Book Review | The Paper Artist | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ — 4.5/5 Stars
One seriously creepy house, three questionable adults, and a reader who trusted absolutely nobody.
Grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and let's talk books.
Remember my last reading adventure? The one involving a lighthouse, endless descriptions of mundane activities, and a character who successfully chewed and swallowed his eggs?
Yes. THAT book.
If you missed that adventure, you can catch up with my review of The Lighthouse by Jessie Newton — Part 2
Well, I'm happy to report that I've recovered.
And apparently, all it took was Colleen Hoover.
I picked up Verity, and less than 24 hours later, I'd finished the entire book.
And no, I didn't spend those hours lounging around doing absolutely nothing. There was dinner to prepare, dishes to wash, people to chat with, work to do and all the other little responsibilities that insist on interrupting a perfectly good reading session.
But every spare moment?
My nose was back in that Kindle.
I was hooked.
Freida McFadden Meets Jackie Collins?
At some point during this reading adventure, I developed a theory.
Had Freida McFadden and Jackie Collins secretly collaborated on a novel and decided to publish it under the name Colleen Hoover?
Because that's certainly what it felt like!
One minute, I was immersed in a psychological thriller, questioning everyone's motives and wondering who might be hiding something sinister.
The next minute, Jackie Collins appeared to have taken over the keyboard.
Good heavens!
Let's just say there's a book within this book, and the two stories have VERY different personalities.
Freida handles the psychological suspense.
Jackie handles the extracurricular activities.
And Colleen gets all the credit.
A Book Inside a Book
One of the things I genuinely enjoyed about Verity was the unusual storytelling structure.
Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer, is hired to complete a series of books for successful author Verity Crawford, who is no longer able to finish them herself.
Lowen moves into the Crawford home to review Verity's notes and research.
And that's where things get interesting.
She discovers a manuscript that appears to reveal some deeply disturbing information about Verity's life.
Suddenly, we're reading two stories.
There's Lowen's experience inside the Crawford home, and then there's the manuscript she's discovered.
From one page to the next, I had to remember whose story I was invested in.
And I loved that!
The manuscript creates an entirely different atmosphere from the main narrative, and I found myself becoming increasingly suspicious of absolutely everyone.
Including the author.
Not Verity.
Colleen Hoover herself!
Because I was convinced she was trying to pull a fast one on me.
Three Adults. Zero Trust.
Here's the thing about Verity.
I didn't trust anybody.
Not Jeremy, the charming husband.
Not Verity, whose circumstances and behavior raised more questions than answers.
And certainly not Lowen, whose decision-making skills occasionally left me wondering whether she'd misplaced her common sense somewhere between the bedroom and the office.
At one point, I found myself questioning whether any of these people were playing with a full deck.
And that suspicion followed me through practically the entire book.
Every time I thought I understood what was happening, another detail made me reconsider.
That's something I particularly admire about Colleen Hoover's writing.
She knows how to create intrigue.
She gives the reader enough information to develop theories, but not necessarily enough to feel confident about them.
And I was developing theories faster than I could turn the pages.
Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh
Now, I realize Verity is supposed to be a dark, disturbing psychological thriller.
And believe me, parts of it certainly are.
But occasionally, something would catch me completely off guard and I'd find myself laughing at my Kindle.
At one point, I encountered the phrase:
“An egg shell with no yoke.”
Well, that cracked me up.
Literally.
And after my previous book, which seemed determined to document every stage of someone eating breakfast, I apparently wasn't prepared for another memorable egg reference.
Then there was Lowen's reaction to the possibility of Verity turning off the television.
Let's just say she was prepared to leave that house immediately, barefoot, and never return.
I laughed out loud.
Because honestly, after everything happening in that house, I was beginning to think leaving without shoes might be the most sensible decision anyone had made!
There were also moments when I found myself questioning the characters' perfectly ordinary decisions.
Like why someone would climb out a bedroom window when there was a perfectly good door available.
Does nobody in this house know how doors work?!
And don't even get me started on the child and his fascination with knives.
Good heavens.
I wasn't sure whether to keep reading or start handing out safety instructions.
Lowen, Honey, We Need to Talk
Now, I didn't dislike Lowen.
But I did find her frustrating.
She struck me as a woman who desperately needed someone else to validate her worth.
And as her relationship with Jeremy developed, I found myself wishing she'd discover a little more confidence in herself.
At times, she seemed far too willing to lose herself in a man, just like Verity.
There were moments when I wanted to reach into the book, grab her by the shoulders, and say:
Woman! You are a successful writer. Believe in yourself!
But then I started thinking about her childhood.
Lowen's sleepwalking had been a source of distress in her relationship with her mother.
And that made me wonder whether she'd grown up feeling unacceptable simply for being herself.
Our childhood experiences help shape our adult relationships.
Perhaps Lowen's need for validation came from never quite feeling accepted as a child.
That doesn't excuse every questionable decision she made, but it gave me a little more sympathy for her.
I didn't want her to fail.
I wanted her to find some courage and recognize her own worth.
And honestly, I don't think she ever quite got there.
The Mystery Had Me Hooked
By the time I reached 27% of the book, I was already laughing, questioning characters, and thoroughly enjoying myself.
At 60%, I still hadn't decided who was trustworthy.
At 78%, I was convinced there had to be more to the story.
And at 85%?
I was practically cross-examining Colleen Hoover.
Surely an author who had done such a fabulous job building suspense wasn't going to hand me a tidy explanation with so much of the book remaining?
I kept expecting something bigger.
Some spectacular revelation that would make me reconsider everything I'd read.
And that brings me to the ending.
Did the Ending Deliver?
For me?
Not entirely.
Now, don't misunderstand me.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I was entertained from beginning to end, and Hoover did an excellent job keeping me interested.
But I was expecting a more dramatic conclusion.
I had developed some rather elaborate theories about Jeremy and his relationships with the women in his life.
At one point, I was practically convinced he was weaving a web around Lowen.
I thought there might be something far more sinister happening beneath the surface.
And while the ending certainly leaves readers with questions, I found myself wanting a stronger resolution.
Instead, I was left wondering what to believe.
Perhaps that uncertainty was precisely the author's intention.
Some readers love an ambiguous ending.
Others want the mystery solved, the loose ends tied up, and everyone sent home with their luggage.
Apparently, I'm somewhere in the middle.
I appreciate being left with something to think about.
But after spending an entire book investigating everyone, I wouldn't have minded a little more certainty.
I wanted the big reveal.
And I didn't quite get the one I was hoping for.
When a Book Earns the Next Page
This isn't the first time I've encountered a book that seemed determined to test my patience.
Last November, I picked up The Housemaid by Freida McFadden and finished it in two days. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately started the second book in the series, The Housemaid's Secret.
Three days later, that one was finished too.
Both were terrific reads!
Naturally, I couldn't wait to start the third book, The Housemaid Is Watching.
And then...
What happened?!
Seriously. Did somebody change authors when I wasn't looking?
I couldn't believe all three books had been written by the same person.
The first two had me eagerly turning pages, anxious to discover what would happen next. The third seemed to have lost whatever made those earlier stories so entertaining.
It was a real snooze fest.
And there it sits, nearly a year later, still half-finished on my Kindle.
The funny thing is, I'm still curious whether it eventually gets better.
Perhaps there's a spectacular twist waiting just a few chapters beyond where I stopped.
Or perhaps I'll spend another three days waiting for something interesting to happen.
After my experience with The Lighthouse, I'm not particularly eager to conduct that experiment.
But it reinforces something I've come to appreciate about reading.
A familiar author doesn't guarantee a fabulous book, and a slow beginning doesn't always promise a worthwhile ending.
Every story has to earn my attention.
And whatever reservations I had about the conclusion of Verity, Colleen Hoover certainly accomplished that.
She made me want to turn the next page.
And the next.
And the next.
Until suddenly, less than 24 hours later, there were no pages left.
Editor's note: Finish The Housemaid Is Watching and write a review.
My Rating: — 4.5 Out of 5 Stars
If I were rating Verity purely on its ability to keep me reading, Colleen Hoover would receive a solid five stars.
I was hooked almost immediately, and I finished the entire book in less than 24 hours.
That's impressive, especially considering I had a perfectly normal life to attend to between chapters!
But then there was the ending.
After all that suspense, all those suspicions, and all the elaborate theories I'd developed, I was expecting one final, spectacular revelation.
Instead, I was left with more questions than answers.
So I'm deducting half a star.
Not because I didn't enjoy the book—I absolutely did—but because I wanted that final moment when everything suddenly falls into place.
Five stars for keeping me turning pages. Half a star lost for leaving me wanting just a little more.
And honestly? A book that keeps me entertained for less than 24 hours and still has me discussing it after I've finished deserves a pretty darn good rating.
Would I Recommend It?
Absolutely!
If you enjoy psychological thrillers, morally complicated characters, and stories that keep you questioning everyone's motives, Verity is certainly worth considering.
Just be prepared for some disturbing subject matter, including child abuse, violence, and explicit sexual content.
And don't expect everyone to behave sensibly.
They certainly didn't consult me before making their decisions.
My Final Thoughts
What I appreciated most about Verity was Colleen Hoover's ability to keep me guessing.
I didn't always like the characters.
I didn't always agree with their decisions.
And I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending.
But I was invested.
I wanted to know what happened next.
I wanted to understand the characters.
And I wanted to outsmart the author.
She certainly made me work for it.
After my previous reading experience, where I spent more than a month waiting for something interesting to happen, Verity was a welcome change.
One book took me a month to finish because I didn't particularly want to read it.
The other took less than 24 hours because I didn't particularly want to stop.
And that, my friends, says a great deal about the power of good storytelling.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need another coffee.
I've spent less than 24 hours investigating a fictional family, and I still don't trust any of them.
Not even the kid. What's with that child and the knives, anyway?!
Coffee in hand & something always on the craft table,
Julie — The Paper Artist
