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A review by sweater_swetha
Verity by Colleen Hoover
- 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
First of all, wtf was that opening scene? It was so graphic and gory, but for what? Literally nothing would have changed if it had been deleted replaced with a coffee-spilling meet-cute. I literally forgot it happened by the end because of how irrelevant it was.
This book tried so hard to do an unreliable narrator thing by having the main character be a sleepwalker and taking a couple Xanax. That’s it. There was no subtlety in anything, which I would argue is the single most important thing when writing an unreliable narrator. This book also overrides any of the thriller aspects with garbage smut scenes and a romance that adds next to nothing to the book. The ending “twist” (it wasn’t much of a twist) was really really stupid and made no sense. It just added so many unnecessary plot holes, and kind of just felt like the author just wanted to slap it on so that we could pretend there was a mystery this whole time. There isn’t. Nothing thrilling actually happens in the actual plot. It’s honestly a little sad though, because the premise is really interesting, and with a better thriller/mystery writer, could have been so much more interesting and thought provoking.
This book tried so hard to do an unreliable narrator thing by having the main character be a sleepwalker and taking a couple Xanax. That’s it. There was no subtlety in anything, which I would argue is the single most important thing when writing an unreliable narrator. This book also overrides any of the thriller aspects with garbage smut scenes and a romance that adds next to nothing to the book. The ending “twist” (it wasn’t much of a twist) was really really stupid and made no sense. It just added so many unnecessary plot holes, and kind of just felt like the author just wanted to slap it on so that we could pretend there was a mystery this whole time. There isn’t. Nothing thrilling actually happens in the actual plot. It’s honestly a little sad though, because the premise is really interesting, and with a better thriller/mystery writer, could have been so much more interesting and thought provoking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Gore, Murder, Car accident, and Child death
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Drug use, and Suicide
Minor: Mental illness and Body shaming