A review by pursuingcolor
Verity by Colleen Hoover

2.0

I'm a slow reader. However, you'll notice I read this in two days. So let me start with the compliments:

1) I was extremely impressed on how much of a page-turner this was. I don't read a lot of thrillers, but this book DEFINITELY hooks the readers very quickly with how disturbing and suspenseful it is.

2) I did enjoy the twist at the end (I will keep this review spoiler-free, but just know the twist at the end was HUGE). I read this book for lit club, and one of my fellow readers thinks that the twist at the end is a cop-out and unrealistic. I disagree, in fact, the ending is what actually MADE the story realistic in my opinion. But I'll say no more-- but if you're wondering if this twisted book is worth it, and you're already a few chapters in, just finish it. It's worth it for the twist.

Now for what I didn't like:

1) The book. LOL. I'm not a modern fiction person to begin with-- give me fantasy, give me sci-fi, give me historical fiction... but modern fiction? Realistic fiction? BLAH. And this book hit the nail on the head ONE too many times with how horrible and twisted humans and life can be. So if you want a good slap in the face with how horrible humanity and reality is-- read this book.

2) If point 1 wasn't enough to convince you not to read this, here is the other thing about this book: within the last few chapters of the book, the main character gets a sudden surge of courage and spite that is TOTALLY out of character. Don't get me wrong, I love some seething spite. But throughout the first 75% of this book, the mc is a meek, high-anxiety character who takes medications and almost never goes outside. Ever. And then in the last 25% of the book, she has enough courage to... well, I won't spoil it, but SERIOUSLY she suddenly gets so out of character!! She becomes bold and even aggressive in some ways. I won't say the the MC wasn't clever, she was clever to begin with, but her sudden boldness in the last few chapters just really didn't fit who the author was making her out to be up to that point.

3) THE SEX OH MY GOD THE SEX just STOPPPPPPPPPP. And honestly the sex is one of the plotholes I found-- if the twist at the end of the book is true... which I believe it is (though some don't)... why did she write out pages and pages and pages of sex scenes, like the MC describes? That doesn't make any sense!!!!!!!

Anyway, tl;dr: If you like modern fiction and mystery/suspense, I suppose I'd recommend this. The twist at the end was fascinating and horrifying, and I appreciated how much of a page-turner it was from the start. However, there is a lot of graphic sex and a lot of realistic horror that isn't for the faint of heart. So. Let me know if you read it.