Book of the Month: Verity by Colleen Hoover

Welcome to Book of the Month. The book of this month is Verity by Colleen Hoover. I cannot possibly continue with this post without acknowledging the HOLD Colleen Hoover has on the reading community. If this woman was Nigerian I would legit accuse her of using some sort of spiritual power to captivate people, because people LOVE her. She has a large cult following and you literally cannot walk any airport, train station, bookstore without seeing the array of her books. They are everywhere. This is only the second book of hers that I'm reading. I read It Ends With Us and I HAD thoughts but it was so emotionally intense that I decided against making it book of the month despite my feelings.


Anyway, Verity is about a writer, Lowen, on the verge of financial ruin when she accepts the opportunity of a lifetime. She has been hired by the husband of a much more famous writer, Verity Crawford, to complete the series Verity started before she became unable to continue due to an injury. The said husband, Jeremy Crawford, invites Lowen to their home to sort through Verity's notes and outlines and such, which is opportune, because Lowen has just been kicked out of her apartment. What Lowen did not expect to find in all the chaos was an unfinished autobiography by Verity. And that's where crap hits the fan. Somewhere along the line, Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify. And as I said, crap hits the fan.




I rarely ever do this, but I went into this not knowing anything about the book or what it was about. This book is GRAPHIC. Almost needlessly so. But we will get to that in a minute.


There is a reason Colleen Hoover is Colleen Hoover, and it's not because of jazz or anything. It's because the woman is GOOD. She knows how to lure you in with her writing, getting you addicted to the journey she takes you on. Page after page after page are words that continue to draw you in so intensely you don't want to do anything else but dissect each character, marvel at their fascination, and just want to know how it ends. There is also a simplicity to her writing I really appreciate. The writing also doesn't get bogged down by unnecessary distractions or plots. It simply tells this unusual and complicated story. I loved that. I did NOT want to put this book down. One night, I was so tired and terribly sleepy, but I picked it up and before I knew it, it was 1AM in the middle of the freaking night. It was that good. To call it engaging would be an understatement. It's so bad/good that when I went to the library to retrieve it, the library assistant was like she has never seen any of their books sooo...worn from usage. And it's why I deliberately used the picture I chose to depict that. The wait for this book is VERY long. 


As with most good writers, Colleen Hoover provides a lot of nuance; you ask yourself important questions about characters (especially at the end). So in addition to how engrossing this book is, it does deal with some important themes of love, commitment, parenthood, and grief. 


Now that all the good things are out of the way, I don't know that much about the rave. This book has hundreds of thousands (actually maybe millions) of positive reviews. I don't understand it. There is something....odd about this book. It was even predictable almost to the point of being a little trite. Almost about five pages in, I called my sister (who had read it before me) to tell her all my predictions. I was 100% right. The sex description was just weird. It was like a teenage boy writing his wish and imaginations. Like, c'mon. I've heard this is a departure from her usual writing, so perhaps trying something new sort of pushed her over the edge? There is a lot to admire about stepping out of your comfort zone, so she deserves the kudos from her. To me, it felt like Hoover tried too hard in this novel, so much that it makes the book seem almost...silly. 


The WORST part of this book and it legit may be the worst part of any book I have read was the epilogue. There is no way to talk about this without spoiling this so I won't say what it is or what makes it so bad. You have to read this yourself. It was completely unnecessary and quite frankly, ridiculous. 


With all of the above said, I still recommend you reading this book. It is VERY entertaining and there is no taking away from that. 


Enjoy, and see you next month for Book of the Month!


Love,


I

2 comments

  1. 😂😂 I’ve gone to place a hold for this book at the library too. Several months wait. God abeg.
    Just catching up! Hellooo

    Aish

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