Reviews

Verity by Colleen Hoover

esthersedition's review against another edition

5.0

After reading the viral Book-tok sensation, 'It Ends with Us' and not really enjoying it I had little to no expectations for 'Verity' by Colleen Hoover. Simply because 'It Ends with Us' was too immature for me to enjoy. But I could still appreciate that she was a good writer and I was engaged with the plot as nonsensical as it became (the letters to Ellen DeGeneres really just threw me off). So after, being recommended 'Verity' by my sister and a friend and reassured that it was 100x better than 'It Ends with Us' I was still hesitant to read another one of Mrs.Hoover's books.

 To my surprise, I really enjoyed it. The multiple twists and turns to the story, the way it leaves readers wondering after reading. Her engaging writing style from the first turn of the page. The plot and how genius it was. It was such a good read.

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Detailed Review
After reading the viral Book-tok sensation, ‘It Ends with Us’ and not really enjoying it, I had little to no expectations for ‘Verity’ by Colleen Hoover. I could at least appreciate that Colleen Hoover was a good writer but I found some parts of ‘It Ends with Us’ to be too nonsensical. For instance, the letters to Ellen DeGeneres really just threw me off and didn’t add much to the plot. That’s why when recommended ‘Verity’ by my sister and a friend and reassured that it was 100x better than ‘It Ends with Us’ I was still hesitant to read another one of Mrs.Hoover’s books.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed ‘Verity’. The multiple twists and turns to the story, the way it leaves readers wondering after reading. Her engaging writing style from the first turn of the page. The plot and how genius it was. It was such a captivating read. Though, after finishing the book, there was one question that loomed over my head. Was Verity actually telling the truth? I put together a theory to try and confirm which version of events were really true, whilst also dissecting some hidden messages, characters faults and bias’ within the book.

A Brief Review

‘Verity’, by Colleen Hoover, follows the protagonist Lowen Ashleigh, an author who was hired by Jeremy Crawford, to finish the novel series his wife, Verity Crawford created but couldn’t complete due to injuries she sustained from a car accident. While Verity focused on recovering from her injuries, Lowen stayed at the Crawford residence, to write the manuscript as she was hired to do with the help of some notes she found in Verity’s office. Upon stumbling on Verity’s auto-biography, Lowen eventually finds herself wrapped into the chronic tragedies that are the lives of Verity and Jeremy Crawford.

The plot is engaging and is structured very uniquely, giving excerpts of Verity’s point of view in pieces. This enables the reader to understand the Crawford family from both a third party angle, that is Lowen’s perspective and also from Verity Crawford herself. Though, what I love about this book the most is the ending. It turns everything that the reader understood to be true, upside down. We go from hating Verity alongside Lowen to sympathising with Verity and questioning Lowen’s actions entirely by the end of the book. Leaving the reader questioning things like,

1. Was Verity’s final excerpt to the autobiography, where she explained the reason behind her sinister writing just one of her many ploy’s to manipulate the truth?
2. Or was the final excerpt the actual truth but we’ve become biased alongside Lowen and can’t see Verity as anything but manipulative?

Ultimately, Colleen Hoover leaves it up to the reader to question. Though, there are a few hints within the book that prove that Verity’s final version of events may have actually been the truth and not just a manipulative tactic. Let’s look at it from both angles first.

Is Verity actually manipulative?

Lowen ultimately wants to believe that Verity’s final excerpt to her auto-biography which detailed her intentional murder of one of her children, Harper, was simply a writing exercise to help improve her suspense novels called ‘antagonistic journalling’. Where, she would take real version of events and write about them in a more sinister manner that what was actually true. For example, when Verity wrote about intentionally leaving Harper to drown in the lake, she was atangonistic journalling to make what actually happened appear more sinister*.* In reality, according to Verity, Harper’s death was an accident. Still to Lowen, the final excerpt was just another way for to manipulate the truth and salvage anything that was left of her marriage with Jeremy.

Ultimately, there are points in the novel that make us question Verity’s genuineness too, but it can’t be denied that there are some plausible explanations behind Verity’s actions which make us question whether the auto-biography was truly accurate. Let’s explore them below.

1. The Cut on Crew’s face:

For instance, Lowen found Crew, Verity’s son, in Verity’s room with a deep cut under his chin and a knife on the floor. Moments later, when  went to call Jeremy to inspect this — the knife had disappeared. Unbeknownst to Lowen at the time, this was maybe  attempt to kill another one of her children. Verity could easily still retain her innocence by using her comatose state as an excuse so she wouldn’t be seen as guilty. Instead, if she were successful in killing Crew it would be framed as another accident like Harper’s death. ‘Crew must have cut himself’, a rational person would then conclude. But we know from what we read in the auto-biography that Verity was unhealthily obsessed with Jeremy. He was her sole motive for wanting to kill their children. Being a mother did not uproot her unhealthy obsession with him, she still wanted all to herself. Sharing Jeremy’s love with their children was unbearable for her and now with Chastin and Harper dead  was all that was left.

But then where did the knife go? We find at the end, that it was under the wooden floorboard stashed away. *The next question is then, why and who hid the knife? *This is what leaves huge question marks in this theory. One being, Crew often went upstairs to play by his mother’s side in her bedroom. If Verity had really attempted to kill Crew that day, he would have been too scared and traumatised to ever go to his mother’s bedroom again. But he did, many times actually. This would mean, that may have actually hurt himself. For one, at the end of the book it is revealed that often helped stash his drawings in the same place that she kept the knife and where the final excerpt to the auto-biography was found.

“Pictures I drew for my mom.” He shoves them in my hands. “I forgot she used to keep them in the floor”

So if, Verity may have not been responsible for Crew’s injury, then why did she have the knife and how did Crew get hurt? The knife wasn’t intended to kill Crew, it was to kill Jeremy. Jeremy had already attempted to kill her twice before so she needed protection. My guess is that she, secretly asked who knew she was pretending to be in a comatose state, to get the knife and stash it underneath the wooden floorboard for her. He may have gotten hurt in the process of doing this but he didn’t want to implicate his mother and said nothing. He’s found again doing this, when Lowen pressures him for information but to protect his mother he bit down on a bread knife to keep him from talking. A child would not protect their mother to this extent if they had truly attempted to kill them in the first instance.

“Mommy said I shouldn’t talk to you if you ask me questions about her.”…He realises he shouldn’t have said that.

As a result, though the excerpt can be clearly used to defend Lowen’s argument that the excerpt was simply Verity’s last manipulative ploy to get Jeremy back. Crew’s behaviour and protective actions towards Verity raise huge question marks. Crew didn’t seem the slightest bit scared of his mother, but instead comfortable, relaxed and protective. I think Colleen Hoover, actually uses Crew to act as a compass for the reader, directing the reader towards the actual truth. If this is the case shouldn’t  point of view be questioned more, why is Verity’s explanation so far-fetched to her? Why does she then destroy the final excerpt to the auto-biography?

Was Verity telling the truth after all?

As a result, we can’t use Lowen’s mindset as a way to get to the truth because she’s incredibly biased. After falling in love with Jeremy and becoming pregnant with his child, it would be understandably too much for her to accept that her and Jeremy may have actually killed an innocent person. There’s a few times within the book that hint that perhaps, Verity wasn’t lying and that the auto-biography may have truly not been accurate…

The Foreshadowings:

1. The Dinner Scene

The dinner scene where Jeremy and Lowen took Crew **out to eat acted as a foreshadowing to what would happen in the end. If like aforementioned,  acts as a compass to the truth, the way he acts at dinner can help point towards who we should believe. Lowen or Verity? There is a point at dinner, where  tells a joke and Jeremy is laughing but  doesn’t get it or find it funny even after she explains it to him. and  continue to laugh while  is left out of the joke. Almost as if it was a secret inside-joke only meant for them. This is the foreshadowing. The real truth behind Verity’s death will remain a secret between Lowen.

2. The Family Picture Scene

Another foreshadowing, is when Lowen asks Jeremy about some family pictures she found in Verity’s office. The two look through the photo’s together but then Crew walks in on them. Crew begins to hysterically cry. Though, this can be superficially seen as just a child who has a lot of trauma and not yet ready to move on. It also acts acts as another foreshadowing. It’s almost as if  knows  is going to callously replace his mother’s.

Much like Lolita (1997), where the version of events from the protagonist’s point of view was not true and how he depicted himself as blameless and innocent could not be trusted. Same goes for Lowen, we can’t trust her explanation or point of view. Though, it is difficult to abandon it after reading from Lowen’s point of view for most of the novel but Colleen Hoover, used April, Verity’s nurse, exactly for this reason. To remind the reader of bias. In the novel, Lowen constantly feels like April distrusts her and the reader should to. After all, if we just plainly look at what  did, she ended up a conspiracy to murder, being an accessory to murder and destroyed evidence.

How to Finally Confirm the Truth, Was Verity Lying?

1. Crew

So what does this all mean? It provides a neutral lens we can use to discover the truth behind Verity’s auto-biography. If we can’t trust Lowen’s theory on the excerpt being Verity’s last manipulative ploy because she’s too biased. Neither can we trust Verity herself as the final excerpt just seems a bit too convenient an explanation. Then Crew is the only perspective we can trust because he’s the only person who can confirm exactly when  told him to hold his breath, was it before or after the boat tipped over? If it was after it would mean Harper’s death was in fact an accident. Yet, if it was before it would mean Harper’s death was pre-meditated and that sinister auto-biography wasn’t a writing exercise but the truth.

Though most of what we speculate in this review is circumstantial with no real evidence that confirms the truth. The only one that knows the truth is Verity, Harper and Crew. Two are dead but Crew is still alive. He’s the only one that can give us the missing piece to the puzzle to confirm the truth and is the perfect segue on a sequel if Hoover plans on writing one. However, I kind of like it as it is — a mystery.

Final thoughts

All in all, “Verity” by Colleen Hoover is an engaging and well-structured novel that keeps readers on their toes. The book challenges readers to question their own biases and beliefs, and to explore the possibility that things are not always what they seem. While the truth behind Verity’s auto-biography remains a mystery, the book invites readers to explore different theories and perspectives, and to form their own conclusions. With its captivating plot, engaging writing style, and thought-provoking themes, “Verity” is a book that is sure to leave a lasting impression on readers.

jenbrewha's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

tieganlucy's review against another edition

4.0

Wow okay talk about gripping. What a crazy ride of a book. I don’t often read thrillers so this was a nice one that wasn’t too scary but also had me freaked out in sections and completely gripped throughout. Nice to read something a bit different for a change!

aamarii_98's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.25

cjmyers19's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.75

linapamela'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? Yes

2.0

1000unreadpages'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? No

3.5

novabird's review against another edition

5.0

Moral relativity.

afeltman0110's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoy the idea of this book and the potential it could have had. The idea of not knowing verity’s true story and the suspense of either outcome was the one part of this book I did enjoy. However the romance felt forced and empty. And 90% of lowen’s time in verity’s house was insignificant I feel. She was there for so long yet so little happened. It took her forever to read the manuscript and between her reading the manuscript and the empty romance, nothing else was really happening until the end.

remia1996's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5