy" that it took away from the build of suspense and creepiness later in the book. I'm not sure I even really liked the book, but it definitely gripped me and I finished it in basically 2 days, the bulk being the second day where I meant to go to bed almost 2 hours earlier than I did because I needed to know what was going to happen. I didn't find any of the characters really redeemable or likable and I'm also one of the least maternal people ever and will never be having kids (currently 32 and child-free by choice and plan to stay that way), but I still found the parts about pregnancy and motherhood kind of disturbing at times. Which is what the author was going for anyway so she did her job but maybe too well. 

My biggest struggle is every character but the "villain" just seemed so boring and had almost no personality. And don't even get me started on the bonus chapter. I wish I had never read the bonus chapter because it just seems like it invalidates a lot of the book and makes it feel like even the author doesn't know who is actually in the wrong and who is responsible of what misdeeds by the end of her story. That and just how cringy and "millennial-white-woman-trying-to-be-unique" almost all the character's names were. Lowen, Chastin, Crew, wtf is this and why do they sound like lipstick shade names or names for furniture pieces at some high-end store?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

lou_loo's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.0

Honestly, I have to say the story was captivating, I read it in a day. This is the only positive point in this story.
I wouldn't call this a thriller, maybe a mediocre one... The characters are all horrible and twisted.

The memoir real or not, choose to believe what you want, (I'm completely sure it was real, CoHo even said it in an interview) was dark and horrible, I mean I understand that child abuse exists and it's important to talk about it to raise awareness and stop it, but don't use it for shock value in such a terrible book, and don't add pure smut scenes in between these horrifying moments...

Overall, badly written, and had bad characters and honestly the plot wasn't even scary or mysterious honestly we could get the outline of the plot twist easily from the first 25% of the book.
I would put trigger warnings on child abuse and murder/murderous thoughts along with useless shock-value gore...
And never recommend it to anyone.
It's the 3rd and last CoHo book I'm reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Gore, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

jessgibs29's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Fast paced, good twists, and if you read Colleen Hoover for her spicy scenes this book is no exception. But it’s dark and twisted for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Death, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Infidelity

vaehangel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Abortion

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Murder

lexibug's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

This was a solid 3.5 star read until the ending. I love the ending a lot. It's one thing to have a plot twist, but this is of a whole other world. I am speechless; highly recommend this one!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Abortion, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Blood, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

thespinnychair's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Suicide, and Sexual content