3.5 Stars
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This was like the potato chips of mystery/thriller books. You start eating them and can’t seem to stop, you definitely can’t just have 1 or 2 (chapters), so you go ahead and devour half a bag, but when you are finally full (and finished reading the book), all you’re left with are empty calories and no substance.

This isn’t a bad book. I mean, I can’t deny it has an addicting way of it. It also has that sick and twisted element that reminds me of what Gillian Flynn brings to her books— making you wonder what type of mind could imagine stuff like this. The difference is, Gillian Flynn’s books give you full-fledged characters and writing that is polished and purposed.

I liked the premise of this— but beyond that it was just 2 women obsessed with f**king this one dude. Read about sick child abuse, think about f**king this guy. Wonder if the woman who committed all this child abuse is really faking her brain injury, try to lay the ground work to f**k this guy.

I guess if you’re a hardcore romance reader and need tons of graphic sex scenes in your books no matter what the subject is, this might be the thriller for you. Apparently a lot of people like it, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Some missed opportunities (this book was really short, so there was space for the author to explore things, but she didn’t):

-The sleepwalking. It was a lazy plot device to get a lock out on the outside of the door. It was initially a super creepy part of the story and there were so many ways this could’ve added to it— but in the end it was a big nothing.
-Lowen’s relationship with her mother. All we get is: her mom is scared of her because she sleepwalks. I thought the book would eventually delve into what her trauma was, but it really didn’t.
-Verity’s relationship with her parents. True, Verity probably was the one character that wasn’t 2 Dimensional, but there was such a missed opportunity to really show us why she’s so f*cked up. All we get is: they don’t talk.
-Crew. He was kind of creepy, but why? He could’ve been part of a twist or he could’ve furthered the twist along, but all that groundwork setting him up to be something was wasted in my opinion.
-The rushed ending. It was obvious to me the author was very eager to say The End.

Endings I wanted:
-I wanted Jeremy to accuse Lowen of writing the manuscript because she’s so obsessed with him. That would’ve been hilarious and also very The Shining in a way. She’s supposed to be working on a book series, instead she’s sitting there trying to set Verity up to be a psychopath while also vicariously living out her sexual fantasies about Jeremy through it.
-I wanted Jeremy to be the author of the manuscript. That twist would’ve been crazy. He’s the child abuser and he wants to set Verity up for everything.

I just really really wish Lowen and Jeremy were written as real people. I have no idea who either of them are. I’m not even going to touch on my thoughts of the actual ending on this one because it really didn’t do much for me. I believe exactly none of it because that would be ridiculous.

OVERALL: This is definitely readable and addicting in the same way people rubberneck at car accidents. I have no doubt this came from a really creative (and possibly sick) mind, which I respect— but the writing and character development were lackluster. ( )

Really good! I could have been a smidge more invested in the main character, but I finished it quick and really enjoyed it. ( )

Not sure what to think. The case for ‘lowen’ being the one chosen to finish writing Verity’s series was weak. I never felt any empathy for Lowen and really never felt the ‘attraction’ she developed for Jeremy was justified. Seriously sorry that I wasted my time reading it. ( )

I've never really felt that Colleen Hoover's books are my kind of books. But, then I stumbled on Verity, read the blurb and was intrigued enough to download a sample and I was hooked so I bought it. I mean sometimes you have to leap off the cliff and give a book a go.

Now, Verity is not the usual kind of book that Colleen Hoover writes (she wrote that herself in the afterword) but I think she's really good when it comes to writing a compelling thriller, although there were a bit too many sex scenes, she usually writes romance novels so that's perhaps not that surprising. However, that was I think a bit boring in the end. However, I can see in the ending that it was an important part of the story (don't want to spoil the book).

Verity was an easy-to-read book, with a great flow and loved how Hoover really managed to create a really awful person that made me feel queasy. The ending was good, not going into details. You have to read it for yourself. ;) ( )

not sure i would really call this a review more like a note. I cant stop wishing i could read this book for the first time again. ( )