Months before the release of It Ends with Us, another Colleen Hoover book is officially getting a film adaptation: Verity.
Hoover has been on the literary scene for just over a decade but has already become one of the most widely recognized authors nationwide. Her fame is partially due to the TikTok community known as BookTok. BookTok has been known to drive the sales of fantasies and steamy romances, making Hoover’s romance novels among some of the most highly recommended books on the platform. It wasn’t long before one of her books, It Ends with Us, was optioned for a film adaptation by Justin Baldoni. The movie is set to release in August after several delays and will star Baldoni and Blake Lively in the lead roles.
While Hoover is an immensely popular author, her career hasn’t been without controversy. Many protested the It Ends with Us movie as the book has been accused of romanticizing and spreading misinformation on domestic abuse. The book’s main controversy arose because readers seemed to misinterpret the theme, leading to many reviewers concerningly siding with the abuser and suggesting his victim should’ve remained in a relationship with him simply because their romance was so steamy. Meanwhile, the idea of adapting all the disturbing abuse scenes to the screen without an understanding of or educational commentary on domestic abuse is equally concerning.
Before viewers can even see how It Ends with Us turns out, another divisive Hoover book film adaptation is already on the way.
Amazon MGM to develop Verity movie
On May 1st, Variety reported that a Verity film was in the works at Amazon MGM Studios. Few details have been released about the film. However, it is confirmed that screenwriter Hillary Seitz, best known for Insomnia and Eagle Eye, has signed on to write the movie’s script. Meanwhile, Nick Antosca and Alex Hedlund are set to produce. So far, no casting announcements have been made, nor has a director been attached. The film does not have a release date, and since it is in very early production, it likely won’t arrive until mid- or late 2025 at the earliest.
Plotwise, the Verity movie is expected to follow the book quite closely. The book follows Lowen Ashleigh, a young woman who is hired as a ghostwriter to finish the book series of bestselling author Verity Crawford. Crawford is unable to complete the series after being left in a coma from a horrific car accident. However, Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford, and her publicists want to keep her condition private, hence the hiring of a ghostwriter to finish her series. Lowen heads to the Crawford estate, hoping to find inspiration in Verity’s notes. Instead, she finds an unfinished autobiography manuscript that details Verity’s deepest and most horrific secrets. As Lowen begins a relationship with Jeremy, she questions whether to keep the content of Verity’s autobiography a secret.
Verity isn’t as controversial as It Ends with Us but has successfully divided readers. On the one hand, it can’t be denied it is quite the psychological thriller. It’s unbelievably dark and twisted and will leave readers uncertain of the truth by the end, but it may be too unhinged for fans of even the most disturbing thrillers. Also, like many of her works, it has been accused of being misogynistic and ableist. After all, the main villain is a woman who is so sex-obsessed that she is jealous of the children her husband forced her to have and also believes one of her daughters, who is on the autism spectrum, is evil. Also, it focuses on not one but two women whose lives essentially have no meaning until they find a mediocre and toxic man to fall in love with.
Verity is easily one of Hoover’s most unhinged works, and it’s uncertain if it can even be adapted without an NC-17 rating. Hopefully, it will make some changes to address the misogyny and ableism, but it remains to be seen what the movie will actually look like.
(featured image: Taylor Hill / Getty / Grand Central Publishing)
