Verity

As much as this pains me to say and this is definitely a first for me, I seem to be in the minority when it comes to my feelings towards this book. I remember feeling compelled to purchase this book because EVERYONE and their mother were raving about it and I had to find out what all the hype was about. And since I usually love books that the majority of thriller readers love, I thought this one would be a given. Well, I was damn wrong in this instance. It actually took me a few days to write a review for it because this book put me in a reading slump and I didn't even feel like putting my thoughts about it on paper. But finally, here we are.....

To begin with, Verity is about a writer, who is in a desperate need of money, so she takes a job writing the remaining books in a famous author's series because the writer had been in a car accident and can't move, let alone write more books. I thought that the plot in this novel was intriguing enough, especially since I've never come across this kind of story setup before. However, I found the pacing to be rather too slow and tedious for my liking. The majority of the book felt really repetitive and just documented Lowen going through Verity's writing office and dealing with Verity's husband, Jeremy and son Crew. I liked that the chapters switched of between what was happening in the actual story and also Verity's autobiography as Lowen was getting through it, that definitely helped me get through the story a little bit. I guess I was just expecting a lot more intensity and excitement going into this novel so that already was a big letdown. Also, can we talk about how this book felt more like a romance novel then a thriller in any way? I am not a fan of romance and when I got into this book I was not prepared for all the smut and cheesiness whatsoever. I understand this new-to-me genre is called romantic suspense and I am just glad I have figured out well in advance that this genre is just not for me.

Further on, the characterization in this book was okay. It wasn't bad by any means but it was hard to garner the real authenticity of these characters because there were contradicting pieces of evidence, pulling me in both directions. I thought that the characters were definitely dark and messed up but I found none of them to be reliable so it's hard for me to make a final judgement about who they really are. Ultimately, I felt like I didn't really get to know them at all. I like an unreliable narrator or character here and there but in this instance it was just overkill.

Finally, the writing style in this book is your typical Collen Hoover style and I can definitely appreciate its simplicity and how to-the-point it all is. This is probably my favorite aspect of the whole book and made getting through this book enjoyable, even if I didn't really enjoy or relate to the story or any of its characters. Overall I just found the whole thing to be unfittingly odd in its final execution.

In conclusion, as much as I was certain I would love this book because so many before me have loved it, I did not really enjoy it at all. If you're like me and not a big fan of romance or smut in your thrillers or even suspense novels, I would steer clear of this one. Otherwise, you should still give it a chance and ignore me because there is a reason this book is so wildly beloved. Definitely wasn't a home-run for me but it might be for you.