Tawni’s Book Nook: Verity by Colleen Hoover Book Review

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Omg. I finished Verity by Colleen Hoover, and I have SO many thoughts.

I’ve read several of Colleen Hoover’s romance novels, including Reminders of Him, so when I found out she had written a thriller, I was immediately curious. Romance and thrillers are two very different genres, and I wanted to know whether the things I enjoy about her romance writing would translate into something darker and more suspenseful.

Well… apparently they do.

Verity completely blew me away. It was suspenseful, creepy, romantic, spicy and twisted in ways I was not expecting. Every time I thought I understood what was happening, something made me question everything all over again.

And by the end?

I honestly didn’t know who or what to believe.

My Verity by Colleen Hoover Review

Without getting into spoilers yet, Verity follows writer Lowen Ashleigh after she is hired to finish a successful book series written by bestselling author Verity Crawford. Verity is unable to complete the series herself after suffering serious injuries, so Lowen travels to the Crawford home to sort through Verity’s notes and unfinished work.

There, she meets Verity’s husband, Jeremy, and their son, Crew. She also discovers something she definitely wasn’t supposed to find.

And that is about as much as I want to say before we get into spoiler territory.

This was one of those books where I kept telling myself I would read one more chapter, only to immediately start another. I HAD to know what was going to happen.

The story constantly made me question the characters and their intentions. Just when I thought I had figured someone out, I would learn something that completely changed how I saw them.

That uncertainty was probably my favorite part of the entire book.

Verity by Colleen Hoover Actually Scared Me

I expected Verity by Colleen Hoover to be suspenseful. What I wasn’t expecting was for it to actually freak me out. 😂

There were several moments when Lowen would see Verity move or think she caught a glimpse of her somewhere in the house. Even knowing Verity’s condition, those scenes got me EVERY TIME.

Is Verity actually moving? Did Lowen really see that? Is she imagining it?

There is something about being in a dark house with someone who supposedly cannot move and then thinking you just saw that person standing there that is absolutely terrifying.

Apparently, I learned this lesson the hard way because reading some of those scenes at night was a terrible idea. I actually had trouble falling asleep afterward. 😂

That’s when I knew the thriller side of the book was working for me. It wasn’t just that I wanted to solve the mystery. The story created enough suspense that I genuinely felt nervous about what Lowen might see the next time she walked into a room. Since That’s Not My Name introduced me to thrillers, I’ve realized how much I love books that keep me guessing. Verity took that feeling to another level because this time, the suspense actually scared me.

A Thriller With Romance and Spice

Of course, this is still Colleen Hoover.

And thankfully, she did not completely abandon the romance or spice when she decided to write a thriller.

The relationships are messy, complicated and VERY questionable, which somehow works perfectly with the rest of the story. We learn intimate details about Verity and Jeremy’s marriage while also watching the attraction between Lowen and Jeremy develop.

There is romance and sex. There is jealousy and obsession. And all of it is happening while you’re also trying to figure out who might be lying, manipulating someone or possibly doing something much worse.

It’s such a strange combination, but I loved it. If you haven’t read the book yet and want to learn more before we get into spoilers, you can check out Verity on Goodreads.

Maybe thriller romance is becoming my thing? Because apparently I enjoy romance a little more when everyone is slightly unhinged. 😂 I only really discovered my love for psychological thrillers during my 2025 reading journey, and apparently combining them with romance makes them even more addictive for me.

And now, I can’t really say much more without talking about THAT manuscript and THAT letter.

So…

WARNING: Major Verity spoilers from this point forward!

If you haven’t finished the book yet, this is your chance to stop reading.

Seriously.

Go read it.

Then come back because WE NEED TO TALK.

So… Was Verity Actually the Villain?

At the beginning of the book, I actually felt bad for Verity.

Yes, we learn some questionable things about her. She was obsessed with Jeremy. She cared a lot about her appearance and how he viewed her. There were things about her personality that weren’t necessarily likable, but I didn’t immediately see her as this horrible person.

Then Lowen finds the manuscript.

And everything changes.

As I learned more about Verity’s thoughts toward her children and the horrible things she claimed to have done, I went from feeling sorry for her to absolutely despising her.

Especially as a mother, how could you think these things about your own children? How could you DO these things?

At that point, I was convinced.

Verity was the villain.

Except… this is Verity.

Nothing can apparently be that simple.

The Manuscript Made Me Hate Her

Reading Verity’s manuscript completely changed the way I viewed her.

The jealousy she describes toward her own children because they received Jeremy’s attention was disturbing enough. But as the story became darker and the truth about what supposedly happened to their children unfolded, I couldn’t understand how someone could be capable of what I was reading.

I had gone into the story feeling sympathy for Verity because of her condition and everything that had happened to her family.

Now I hated her.

Meanwhile, I was also questioning Jeremy.

Earlier in the book, I actually wondered whether Jeremy might secretly be the bad guy. I’ve read enough thrillers to know that sometimes the seemingly loving husband is exactly the person you should be suspicious of.

But the more I learned about Verity, the more I thought I had gotten Jeremy completely wrong.

Jeremy was good.

Verity was bad.

Mystery solved.

Right?

HAHAHA.

No.

And Then There Was THAT Letter

WHAT?!

The letter completely flipped everything I thought I knew about the story.

According to Verity, the manuscript wasn’t a confession at all. It was a writing exercise. She had been challenged to write from the perspective of a villain and created a fictionalized version of her own life where she made herself the monster.

Which means…

SHE DIDN’T DO IT?!

Suddenly, I was questioning everything AGAIN.

Was Verity actually innocent?

Maybe Jeremy was the dangerous one. Or maybe the manuscript really was fiction. Then again, the letter could have been another manipulation from a woman who knew exactly how to make herself look innocent.

I DON’T KNOW.

Even if I believe the letter, I still have questions about Verity.

I understand that writers explore dark subjects. Obviously, writing about something does not mean you actually want to do it.

But writing THAT about your own children? Your own marriage? Your own husband?

Girl.

I’m all for getting into the mind of a fictional villain, but that is a level of commitment to the exercise that I don’t know if I could ever understand.

And maybe that discomfort is exactly the point.

Jeremy, Lowen and Crew Made Everything More Complicated

Jeremy was probably one of the characters I changed my mind about the most.

At different points, I suspected him, trusted him, felt bad for him and then became suspicious of him all over again.

Even after finishing the book, I don’t know exactly how I feel about him.

Then there’s Lowen, who is trying to make sense of the same information we are. I loved that she didn’t have some magical answer at the end either. She has to decide what she believes based on two completely different versions of Verity.

And then poor Crew.

Obviously, some of his behavior is disturbing, but this child has experienced an unbelievable amount of trauma. He lost both of his sisters, watched his mother become seriously injured and lived in a house filled with secrets and tension.

Someone please get this child a therapist.

Actually, everyone in this book needs therapy.

The Ending Is Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About Verity

Usually, I want answers.

Tell me what happened, who did it. Tell me who was lying.

Verity basically said, “Nope. You figure it out.”

And somehow… I loved that.

The manuscript gives us one version of Verity. The letter gives us another. Jeremy’s actions complicate everything even further. And Lowen is left with the same question I had when I finished the book:

Who was telling the truth?

Was Verity a manipulative woman trying to rewrite the truth after doing horrible things? Or was she a writer whose fictional exercise was mistaken for a confession?

Then there’s Jeremy. Was he a grieving husband who discovered something horrifying about his wife? Or did he kill an innocent woman because he believed something that wasn’t true?

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED?!

I still don’t know.

And I kind of love that I don’t know.

Because days later, I’m still thinking about it.

Is Verity by Colleen Hoover Worth Reading?

For me, Verity by Colleen Hoover is absolutely worth reading.

Verity gave me almost everything I wanted from a thriller: suspense, twists, creepy moments, characters I couldn’t completely trust and an ending that left me questioning everything.

But I also loved that Colleen Hoover brought romance and spice into the story. It made Verity feel different from some of the other thrillers I’ve read while still delivering the suspense I wanted.

I couldn’t put this book down. It scared me enough that I had trouble sleeping, made me change my mind about the characters multiple times and ended with me questioning basically everything I had just read.

What more could I ask for?

Well…

Maybe an answer to whether I’m Team Manuscript or Team Letter.

Because I STILL DON’T KNOW. 😂

And now I’m even more excited to see how all of this translates to the movie.

I already bought my ticket! 🍿