Which is better: 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Verity?

I took these two popular books with me over vacation to do a little ‘author research’. Author research is basically a fancy way of saying that I’m reading best-selling novels and then all the reviews and trying to keep a pulse on what the general public likes and doesn’t like in a book. This helps inform my own writing (in a very general way, of course) by helping me steer clear of certain themes, writing techniques, etc. (For example- many readers, including me, did not like how sexually graphic Verity was…so I intentionally make sure my books are not sexually graphic. I know there are a lot of people who like that, but I’ve chosen to steer clear of the softcore porn.)

First of all, it’s important to note that we are sort of comparing apples to oranges here. Verity is a psychological thriller, and 7 Husbands is a contemporary fiction novel. There are going to be some aspects (like murder) that are more prevalent in one than the other simply because of the genre. I tried to choose similar aspects to compare, to keep things even. There are no spoilers in this article. 🙂

Suspense, Entertainment, and Readability:

Both books had a good deal of suspense, and they were highly entertaining (albeit in different ways). 7 Husbands was like hearing the dirty gossip from your friend’s grandmother while Verity was more like watching a train wreck. You knew the train was going to wreck, but you weren’t sure how and you couldn’t look away. They both have good plot twists that I knew where coming but wasn’t quite sure what direction the author was going to go.

Spice:

This is important to a lot of people. Both books had some spice, but Verity was borderline porn. If you aren’t into any level of sex scenes, I recommend you pass up both books. If you can handle a little (but a lot grosses you out), then avoid Verity.

Writing Quality and Storyline:

These are two big ones for me. If the writing doesn’t flow or the storyline has a bunch of holes, then it’s a straight DNF. Both of these books were well-ish written (e.g., They were written in a way that didn’t distract from the plotline). 7 Husbands was definitely written better than Verity in my opinion. 7 Husbands also takes the cake for storyline. I was able to guess loosely each storyline before the end, but I felt like there were holes in Verity that didn’t quite make sense. 7 Husbands wrapped everything up in a neat little box and tied a bow on top (more on that later).

Trigger Warnings:

Okay, both of these books had some trigger warnings. It’s important to note that I am not covering all the potential warnings here…these are just what stuck out to me. Verity had very graphic sex scenes, violence, and child endangerment and harm. Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who is a mom, especially not a NEW mom. Parts of it made me sick and I couldn’t imagine how it would feel if you were postpartum. 7 Husbands was not without its triggers too. There was a domestic violence/abuse and toxic relationships. If you’re not sure about specific sensitive subjects in books, I highly recommend you reach out to the publishing company or the author (I welcome people to email me at hi@lulieroberts.com).

How I felt about the Main Character:

Honestly, I was not fond of either main character very much. They both suffered from anxiety and low self-esteem- two qualities that seemed to dominate their personalities. Personally, this was good to see in other books because I have often been accused of writing whiny, self-doubting characters and it’s good to witness as a third party what I like and don’t like about those qualities.

Feelings of Closure at the End:

The first fiction book I wrote, After the Fire, has an open-ended ending and boy did I learn that people do not like that. Lol. Some of the reviews are downright funny (if I’m laughing, I’m not crying…right?) But really, how a book ends is vital. Somewhat in line with my first book, Verity ends giving the reader two options of reality. The reader gets to choose! Yay! Clearly, this doesn’t bother me very much, but a lot of reviewers were not happy. 7 Husbands on the other hands closes everything in a way that tucks in all the loose ends and makes it real nice and pretty. I’m not going to lie, it’s very satisfying. Even if everything doesn’t end happy dory, it still ends in a way that makes sense and provides closure.

Overall Rating:

Verity gets 2 stars out of 5 because of the plot holes and general graphic themes of the novel. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone else, but I didn’t feel like I wasted the couple of hours it took to read it. It was entertaining and I’ll give it two stars for that. Maybe it’s because I read 7 Husbands first, but I realized how much more I liked it once I read Verity. It took me longer to read, but the ride was more pleasant. I still got the suspense and plot twists that I wanted without the shock factor of semi-porn. (To be fair- I’ve never read porn so I can’t accurately say where Verity stands on the sliding scale of pornographic texts.)

Have you read either book? What did you love? What did you hate? Leave a comment below!

xoxo, Lulie