Books, Bites, and Sights

Verity by Colleen Hoover

3/5 stars

I want to start this portion of the post by talking about read-alouds. Yes. Read-alouds. Think back to elementary school. The smell of crayons. The giant rainbow floor rug. You sitting criss-cross apple sauce, legs going numb. Your teacher reading aloud to you in the most animated voices (give her an Oscar already). And you maybe paying attention, maybe not – maybe daydreaming about all the things a nine-year old daydreams about. But how great were those times. As a ex-elementary school teacher, I had the delight to conduct many read-alouds over my six year career. And hear me out. I understand. You’re 20-something. Or older. But don’t let the read-alouds die. It is free, it takes little to no effort, and it soothes the soul. If you have never read a novel aloud with someone else, you should. The back and forth banter of you and whomever you’re reading to as the characters do all the things characters do makes reading that much more worthwhile. The wide-eyed, mid-sentence, open stares at one another when you read something shocking or the in sync audile ‘nooooo’ after a character makes an ill-advised decision. And don’t get me started on the in-depth, conspiracy arguments you will have as you both try to predict what will happen next.

Circling back to those conspiracy conversations – that is what Amory and I had all throughout our read-aloud of Colleen Hoover’s Verity. You heard that right. I read Verity aloud to my boyfriend. Truthfully, this is not the first steamy mystery smut novel I have read-aloud to Amory. We have read many Freida McFadden books together (lol). But this was by far the most sex-filled.

Trigger warning: sex, sex, and more sex. Verity has tons of it, but the sex didn’t overshadow the plot. If these types of books are your type of books (if you know, you know), I say read it, especially in a read aloud format because you’ll be constantly guessing which characters have secret motives.

I haven’t been disappointed with any of Colleen Hoover’s works, but I did preferred Verity to her It Ends With Us and It Starts With Us collection. In terms of works of art that will go down in history – masterpieces of fiction. Maybe not. I gave the novel a 3/5 stars on Goodreads. Critical hit? Not to me. It is a well written novel that is engaging, fun, and a good distraction from reality; however, that’s all it really is. It isn’t a book I would shout from the mountains, “You MUST read this.” But Amory and I both enjoyed it and would recommend it – again, if mystery smut is your thing.

PS beloved reader, if you decide to do a read-aloud after reading this, comment and tell me what book you read, with whom, and how did it go. I would love to hear for you all. My favorite part of reading a book is taking about the thing – hence my love for the read-aloud and the existence of this blog.

At the Chisos Basin Campground store, we snagged the Dark Skies organic, fair-trade, kosher ground coffee by Big Bend Coffee Roasters for $8. Not only was the coffee good, but I felt it was aptly named – Amory and I were starstruck (ha) with the night sky at Big Bend. Because the park is a designated dark sky destination, Big Bend had amazing stargazing opportunities, especially in the Chisos Basin.

After using the Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry on our third day in Big Bend (more info on this in in the sights portion below), Amory and I went to Jose Falcon’s Restaurant and Bar in Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico. At Jose Falcon’s I ordered the goat street tacos ($10) on corn tortillas (peep my photo dump above). Simple street tacos adorned with only meat, onions, cilantro, and lime – yet so tasty. And many people I know quickly turn their noses up at goat meat – not me. I first had goat during my time in the Peace Corps in Nepal, and now I always order goat when given the opportunity. Never had goat? It is so tender after slow cooking. Give it a shot sometime.

Day 1

• After coming in the northern entrance of Big Bend at the Persimmon Gap Visitor Center, we made our first stop at the Fossil Discover Exhibit. We spent less than 20 minutes here. Need a restroom break? They had pit toilets on site.

• Next, we made our way to the Chisos Basin Visitor Center for our passport stamps and campground check-in. The visitor center is small and doesn’t have much information or exhibits, but there is a general store next door where I bought the mentioned Dark Skies coffee in the bites section above.

• After parking at our tent site, we walked to the Window Trailhead. The Window Trail is a easy to moderate 4 mile in-and-out hike through a canyon to a stunning, vast “window” desert view. Along the way, we saw so many birds including many Mexican Jays.

Day 2

• To kick off day two, we took on Emory Peak, the highest peak in Big Bend NP at roughly 7, 800 feet. This 9.5 mile in-and-out trail is moderate to hard difficulty but has rewarding 360 views of Big Bend once on the peak. Again, Amory and I were able to walk from our campsite to the trailhead, so if you’re considering either of the hikes I have mentioned so far, consider staying in the basin. Books, Bites, Insights? The wind was a bit intense at the top, but nothing too extreme, and to make it to the true peak, you have to (and I use this term loosely) rock-climb.

• After lunch, Amory and I made our way about an hour south of the Chisos Basin to the Santa Elena Canyon. We had not planned to go to the canyon but had extra time and figured why not. If in Big Bend, don’t skip the 1. 5 mile round-trip Santa Elena Canyon Trail. I have mentioned this on here before: one of my favorite aspects of travel and nature is the always unique and always inspiring color palettes. Santa Elena Canyon delivered. The emerald green Rio Grande against the mosaic red canyon walls. And to top it off, we saw a distant rainbow while exploring the canyon.

Day 3

• For our last day in Big Bend we crossed the border into Mexico to explore the village of Boquillas del Carmen. The logistics of this include: use the Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry (a US passport is needed to reenter the US) to cross the border into Mexico, pay the $8 cash fee to the Maderas del Carmen Protected Area upon entry into Mexico, pay $5 cash to cross the Rio Grande via rowboat (and the $5 gets you a roundtrip, so no need to pay again when returning), and walk less than a mile into the village of Boquillas del Carmen. The village itself is very small with not much to do but offers a unique experience. I had never been to Mexico and looked forward to practicing my Spanish. A lifelong goal of mine is to be bilingual, and I have been actively studying for two years now. While in town Amory and I had lunch at Jose Falcon’s which I wrote more about in the bites section of this post, and I snagged a handmade bracelet for $5. Books, Bites, Insights? The port is only open Friday through Monday, the village is cash only, and you’ll only need three hours to get the fullest experience.

• To end our time at Big Bend, we made our way to the Rio Grande Village Campground, checked-in, walked the short and simple 1 mile Nature Trail at the campground, showered and did laundry inside the campground general store, and then called it a night.