Verity started gruesome and I liked it: Chapter One Review

My first introduction to both Verity and Colleen Hoover as a writer may be the most dramatic and gruesome sentence I have read in a book. Verity starts with a vivid description of some poor soul getting hit by a car, and having his head pop after having a tire run over it. Going into a romance book I wasn’t expecting this level of gore, but I also know nothing about Colleen Hoover aside from that she writes romance and is very popular with TikTok, so that’s probably on me. I’m not complaining about this mind you, I just wasn’t expecting it. Verity then proceeds to describe the scene and how the general public of manhattan would probably realistically react to this horror happening, with most people to absorbed in their phones to even notice, a handful of people attempting to help in the chaos, and the fact that makes me sad, the people who need to pull out their phones and film a dead body to post on their social media platform of choice. Colleen then pointedly points out the difference between smaller towns and the big city by having the mc point out the fact that this is such a common occurrence in Manhattan that it won’t even end up in print, while in Virginia the news would have been on scene already.

Continuing to read Verity, I couldn’t help but feel a kinship with the mc Lowen, who described loving being in Manhattan due to the city being to crowded to give a shit about her. As someone who loves getting lost in the hustle and bustle of a busy city, (the nearest one to myself being Toronto), this was the first of many instances I felt myself connect to Lowen. Which, interesting name. My next feeling of connection was when Lowen described trying to numb herself from the world around her. Now. Let’s paint the scene. Mc Lowen, is standing in the middle of the street covered in blood and maybe a little traumatized. In comes the perfect gentlemen I am hoping is the main love interest to save the day, checking in on the mc and guiding my girl to a coffee shop. After probably confusing and slightly horrifying some random trying to leave the cafe and instead gets blocked in by miss covered in gore, Prince Charming brings Lowen to the bathroom to get this girl cleaned up. In a completely understandable desire to get the gore covered shirt off of herself pronto, Lowen then strips said shirt off in the bathroom in front of Prince Charming, who then worried me for a second on maybe actually being a villain when he goes and locks himself in the bathroom with Lowen, in a way that I felt was described particularly sinister. This had me dreading for a second as Verity had already been darker than I was prepared for, but thankfully there was then a knock on the door assuring mc Lowen that someone would hear her should she scream, (a thought that may not be true Lowen like, hello maybe he walked away????), cutting the tension for our mc and therefore the reader. Prince Charming then comes back by giving Lowen his shirt as hers is a ruined gory mess that needs to be burnt. Talk about chivalrous!!! Lowen then proceeds to complain about how big the shirt is on herself but like girl, it could be a style! Colleen’s writing then proceeded to speak to me as we continued on, and I can honestly say I enjoy reading along the voice of Verity. I’m not quite sure how to explain it yet but I enjoy it.

Lowen then spoke to me again as a character I can connect with by describing a sort of numb reaction to the horror she had witnessed. When she explains this to Prince Charming he shows us that he is also a tortured soul with a vague, “I’ve seen worse, unfortunately”, which, who doesn’t love a jaded man they can heal or some shit. Lowen then proceeds to make Prince Charming even more attractive by describing how he has a competency to himself, and then described his eyes as ‘chartreuse’ which I had to google to discover was a very attractive green. Lowen then shows that while we share the same level of curiosity, she has bigger ovaries than myself by asking what happened to him to make witnessing a literal death an “eh” thing. To his response of “you actually want to know?” I gave a resounding “yes”. His reply? “I pulled my eight year-year-old daughter’s body out of a lake five months ago.” Well fuck man. Now I feel callous and heartless.

A resounding “same though” went through my head when reading Lowen think “sorry for being curious”. To Lowen revealing her mother had died of cancer the week prior, Prince Charming reacts in a way that causes Lowen to compare the to tragedies and find herself lacking, which is kind of fucked but like, I’d probably do the same. Lowen reveals to us both that she probably really needs this convo but also that she’s been caring for her mother for the past year. Lowen and Prince Charming continue to chat about how sad they are when horror struck again and I forgot that I had my coffee leaning against me and stood up, dumping my full coffee cup onto the floor…… anyway sad club conversation continues on and home girl Lowen once again proves she has bigger ovaries than me by getting ready to ask Prince Charming for a coffee thank you date when she notices the ring. And it’s like Colleen come on I don’t want to be a god dame home wrecker here!!! But home girl shows her and I are made from the same cloth by backing off after noticing it.

Lowen then goes back to the scene of the accident to give her statement to police and whatnot, and ends the chapter thinking about how she wished she had had the forethought to hide some of the morphine before hospice took it all, to numb out the world which like, I do that with weed so once again girl I get it. As this was the end of the chapter this is where I will be ending this review/blog/word vomit/ ramble! If your still here thanks for reading and I hope Ill entertain you with chapter two next time!!