Verity

This was my first book by Colleen Hover because the blurb immediately appealed to me.

I love stories about female writers. I immediately sympathized with her unsuccessful career and was happy that she received an exciting job offer. And then immediate skepticism that everything couldn't be going smoothly there. The fear came slowly and made me look ever deeper into the abyss.

I read the book before going to sleep, which meant I stayed up late.

This book drew me in from the start. Lowen, an author, is having a terrible day. Her mother died recently after a long illness. Even though they had a difficult relationship, Lowen took care of her in her final days.

We find her in her New York City apartment trying to get back to her former life without her mother to worry about. But she has other worries now, and finding work is at the top of the list. After a chance meeting on the way to meet her publisher, she ends up meeting a stranger who hires her to… show more.

Some books stir up feverish discussion among readers, and this is definitely one of them. (Don’t believe me? Check out the novel’s Facebook group!)

As an author, I found plenty of inspiration here. Maybe inconclusive endings do work, after all? The cracked skull at the start got me thinking, too. What if the first victim dies in chapter one? (Both ideas found their way into my new release.)

Warning: Verity contains explicit sex scenes, so reader discretion is advised.

This is my first Colleen Hoover book and I hesitated for a while before picking this up. But eventually (it was inevitable) I succumbed to the pressures of dark thriller booktok and picked it up. I'm not sorry I did, now I will be reading everything, Colleen Hoover.

This book really reminds me of Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. Not the movie, since there are some marked differences between them. I really wonder if the author intended it or if it was accidental. Super curious about that. There are so many parallels between them, I'm surprised I haven't… show more.

This book was a real page-turner for me. The story had a creepy element that Ms. Hoover managed to convey brilliantly, while beneath the mystery there’s believable chemistry between the male and female leading characters.

This book is a masterclass on how to layer the essential elements of good storytelling seamlessly. She’s woven a strong plot, three-dimensional characters, and a nice little twist.