‘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 to love her.’

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….was pretty much my reaction to this book. It rendered me speechless, which, let me tell you, is a hard thing to do. It is such a fucked up read! It’s crazy, and terrifying, and just…fucked up! And the strangest thing about what I just said, is that I mean it all in a positive way. I LOVED this book so much. It is fantastic.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I was genuinely so gripped, and frightened, by a story. I read it over two days and nights, and I just could not put it down. There was a compulsion in me to find out what happened that I just don’t experience that often…certainly not as urgently as I did with this book.

It is so well written. It’s tense, it’s gritty as hell, and it doesn’t hold back. It will shock you – or, at the very least, it shocked me. There were times while reading it that I felt sick to my stomach at the words I was reading, and I almost didn’t want to continue, but I had to, the story was just so compelling. It’s a rare thing, I think, to read a story that evokes such strong reactions in a person – I gasped aloud more than once while reading, and had to take quite a few deep breaths to steady myself, and had to remind myself that it was a work of fiction.

The characters are brilliantly written too – so layered and complicated. Lowen is so flawed – full of self doubt, full of fear, mostly of herself, and just almost desperate to escape her old life and be someone else – but she is also caring, and tragically vulnerable at times. Jeremy is a grieving husband and father, trying to do his best for his family in tragic circumstances, putting their needs before his own, and trying to forge a new life.

It’s just a juicy, delicious novel that you can sink your teeth into and lose yourself in. The story is at times creepy, and you’ll find yourself looking over your shoulder and maybe asking for company to the bathroom door! The story unfolds in a way I couldn’t have imagined, and the twists in the novel were enough to make me dizzy.

I will issue a warning to anyone thinking about reading this though – it is hard to read. This is not a fluffy, feel good book. It is dark, and twisted, and like I said earlier, just a bit fucked up. If you don’t like books that make you feel a bit uncomfortable, then maybe steer clear of this. But if you like a book that challenges you, and riles you up, then you should definitely check this out.

I rate ‘Verity’ 5 out of 5 stars.