Verity

t o d d w a r n e r reviewed Verity by Amy Landon

ridiculous and fun

3 stars

A fellow writer handed me this book. She chuckled and said, "You only have to read the first chapter."

Well. I read the first chapter. Then the rest of the book. I know it was supposed to be clumsy and bad, but … I actually kinda liked it. Ha!

Is it often ridiculous? Oh yes. Like, Hallmark movie ridiculous, with enough melodrama to make a romance writer blush. The opening scene alone took WTF? to 11. Did the novel always make sense? Not a chance. Were there plot holes? Yup.

But ...

The writing at the line level mainly was pretty darn good. Zooming out, the structure was solid, and the pacing was on point. And the characters … at least some of them were interesting.

All this book needed was an editor with the power to say "No."

So. Fun read. Don't expect a lot and you may enjoy …

A fellow writer handed me this book. She chuckled and said, "You only have to read the first chapter."

Well. I read the first chapter. Then the rest of the book. I know it was supposed to be clumsy and bad, but … I actually kinda liked it. Ha!

Is it often ridiculous? Oh yes. Like, Hallmark movie ridiculous, with enough melodrama to make a romance writer blush. The opening scene alone took WTF? to 11. Did the novel always make sense? Not a chance. Were there plot holes? Yup.

But ...

The writing at the line level mainly was pretty darn good. Zooming out, the structure was solid, and the pacing was on point. And the characters … at least some of them were interesting.

All this book needed was an editor with the power to say "No."

So. Fun read. Don't expect a lot and you may enjoy it. Think of it as a romance writer attempting to write suspense, which should set the right expectations.

Happy reading, folks.

Cari Fisher reviewed Verity by Amy Landon

Review of 'Verity' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I really wanted to like this book. It's a familiar trope, the handsome man with the sick wife in the home, going all the way back to Jane Eyre. But Hoover just didn't pull it off. She tried to do something different, but it didn't work. The story was weird and convoluted and the characters is very basic, but I didn't start to hate it until towards the end. Then there is the odd add-in of her sleepwalking that never actually went anywhere or was resolved in any way. I was trying to guess what the "twist" would be, but turns out I needn't have bothered because it would be spoon fed to me with little room for interpretation. The only thing I did enjoy was the idea of a found "journal", but that's been done before too. All in all, a bad attempt at changing an already proven plotline.

David reviewed Verity by Amy Landon

Review of 'Verity' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Well, that was…disappointing.

Amber Herbert reviewed Verity by Colleen Hoover

Review of 'Verity' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book was so well written that I often found myself questioning the believability of Lowen and Verity. If you want a quick read that heavily seasons the prose with suspense, I'd highly recommend this work.

anka.trini reviewed Verity by Colleen Hoover

Review of 'Verity' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

War allgemein spannend, aber die Auflösung fand ich einfach nur bescheuert.

NightDrake reviewed Verity by Amy Landon

Review of 'Verity' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

This book was pretty simple. I knew how it was going to end, though I did like the main character well enough. I thought one part of the ending was Verity trying to get out of what she did, and it was written as an after thought. And how could Verity think that she could get things over on people who are in the medical field? I thought Jeremy was a nice enough guy, but was pretty sex crazy, andJeremy and Verity's little boy was pretty cute.
Not a bad attempt for a Romantic Suspense novel, but Hoover could have done a lot better. I think she should stick with Romance, because this book was a flap for me. There wasn't a lot put into the story, and when the main character entered the house, and strange things started happening, that made me realize how the story was going to …

This book was pretty simple. I knew how it was going to end, though I did like the main character well enough. I thought one part of the ending was Verity trying to get out of what she did, and it was written as an after thought. And how could Verity think that she could get things over on people who are in the medical field? I thought Jeremy was a nice enough guy, but was pretty sex crazy, andJeremy and Verity's little boy was pretty cute.
Not a bad attempt for a Romantic Suspense novel, but Hoover could have done a lot better. I think she should stick with Romance, because this book was a flap for me. There wasn't a lot put into the story, and when the main character entered the house, and strange things started happening, that made me realize how the story was going to end.

avid-reader reviewed Verity by Amy Landon

Review of 'Verity' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I was about to give 3 stars, but the ending prompted me to add another star to that! :-)

Positives:
- suspense: one of the quickest reads for me in a long time
- topic: I liked the meta-aspect of a writer, writing about a writer which writes for another writer. Well and their writing is the main plot driver.
- ending: the turn of events surprised me. I had two or three possibilities for the ending outlined in my head and none of which were as satisfying as the actual ending.

Negatives:
- too much dirty talk...
- Sometimes unconvincing excuses for her not to continue read the manuscript and find out what's happened to verity