What would you do if a stranger you met on the side of the road offered to pay you lots of money to finish the last three novels in his very famous, very talented, and very injured wife’s book series? What if you met that stranger covered in blood after witnessing a man die in a vehicular crash? Or if the stranger had twin daughters who suspiciously died in two separate “accidents”? What if the stranger was insanely attractive and impossible to resist? Well Lowen Ashleigh accepts the offer, a decision she’s come to regret, especially after she finds an unpublished autobiography in his wife’s office, the contents of which are so horrifying, he would have no choice but to leave her.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author, Colleen Hoover is Verity, an unbelievable tale of deception and betrayal. The title is a reference to Verity Crawford, the author Lowen is writing for, and the wife of Jeremy Crawford, who Lowen is growing closer to by the day. While this book should not be classified as a romance, it wouldn’t be a Colleen Hoover book without a love connection. Jeremy and Lowen are drawn together from the beginning in a way that’s not always officially acknowledged but that the readers can feel through the pages. Lowen’s character is very vital to the progression of the story, and while she has her own dark past, it feels the smallest bit reassuring to have a narrator who is semi-normal and makes semi-reasonable decisions. 

Verity’s character leaves much to be desired. Although her presence throughout the book is written in a way that will either keep you up at night or haunt you in your dreams, her entire arc is thrown out in the last chapter. For some readers, that may be a fun plot twist, but for readers like myself, it was just a let-down. The book builds her up to be a villain, revealing her to be more evil than you could imagine with each chapter. Spoiler alert: the “plot twist” at the end reveals the possibility that maybe she’s actually a good person and that the entire plot was one giant misunderstanding. This was disappointing to say the least, but one of the many reasons I appreciate Hoover’s choice to leave interpretation of the ending up to the reader, begging the question— are you team manuscript or team letter? The book, which was originally released in 2018, had a hardcover version with a brand new chapter come to stands on September 27th. Fans of the book were upset to find that the book’s final question was not explicitly answered, but it does lead readers to new revelations about Jeremy, the mysterious leading man.

While the plot twist wasn’t my favorite, it was certainly a page turner from the first line— ”I hear the crack of his skull before the splattering of blood reaches me” to the last— “The only question that remains is: which truth was she manipulating?”