If you liked “The Housemaid,” you’re going to love “Verity” by Colleen Hoover. Despite Hoover being a controversial author, she completely delivers with this novel. I often read Hoover’s books whenever I am in a book slump and cannot find the motivation to read anything. 

My friend Emily had told me to read this book because she loved it, and often when a friend recommends me a book, I hyper fixate on it and try to read it immediately. There is just no other feeling that can be matched when you can talk to someone about a good book. Majority of the time I read and then there is no one else who has read the same book as me, and sometimes it is complete torture (especially when it is the only thing I can think about).

When I was watching “The Housemaid,” I got some of the same eerie vibes that I got when I read “Verity.” Even though the storyline is different, “Verity” still carries those same psychological thriller elements of a domestic relationship, an affair, a psychotic spouse, an outsider living inside, and a child that is a little suspicious. 

Lowen Ashleigh is a writer who is hired by a bestselling author’s husband, Jeremy Crawford, to help ghostwrite the final three books of his wife Verity’s very successful series. Verity is unable to write the rest of the books because she is bedridden and unresponsive after a severe car accident.

Lowen lives and works at the Crawford’s residence to focus on performing her end of the deal. She is given the 

permission to work in Verity’s office for the time being and goes through the detailed notes – and discovers a manuscript that Verity wrote that gives insight into her life pre-accident. It is basically a confessional to what really happened and Lowen begins to fear for her safety in the house. 

The goose bump feeling that you get while reading is the fact that Jeremy and Verity had three kids, but only one of them is alive. The entire time I was scratching my head trying to figure out the truth. There is a letter at the end that was written by Verity post-accident, that tells a completely different version of the story.

The ending of the novel is super ambiguous, and the reader is faced with having to choose whether they believe the manuscript or the letter (two completely different endings). To this day, Emily and I have debates on the ending because she believes one side and I believe the other. I love endings that are like that because it allows the reader to choose which ending, they think actually happened. 

The love I have for this novel reignited whenever Amazon Studios announced they are in the process of making this film. I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw the cast too. Dakota Johnson is starring as Lowen and Anne Hathaway as Verity. Now, I did not necessarily picture someone like Hathaway as Verity, because the descriptions of the character are vastly different – but I have high confidence that Hathaway will outperform any of my expectations. The film is set to release on Oct. 2 of this year.

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