A review by sharanyaaguha
Verity by Colleen Hoover

adventurous dark 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? No

4.75

I just finished reading this book and I have just one word for it - WOW!
I was skeptical about reading Colleen Hoover because the reviews about her books were really polarizing, but I decided to read her book and trust me I loved it.

The Plot : Verity is a well known author for writing a brilliant series. She had lost both her daughters in different accidents and recently met with a car accident that left her immobile. Her publishers need someone else to finish the rest of the books in the series. Jeremy, Verity's husband asks Lowen, a struggling writer to finish the books. Reluctant at first Lowen finally accepts the offer agreeing to write using her pseudo name Laura Chase. Lowen moves to Verity's house temporarily to go through her leftover notes that is when she discovers the manuscript of her autobiography. And the things written inside it is very very dark.

Honestly, I wouldn't have expected the ending. The way the story ended yet it didn't leaves the readers to interpret the climax their own way. The book is very dark at times where I wanted to throw the book away and never read the rest of the chapters but thank god I did otherwise I wouldn't have discovered this beauty.

Here's a quote I liked : 

He laughs. “What do I smell like?” 
- “Petrichor.”
 


Detailed Summary of The Plot : So after Lowen finds the manuscript this is what she discovers -  Verity was obsessed with Jeremy. All she wanted was his love and attraction. She had the constant urge to "please" him. Everything was good, until she discovered that she was pregnant. It was when she realized that Jeremy loved someone more than her, and its their daughter(later twins - Chastin and Harper). She constantly wanted to not deliver the kids. She resented them and even before they were born she wanted to get rid of them. She even tried self abortion and in the process left Chastin with a scar. When they were born she somehow fell in love with Chastin but could never love Harper. She even dreamt that Harper killed Chastin and she immediately wanted to kill Harper in real life to save Chastin. She tried to gag Harper once but failed, they were only a few months old at that time. When the twins was three, they went for a sleepover at their friends house. Chastin had peanut allergy and both the friend and his family was aware. But that night Chastin and Harper snuck some snacks from the pantry which included nuts and Chastin hence died in her sleep due to the allergy. Verity and Jeremy were both devastated but Verity always blamed Harper for that. She thought Harper was the one who deliberately killed Chastin. Few months after her death, Verity becomes pregnant with Crew. When Crew was four years old, one day she took Harper and Crew to canoe in the lake and deliberately drowned Harper faking it as an accident. Later Crew told Jeremy how her mom told her to "hold his breath" before they fell into the water and Jeremy knew she had something to do with Harper's death. That's where the autobiography ends.

In the meantime she falls in love with Lowen and to her surprise Lowen reciprocated the feelings. Lowen suspects that Verity is faking her immobility and one day she sets up a camera and proves Jeremy that she's right. Jeremy, in anger, with Lowen kills Verity and fakes it as an accident as well.
7 months later Lowen is pregnant with Jeremy's child and has shifted to a new house with Crew. One day, they return to the old house and Lowen finds a letter for Jeremy by Verity hidden under one of the tiles in Verity's room. In the letter Verity says - that writing the manuscript of the autobiography was an writing exercise suggested by her publishers so that she gets into the character for her books(remember she was popular for writing in the villain's POV). Jeremy had found those pages immediately after she finished writing it which means he knew everything. He tried to choke and kill her failing which he faked her car accident like she had written in her autobiography while thinking of ways to kill Harper. Unfortunately or not Verity survives and she fakes being in a coma because she knows Jeremy will kill her.
Lowen destroys the letter and continues to live her life with Jeremy and Crew. Lowen doesn't believe the letter or rather she is confused to believe which version of Verity. The book ends with the sentence - "No matter which way I look at it, it’s clear that Verity was a master at manipulating the truth. The only question that remains is: Which truth was she manipulating?"
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