Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Verity by Colleen Hoover

121 reviews

kcorione's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The end was a liiiiittle bit predictive, but still mindblowing. Had me scared a few times and shocked and disgusted. I'm guessing it's exactly what the writer intended to do.
Would recommend to others for Halloween or to people who're looking for a thrilling and disturbing read, but would definitely tell people to check the trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Body horror, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Grief, and Vomit

kendrakeuler's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was incredible easy to read and kept me on my toes despite the fact I guessed one of the major plot twists. This book also Low-key gave me anxiety but overall a complex incredible thriller (and this is coming from someone who only really reads fantasy dystopian and romance novels because I don’t like crime mystery or thriller) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Abortion, Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Medical trauma, Body horror, Child death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Medical content

maggies's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

I had to sit with this one for a while before reviewing. I read it fairly quickly, but I can't decide if I was enjoying it, or I just wanted to know what happened.

And as someone who does not enjoy ambiguous endings, the part of me that just wanted to know what happened was left pretty dissatisfied.

The plot was truly gripping, by turns creepy and deranged and completely disturbing, although some sections were needlessly repetitive, and I would definitely say that the manuscript, written in Verity's POV, was significantly more interesting than Lowen's perspective.

I would quibble with a few plot points, which are major spoilers:

1. No one would be able to fake a vegetative state like that without help. Either Jeremy and Verity were in on it together (for some ungodly reason) and hired the nurses to keep the ruse going, or Jeremy is a credulous knob.
2. It took Lowen like more than two weeks to read the manuscript, and that is just...too long. I can kind of understand that, because the subject matter is horrifying, it might be difficult to continue reading at certain points, but Lowen was hired to get into Verity's mind and complete her best-selling series in her voice and style. What better way than to read what, to your knowledge, is essentially a diary? Lowen was able to read the other books in the series within a couple days (max), so she should have been able to read the manuscript that quickly as well. To be clear, I'm not sure how different the outcome would have been if she'd read it more quickly, but it wasn't realistic to me.
3. Related annoyance: I wanted to learn more about this amazing and beloved series! We didn't get any insight about it whatsoever and that was disappointing.

All in all, I read it in almost one sitting, which should count for something, but I'm not exactly happy to have read it. I think the amazing, fawning reviews are a bit overblown - it just lacks the intrigue and innovation of Jane Eyre or Rebecca or (I can't believe I'm saying this) Gone Girl. The sex scenes were hot though, and I'm not embarrassed 🥵🌶🌶🌶

The content warnings are going to be spoiler-y, but I really really recommend arming yourself before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Abortion, Car accident, Violence, Vomit, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Kidnapping and Mental 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

olivia_stoney's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Child abuse

Moderate: Self harm and Body horror

Minor: Chronic illness and Vomit

jhaneveauguste's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Murder, Car accident, Grief, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Blood, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Child death

becca_w_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Ableism, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Medical content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Body horror, Body shaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abandonment

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.0

It's fine. I wasn't into the writing style/narrative voice, but the plot kept me wanting to move forward. Might have rated it higher, but the rampant ableism made me rate it lower.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Self harm, Vomit, Ableism, Blood, Death, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, and Child death

yashitak's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was so close to a 4 star read. The plot twist at the end completely shook me and was something super unexpected. This book was soo good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Abortion, Blood, Drug use, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Vomit, Body horror, Cancer, and Suicide attempt

mars_ira'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Grief, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Child death