Published by Sphere
Publication Date:16th December 2021
Book Description:
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 their family was forever altered.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would 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:
Verity is another book which I have studiously avoided due to the massive hype that surrounds it. But recently I must have been experiencing a dose of FOMO and decided to read a few of the books which have been stealing the headlines of the book world during recent times - the ones which continue to make waves after a considerable amount of time - in order to find out if they're really worth it.
Verity arrived at the top of the TBR pile as the option for a buddy read with my daughter - an interesting choice for a mother-daughter read you may think. Hmm...we wondered the same once we'd reached a few chapters in and established that the content of this book is, well...quite smutty, shall we say! (Don't worry, my daughter is in her mid-twenties, so is a young adult and it actually made for an interesting discussion regarding the type of content and us perhaps having different viewpoints based on age. Part way through I wondered whether it was because I'm middle-aged (eek! when did that happen?!) that I rolled my eyes so many times and thought "oh good grief, here we go again!" when yet another sex scene was written in detail - whatever happened to the fade to black style of writing these things?? I don't think I'm a prude,but you only need so much of that to describe the type of relationship a couple are in: OK, I understand! Move on! I'm not sorry to say that I skipped a fair amount of pages due to this.
Anyway, I digress. The overall storyline introduces struggling author Lowen Ashleigh, who is literally at the point of being evicted from her home when she is introduced by her agent to the husband of extraordinarily successful author Verity Crawford. Her publishers have a multi-book deal set up and it has been decided that a ghost writer is needed to complete the series, as Verity herself is incapacitated following a car crash and is not in a position to write the books herself. The task falls to Lowen, who is required to work through all of Verity's notes to try to work out where she was planning on taking the final instalments of the series and writing convincing books for the publishers to take to market. As she investigates the contents of Verity's office, she discovers a manuscript hidden away which makes suggestions that the reality of Verity's life had lots of secrets hidden from her husband, some of which would completely change his view of the events leading up to Verity's car crash.
As I read through this book, it almost felt like there were two separate books going on; a mystery/thriller which (being my favoured genre) I was intrigued by, and a spicy "romance" which I felt kind of was relevant but not to the extent it kept cropping up (see my earlier comments). I kept wondering where these two vastly different stories would dovetail, and I'm still not entirely convinced that they did. I enjoyed the concept of Lowen reading Verity's manuscript - it was kind of like a book within the book, which is really clever - however I found the everyday "creepy" happenings in the story a little bit predictable and not always particularly credible. If I hadn't have been buddy reading, there were times that I possibly would have abandoned the book as it was quite repetitive in the middle section however every now and then there would be a twist or suggestion which would drag me back in to keep me engaged.
For me - and many others, I've since found out after finishing the book - the ending made the whole thing worthwhile. I found myself deliberating various facts from the manuscript and comparing them with the version of the truth that Verity's husband was living with - there is definitely still a lot to ponder over in this book once you filter out the unnecessary bits. Which side of the "Verity fence" do I sit on? I'm still not sure even now, a couple of weeks after completing the book. If you haven't already read it, I would recommend the thriller side of the storyline and if you like a smutty read this is definitely one you'll enjoy. The arguments and discussions (for which there are many forums set up online) will rumble on for the rest of time I think, however I couldn't offer more than around 3.75 stars to this book, although I do see why people press it into the hands of their friends. I, however, won't be one of them.
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