Verity - Colleen Hoover - A Short Summary & Review

 Verity - Colleen Hoover - A Short Summary & Review

By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures

A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review

The ghostwriting of an accidental invalid, after her story, got out.

A short summary:

Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer, accepts a lucrative offer to ghostwrite the remaining books in a successful series after its original author, Verity Crawford, is left incapacitated by a mysterious accident. While living in the Crawford home and sorting through Verity’s notes, Lowen discovers a hidden manuscript, an autobiographical confession filled with disturbing revelations.

As Lowen reads deeper, the line between truth and manipulation begins to blur. What starts as professional curiosity turns into obsession, and the past intrudes dangerously into the present. Verity thrives on uncertainty, forcing both its protagonist and its readers to question motives, reliability, and the cost of believing the wrong story.

My favorite quote from the book:

"One should only walk away from an autobiography with, at best, 

an uncomfortable distaste for its author."

-Colleen Hoover, Verity

Question to ponder while reading:

How dark are your fantasies?

What should happen to people who hurt children?

My review:

This is domestic psychological horror wearing the clothes of a thriller.

Verity is unsettling in the same way Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is unsettling, cold, manipulative, and deeply uncomfortable. Every character radiates menace, and no one feels entirely trustworthy at any point in the story.

The tension is relentless. The premise alone is creepy, but Hoover pushes it further by denying the reader moral footing. I didn’t like anyone in this book, and that’s exactly why it worked.

It’s disturbing. It’s compulsive.
And it’s the kind of novel that keeps you reading long past the point of comfort.

I stayed up all night to finish it, and I still wasn’t sure what to believe when it ended.

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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life

She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.

You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.

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