What I’ve come to appreciate most about Colleen Hoover’s work—whether it’s an emotionally charged love story or in this case, her first go at suspense—is her penchant for pushing boundaries. For telling the unexpected story.

The story takes you through everyone’s fears and darkness. Lowen starts to see everyone from another perspective and begins questioning their behaviour. However, that does not stop her from falling in love with Jeremy. He was and still is one of the best men she has ever known. Verity did not deserve such a man. The only thing she ever did was hurt him without him even knowing. She deserves what happened to her. Why read Verity when you can just pull out an Ouija board and summon a demon from hell? I'm sure it’ll have the same effect. I finished this book feeling completely sapped of life, as if I've been bleeding freely for the past few hours instead of simply reading. That ending. What the hell. If I could just shake my head to dissolve the memory of it, to disarrange it somehow, I would. Because of all the things I’d braced myself for, that was not it. Lowen accepts and for the next couple of weeks she not only goes through Verity’s office and dozens of notes, she also lives with the couple and their son, Crew, under the same roof. Little does she know what she got herself into and that her world will be turned upside down once more. I find it fitting that the villain and a character that in a sense was meant to be unlikable was my favourite the whole time. In fact, I even scrounged up some fan castings for you guys. I had such a clear picture of them in my head, I just had to share<3Second, a part of the ending did not make sense. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything, but it has to do with a certain reaction to the manuscript.

Whoever thinks that letter was real, explain this comedy (which is actually much funnier with context I promise). I was half fully hoping Verity would chase her petrified ass around the house to really seal it in, the traumatisation and future years of therapy that is. Verity is a fast-paced and suspenseful novel that will keep readers guessing until the very end. It explores themes of identity, deception, and the blurred lines between truth and fiction. The storytelling is top notch with gossipy revelations sprinkled throughout the book. This book is filled with steam. Steam upon steam. Steamy steam. Descriptions of steamy steam. However, please be warned that this book is incredibly, incredibly dark with some graphic depictions of child abuse.

Book Excerpt

Speaking of characters, Jeremy was nothing special either. He didn't play much of a role in the book, at least not actively. He was there to serve Verity's storyline and being the love interest. And that's that. He has a personality of a dry leaf and why both Verity and Lowen were obsessed with him...is a question for another day. Jeremy is not enigmatic, he is not mysterious, he is not anything and that's one of my biggest problems in the book. He is just so badly written, when there could have been soooo much Hoover could have done with his character. Why should I care about him? This book employs one of my favorite formats, a story within a story. I've loved pretty much every book I've come across that uses this format, and it works especially well here. The interspersing of the inner manuscript with the outer story allows us to find out what's going on at the same time that Lowen is figuring things out. For two reasons, actually. One, it is so compulsively readable that it's almost impossible to put it down until you've finished it. And two, it is seriously creepy and disturbing. Warnings for depictions of child abuse and some graphic violence. This one just blew my mind. I could not put this book down. I read it while fixing dinner and eating my dinner. I have never done this before. There are so many jaw dropping moments. I cannot believe this is Colleen Hoover's first thriller. Reading this feels like watching a master at their craft, setting the bar higher than I ever thought possible. This story is so astonishing and unsettling and completely original. It will stay with me for a long time.