VERITY

 

*NOT FOR KIDS*

 

Verity, written by colleen hoover, was my third book read. You will soon know why I’m starting with its review. The first paragraph is gonna be the spoiler-free review. And from the next one I’m going to narrate the story. Why? Because I know I will someday forget it no matter how unforgettable it seems.

Verity is a psychological thriller which definitely will creep you out. But a warning that I did not get is that it also includes a decent amount of smut. I am so not the kind to read smut. I can barely read a mild romance book. A kiss scene is the maximum I am willing to read. And pretty much everyone knew that. Yet, I was kept in the dark about it. I thought it was simply a thriller. So, if you are also like me, I would not suggest Verity. But if you read Ana Huang (traumatizing for me btw) or any other kinda smut, you are good to go. Now talking plot wise, it is very fast paced, creepy with an unimaginable twist which also leaves you hanging. I will say that the story is definitely not believable. But it is fiction so I guess that shouldn’t be a problem. It’s about an author, who gets paralyzed before she could complete her series of 10 books. Her name is verity. Another author is appointed to complete the series on behalf of verity. But instead, she ends up reading a personal journal of Verity, which unravels so many secrets about her and her husband. I would suggest you read this book, keeping in mind that it's more of a ‘expect the unexpected’ book with every page having a ‘WTFFFF’ ending. You might either love this book upto a level that you cannot stop talking about it or hate this book upto a level that you cannot stop talking about it. I would recommend it. Or maybe not. My views on this book are very confusing even for me.

Colleen Hoover is an author, with not the greatest reputation. Almost all readers will tell you that her books are the worst. Am I a rebel? Not really. Considering verity is her ‘best book’, I have to admit that I’m scared to read the rest of her books. But Verity is book, which even the worst of her critics, give a pass to. I honestly bought it because it was so cheap (I mean the cost) and of course, I had to read it off the internet as the book I received missed several pages.

Getting into the crazy story:

Like I have mentioned before, a woman called Lowen, is hired to complete Verity’s series. Verity’s husband hires her for his wife. She moves in their house for what was supposed to be week but later turns into months. She was going through Verity’s books when she found her journal. Even though it was an invasion of privacy, she reads to understand Verity better. Sometimes I find the characters like hers to be very immature. Anyway, she starts reading it.

The story from the journal:

Verity gets married after a few months of their relationship. I skipped a LOT of stuff. But I still covered the gist. That’s how unnecessary and long some chapters were (iykyk). She gets pregnant on the night of her engagement. The guy, whose name I forgot, was so happy about it and starts obsessing over it like any other dad would. Verity, on the other hand, starts getting jealous of her own babies. Doesn’t make sense? Welcome to colleen hoover stories. She asks him to choose between her and the children as a hypothetical question. When he chooses the kids, she goes mad. She tries to abort the kids by putting a fricking cloth hanger INSIDE her. But no damage is caused to the babies. She then continues to torture them by not taking proper care. The children (girl twins) are born healthy. She then gets a dream of one of kids (whom, we will call C1) killing the other (C2). She suddenly feels this immense love toward C2. And immense hate towards C1. She is unfair to C1. When the kids are 7, a tragedy struck, where C2 dies due to her peanut allergies. Verity somehow blames C1. After 3 months, she proceeds to complain about her sex life and blames her husband for not being over the child’s death. Then, when her husband notices her behavior, he starts a fight. Just to avoid this fight, she announces that she is pregnant (which she is not). But luckily gets pregnant in a week. After she realizes that now she has a spare kid, she kills C1.

Back to Lowen’s POV:

She is of course traumatized. She also feels so bad for the husband that she makes a move on him. These two idiots ow fool around. And in middle of that, she finds verity standing, looking MAD. She was supposed to be paralyzed. But disappears as soon as Lowen tries to show him. She then keeps an eye on Verity, to be safe. When the 7-year-old boy accidentally admits that his mom talks to him, he panics and stabs himself with a butter knife that he was licking. After he and his father come back from the hospital, she shows him the journal. As soon as he reads it, he goes upto Verity’s room and threatens to call the police. When she finally quits her act, he kills her without giving her a chance to explain. After 6 months Lowen and this guy get married. While vacating the house, she finds some papers below the floorboards which were written by Verity.

The letters:

She admits that she was planning to leave with her boy. She says that she was so broken after her kid’s untimely death, that she couldn’t handle herself. When she talked to her therapist, she was suggested to write a journal from the point of view of a self-made up villain. As her series were particularly famous for being from the antagonist’s point of view, it will also prove to be a good writing practice. This way, she will have somebody to blame her children’s death on, though they were accidental. That was the journal that these two idiots read. A simple writing practice journal. She also says that before she could explain it to her husband, he read it and got so mad that he tied her up in car to get her into an ‘accident’. Which ended up paralyzing her shortly. But she keeps the act going to stay alive. Which means that when Lowen showed him the journal, it wasn’t the first time that he read it. So, Verity was killed for no reason.

After reading this, Lowen, instead of confronting the man about the ‘accident’, decides to eat the papers so that they never be unhappy. (after killing a woman who already had a miserable life). But as Verity can me manipulative, the authors leaves it up to us to either believe the journal or the letters. Most people choose to believe the journal. I choose to believe the letters. Others can’t imagine Verity being innocent. They view her to be a psychopath. Call me a pessimist, but I can’t bring myself to think that any woman can possibly do that. I can’t bring myself to believe that a woman could be pathetic and obsessed with a guy, so much so that she ends up hating her own children. And the point where she hated C1 because she tried to kill C2 in her dream is beyond me. Call me delusional but I could never believe a woman was that stupid. Hence, team letters always. Which team do you choose?