11 Books Like Verity: Secrets, Lies and Dark Romance

The Secrets You Keep, Kate White

The Secrets You Keep comes as close as you can get to reading a full novel from Verity’s perspective about the drama unfolding downstairs while she’s convalescing in her bedroom.

Bryn is a successful self-help author who has always found a way to sail smoothly through her life–and the lives of others. Shortly after marrying the man of her dreams (another win!), Bryn is in a car crash that leaves her with a brain injury, vague haunting memories, and ominous nightmares. She tries to suppress the paranoia she has been experiencing since her crash, but when two women who have strange ties to her husband end up brutally murdered, Bryn has to claw her way through her brain fog and physical weakness to get to the bottom of her husband’s secrets.

Among our books similar to Verity, this is one of the most action-packed plots. Definitely one to keep you up late at night!

Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney

Stylistically, Sally Rooney and Colleen Hoover seem far apart. Rooney keeps her plots at a low boil and her characters intimately familiar, while Hoover generates excitement with dramatic plots and larger than life characters. However, Conversations with Friends and Verity have more in common than you might expect.

Frances, a twenty-one year old aspiring poet from a fragmented home in Ireland, is dazzled when she meets a celebrated journalist, Melissa, one night at a bar. Frances is sucked into Melissa’s glamorous life, drawn especially by Melissa’s handsome and apathetic husband, Nick. Unexpectedly, Frances brings out a brighter side in Nick. The two have trouble staying away from each other, despite the many reasons they should end their affair.

Both Verity and Conversations with Friends pull readers in with the classic tale of a dangerous attraction. At their deepest, both novels comment on the strange, liminal space between two women who love the same man, though Rooney delivers this commentary with perhaps more focus and heart.

All of Rooney’s books are set on the Emerald Isle, and if you like the setting we have a whole article featuring books about Ireland.

The Push, Ashley Audrain

A thriller with an emphasis on the dark side of motherhood, The Push is a natural follow-up read for fans of Verity.

Blythe looks forward to the arrival of her first daughter, Violet, but almost as soon as the newborn is placed in her arms, she feels something is wrong. As Violet grows up, Blythe becomes increasingly convinced the child has a malicious spirit, but her husband questions her claims–and eventually her sanity. When Blythe’s second child is born, she feels the need to protect him from Violet’s secret dark side, even if protecting him comes at a terrible cost.

If you were among those readers who felt triggered by Verity’s violent impulses towards her daughter, The Push might not be for you. On the other hand, if you liked reading Verity, The Push should be right up your alley!

I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai

Written with a bit more humor and whodunnit spirit, Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You is a mystery that will keep you turning pages without disturbing you quite as deeply as Verity.

Bodie Kane has climbed a ladder out of poverty and into a career as a respected film professor and podcaster. But in order to climb so high, she had to leave behind some of the baggage of her youth. When Bodie returns to lecture at the college where her glamorous roommate, Thalia, was murdered, she gets lured into re-opening Thalia’s case and grows unexpectedly close to a man she has despised for years: the man who was (perhaps wrongfully) convicted of Thalia’s murder.

Full of smart plot twists and social commentary delivered by a Pulitzer Prize finalist, I Have Some Questions for You may come as a breath of fresh air for those readers who cringed through the darker moments in Verity but still want their books to keep them guessing what might happen next.

Read it for book club and use our I Have Some Questions for You discussion guide.

The Villa, Rachel Hawkins

The Villa is like Verity on a sun-drenched, Italian vacation. Both novels offer fast-paced plots and explore the precarious inner lives of artists.

Two narrators, Mari from 1974 and Emily from the present day, echo each other through time as they search for creative inspiration at an Italian Villa with a group of artist friends. During Mari’s stay at the Villa, she and her friends produced a legendary horror novel, a platinum rock album, and a shocking murder. Emily hopes to write her own novel based on the haunted history of the Villa, but fractures among her friends warn that her stay at the Villa may become as infamous as Mari’s.

A page turner set against a gorgeous Mediterranean backdrop, The Villa is sure to delight fans of Verity.

The Ones We Keep, Bobbie Jean Huff

If you loved everything about Verity, The Ones We Keep is about as close a re-creation as you can hope to find. You’ll feel right at home in this spooky Vermont lake house, unraveling a mother’s response to the accidental death of her child.

A busy wife and mother of three, Olivia is relieved to be on vacation with her family at a rural lake resort. She takes a morning hike for some much-needed alone time, but on her way back to meet her family, she learns that one of her three boys has drowned in the lake. Rather than rushing to comfort her surviving family, a grief-stricken Olivia decides to turn her back on reality and flee. By the time she considers turning around, it may be too late to repair the damage she’s done.

Much like Verity, The Ones We Keep examines the power grief has to tear survivors apart through the lens of a mother whose unusual response to the death of a child leads to her being ostracized by her family.

The Wife Between Us, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

For most of Verity, the competition between Verity and Lowen for Jeremy’s attention remained at a low boil. The Wife Between Us dedicates itself fully to exploring jealousy and obsession in a love triangle. If you enjoyed the plot twists and the challenging romance in Verity, the Wife Between Us while satisfy your craving for more!

The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides

Verity is easily the most compelling character in Verity. The book is named after her, after all! Yet, for some readers, she doesn’t get the poetic justice we want at the end of the novel. The Silent Patient’s heroine, Alicia, gives readers a second shot at justice.

When Alicia’s husband is found murdered in her painting studio, the police conclude Alicia is responsible for his death. They have no other evidence to draw on, since Alicia, the only witness of the crime, has gone silent and refuses to defend herself. Years later, an ambitious psychoanalyst becomes determined to draw Alicia out of her silence, but the secrets she has to tell are more dangerous than he imagines.

A darling of the psychological thriller genre, The Silent Patient is centered around a fascinating heroine who, like Verity, finds her greatest strength in remaining silent–until exactly the right moment.

Read it for book club and use our The Silent Patient book club guide to get the conversation going. And if this psychological thriller vein sounds promising to you, we’ve also got a whole list of books similar to The Silent Patient.

The Ghostwriter, Alessandra Torre

Like Verity, The Ghostwriter features a bestselling author with a secret to confess as the main character of the story. Like Verity, the heroine’s prowess as a writer makes her the ultimate unreliable narrator.

Helena Ross’s life is coming to an end. After years at the top of every bestseller list, her fame and fortune seemingly leave nothing to be desired. But Helena has one more story she must tell before she feels free to leave this world: a story she lied about on the witness stand, many years ago.

If you love a book with a strong heroine facing up to a troubled past, this one has the backbone for you. The complex Helena surprises readers as often with her graceful acceptance of events as with her dark determination to control them. She’s definitely one who will stick with you after the book is closed!

Layla, Colleen Hoover

Of course, we had to include a couple Colleen Hoover novels for all the diehard Cohorts out there. Like Verity, Layla brings an extra layer of suspense to Hoover’s usual romance novels. It even has a dash of the paranormal, new to Colleen Hoover fans!

For Leeds and Layla, it’s love at first sight, but their happiness is interrupted when Layla becomes the victim of a brutal assault. Though she recovers physically, Layla’s mood remains erratic after the attack. Leeds whisks her away to a bnb, hoping fresh surroundings will help her heal, but her increasingly bizarre behavior at the bnb instead pushes him into the company of a mysterious new guest, Willow. 

Steamy and suspenseful, Layla follows in the tone of Verity while introducing new characters with problems that tiptoe into the paranormal. If you’ve long dreamed of a Colleen Hoover ghost story, this is your lucky day!

Reminders of Him, Colleen Hoover

CoHo novels usually excel on Goodreads, but Reminders of Him is the highest rated novel so far, coming in at almost five stars. If you loved Verity and haven’t made it to Reminders of Him yet, this one deserves a place at the top of your list.

After serving a five-year prison sentence for a crime she didn’t commit, Kenna returns to her hometown, hoping to be reunited with her young daughter. But not everyone is quick to accept Kenna’s innocence or to forgive the indiscretions of her youth. Only the local bar owner, Ledger, seems like he can be persuaded to Kenna’s side–with a little romantic endeavor. Desperate to clear her name so she can live openly with the ones she loves, Kenna goes up against the town and the accusations that have dogged her for five years.

Although the plot of Reminders of Him is not quite as scary as the plot of Verity, the steamy romance makes this novel just as dramatic. It’s Colleen Hoover, so you know you’re picking up a page turner!

Read it for book club and use our Reminders of Him discussion guide.