Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Verity by Colleen Hoover

2485 reviews

victoriac789's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.5

Triggering 😮‍💨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

evergrn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

This book explores dark and disturbing themes that might be triggering to some readers. I suggest checking the trigger warning before diving in.

"My mother used to say that houses have a soul, and if that is true, the soul of Verity Crawford’s house is as dark as they come."

I've seen both positive and negative reviews about this that I was hesitant to read it at first. With so many popular books out there (especially from Colleen) falling short of my expectations, I was afraid this might end up as another overhyped book that ultimately failed to deliver. After convincing myself for days, I've decided to give it a chance and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made. 

This book is full of suspense. Each chapter becomes more sinister as it progresses. At some point, the content was so disturbing that I had to pause my reading to process what I've just read. The complex characters and intricate plot twists constantly kept me guessing and reevaluating my assumptions. The ending is both unexpected and mind-blowing, and will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew.

So far, this is the only book from Colleen that I’ve genuinely enjoyed and finished. If you are a big fan of psychological thrillers and mysteries, this book is an absolute must-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, and Murder

alissaaj's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual content

ravenousrose'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? No

3.0

I will say I blew through the 2nd quarter of the book. It definitely had me hooked plot-wise. Even despite the “legendary author hires a budding author and then

reveals a dark secret

trope.

Unfortunately, I do better with books where I can attach to at least one character and I couldn’t do that with anyone.

This was a double-twist type story. Loved the first twist. The second one irritated me.

Mainly because I hate it when twists render the entire plot essentially worthless

.

Definitely liked this one better than “It Ends With Us” but I’m thinking this author is just not my style. I’m glad so many people enjoy her. I guess I’m just not one of them, unfortunately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Car accident

cyncazares's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

sproutlaaar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Car accident

lalalauren20's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I’m going to say this first. I’ve only read one other Hoover book. This story sucks you in & leaves you underwhelmed.

I’m not sure how each thing played out, but Jeremy was behind all of it. I think it’s easy to get to the end & point fingers at Verity or Lowen(main character), but Colleen is playing women knowing that women hate women and it’ll be easy for the audience to hate either Lowen our untrustworthy narrator or Verity our terrible mother figure. But somehow, there’s a perfectly written man in this book…come on come on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Abortion

Jeremy needed a reason to get rid of his wife. He’s the one who set up the whole thing. I mean even from the beginning this man was waiting for her at that cross walk. He’s the one who read her book, he knew that Löwen was a nobody and didn’t like fame and fortune so she was the perfect quiet naïve writer. Also Lowen has some mental issues so it just like perfect for Lowen to be like “idk what’s going on.” He literally made himself the perfect husband so that when he got to kill Verity he could. Jeremy wrote it & put a bunch of sex in there so it would trigger Lowen & make her hate Verity too. Jeremy set this all up because he blamed his wife for the death of the twins & he slipped away with a new wife who is now pregnant…

scxavier'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

jgracekle's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

Book kept me hooked from about 30 pages in, quick pace, didn’t really connect with any of the characters. I thought both Verity and Lowes were ridiculous at times and I didn’t trust Jeremy most of the book and still didn’t at the end. 

Still some plot holes. How did Verity’s scans look so bad according to Jeremy if she was faking it?! Won’t Crew grow up to remember his mom being fine? 

The end letter seemed to have some weak explanations and I didn’t agree with Lowens actions in the end. 

Also not the best writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder

heyitskay16's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail