Starting with Lowen, at the beginning she appears to us as just a woman trying to live through life’s misfortunes while only really wanting to write books, and maybe find true love. She doesn’t seem like a bad person in the slightest, and despite her various self-deprecating assessments, we still get the impression she is a good person, destined to be a good and lovable heroine. Most surprising was the level of creepiness Hoover managed to incite. A level even some seasoned suspense writers fail to attain. From someone who reads in the genre consistently and watches horror, it’s quite the feat for me to feel this level of anxiety. For my stomach to be twisted in knots, in anticipation of what’s to come—but, it happened. A woman knows if she wants to keep a man forever, she has to act like she could get over him in a day.

I went into Verity knowing I probably wasn’t the right reader for this book — I don’t really like romance novels — and I thought it was better than I expected it to be. I don’t plan on revisiting this author simply because I’m just not all that interested in the types of books she writes, but I was happy to sate my curiosity. The novel is an entrancing, nightmare-inducing, unnerving, and mindboggling novel that will be sure to stay with the reader for years to come. Now, let’s move deeper into our book review and meet Lowen and the Crawfords. The Pain UnderThere are two things that kind of bothered me, but with me, storytelling is everything. And this book had it in spades. It’s a steady burn that has mystified Angelica Manglona, the manager at Buxton Books in Charleston, South Carolina. “The longevity is what stands out the most,” she said. “We have books that fly off the shelves when they come out – like Crying at H Mart, or The Summer I Turned Pretty – but it will generally last a week, or a month, and then sales peter out. The Colleen Hoover books keep selling.”

One of the strengths of the novel is the exploration of the characters' complex emotions and motivations. Each character is well-developed and multi-dimensional, making it difficult to determine who is trustworthy. The plot is intricately crafted and keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The narrative is fast-paced and the tension builds with each passing chapter. The letter describes how Verity wrote the manuscript as a writing exercise to practice her antagonistic point of view that she uses for her novels. She also writes about how Jeremy knew about the manuscript and had forced her into the "accident" because of it. 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.

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I find it fitting that the villain and a character that in a sense was meant to be unlikable was my favourite the whole time. My mother used to say that houses have a soul, and if that is true, the soul of Verity Crawford’s house is as dark as they come.” – Lowen, Chapter 4 Lowen is essentially asked to write the rest of a book series for an incredibly famous author and her husband asks if she would come to stay at their house for a while to study her notes so she has a better understanding of how to finish the final three books.