Verity
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Yall, no. We’re better than this.
Verity has two things going for it: smut and suspense.The former is questionable because literally no one has that much sex. It was gratuitous, but it does explain why so many middle-aged women are drawn to the book (no shade, get that smut). The suspense factor is valid. I almost read this in one sitting and I genuinely had to know how it ended.
But we can read it really fast for a reason. The writing is very superficial. For example, when talking about the reasons why she loves living in NYC, Lowen, the narrator, says, “Anything and everything a person could possibly need can be delivered.” Riveting! Also, the segues are lazy. The book moves back and forth between real-time and a previously written manuscript. The transitions between them are try-hard and eye-rolly.
Yes, I’m cherry-picking. But all of these little details add up to a book that’s juicy and thrilling…and written quite poorly. My biggest gripe is with the letter at the end. It’s the *huge twist* so it has a lot riding on it, but it’s so expository that I could barely get through it. This is not the voice of someone writing a letter. This is the voice of someone trying to explain plot points to a reader through a letter. It’s unrealistic and it’s not how people speak. Speaking of twists, I had a different twist in mind that I would have preferred (lol imagine that). If you’ve read it and want to let me get my twist off my chest, let me know.
I know that I sound like I’m on my little writing high horse, but let me make one more appeal from the sky. I don’t knock the genre and I think there’s a time and a place for a quick, easy read. But so far, Colleen Hoover strikes me as a cheap Gillian Flynn. In my review of Flynn’s Dark Places, I said, “This was a page-turner and I didn’t roll my eyes at the end.” Only the first half of my statement applies to Verity.
I’ll read It Ends With Us because I’m curious if I’m anti-Hoover or just anti-Verity. I’ll try to keep an open mind, but I’m disillusioned. Immediately after reading Verity, I started reading Demon Copperhead because I was without power for three days from an ice storm and what else is there to do? I read by candlelight and felt like the next item on the agenda should be churning butter. Anyway, the difference between the books was STARK. Books like Demon Copperhead (review to come, obviously) make me wonder why we even bother with books like Verity. There are spellbinding books fueled by suspense that are actually written well. Don’t settle! Be best! Verity receives 1 out of 5 flames.
