Verity by Colleen Hoover
Stacey • July 29, 2019
Release Date: December 10, 2018
The best nail biter of the year, has struggler writer Lowen accepting a job she doesn’t really want but desperately needs. A self confessed recluse and verging on bankruptcy, she has nowhere else to go. After a harrowing trip to her publishers leaves her with no alternative to take what’s being dangled in front of her, she travels to the impressive abode of the one and only Verity Crawford.
Verity is a highly successful and starlet of an author. Her book series, a hot commodity to her publishers has them reeling when Verity now unable to complete the last books in the series, leading them to do whatever it takes to see their hard work bought to fruition. After an accident leaves her without the ability to finish the last 3 novels in her series, it falls to Lowen to decipher her notes and ghostwrite in her stead…
With the gentle nudging from Verity’s husband Jeremy, Lowen starts the process of organizing the thoughts of a woman who scribbles everything down on any median she can find. The unexpected discovery of a self-written biography has Lowen gripped, appalled and unable to leave it alone, putting herself into a situation she can’t understand or seem to get out of. The heart-racing and deeply penetrating look into Verity’s very psyche and soul has Lowen questioning Verity’s own character while the eerie goings on in the Crawford household has her questioning her own sanity.
Will she reveal what she has discovered and take Verity’s husband, as well as her career or will she succumb and crumble under the weight of the confessions she did not expect to find….
Will the truth set any of them free? Or will it lead to something much more sinister??
Lowen is a struggling author and self confessed hermit, locked in her apartment, taking care of her ailing mother, who fears and loathes her only child. Putting herself into ruin to take care of her sick mother, with death came the release she needed. That is until she finds out that her mother lied about leaving her a nest egg after having Lowen spend all her money on taking care of her. Evicted from her apartment, now has Lowen accepting a job she doesn’t want. She not only feels she can’t fill the shoes of the author she will be ghostwriting for but also feels uncomfortable being around the handsome and charismatic Jeremy Crawford, Verity husband.
Verity is the exact opposite of Lowen. She loves the parties and the glitz that comes with the book tours and having her name in print. Lowen avoids any interactions with the public, which is essentially the reason why she doesn’t make the kind of money Verity makes from her own work. After being offered the kind of money she can’t refuse, she goes to the Crawford home to organize and find the inspiration to write the books the publishers are so desperate to have.
Lowen feels unsettled and fearful being in the house with the woman who’s life she has virtually invaded. Verity is basically brain-dead and has a room in the home set up as a hospital room. She has a nurse taking care of her, feed her and bathe her. She doesn’t move, or react to sounds or notice anything around her…. Or does she? Lowen has this feeling like Verity is watching her. Assessing her and making her feel like she is losing her mind. You can literally feel the intensity of the paranoia comes across loud and clear. It had me, a few times, turn around and check no one was behind me. Finding the biography penned in Verity’s own hand had me curious and fearful for Lowen on so many occasions. I never did feel like Lowen wasn’t reading the situation correctly so I always had a feeling what was happening really the truth.
Lowen’s feelings of inadequacy and jealousy ring authentically throughout the whole novel. The pace is well set and my jaw dropped so many times from the twists even I didn’t see coming!
My biggest grievances? There is never any real explanations about Jeremy. I have a million questions and this book has left me with nowhere to go for answers. This was the one pitfall for me, unless there is going to be a second book, which from my understanding, there will not be. I have an underlying feeling that he isn’t who he pretends to be but I also don’t think he’s the person that Verity wrote about either. They both lost 2 children, twin girls, it’s apparent he has a lot of suppressed angry and sadness that he has yet to deal with, especially after Verity’s accident. I felt his character could have had more built in. I really would have like to know if my theories on him were correct. The whole crux of the story, seems to hinge on what happened to their daughter at the lake. Having been presented with two scenarios and no actual conclusion, seems to invite more questions than it answered.
Lowen really had me sympathizing with her and rooting her until pretty much the very end. I felt she was well written and I felt certain camaraderie with her! She was relatable, quirky and not your usual protagonist. The ending was where I started to question who she was! She seemed content, armed with the new information she got, to just ignore the revelations in black and white and go on her merry way! That does not jibe with the woman, I felt I had gotten to know through the entire book. I didn’t feel she had any misgivings after her discovery and any woman, in her right mind, would have some.
Verity was a very interesting piece of a very complex pie for me. I thirsted to know more and yet, wouldn’t want to be left in a room alone with her. I began to fear her. Irrational fears too! Which version was the truth? That was the biggest crux for me and I’m guessing that is exactly what the author wanted but it left me feeling a little short changed. I get the concept of leaving it to the readers interpretation to decipher what was true and what wasn’t, as a place to get people discussing the book but it actually angered me a little. Clever trick by the author or an oversight? I don’t feel lead in any direction as each scenario is plausible but also neither can be the complete truth in my opinion.
If you enjoy thrillers with romance, deceit and jaw dropping twists then I highly recommend Verity. My heart still palpitates when I see the cover of the book and while I loathed the open ended conclusion, I still give this book a star rating of 5/5.
Sincerely, The Lioness
Book review - Fiction - Audiobook - domestic fiction - found family Such a Bad Influence by Grace Demyan Felicity is still grieving the loss of her mother. So much so she still calls the phone and leaves messages on the voicemail. She spends her time running the small blueberry farm her mother left her… She never expects to receive a call from the number… The new owner is Alex, a teen aged out of foster care and in need of help. Felicity takes her in but she expects her to help her on the farm and the two of them needed each other much more than they realized. It’s funny because this book sounded cozy and sweet but there were some really excellent moments in the book that had me pulled right in! I love books that keep you guessing. I really enjoyed that Felicity and Alex band together to scare off vandals from defacing the farm and building a small business from it. Brilliant! I loved the plot, I enjoyed the characters too. I could really see how these two people could find a way to be a small family and I was totally charmed!! Honestly it was a brilliant book. I loved the audio and I will definitely look for more from the author. 4 stars Thank you @netgalley and @brillianceaudio for my gifted audio.
Book Review - Fiction - Magical Realism - Romance I just finished The Forget-me-not Library by Heather Webber and here are my musings. Juliet is unmoored.. An accident left her lucky to be alive but she has no memory… The same night her grandad died and her heart is heavy. She decides to take a roadtrip and she ends up in a town when her car breaks down… A town where the people know more than they let on.. Single mom Tallulah works at the library after the breakdown of her marriage.. Living with her grandad isn’t what she was expecting but when hers and Juliet’s lives crash into each other, Tallulah starts to see life is for living and she isn’t the only one who needs a second chance…. Oh man, I loved this book! I am a sucker for magical realism and second chances at life books. It was well written, charming and sweet. I normally don’t love 2 POVs but I adored both the FMCs so I wasn't salty about it. It had friendships in unlikely places… Sweet romances… A lost love… That one hit me the hardest… I won’t spoil it.. You will know when you read it. It was more light-hearted than I was expecting and that was a beautiful surprise for me. AND COME ON!! Set in a library… I’m all over that. It had some beautiful hallmark moments that made me swoon and it wasn’t just the romance parts. Juliet losing her memory and finding a place she never expected to find and a little girl is the reason she starts to feel like the town is home… OH MY HEART! I needed the HEA - happily ever after.. I needed the small town… I needed the found family. You need this book! 4 stars Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my gifted copy OUT NOW!! #bookblog #bookcommunity #literaryinfluencer #bookrecs #bookalorian
Book review - Fiction - Audiobook - Romance Pick Me by Victoria Schade Brooke needs some inspiration for her writing so looking for a romance opportunity means looking in the weirdest places. She even learns to play pickleball to get close to a handsome man on the courts… She just needs to learn to play so when her friend pays for Owen to give her some lessons… Can she keep it strictly on the courts or will the attraction come off the page too? This one was a real surprise. I haven't ever played pickleball.. I've never seen a game either so it intrigued me. I might have gone to youtube to take a look at it and OMG there has to be easier ways to date haha. I really liked Owen. He was so grumpy and cute I wanted to eat him up with a spoon. I liked Brooke too and that's the magic for me. Their build up. The story was fine and the narration was good but the two of them were the wow factor for me. I liked how they connected. I thought it was really cute and I give it 4 stars Thank you @netgalley #netgalley #bookreview #bookishblog #pickleball #pickme #romancereader #bookalorian
I just finished Only Lovers in the Building by Nadine Gonzalez and here are my musings. Liliane quits her job as a lawyer after someone else got the credit for her hard work. Not willing to go home from the retreat just yet, she gets herself an air bnb and plans to read all summer. She finds herself bumping into her neighbor Ben and they discover a shared love for romance books and they spend the summer reading and critiquing books together while fighting the mounting attraction that neither wants to act on. This is one of the only beachy reads I did this summer and it was definitely the only one I needed. The thing this book had in spades was an eclectic group of characters. All unique and perfect in their imperfection. I loved Ben. He was refreshingly honest in how he dealt with people but had the biggest problem being honest with himself which really made for an interesting read. It was a realllllllllyyyyyyyyyy sssssssssslllllllllllllooooooooooowwwwwwwww burn. I mean really slow but honestly it worked for me. I liked the build up of their friendship and their mutual love of books. I liked their banter and how they started their podcast on their musings. It was very cool! 4.25 stars Thank you @harperaudio for my gifted copy You can find all my book reviews at thelionessofliteracy.com And my podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A You can find all my book merch at Bookaloriandesigns.com and bookaloriandesigns.etsy.com #onlyloversinthebuilding #bookish #bookalorian #bookreview #audiobookreview #bookblog #bookpod #bookpodcast #litdulterous #booksbooksbooks #bookrecs #romancereader
Book Review - Fiction - Audiobook - greek retelling - Romantic Fantasy The Cafe of Inescapable Human Destiny by Elizabeth Hrib When Liv quits school she didn’t expect to find herself working in a coffee shop… Ran by the Fates! When her life thread becomes entwined with a beautiful man…. Nick, she has to get his life back onto track before the fates intervene. Well that was an entertaining read!! I loved the narration and the characters were the magic here. It was short and very entertaining little audio. Not my normal thing but dang the story was good! The book moved quickly and you will be just as charmed as I was. It was a clever little greek retelling and I can’t gush about it enough. 4 stars #novella #bookreview #booksbooksbooks #reader #reading #bookishblog #bookinfluencer
I just finished Dot Slash Magic by Liz Shipton and here are my musings. Seven Jones is in college… she just wants to get through it all. Walking into a secret underground magic club was not on the agenda. Learning she had magic is a big adjustment and the fact she doesn’t know what channels her magic is making everyone uneasy. When she accidently creates a magic computer program, an AI she calls dot… She keeps it a secret but someone is summoning terrifying creatures and everyone is looking at her to blame. This might be the weirdest plot of a book ever but dang I was hooked from the first chapter!! Seven has powers and she joins a group that can help her channel so the power doesn’t go bad.. She spends her time fighting the people in the group and working out how her magic works. I loved all the characters. It was a motley crew of magic wielders and they all connected so well. I loved the narration. The voice for dot was excellent. It made me giggle every single time. I liked how the book gave us the pitfalls of AI while showing us how it can make some things so much easier. I was really blown away with the plot! It was so different and fun! The ending threw me through a loop too! It was an excellent book! I love sci-fi’s and this one was unique and brilliant!! 4.5 stars! Thank you @tantoraudio and @netgalley #litdulterous #bookalorian #dotslashmagic #lizshipton #fantasybook #romancereader #dystopian #darkacademia #bookpodcast #bookreview #Urbanfantasy #sciencefiction #newadult
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Book review - Fiction - audiobook - Thriller - general fiction Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan It was the eve of 1999 summer solstice that was the last time anyone saw Roison… just 9 years old… she went into the hanging woods and never came back out. Twenty years later Roison's sister DeeDee is now a cop and she is barely holding her life together. Roison's childhood bestie Caitlin… A petty thief is returning home for the first time in years… She was the last person to see Roison before she disappeared.. It took me a while to get used to the audio narration on this one but I am so glad I stuck it out because the story was fabulous. It was dark and ominous and the twists came together at the end for a beautiful heartbreaking conclusion. I never really connected with any character and I think that was on purpose… We were supposed to distrust them all and it was a seriously clever way to tell a tale. I found the pacing started out really slow… It was a build up I didn’t get until I got further in so keep going! It will make sense! The writing was very good! I have ordered a copy for my shelf! Definitely worth the read. 4 stars Thank you to @netgalley and @harperaudio #netgalley #audiobookreader #thrillerbook #bookpodcast #bookishpodcaster #bookblog
I just finished Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne and here are my thoughts Cassie and Andy were made to believe they were from the future and they would be going back there one day… Cassie the believer and Andy believing they are being lied to. On their 21st birthday, their adoptive mom Joy Moody is found dead and all the family secrets have come skittering to the surface. This is a weird story. Joy truly believed what she was telling them and watching the fall out between the three women was different. The more you learn about Joy, the more you should be angry at her but you never end up feeling that way. I liked the potential sci-fi plot that ran through it but the ending was really solid. I actually loved this book way more than I thought I would. It was a really unique and well structured story. I liked the characters and the narration was absolutely spot on! Joy is one of those characters that really steal the show and I highly recommend grabbing the audio of this one. 4 stars Make sure you check out my store Bookaloriandesigns.com Bookaloriandesigns.etsy.com Unique bookish merch for the book dragon connoisseur. You can find all my book reviews at thelionessofliteracy.com And my podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A Youtube.com/@litdulterous #bookreview #joymoodyisoutoftime #bookalorian #booktok #booktube #funnybooktok #litdulterous #audiobook #audioreader #literaryinfluencer #bookishpodcast
Book review - Fiction - Romance - Ghost Story - Paranormal Fantasy I just finished the Seven Rings by Nora Roberts and here are my musings. Sonya MacTavish lives in a huge manor house at the behest of a man she did not know but hoped she could break a curse… She has seen the past.. The death of seven brides. The malevolent spirit will not break her.. She will find the secrets and piece it all together so she can finally free her ancestors… Her enemy is a ghost dressed all in black and her illusions are so powerful they are a real danger.. Can Sonya fight a battle across two realms while straddling the past and present? Will the fight for the house end in death? I have loved this trilogy since the first page of book 1 and I waited so patiently to get this book and it did not disappoint. I am sad it is over though. I fell in love with all the characters and my heart is heavy to know that I won’t see anymore from their adventures. The book finished off this trilogy with such gravitas though that I sped to the end. I really was fully satisfied with how it all panned out. The writing is exactly what you would expect.. Brilliant, clever and flawless. I can’t wait to know what you think of the trilogy because it's an easy 5 star for me. Such an epic book… such an amazing end to one of my fave trilogies. GRAB IT NOW!!!! Thank you to @stmartinspress for including me in this campaign!! #bookblog #readersofig #bookblast #bookish #smpearlyreader
