Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Credence

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Credence by Penelope Douglas

126 reviews

sierrajhansen's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

so... yeah. this book.

i'm divided here.

fucking ALL 3 relatives that you live with during a long, frigid winter seems sorta cozy and cunty if you forget the relative part, but then fully having a child with your previously-nonverbal, brooding, abusive, weird, blood-drinking, feral step-cousin, is really cringe. just think of the family tree assignment this kid is gonna have to do eventually. (my grandpa is also my great-step-uncle and my mom is also my step-aunt? try explaining that to literally anyone without intense confusion and also judgement) this kid is gonna be at a family gathering and ONE DAY he will find out that she fucked multiple of his relatives. while step-family in this scenario and in this context (i.e., they're estranged, purely non-biological relations that reside in a completely different area and were never really thought of as family before tiernan's parents' deaths) really gets into the nitty gritty of "but didn't we just make this 'step-family' shit up? and isn't our 'family status' simply contingent on a marriage that is no longer relevant? what does a 'step-family' even mean when the family relation that put it in place is no longer intact?", it's still suuuper cringe. mostly, i'm secondhand embarrassed for tiernan. sure, let's fuck in a cabin all winter and ignore our responsibilities and the moral expectations of society. that's fine and dandy. but damn, the tabloids are gonna meme the fuck out of this and you'll never sleep again probably.

i enjoyed the sideplots, although they were super pick-me (i'M nOt LiKe OtHeR gIrLs, AfTeR a CoLd, HaRd WiNtEr, I dOn'T nEeD mAkEuP aNyMoRe, AnD i WeAr JeAnS aNd FlAnNeLs) and weirdly misogynistic and gross (omg beware of the townie guy with a SEX TORTURE DEN??? we will defend you with RIFLES and also DRIVING OVER A TON OF SICK MOTORBIKES??? okay... sure. i guess), they were at least interesting and kept the plot moving (and saved it from being straight-up porn).

additionally, don't tell me this man with selective mutism for like 15 years is gonna suddenly start talking. PLEEEEASE fuck off. as a psychologist-in-training, this feels messy and not actually how any of this would work in real life. and also, selective mutism after being left in a car for 4 days at the age of 4? maybe. possibly. but... idk. why didn't we get this kid a therapist? maybe that would have been good? idk though, who am i to say.

and why are we not only writing in books (which is fine but still suspect if we're not even writing book-relevant things and just writing diary entries) but specifically writing on the endpapers??? have you heard of a journal or a notebook bro? it's like $3 at the store. let me put you on.

see all those complaints and issues? despite them all (or because of them, who's really to say), I WAS ENTERTAINED. OKAY? i wanted to know what happened next, and the smut was slowburn enough to be semi-believable and gripping, and the details of the smut itself were not as cringey as the actual relationships between the characters (and that's a feat). while the premise of this was super sus, i had hoped to be entertained, surprised, shocked, enthralled, and this book was a straight shot of escapism to the veins. so thankful for my normal, not semi-incest relationship now. if you want a "what the fuck did i just read lol," and you're able to suspend your disbelief, this was pretty good. read at your own risk.

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readerholic_091's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Look.... Penelope Douglas knows how to write smut she is the smut Queen for all I know but I just couldn't do the cousin/step-cousin thing. like she did it with all THREE OF THEM!!! How does that work? Like family reunions, everything knowing you've slept with all of them. I couldn't get around the Uncle thing as well that just disgusted me. Put that smut in any other situation though and I would have loved it, it was just the characters and the entire set-up of the story that I did not vibe with AT ALL. nevertheless, I did finish it very quickly and will continue to read her books on the basis that the rest don't have such incestial tendencies.

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alinagpfrt's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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amandalauren's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

In theory I can understand how someone might enjoy this book BUT there are somethings that are just diabolical. Trigger warning for SA content in the spoiler section of this review.

Having the rape scene from Kaleb’s POV was so unnecessary and made it downright horrible to read. If she was trying to create some hot forbidden CNC scene, she could have had it from Teirnen’s POV and while I would have still hated it, it would have maybe MAYBE been redeemable. Then to make him the love interest?! Truly ridiculous. Also the way they justify him raping her is actually insane.

The only thing that sometimes made this book enjoyable was how bad and ridiculous it was, but it’s issues completely ruined anything that could be remotely enjoyable.

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crystalmidnightmumslibrary's review against another edition

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2.0

I enjoyed the first part of the book. I tried REALLY hard to overlook the problematic elephant in the room of non-relative-relative situation. But the moment she called him Uncle Jake-nope! This really didn’t need a family connection. It could have been a girl staying and working on a farm or something. Finished the book only because I need to reach my reading goals.

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haleydeppert's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is a hard book to review. This book has been all the rage on BookTok right now, so I wanted to give it a try. It definitely pushed my boundaries of comfortability. Although I did thoroughly enjoy the writing of the spicy scenes, it remained hard to get past the familial relations in this book. I did not feel much romance or true love at all—more possessiveness, jealousy, and abuse—but as a book should, it kept me entertained. Three stars because it kept my attention and my eyes were glued to the page. However, character development fell extremely flat and storylines felt quite rushed. Not to mention the familial relations… weird.

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_kirby_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Honestly, I really enjoyed this book.

I went through similar trauma to Tiernan and I connected with her. I too had my moments where I just wanted to be loved and looked for anyone to make me feel good & feel loved because I never felt like I was loved by my father or anyone else in my life other than my mom - like tiernan with her parents.

It may just be me but I didn’t think this was anything too crazy regarding dark romance but to each their own. If you are triggered by abuse, death of parents, aggressive male behavior, lots of sex and even scenes that are on the verge of rape, don’t read this book.

The character development is great in my opinion and to see all of the characters help eachother heal their trauma is awesome! Regardless of how that healing is done.

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