BookTok Review: Verity

The way we receive our recommendations for books, movies, and art is constantly evolving and changing in the wake of the Internet. One of the most significant influences in the selection of popular literature today is the social media app TikTok. This platform has been used to share a wide variety of content and book recommendations. This community of avid readers is often referred to as “BookTok.” It has become so well-known that Barnes and Noble’s website even has a page dedicated to books that are popular on “BookTok.”

Looking at the way our culture consumes media and literature made me wonder if these books are genuinely good reads or just popular and overrated. I decided to put this question to the test and read a popular BookTok favorite. As I was scrolling through BookTok an author whose books I kept seeing was Colleen Hoover. Due to her popularity it seemed like reading one of her novels would be a great place to start answering my questions about the world of BookTok.

Hoover’s novel Verity is a suspenseful thriller about struggling author Lowen Ashleigh. She accepts a job to finish writing the remaining books of a successful series by famous author Verity Crawford, who has been injured in a car wreck and therefore  unable to finish the novel. The plot moves fast, and it is an interesting read with lots of twists and turns. 

Honestly, I had a hard time putting the book down. The storyline is filled with constant tragedy and drama that is written with just enough information to keep you intrigued, but not enough that you can know the answers right away. It became easy to read chapter after chapter, losing track of time in the pursuit of learning the ending of this dark story. 

While the characters can come across as self-absorbed and selfish, especially  Lowen, they are a particularly strong aspect of this story. The characters live in an unknown and gray area in terms of morality. I believe the ability to show these nuances in humanity is what makes Verity a strong read.

There are many points where the reader questions Lowen’s motives. As she begins to fall in love with Verity’s husband her intentions and morals begin to appear less pure, instead influenced by love and lust. The reader discovers Verity’s most private thoughts when Lowen finds her hidden manuscripts, exposing her character to be malevolent. In the beginning Verity’s husband, Jeremy, appears to be the picture perfect father and husband. However, his willingness to so openly flirt with Lowen makes his true character questionable. 

Although I liked the easy-to-read plot and intriguing characters, there are aspects of the novel which could be stronger. Verity follows the BookTok genre's  tendency to be written in the first person and have little dialogue. This trope tends to create a genre of novels with characters that feel self-centered and slightly self-absorbed. Because this has become a common trend in many novels today, it can be repetitive and lack originality.

The lack of dialogue can make the novel feel as though it lacks substance. For example, there are moments throughout the book where Jeremy and Lowen open up and share deep personal traumas with one another. However, because there are limited foundational conversations that establish  their relationship, it often feels unrealistic that two strangers would be so vulnerable with one another.  

Another aspect of Verity that was off-putting was the reliance on raunchy and explicit storylines to propel the story forward. This is another common theme throughout the “BookTok Genre” which makes the writing seem more like a lifetime movie than a work of literature that changes one’s perspective on the world or has a lasting effect on them. While it makes the story interesting for the reader and is a significant contributing factor to the success of Verity and other popular BookTok reads, it can cheapen the writing unnecessarily. 

Verity, like many other suspense novels, has some potential loopholes in the plotline. There are storylines and events which seem to not be plausible and require a certain suspension of belief to read. While this may be frustrating for some readers it is something that I believe is a common theme across the suspense and thriller genres.

If you are looking for some escapism and an easy read, then I believe Verity, like many other BookTok novels, is a fun read. It was a book that both kept me entertained and allowed my brain to take a break. Reading Verity confirmed my original suspicion that BookTok novels usually fall outside the literature of Great American Classics such as The Great Gatsby. However, I believe that there is a market and need for these types of novels, and it takes a talented author to write one successfully. BookTok novels provide an outlet to escape the stresses of everyday life and get lost in a world different from our everyday realities. 

October 2022