Verity

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
 
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night her family was forever altered.
 
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.

My Thoughts

This is my first Colleen Hoover and apparently Verity is a departure into suspense from her usual bestsellers. It was an interesting premise and it did keep me reading but it was dark, twisted with depictions of child abuse and I didn’t find any of the characters likeable. I wasn’t rooting for anyone except the poor traumatised child. The ending seemed implausible. When I finish a book and spend the next half an hour thinking in sentences beginning with but…. but how could that…but she wouldn’t have… I’m afraid it didn’t fulfil its promise.