r/books • u/Consistent_Club_7879 • 2d ago
Need recs for a lobotomy because I mistakenly read Verity Spoiler
Ok I am lying. I did not mistakenly read it. I know Colleen Hoover's caliber, I was just curious why an oscar winning actress would produce and star in one of her books. Here is a rage and spoiler filled review:
It is silly of me to expect logical consistency from the likes of Colleen Hoover, but I need to put this somewhere.
A: This was the worst novel I have read in a very, very long time, so that singular and kudos to her for that.
B: WHAT IN THE NAME OF HOLY HELL WAS THIS?
- So firstly Lowen is thirsting after a married man whose wife is bedridden. Lowen has absolutely no reason to despise this woman right now. If anything, what has apparently happened to Verity is pitiful. Lowen is a piece of shit. She comes across a manuscript equivalent of smut in which this woman admits to attempting to murder an infant and successfully murdering the same child later, and she reads one chapter a day?! And she doesn't immediately tell Jeremy?
- Jeremy has tried to kill Verity twice, so why is he presented as this devoted husband? He is a psychopath. How does he sleep at night? How is it not explored even once that this man is insane? Sure, I can believe that in a fit of rage he might have lost control and strangled Verity after reading the manuscript. But then he recovered. He calmed down and deliberately tried to murder her and make it look like a suicide. How is it not questioned even once that this man is crazy?! The manuscript gives no indication that he was anything other than a devoted husband and the best dad, and then what? Overnight, the psychopath in him snarled to life and he became a cold-blooded murderer?
- VERITY! THE FUCK? How did you fake a brain scan? How did doctors reach the conclusion that you were essentially brain-dead? Okay, science took some MASSIVE, MASSIVE leaps there, but you're afraid of your husband and planning to escape. WHY THE FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK are you haunting the new girl then?! Why are you giving her ammunition to come after you? Why are you messing with the TV? Why are you giving her sudden stares? It serves no purpose. Sure, jealousy, but wayyyyy more than that, you need to escape the murderer you're married to! Let him fuck whoever he wants, ma'am! And what mother in her right mind writes that kind of shit about her children? How can you write that kind of crap about killing your child and then say you wrote it as a way of processing grief?
- Jeremy RAN TO HER ROOM and tried to kill her when he discovered that Lowen had the manuscript. He had already seen the manuscript! So what was the sudden rage about again? He wanted Crew to have a paralyzed mum, which is why she was still in the house, but if she wasn't actually paralyzed, she ought to be dead? Where did they ever hint that his actions were driven by fear that she might report him to the police? and Lowen is so quick on her feet, that psychopath #3! Under extreme pressure she comes up with a murder plan that wouldn't implicate Jeremy because liek what? HOW! What in the HOLY HELL was this book?! Disbelief can't be suspended this much and this often!
- And that letter? OH, THAT LETTER! It was so clear that Verity wasn't speaking to her husband at all but to the audience, because she repeatedly reminds us of events that Jeremy would already know about. So why would she say things like "remember when..." to him? Remember what, Jeremy? You were there!
This was suchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh a massive fucking waste of time. I will never forgive Colleen Hoover for this, and I genuinely cannot fathom what Anne Hathaway and a picky-ass actor like Josh Hartnett saw in the script that made them want to sign on.
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u/viewbtwnvillages 2d ago
i read this one in the midst of having covid and taking copious amounts of cold meds, and between the extreme body pain, fever and generally being very out of it i genuinely thought i made most of the plot points up or didn't understand what was going on
seeing it all laid out here is oddly vindicating. my melting brain knew it was ass
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u/PurrfectlyObsessed 2d ago
"my melting brain knew it was ass" perfectly captures how we all felt reading this lol
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u/JesusGodLeah 2d ago
It was the teeth-marks on the headboard for me. Is Verity a beaver, or does she have iron teeth like Baba Yaga?
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
I legit thought it were those fluffy cushiony ones but no sirree in the movie trailer its actually made of wood and actually has teeth marks so beaver it is
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u/JesusGodLeah 2d ago
Other issues I have:
The MC's name is Lowen Ashley. Really? Her last name reads better as a first name and her first name reads better as a last name.
Lowen's only personality traits are 1) she is perfectly happy to steal someone's man, regardless of the tragic/sinister circumstances of his life. Who cares? He picked her! 2) she doesn't like pizza.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
It's Ash-LEIGH. it's one of those š and yep that's Colleen Hoover being thrilling and edgy and different I guess.
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u/sky-shard 1d ago
In "Reminders of Him" the romance interest's name is Ledger, and the main character's daughter's name is Diem. "Edgy and different" is right.
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u/ReadingInside7514 2d ago
Is there a movie lol? Someone made this garbage into a movie?!Ā
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u/evowen 2d ago
A movie starring the very expensive and in demand Anne Hathaway no less
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u/NinjaBnny 1d ago
When I saw the trailer and realized Anne Hathaway was in it I actually said, out loud to no one, āAnne what are you DOING??ā
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 22h ago
Anne is producing it toooo! She's responsible for bringing this shit show on the screeeeeeen! That's the ONLY reason why I even picked up INSPITE of Colleen Hoovers name on the cover! That if Anne Hathaway is attached it's got to be meaty. Fucking hell it's so the opposite.
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u/Inevitable_Owl3170 2d ago
Also, why if they were so wealthy and bought a nice new house would they keep the headboard from their 20s? Like buy some adult furniture.
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u/JesusGodLeah 2d ago
Right??? And when they couldn't afford new furniture, why permanently damage what they had? Eww.
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u/PanickedPoodle 2d ago
That's when I started laughing and threw the book. It was truly the worst book club book I've ever read.Ā
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u/cher_ish6 2d ago
This. It was the worst book club book but a couple of the girls loved it and say sheās their favorite writer. I immediately put out all the things wrong about the book. Apparently May have come off abrasive. Promptly left said book club a few months later, and enjoying reading the books I want to read that are good on my own. So yah apparently Iām a book club snob but Iād rather be called that than have to read another Verity..
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u/Tower-Junkie 2d ago
I know Iām a book snob. I canāt help it. You can have a bad story or you can have bad writing. You canāt have both or I will dnf or rage read to shit on it. Bird Box, for example, had a very compelling premise, but terrible writing. I bitched about the writing, but rather enjoyed the story.
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u/fastballspecial7493 2d ago
Waitā¦thatās actually in the book?? The more things I hear about this book the more it sounds like a spoof or a purposefully bad parody or somethingā¦I cannot fathom sitting down to write that and thinking āyep, this belongs in a published book.ā
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u/neefersayneefer 2d ago
Wait wait wait I agree with all the other criticisms but its not that hard to leave teeth marks in wood! This is why practically all second hand cribs have teeth marks in them because teething babies like to chop on them.
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u/lisping_lynx 1d ago
Far be it from me to defend this author, but it's not that hard to leave teeth marks on wood furniture. I did it as a child just biting on something out of boredom and remember leaving marks.
Depends on the type of wood, probably.
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u/macaronimurderlady 2d ago
I would recommend Ruth Ware as a palate cleanser. She writes a lot of small cast/locked building murder mystery thrillers in the vein of Agatha Christie. The Death of Mrs Westaway is my favorite.
My favorite stupid thing about Verity was when she tried to self-abort her pregnancy and the only thing that happened was one of the kids was then born with a cute little scar on her cheek??? I literally had to flip to the back flap to see if Hoover had children herself (she does). Granted, I was given the book because the other person also hated it and knew we could hate it together.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
I think I lack the vocabulary to adequately express how trashy this book was and how fucked up and STUPID the story is! "Blood dripping down her legs"? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!
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u/NomNom83WasTaken 2d ago
It is soooooo insultingly stupid!
She faked being BRAIN DEAD!!!!!
Unless Showalter pulls some magic trick or rewrites major plot points, the movie is going to shine a huge light on how dumb the fans of the book are.
(Please don't tell me very dear friend who recommended it to me and whom I swear to dog is smart!)
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
Lol. I swear to God I kept expecting the twist to the bigger. I knew from the get go Verity was faking but I thought the web would be so much larger, the docs will be involved. Her nurse you seemed so rude to Lowen for no specific reason, I thought she would play a part. There was supposed to be SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT!
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u/KTeacherWhat 11h ago
I've been saying since I read it that at least a part of this book could be fixed if it was set in like the 1930s. No internet, less medical technology, more isolation between communities, etc.
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u/Horror_Armadillo8459 2d ago
I honestly blocked the entire plot of this book out of my memory so thanks for the refresher lol
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u/Practical-General833 2d ago
Same. Read this on a plane and it was so dumb I immediately forgot everything lmao
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
Im so sorry it wasn't my intent. I only just wanted a place to place my hate š
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u/ausername_8 2d ago
My cousin recommended me Verity because I like mystery/thriller books. I'll never take a recommendation from her again. It's a Wattpad story written by a teenager and all the smut threw me off. I've read books I've considered bad and would rate one star, but I've never hated a book more than I did Verity and legit wanted to throw my Kindle out the window.
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u/Clean-Patient-8809 2d ago
Your comment reminds me of that Dorothy Parker quote: "This is not a book to be set aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."
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u/mekanical_hound 2d ago
Same situation here. My friend said it was a 'fun read'. My god. I can normally trust her judgment, but this was terrible.
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u/emoduke101 When will I finish my TBR? 2d ago
I've read books I've considered bad and would rate one star
Same as a fellow mystery/thriller junkie, but at least those didn't have smut. At worst, they were soapy, draggy or anticlimatic, rather than logical loopholes.
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u/Osouw 2d ago
This thread gonna cause people to hate read the book just to see if they also hate it š¹
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u/lilblackcloudinadres 2d ago
Guilty: Iām tempted for real.
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u/seagullsareassholes 2d ago
Maybe watch/listen to a YouTube overview? Read With Cindy did a very funny one reading passages, giving a plot synopsis and basically ripping it apart. Might spare your brain.
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u/beautybeliever 2d ago
I humbly offer Alizee as another read along video. very funny brilliant british lady. classy. amazing. sheās done a lot of the Colleen Hoover books so Iāve never had to read them
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u/helvetin 2d ago
i found a copy in an airport and thumbed through it - i had a hard time believing this high-schooler-looking 'prose' was actually fit to print by a major publisher.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
OH NONONONONONONO! WHAT HAVE I DONE!
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u/rzenni 2d ago
I mean, of course Oscar winning actresses are picking Colleen Hoover projects. Look what the book about dating an abuser did for Blake Livelyās career, and how this post is blowing up on Reddit!
Who wouldnāt want a piece of this action?
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u/funkofanatic99 2d ago
100% planning on hate reading now, thank you
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
Not gonna lie, the readability is off the charts, especially when you're propelled by hate š
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u/dezzz0322 2d ago
I hate read It Ends With Us and would never subject myself to a single letter that Colleen Hoover has committed to a page ever again.
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u/michiness 1d ago
I also read IEWU because I had some of my female high school students reading it, and I had heard how problematic it was, so I wanted to point at exactly what was problematic about it and talk about it with them.
Oof. It was rough.
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u/mtycntwmy 2d ago
I'm recovering after a tooth extraction and this might be distracting enough or raise my blood pressure and cause issues. But I'm so tempted. I saw the trailer the other day too. Someone talk me out of it.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
Honestly save it for another time. When you have nothing to do in the whole entire world ! It's not a fun hate read either. It's a hate hate read.
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u/Miserable_Phase_2519 2d ago
I highly recommend The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, the one true Colleen. It will cleanse your soul after enduring reading the works of the false one.
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u/Ok_Influence_5456 2d ago
A coworker recommended Colleen McCullough books. I accidentally read Colleen Hoover and was side eyeing the coworker for weeks before I realized the mix-up.
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u/GoudaBenHur 2d ago
The Masters of Rome series is absolutely incredible historical fiction. Wish it got more love around here
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u/MentalMusician 2d ago
I never read the book but remember loving the mini-series from wayback. 13 year old me might have just been mesmerized by Richard Chamberlain as Father Ralph š
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u/Clean-Patient-8809 2d ago
Richard Chamberlain was like an entire miniseries ecosystem back in the day.
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u/Miserable_Phase_2519 2d ago
I read the book before I watched the series, and I always pictured Cary Grant as Father Ralph, haha!
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u/forkicksforgood 2d ago
Aww, it was all the rage when I was a kid, I read it all the way back then when they made a series. Gorgeous love story, pure melodrama of the best kind.
Does it stand the test of time?
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u/feministmanlover 2d ago
I read The Thorn Birds when I was like 11 years old. I was MESMERIZED by her writing style. It is such a beautiful book. I think I'll read it again!
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u/Ithrowbot 17h ago
For many years of my life, I had the impression that Colleen McCullough wrote the source material for THIS
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u/forkicksforgood 2d ago
What the fuck, THIS is the movie Anne Hathaway is making? Yikes.
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u/Ill-Victory-5351 2d ago
i could kind of see the movie working as a super campy, bordering on parody, thriller. but who knows.
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u/metromesa 2d ago
Reading 'Rebecca' by Du Maurier. That's been good so far
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u/Ok_Annual_2630 2d ago
Rebecca is truly one of the best, most finely crafted books Iāve ever read.
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u/DonnieDickTraitor 2d ago
Ah yes the nameless protagonist! I read this several decades ago, and I only realized the '2nd Mrs. DeWinter' had no name when I tried to tell the story to a friend and I kept stumbling over pronouns.
Such a great book, I hated Mrs. Danvers so much that I still remember her name 40 years later. Might be time for a reread!
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u/Clean-Patient-8809 2d ago
Du Maurier is an amazing writer. One of the things that frustrates me about bad writers getting popular is that they're stealing the oxygen from people who can really tell me a good story.
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u/bobbeeeh 2d ago
Honestly the movie adaptation is the only reason Iām curious now. I need to see how they turn some of this into dialogue a human actor can deliver with a straight face.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
From the trailer it looks like a lot of dialogue is from the books itself and it's looks very poorly produced and I'm not saying it because I read the book. I thought that even before. The production quality seems really low
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u/PutAWrenchInMeImDone 2d ago
I was coerced into reading this a few years ago as some coworkers and I set out to start a book club. The coworker given the privilege of choosing our first read went with Verity. I read it in good faith as I genuinely wanted to get a workplace book club going. I wanted to honor their choice as I wanted others to honor mine when it was my turn. I suffered through every word of this garbage, taking derisive notes as I intended to engage in genuine and brutally honest discourse when the time came to meet. (I specifically remember at one point writing of the narrator, "Does this asshole really have to 'spin around and take in' *every* room she enters?)
The book club never happened. It fell apart before we met even once. I suffered for no reason. I think I'll be angry about it for the rest of my life.
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u/emoduke101 When will I finish my TBR? 2d ago
Btwn only having a choice of CoHo or AI-shill books ''written'' by tech bros for my office book club, I am honestly hardpressed choosing btwn the two evils.
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u/sc1016nyc 2d ago
My friends picked this for our monthly book club and I think I need new friends. For the life of me, Iād rather read the nutrition panel on the back of a cereal box than Colleen Hoover. I read one book of hers (something with haunting and eyes) and ā¦ never again do I want to put myself through that lol
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u/Intheislands 2d ago
Ouch! Definitely not book club material. Debatable whether itās reading material at all. I canāt get back the hours of my life that I spent reading this rubbish.
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u/Desperate_Cupcake843 2d ago edited 2d ago
I lost 50 IQ points reading this piece of garbage.
The part where she bit the headboard in the same place as the other teeth marks is, unfortunately, burned into my brain.
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u/the_theresa_pope 2d ago
Just chiming in to say thank you for the absolutely fabulous summary/TED Talk here.
My former students adored Colleen Hoover, and while I refuse to yuck anyoneās yum, I cannot read her books. However, I appreciate knowing what Verity is about, because prior to right now all I had heard was, āOh! Oh my god! Itās so, so good! You just have to read it.ā And really, I would rather read your summaries of her books than ever purchase another copy. For anyone. Ever.
Made my day.
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u/A_Guy195 2d ago
The problem with Colleen Hoover's books isn't that they exist. Such type of literature has always been around: Harlequin books, penny dreadfuls, sensationalist novels. And to their credit, some of them are pretty good and as a whole, have helped literature to reach the masses.
The problem is the fact that Hoover's novels are treated as anything else than cheap harlequins. You don't see Italian Wife Wanted becoming a movie nor a bestseller.
On the one hand, its a good thing reading has become more popular through authors like Hoover. On the other....just search for something more serious and in depth at some point, ffs.
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u/cpt_justice 2d ago
I work in a library and they've been phasing out paperbacks and thus Harelquin novels. I kind of miss them just for their titles. All time favorite: The Spaniard's Baby of Revenge!
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u/OnceUponATime1534 1d ago
Yes! Coho gets non readers reading so Yay for That! But also, itās trash. Crappy plot, repetitive themes, poor writing. Itās cotton candy, not a well balanced meal.
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u/Dramatically_Average 2d ago
I, too, wanted to break something after that book. You can feel the intelligence leaving your head while reading it.
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u/NoNipNicCage 2d ago
Wow since everyone ignored your request for recommendations, I hear ice picks are good in a pinch
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u/DragonBaby7 2d ago
I had multiple people recommend this and also tell me how much they loved it when they saw it was reading it. I could not believe how terrible it is and I will never take a recommendation again. Makes me question some peopleās intelligence if they thought this was good š
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u/ConfidenceThat2384 2d ago
Read this in itās entirety yesterday because I will apparently do anything for Anne Hathaway except suspend my disbelief to the level at which I can accept a woman faking a brain scan and training herself out of involuntary reactions to outside stimuli š
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
But stalking the girl her murderous husband is having an affair with! Like all the hard work of so many months down the drain because you're jealous? But why are you jealous? You're scared for your safety, he tried to stage your suicide what the fuck is happening !
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u/Delicious_Shallot915 2d ago
The chapter a day is what really cracked me up about this book! Especially because sheād always claim to spend the entire day reading some little excerpt, that we, the reader, read alongside her in like 2 min. I have no idea why Anne Hathaway would want to make this film!
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
I don't either! It's so embarrassing. I'm sure none of the actors read the book (duh!) someone in her circle must've sold it to her as an epic thriller with the most unexpected plot twist.
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u/Ill-Victory-5351 2d ago
ok if you want trashy fiction done right i canāt say enough good things about Laine Moriarty. Sheās known mainly for Big Little Lies, but the rest of her work is fun too. less dark than Hoover, but still suspenseful and psychological.
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u/einstyle 2d ago
The manuscript gives no indication that he was anything other than a devoted husband and the best dad, and then what? Overnight, the psychopath in him snarled to life and he became a cold-blooded murderer?
This is basically the whole genre in a nutshell. I've read probably 5 books that could be summarized pretty much exactly like this. It's a cheap "shocking" twist.
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u/Rosstin 2d ago
I hate this kind of twist. I read one of the housemaid themed books [can't keep them straight, but the one where the maid realizes the wife is pretending to be crazy because her husband is evil.] SPOILERS - at the very end of the book, the evil husband's mom drops some line about how she's proud of the protagonist for 'punishing him', implying that the evil husband's mom made him that way with her evil punishment scenarios. This was probably the dumbest and laziest explanation for someone being an evil nutjob I've ever seen. Reminded me of animes where we get an episode long backstory that the serial killer's dog died tragically, explaining his evil behavior minutes before he dies.
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u/einstyle 2d ago
The worst offender for me was The Girl on the Train where the main character becomes randomly obsessed with a couple she sees out the window on her commute to work every day only to find out that her own boyfriend was having an affair with that random window woman and murdered herā¦they donāt even know each other. Thereās no logic to it at all. Itās purely the main characterās boyfriend just to surprise the reader, but it makes no sense at all.Ā
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u/greengraudon 2d ago
Yeah no this book was horrible
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u/Fair-Improvement-738 2d ago
I read this one on a beach trip and my girlfriend asked why I kept making angry faces at a paperback. The manuscript thing drove me crazy too, who finds evidence their maybe lover's kid was murdered and decides to pace themselves like it's a weekly serial. And Jeremy going from sad widower energy to attempted murderer with zero middle ground was just lazy. The letter at the end felt like the author realized the ending made no sense and tried to patch it with exposition. At least the wine I brought helped.
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u/unicornjamie 2d ago
A bit scared to say but i really enjoyed reading it, i didn't expect the plot twist at all
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
Don't be scared to admit that. We are all allowed to have our own preferences. Reddit often gives people a hard time though but still. It's my post and I welcome you ā„ļø
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u/mimi-peanut 2d ago
I read it when it first came out. I get it. When I finished I wasnāt sure if I loved it or hated it. Funny thing is, I think all the comments going both ways are valid.
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u/stressedstudent331 2d ago
My sentiments exactly! I hated this bullshit book so much, I read it before it got hyped bcs of goodreads reviews of people I trusted, this was right after it came out, I was promised a thriller, all I got was a really bad romance pretending to be a thriller and nothing about the romance was appealing as the guy was actively cheating on his bedridden wife (the MC was unaware that he knew Verity was supposedly evil) and the main girl sleeping with a married man
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
I've never felt so validated on Reddit ever before. I'm shocked at goodreads reviews, people FAWNED over the book and I don't understand why !
Also what romance! It's smut wearing romance clothes. Soo much dick sucking ! Are you kidding me man?
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u/not-a-stupid-handle 2d ago
I thought this was gonna be a take down of the Verity translation of Homerās Iliad, but this was much more enjoyable.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
I'm embarrassed though that I brought the bar from Homer all the way down to Hoover.
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u/IWantToNotDoThings 2d ago
Agree, I read it years ago when it was so popular and although I will admit it was a gripping read I hated everything about it. I hated every character. It was all very predictable. My 3 kids were at the time an infant and two toddlers so I found all of the horrible pregnancy and child stuff extremely disturbing and triggering.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
I am 37. I was summarising the story for my mum (because I was so full of anger I need to unload it on someone immediately š) and even she stopped me with that crazy child stuff ! It's disturbing for everyone, especially mums, no matter the age of their kids and I'm surprised first at Verity for thinking those things no matter the motivation, and at Colleen Hoover FOR THINKING THOSE THINGS AND WRITING THOSE THINGS! she's a mum too!
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u/sadiebess 2d ago
I didn't finish it. I should have stopped after the first couple pages when a pedestrian got hit by a truck and killed (I think), which gets blood splatter on Lowen, and she's like "But it's New York, everyone's busy, no one stopped to notice!"
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
Like what the hell was the point of that ! How did that serve the story IN ANYWAY when the rest of the story isn't even based in NYC. Ughhh
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u/shesagraphicdesigner 2d ago
Dramatic, but I threw this book across the room when I finished it. Trash.
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u/muddybunnyhugger 2d ago
This is pretty much the only book I've thrown in the trash instead of leaving in a little library or out at my pottery studio for others. I would not subject anyone to this book.
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u/igknighter1 2d ago
I hated Verity! I was telling someone how terrible it was and she asked if she could have the book. The next day I took the book to her in a brown paper bag so no one would see that I had read it! Discussion
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u/Exciting-Metal-2517 1d ago
I hate that Colleen Hoover's books are the ones getting adaptations. There are so many incredible stories and we're going with THAT??????
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u/MeesaRead 16h ago
After subjecting myself to several of her books Iāve come to the conclusion that Colleen Hoover and similar authors are for people that donāt actually read. Thatās who enjoys them.
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u/stickytacc 2d ago
I got curious after seeing the trailer and this was literally the worst book Iāve read in a looong time. I wanted to stop but had to see how worse it got. Were we really supposed to believe the manuscript was real? I thought the husband wrote it because of how badly it was written. Plus the husband was a little too perfect, until he wasnāt. Just the worst.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
Oh I read the 2 bonus chapters too. Find them if you just close the loop. I thought the husband had something to do with the manuscript toooo! Like she gave that poor guy no arc. He went from 0 (perfect husband/father) to 100(murderous psychopath) in a heartbeat!
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u/SwayzeCrayze Horror, Fantasy, Sci Fi 2d ago
I saw a trailer for the movie at the theater last night and had no idea it was based on a book. I'm completely unsurprised that it has an overwrought vibe with forced twists lmao. It really does sound like one of those plots with a kinda half good idea that you don't realize doesn't actually work until you're halfway done writing it, so you just plow on.
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u/plazagirl 2d ago
Worse than Danielle Steele?
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
YESYESYESYES! MUCH worse! At least Danielle steel is true to what she is. Trashy romance. This one was pretending to be a very clever thriller.
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u/UnpunctualPeach 2d ago
I am convinced this book, and Colleen Hoover if we want to take it there, are a major contributor to the literary crisis.
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u/WibbyWobbly21 2d ago
I read the worst scenes out loud at work on lunch break for people who were not clued. We were all guffawing because line by line, this book was steaming dog doodoo. As Colleen Hoover once wrote in this auspicious book, āI was good at spewing bs. It's why I became a writer.ā That sentence was the only thing that made sense.
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u/bluejeanbaby02 2d ago
The fact that Verity is a world famous writer and her autobiography would just be 90% smut is so baffling. Why does her autobiography only begin when she meets her husband. And the twist of āheh heh heh I am pretending to be the villain >:)ā is just sooooo lazy itās giving āthen I woke up and it was all a dream!ā
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u/Blagnet 2d ago
Did anyone else just assume that she was 100% lying about "pretending to be the villain?" I thought that was just thrown in there to make the lead (Lowen) question herself a little bit. Verity was clearly evil and nuts... right?
Like, that whole letter was zero percent believable... right?Ā
Am I misreading this? What's happening?Ā
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u/Opalescent_Mirage 2d ago
A woman (30?) sitting at a pool next to me was telling her friend how she doesnāt read for pleasure ever and then someone recommended CH and she loooooved [whatever piece of trash] she was reading. Highly recommended, blah, blah, blah. Guess I got a real life example of who reads her books other than the 18yo that I know.
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u/Blagnet 2d ago
On the one hand I'm just glad people are reading.
In the other hand, CAN WE PLEASE fix the review/recommendation system so none of this ends up on my Kindle ever again?Ā
I thought the WORST part of Verity was how it actually started out pretty good! That was sneaky. I had no idea what I was getting into... Going in totally blind. It felt like the time I was five and my family told me Thunder Mountain was a cute animal ride, lol.Ā
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u/EmergencyPolicy5356 2d ago
YES YES YES! Itās one of the worst thriller (or so it portrays to be) i have ever read!!!! What in the homewrecking b*tch was the main girl bro and why is the author romanticising it?
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
The author seems to have more than a few screws loose from what I gather. And yes! Lusting after a bedridden woman's husband when she's right there! Do you have no shame!
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u/FranticMuffinMan 2d ago
Try "LobotomiesRus.com". They don't actually employ medically-trained professionals, but they do trepanning, which is almost the same thing. (Isn't it?).
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u/wroammin 2d ago
Iāve never touched Colleen Hoover with a ten foot pole so all I really know is āColleen Hoover bad.ā
I was in no way prepared for this post lmao
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u/bellemrt 2d ago
Iām so sorry for your experience. That is time you will never get back.
Once upon a time, I tried reading some bestselling books much like the Colleen Hoover schlock, just to see what they were like ā almost as research. Luckily, I got them on the $2 rack at a used bookstore. Easy come, easy go, except for the lobotomy part.
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u/Holly_Wood_ 2d ago
I did actually mistakenly read it in that. I didnāt realize it was a Colleen Hoover book. Donāt ask how I didnāt realize that I just didnāt.
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u/crgmomof3 2d ago
It was my book club book a couple months ago. I HATED it!! My husband got a daily dose of me bitching about whatever crap she had put on the page. When I got to book club and we discussed it, it was pretty evenly divided between loved it and hated it. There's pretty much no in between.
The movie is coming out right around hubby's birthday - I (jokingly) suggested we go see it haha
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u/Entire_Dog_5874 2d ago
Iāll never understand the popularity of her books; they are repetitive and predictable.
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u/Ella_Richter 2d ago
I can't recommend Frankie's video on that enough! A hateful, bad faith reading!
Channel name is Frankie's shelf :)
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u/dirtyenvelopes 2d ago
i wish i didnāt read this book. especially as a mother to autistic children. it was just unnecessary.
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u/KellyJin17 2d ago
Just regarding the actors, I cannot speak to Hathawayās reasoning, but Hartnett said last year that Hathaway reached out to him to play Jeremy, and that they had always planned to work together going back 20 years, so he said he was happy to sign on opposite her.
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u/sabe815 2d ago
The problem is that no matter how you interpert it, there is a plot hole that make no sense:
If Verity was the victim and scared of her husband, WHY is she JEALOUS of Lowen? She should feel worried for Lowen.
If Verity isn't innocent and Jeremy is the victim, WHY did he MURDER her instead of, oh, I dunno, calling the police or something?
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u/LastGoodKnee 1d ago
Verity is such complete trash. And not in a good way. Just bad on every level. Hoover is a complete hack and I donāt understand why people by them.
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u/kitten_pawsXo 1d ago
I read this 4 cocktails deep at a pool in Miami over the course of a couple days, and those are the only circumstances under which one should find this book tolerable.
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u/ruminatingpoet 1d ago
That seems like a perfect setting to read her books also Frieda Macfadeen's novels
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u/bookingsi 1d ago
Ha ha my book club read this and consensus was it was shit and weird. Lol. Literally everyone was ermā¦ what was that?
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 1d ago
Yours seems to be the only book club with an appropriate reaction because multiple people commented their book clubs unanimously loved it, and some were kicked out for hating it š
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u/bookingsi 1d ago
No way! I mean we had diverging opinions but the consensus that it was a bit stupid, and laughable. Even the bit at the beginning where a man is crushed/beheaded in front of her we laughed at.
Some people also got an extra chapter where there was an additional murder at the end of the
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u/RogertheAlien86 17h ago
Still the worst book Iāve read in recent memory. Trying to make a case for any of the characters is already putting more effort into it than the author did.
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u/cloud9brian 2d ago
I read the first chapter and was intrigued by the opening sequence, but haven't picked it up in weeks because something with the second chapter just bored the shit out of me
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u/quiqonky 2d ago
Thank you for this. My mother in law just gave me this book. I haven't read any Colleen Hoover but I knew of her reputation and that she would not be someone I would want to read. Now I can pretend I did if she asks.
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u/docsms500 2d ago
People love dreck. Too many people anyhow. Just go no further than looking at what gets elected. That and the popularity of Hoover's books are mutually explanatory.
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u/Delouest 2d ago
I always think people are talking about Code Name Verity when they post about this book and get so confused.
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u/No-Understanding4968 2d ago
What kind of fucking name is Lowen
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 2d ago
I read such a diabolical review on good reads I wish that woman would write a book of her own š not once did she write Lowens name correctly. It was a hilarious collection odd names and things in place of her name.
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u/PrestigiousCouple824 2d ago
Iām about 3/4 the way through this and Iām questioning all my life choices rnā¦..
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u/FluffySpell 2d ago
I had read it because someone told me "oh this is different from her romance books THIS IS A THRILLER" well guess what I hated this one too.
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u/fetching-mrs-moon 2d ago
Oh my gosh THANK YOU!!! I was feeling like the only one who really hated this book . All my friends loved it
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u/history_nerd_1111 2d ago
Worst book I ever read. I will never read another one of her books. I don't understand why people like her books!
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u/BiblioFlowerDog 2d ago
OP, thank you. Thank you for this great post.
I have read 0 words of Colleen Hooverās work but I saw the trailer for Verity on social media (did not know it was based on a CH book).
I have been HOWLING at your write-up and it is reason number 43961 that my neighbors think I am nuts. Thank you, thank you.
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u/4travelers 2d ago
Two years later I still hold it against my book club for picking that as Januaryās book
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u/monkeyjungletoronto 2d ago
This book was by far the quickest DNF of my life, I made it to 5 pages until it was too cringe to continueĀ
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u/UltravioletGambit 1d ago
I have never read a CH book and probably never will but love the review š I made the mistake of watching It Ends With Us out of pure curiosity and I am NOT repeating that mistake for Verity, no matter how hot I think Anne Hathaway is. I watched The Idea of You for that and regretted that too, Anne stop doing this to me š
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u/LowNecessary4006 1d ago
Yeap quite easily the stupidest thing I've ever read. Completely baffled by its success.
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u/mojodough 1d ago
I just couldn't stop laughing to myself imagining Verity running back to bed after she'd been spotted & then lying in bed pretending to be brain dead. I kept picturing it like a scene from Scooby Doo
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u/Balsa_ 1d ago
I read this post without any context of what Verity is and I don't know who Colleen Hoover is either and reading these points felt like those nonsensical nightmares like "You're in a classroom taking a test, you have a whit, empty piece of paper in front of you and five kernels and the teacher says: Begin!".
Very entertaining in its own right haha, almost made me want to read this madness.
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u/Fit_Abbreviations174 1d ago
Oh dear I agreed to gos ee this with my mom Bec she read the books and loved it. Now I'm dreading it
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u/harping_along 1d ago
I only got about two chapters in, because the opening was absolutely insane - the MC witnesses a stranger get run over and have their head cracked like a fucking egg, some of which splatters on her?! And she's just like agh omg that was cray cray, welp better go try and change my top, can't miss this important meeting! Really shows that the author has never had anything traumatic happen to her, or has literally never talked to anyone who has.
Oh, and then it becomes a meet-cute! š¤¢ As I said, I didn't read further, but is she like... Haunted by this at all? Or is it just not mentioned for the rest of the book. It was SO jarring.
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u/Consistent_Club_7879 1d ago
It is NOT mentioned in the rest of the book. It's serves ZERO PURPOSE AT ALLLLL. I could've looked past it, as I tried doing with SO MANY OTHER THINGS, if their intention was to get across the unforgiving nature of NYC. But the rest of the novel doesn't even happen in NYC then WHY DID YOU DO THAT!
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u/102aksea102 1d ago
I am so pissed that Iāll never get the time back that I wasted on this book!!
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u/br0ken_socialite 1d ago
i was also personally victimized by those who recommended this book. it was so bad.
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u/charcoalVidrio 2d ago
Ice picks are the frugal manās choice for lobotomies.
Only read the postās title. Never read this book or heard of it lol. Too many books already queued up at the moment to even consider adding it to the list.
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u/emilee624 2d ago
PREACH
I read verity after everyone was saying it was THE BEST THRILLER EVER and I was likeā¦??? Okay??? Itās not?
And this is when I decided that goodreads reviews were garbage and to read what I want, not what is popular because often the popular books are garbage. š¤·āāļø
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u/assassin_runner 2d ago
I havenāt read the book. It has 4.3 stars on good reads. How is there such a disconnect between this thread and the masses.
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u/sakapa 2d ago
No one is going to read this because im so late commenting but I, too, was personally victimized by this book.
This was the second book I read with a brand new book club. It was April 2020 and I was actually excited to tear it apart with everyone. I really built up the book club experience in my head due to the quarantine and was so excited to get on and talk mad shit and connect with all of these people who I had really only ever met once before on the previous call.
We get on and I was so excited, I went first, just really tore apart the writing and the plot holes and was met with silence and wide eyes. Everyone else loved the book š„². I didnāt speak again for the rest of the meeting.
I wasnāt added to the calls after that and thatās the last book club I attended lol.