Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Credence by Penelope Douglas

66 reviews

annabelleg's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was something to say the least, I did enjoy it a little but the long chapters and the general relationship made it kinda hard to get through at points. It’s the longest it’s taken me to read something in a long time.

Content Warnings

jcoates's review against another edition

2.5

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was an uncomfortable read and so many plot points are messed up.

The men in this long-lost extended family often regard her as a daughterly/ sisterly figure, but she has sexual worth all of them.

I get that it’s a dark-themed romance but the kissing-cousins vibe isn’t my idea of a sexy time.

That said, it was so over the top that I was curious enough to binge the audiobook in two days.

Content Warnings

chaptermaggot's review against another edition

1.0

challenging dark sad 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

TLDR: Sheltered, almost-18 year old woman, newly orphaned by neglectful parents, must move in with estranged "Step Uncle" and his 2 sons. Grooming, cringe, verbal abuse, SA, ick and all other flavors of unseemly circumstances ensue. Young woman, ultimately failed by every adult in her life, almost ends up ok but in the end, understandably based on circumstances, chooses poorly for herself after all. The end.

Content Warnings

wickeddelights's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

You know when you can't look away from something that had you quite literally covering your mouth? That feeling is my whole review. I just sat there going "Oh, no." *turn page* OH NO! 😱

Content Warnings

bookameme's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Anti-Romance

Quote:📖

“In a few months, the snow will melt, and the world will invade us again, but right now . . . they’re mine. For this one winter, they’re mine.”

Thoughts: 💡
Sometimes I wish P Douglas wasn’t such an entertaining writer. This book sucks you in and keeps you rapidly turning the pages completely engrossed in the story. The problem is that she doesn’t seem to use sensitivity readers. She writes about a few topics that she’s clearly unknowledgeable about and creates very problematic scenarios. I’m certain that this book would rate much higher and be enjoyed by a wider audience if she makes a few revisions.
The characters are all struggling and have intense issues that they really should seek therapy for, instead they just hole up on a mountain and yell at each other. They do end up finding solas and a way to live, and create a very entertaining story. I wish we would have seen more character development, instead what we got were dark themes and crazy hot smut. The bonus chapter found at the end of the paperback gives you a look into Khalib’s struggles and thoughts. I loved that it finally gave insight into a marginalized character and their struggles. If you’re a dark romance reader I’m certain you will enjoy this one, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that doesn’t like darker themes.
As for the audio, I liked that there were four different narrators. The audio quality was a solid 4, as well as the three male narrators. However, I think the female narrator was spectacular and would love to head more from her.

Fun Bits:
⚜️ Super Smutty
⚜️ Lots of Angst
⚜️ An Interesting Plot
⚜️ Some Suspense

Important Note:✨
This book was rereleased by Berkley and the paperback has bonus content that the eBook doesn’t have.

Full Content Warning:⚠️
misogynistic behavior, power imbalance, group sex, sexual violence, dubious consent, suicide, child neglect, domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and bondage

Stats:📊
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
💙💙💙💙
Audio: 🎧🎧🎧🎧
Narrators: 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️
Dark Erotica: Taboo, Love Triangle, Coming of Age, Age Gap, Grief & Loss, Hurt/Comfort, Found Family
First Person, Present Tense, Multi POV
⚠️: misogynistic, power imbalance, group 🍆💦, 🍆💦 violence & harassment, dub con, self unaliving, neglect, & domestic 🤕

Content Warnings

ashleereads692's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

b34n13b's review against another edition

4.5

medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this was my first smut book ever, at my big age, and wowowowow. it was a lot (positive). it intertwines grief and loneliness with unethical desire and action. 4.75/5 for the spicy scenes. some of them will be burned into my memory for many moons to come lol

Content Warnings

be_a_goldfish's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

Content Warnings

caroline_bel's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

booksalacarte's review against another edition

1.0

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Credence- 1⭐️ 5🌶️

Contemporary Romance

Taboo Romance

Multi POV

Small town

Polyamorous FMC

Tw: suicide, parental death, SA, Rape, emotional abuse, physical abuse, pedophilia, predatory behavior, grooming a minor

The start of this book is interesting. A 17yo, raised by her parent’s assistant, looses her narcissist parents to suicide and goes to live with her step uncle in the middle of nowhere… but then the FMC turns 18 and things take a turn that I knew was coming, but by the end I felt like I was reading a train wreck I wanted to just finish and be done with. I think the setting was the only thing I enjoyed about the story. The rest just was a giant red flag. I think I kept reading because I was interested in how the situation could be sustainable enough to be considered a happily ever after.

This… was not the book for me. I don’t enjoy reading about the romantic couples abusing each other. I don’t consider that romance.

All of the characters were sad and depressing. There wasn’t a single person in this book that knew what joy or contentment looked like. Every single person in this book needed interventional therapy. The men were all misogynistic and gross. And once they had their “turn” they basically disappear from the plot . How? What?

The POV shifts were fine, but the 1 POV from the MMC (who is barely in the book other than SA/R scenes) was written to make his internal monologue sound like an absolute psychopath.

This was definitely a “taboo romance”. Although there was not really anything romantic about it. The girl sleeps with her step-uncle and step-cousins, who are supposed to be alpha males, but didn’t get possessive when it came to their own family. Nope. The spice was very disjointed and flipped on and off like a switch. It read more like Stockholm syndrome. The only character that showed her any type of romance was her pedophile step-uncle.

As if it could get any worse, it was over written. There is more than enough plot with the step-family…. Absolutely no other plot tools were needed to add to the drama.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for the Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Content Warnings

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