A Book Review & Discussion: Verity by Colleen Hoover (Includes Extra Chapter) - CONTAINS SPOILERS

Okay so I just finished reading Verity by Colleen Hoover and I have a lot of thoughts about it. I’ll also be explaining why I don’t believe the manuscript because apparently a lot of people do.

Overall Review of Verity:

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

I think Verity for me personally doesn't tick all the boxes to be considered a 4-star book. The book was mainly plot-driven and whilst the actual writing itself was okay (at times), it's not enough for me to give it any more than a 3.5.

In terms of how the book was written, it felt like I was reading something on Wattpad (absolutely no disrespect to Wattpad authors) and there were times when I had to stop and stare at the words I was reading in disbelief. And not the type of disbelief you'd want a reader to be feeling. There are a lot of unnecessary sex scenes as well that I just straight-up skipped because they didn't add to the plot at all and it honestly got quite repetitive. Also, so many plot holes, don't get me started. I'm starting to think my three stars were generous.

I kept reading though because I wanted to know what happened next and find out what the big shocking ending was. A lot of the transitions from scenes/chapters were also just Lowen saying she needs to do something and then it happening in the next scene. So for example Lowen would say 'I need to read the manuscript' and the next chapter would be the manuscript or 'I need to eat' and the next scene would be her going to the kitchen.

Like I said before it's definitely mainly plot-driven and I think the main reason why the plot is so popular is because of the shock factor and the twist right at the end, which is why I kept reading. Also, it's lowkey very similar to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I find quite a lot of the elements in Verity to be drawn directly from the novel by Maurier, so I guess she took inspiration from that. Like the drowning in the canoe, the husband killing his wife/ex-wife, the obsession with her husband, being jealous of the ex-wife, and last but not least, the book being named after the ex-wife.

The first half of the book dragged on quite a bit, it went quite slow for me and I found Jeremy's introduction quite odd. He didn't seem very likeable to me and I didn't really trust him at all. The way he was also open to Lowen's advances and even initiated it just made me not like him even more. This is partly why I believe the letter; if he had in fact read the manuscript before then I get why he'd be more open to cheating on his wife. But if he hadn't read the manuscript then why on Earth was he behaving that way???? Have some decorum, please.

There's also the fact that I wasn't a big fan of Lowen herself. The way she hyper-fixated on Jeremy at certain parts of the book (actually all throughout the book) made me dislike her; he's a married man leave him alone. Also, Lowen seems to have psychotic tendencies (amplified in the extended chapter), and some of the things she did just annoyed me? I don't know, I just didn't like her much, I'm sorry.

I did, however, like Verity. I think she was the character that had the most substance and I'd like a separate book that's just an extended version of her manuscript. The more I read her chapters the more my mouth fell open in shock and I lowkey wanted to skip the normal chapters to find out what happened and hurry up and finish the book so I never have to read it again. With that being said throughout the whole book she was this psychopathic, sex-obsessed, monster of a woman, so while she did have the most substance out of all the characters it wasn't very good substance.

Also with the whole manuscript and letter discussion, I feel like Hoover's done it in a way there's no actual support for either one because there's always some plot hole or something that just makes it more confusing. There are quite a couple of loose ends (that don't get tied up in the extended chapter). I don't know if this is a good thing (probably not), but it's one of the many things that frustrates me about the book.

A lot of the things just didn't make sense to me. How did she fake the brain scan? Why couldn't they have just asked the editor/publisher or whoever it was that told her to write that abomination of an autobiography if what Verity is saying is true? Instead of being creepy why didn't she ask Lowen or April for help? Why did she wait so long to go and look for the manuscript? If she didn't want anyone to find it why wasn't it locked away somewhere or hidden (like her letter was) or even password protected? Why on Earth did she print it out? Couldn't she have just gotten Crew to get it from her office? Why was Jeremy's first instinct to kill her, on both occasions? I have so many questions about this book.

All in all, it was an okay book. I don't want to be too harsh and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, to be honest. I'd recommend reading it if you want to read a light thriller but also don't expect much from the writing and don't expect to want to finish it. I nearly gave up less than halfway through and I only kept reading it because a friend told me to. Half of the book was just sex scenes as well which was frustrating. But also read Rebecca!! If you're looking for a gothic romance I'd 100% check that out.

Why I think the true Verity is the letter version of Verity:

You guys are probably wondering ‘how could Verity write such horrible things about her daughters’ and I lowkey agree. But the manuscript is a manifestation of Verity’s guilt for being a lowkey negligent mother and she blames herself for both of her daughters’ deaths – even if she wasn’t a direct cause for their deaths. They do say that you are your own worst enemy and critic and I can’t begin to imagine how depressed she was after the death of her first daughter.

Also, post-partum depression is definitely a thing! She probably felt so insecure about her body and c-section scar that she created these fantasies about herself and amplified her negative feelings about the way her body is changing. I know the manuscript is really scarring but she’s a best-selling thriller/horror author, I wouldn’t dismiss her writing abilities. If Colleen Hoover can write such horrific descriptions and details without them being true in her life (touch wood), then Verity most definitely can. There are authors out there that have written way worse and in Lowen's own words, you need to separate the characters in a fictional story from the author.

There's also the fact that no one was meant to see the manuscript it was for her eyes only. It wouldn't make sense for her to print it out and leave it on her desk if it was true because then it would've risked her relationship with Jeremy. The entire manuscript detailed her obsession with Jeremy and I very highly doubt she'd risk him finding out what she did. With the way Jeremy was shown to be in the extended chapter (manipulative and just dodgy), I think it's likely he might've planted the manuscript somewhere easy to find for Lowen and manipulate her into feeling sorry for him and developing feelings for him. It doesn't make sense how Verity couldn't find the manuscript for weeks but Lowen just so happened to stumble across it as soon as she arrived. I genuinely think Jeremy was hiding it/keeping it from her and meant for Lowen to see it.

If the manuscript Verity was her true self then I think she would've killed herself after Jeremy's attempt failed. She obviously didn't care for her children that much (she only liked Crew because he didn't seem like a competitor or an obstacle in the way of Jeremy's love) and didn't mind leaving Crew behind. There's also the fact that she was obsessed with Jeremy and there's no way she'd have pretended to be in such a vulnerable state where Jeremy would see her as undesirable and wouldn't be able to do anything with her. She even pretended to be incontinent which would be too far for manuscript Verity. That would've been a huge blow to her ego and the fact that Jeremy wouldn't love her anymore would've driven her off the edge of the cliff.

Also, right at the beginning Lowen mentions something about authors being nothing like the characters they create, and this applies to both Verity and Lowen; Verity is not an antagonist or evil the way her characters are and Lowen isn’t the loveable protagonist either, that Corey thought she was. She’s an unreliable narrator.

Extra Chapter

If you guys haven’t read the extended chapter there will be spoilers, but I also provide a summary of what happens in it. If you want to read it it's about 37 ish pages long, so just quickly open a new tab and read it and then come back here :)) I’ll wait for you <33 If not, you can continue reading the summary :)

Summary:

• It's set 6 months later

• Lowen gives birth to a bay girl called Nova - Verity has been dead for almost a year

• She still sees Verity as competition and feels the need to outdo both versions of her - she's obsessed with Jeremy to the max

• Struggled with her body after giving birth and questioned in Jeremy would still like her

• Jeremy is seen in bed reading a thriller novel by another female author - Lowen has doubts and thinks is this how Verity felt - they do the do

• She fantasises about her own version of her manuscript

• Jeremy mentions having another baby (bit too soon lad she just gave birth apparently)

• They move to Southport to escape Vermont - everyone has taken Lowen's maiden name

• They're going to the beach with Crew and Nova - Jeremy decided to go for a run and Lowen is with Crew and Nova while Crew plays with the sand

• One interesting thing to note is that Lowen asks Crew whether Nova will like Capri-Sun as much as Crew does and Crew says he doesn't like it that much - it's the only thing they get for him so he drinks it

• Patricia is walking her dog on the beach and recognises Crew - she comes up to Lowen and finds out she and Jeremy had a child together - she figures out the timeline of the pregnancy and that it's around the time of Verity's death

• Jeremy shows up, says some stuff to Patricia and she leaves - he tells Crew and Lowen to go back to the car - they do and he drowns Patricia in the ocean

• Nova keeps crying in the car and Crew screams at her to shut up (he also says some weird things throughout the chapter, like when they asked Crew what they should name Nova he said he didn't care and that she'd die anyway)

• They go home and Jeremy and Lowen shower together - when they come out of the shower they can't find Nova - Jeremy grabs Crew and asks where she is - Crew says that he put her outside because he couldn't hear his TV show over her crying

• They retrieve Nova from outside and Lowen mentions how she heard Jeremy yelling at Crew but didn't stay for the 'punishment' - I wonder what he did to Crew

• The news talks about Patricia's death and it's been ruled as an accident

• The book ends with 'We're nothing but a family of chronics'.

• Honestly, the whole family are psychopaths at this point

Okay, so the extended chapter has a lot of details in it that just make me think maybe Verity isn't the psychopathic one and that Jeremy is. Verity still got a couple of loose screws don't get me wrong, but I don't think the manuscript is her true self. Either way, none of the characters are innocent and they're all terrible. The entire chapter is basically about Lowen not being able to let Verity go and she turns into a more watered-down version of Verity, fantasising about her own version of a manuscript too. Lowen isn't and was never mentally stable and her therapy did nothing for her. I'd recommend that she starts going to therapy again and also Crew needs therapy too, in fact, they all do.

Lowen herself says it at the beginning of the chapter, after giving birth to Nova she doesn’t think it’s possible for a mother to hate their child to the extent that Verity did. She even begins to doubt herself a little (about Verity) but then doubles down on the fact that Verity would’ve been a terrible mother anyway and placates herself, justifying her and Jeremy’s murder. When seeing Jeremy in bed reading a thriller novel by another woman, she wonders if this is what Verity experienced and felt. We know that Jeremy had lied to Lowen about how he found her and this makes me think he might've found his next victim or a contingency plan if Lowen goes wrong. He said previously in the book he’d been with two women before Verity and that he had seen a lot worse/experienced a lot worse than some guy’s blood and brains splattered all over the road. I have a feeling this isn't his first rodeo.

Jeremy kills another woman (omg what a shock :0 ) by drowning her at the beach. He thought that she was a threat and people would've found out that he and Lowen were married through her, so naturally he decided to off her. When I read this I found what Verity said in her letter to be more true. If he had in fact read the manuscript before Lowen, then I can imagine his first instinct being to kill her exactly the way she said she would kill herself at the end of what she wrote. Either way, he's clearly accustomed to killing women and has no qualms about it.

Also whilst we're on the topic of the manuscript, a lot of people say his reaction seemed fitting, as though it was his first time reading it. But I think he's lying. Lowen mentions it too, his reaction seemed a little too early and there's no way he'd have read the whole manuscript and had time to process it. If it was his first time reading it then why wouldn't he call the police or call for some help? He went straight to killing the mother of his children, leaving no room for explanations or anything. After reading the letter it made sense why he tried to kill her as he'd already tried once before. It seemed instinctual for him to try again.

I think the reason why Jeremy kept Verity alive was to manipulate Lowen and justify his killing of her after Lowen inevitably showed him the manuscript. If he had tried to kill her again everyone would've been suspicious, after all, it couldn't have been a suicide. If he gets Lowen to build up this hatred and animosity towards Verity then it would've been much easier.

This is also why I think Jeremy might've changed some parts of the original manuscript to make himself look better and to make Verity look worse, manipulating Lowen's feelings for them both. I don't believe a mother could have written all that with such detail, but for Jeremy, it would've been easier to write harsher things because he would've been able to distance himself from the events. He's also an avid reader of horror and thriller novels so it would be easy to replicate and draw upon things he's read. The beginning especially feels very Freudian with the mother feeling excessively jealous and threatened by her daughters. Whilst that could happen in some cases I doubt Verity would write such things without feeling grossed out.

Also, Verity’s name literally means truth/an important belief. I guess it depends on what you view to be the truth, but I’m using this to prove my point :)) I support women’s rights AND wrongs so you already know xD

The more I think about it, to be honest, the more I realise there are some things that just don't make sense at all no matter the angle you look at it from. I think Hoover was trying to write in support of both arguments, but that just left quite a lot of plot holes and loose ends that I've mentioned before.

I've had enough of writing and I'm tired so I'll leave it there. If you've gotten this far congratulations !! Leave a lil :D in the comments why dont ya.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts so let me know what you think about the topic!! Are you Team Manuscript, or Team Letter, or neither, and why?

I hope everyone has a lovely day/night/whenever you're reading this :))

Peace and love,

Aziza <33