Review: Verity by Colleen Hoover

Normally I write these so anyone could read at least most of it and not be spoiled. But I am currently BURSTING with emotions and I feel like maybe my emotional ranting might be a spoiler. Even though I do not plan to outright spoil anything.

Go buy this book. Read it when you have six hours where you can finish the whole book. Some of that is for reading, an hour is for the break you will need because surely your brain has overheated, and some of it is so you can put the book down and say “whattttttttttt” for 45 seconds before you continue reading.

Go read the book then come back and read my raving.

Unless you don’t want to do that. I don’t think I will be spoiling anything explicitly.

This was a MIND FUCK.

My mind was so fucked that I was sure basically everyone in this book had done something approaching murder at at least one point in the book. There was a point where I thought maybe a five-year-old was straight up evil.

And by the time I finished the book, I felt legitimate fear. I am literally a little shakey because I am so freaked out.

Something not freaky: I loved the way Hoover talked about authors and their relationships to their readers, their publishing people, and the people they know in real life. I particularly enjoyed the stuff about how authors are not their characters. Also, I have been so mind fucked. Just so we all remember.

This book made me feel fear many many times, but it was also sort of hilarious. Hoover builds tension incredibly well, and she lets you chill the fuck out by making you straight up cackle regularly. Also, I liked the romantic bits, particularly one part I was legit swooning. Of course on the next page, I was sure we were going to find out he had killed everyone ever, so back to the fact that this book was a mind fuck.

Hoover clearly could anticipate the reader’s expectations because she was constantly able to subvert them. She had me second guessing stuff so hard. And the genius part was I was second guessing different things than the narrator was. At one point I was at the “maybe the whole book is a lie and nothing is real and this is a crazy fever dream” state. That is how hard I was mind fucked.

This book is a masterclass in manipulation. On like seven layers.

Please go read this book. Then join in with me as we all scream “JDNDJIDIOJWBDKOWIQISHWBDGGUD” while we try to figure out what to do with our limbs.

I finished this book on February 5th, 2019 and have it five stars on Goodreads.