Lowen is a struggling writer who gets the opportunity of a lifetime to co-write a series with acclaimed author, Verity Crawford. When she arrives at Verity's home to do some research, she comes across a disturbing autobiography revealing the truth about all the tragic events in her life. Should Lowen let Verity's "dreamy" husband, Jeremy, know wassup? Or just sex him instead? Find out! For two reasons, actually. One, it is so compulsively readable that it's almost impossible to put it down until you've finished it. And two, it is seriously creepy and disturbing. Warnings for depictions of child abuse and some graphic violence.

How I imagined Verity every time she'd unexpectedly turn her creepy head on the heroine😭😭 Alright I do apologise for that one but come on.... You can tell Verity, that silly goose, was having the time of her life and so was I.

Even before she arrives though, we are set up for suspense. Much to Lowen’s suspicion, she finds next to nothing about Verity’s accident online. Then she tries getting into the author’s head with one of her works and realizes two things; one, the villain’s perspective the book is written in is impressively realistic and two, she will never be able to measure up to this author. So when Lowen finally arrives at the Crawford home, she is anxious and intimidated – so are we. Lowen Ashleigh, the ghostwriter hired to complete the prolific author Verity Crawford’s work, discovers a horrifying truth – an autobiographical manuscript written by Verity, detailing her innermost thoughts and how she dealt with (and caused) the tragedies that befell the Crawford family. Now bedridden, Verity seems harmless and lost to the world, but Lowen can’t shake off the awareness that Verity is very much conscious and is hiding something more. While trying to sort through Verity’s notes and see where she was going with her story, she finds a manuscript titled “So Be It.” It turns out to be Verity’s own unpublished biography, and though Lowen’s job doesn’t involve doing much reading, she can’t help herself but become absorbed in the woman’s recollection of her storied past. However, as she reads further and further, the subject matter becomes darker and darker, containing some troubling revelations about the Crawford family. I couldn’t help thinking it’s a premonition, and true enough, Lowen discovers Verity’s manuscript soon after and we discover it’s not just the soul of the house that’s dark. Immediately I want to express just how much the heroine ruined this whole book for me. Reading from her POV was like taking a knife, exposing every nerve in my body, and pouring vinegar all over them. To be truthful I don't even remember her name. Every time it was spelt out, I read it, then instantly like my brain knows self-preservation, it erases the letters as if I never saw them. Loren? Mulan? Rowan? No clue.

It’s a steady burn that has mystified Angelica Manglona, the manager at Buxton Books in Charleston, South Carolina. “The longevity is what stands out the most,” she said. “We have books that fly off the shelves when they come out – like Crying at H Mart, or The Summer I Turned Pretty – but it will generally last a week, or a month, and then sales peter out. The Colleen Hoover books keep selling.” Verity by Colleen Hoover was sold to me as one of the best books people had read –“amazing” and “mind-blowing” were some of the terms used on social media when I asked if anyone had read it. I have to say – it’s so hard to review as for the first 95% it was tense but incredibly easy to guess, however, the final 5% completely changes everything you’ve read in the book and I don’t know whether it was a great book as a result or an easy way for Hoover to make a fairly average novel suddenly flip on its head and mean something entirely different. The house doesn’t help. Colleen Hoover sets the scene with sharp attention to detail, capturing the endless estate, the eerie stillness of the lake that spans the massive house, and the gloomy hills beyond. Chills ran down my spine when Lowen said: In her past life, Hoover was a social worker. As CoHo legend has it, she had no computer of her own so she borrowed her mother’s work laptop and wrote in the middle of the night. A desire to help others shines through her work. Using plain prose that goes down as easy as value-table white wine, she embeds lines like: “There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things” and “Just because someone hurts you doesn’t mean you can simply stop loving them.”Verity Crawford is a writer’s writer in Lowen’s world. She is extremely popular and famous. However, things don’t usually go the way that we like just because of our financial or commercial success. She was injured rather badly in an accident and is not in the position to end the final three novels in one of her series. When I found out that Hoover had published an ebook, I got it immediately. Verity is addictive. I could not put it down. It is consuming you and leaves you speechless. Never in my life have I read a book so well written and with so many plot twists that you just cannot wrap your head around it. You just do not know what the truth is in the end. is it like a Mr Rochester thing? Because this book does seem constructed around Jane Eyre nods in many ways.

The novel is an entrancing, nightmare-inducing, unnerving, and mindboggling novel that will be sure to stay with the reader for years to come. Now, let’s move deeper into our book review and meet Lowen and the Crawfords. The Pain UnderI cannot believe this is Colleen Hoover's first thriller. Reading this feels like watching a master at their craft, setting the bar higher than I ever thought possible. This story is so astonishing and unsettling and completely original. It will stay with me for a long time.