Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Credence by Penelope Douglas

45 reviews

naza16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, and Sexual violence

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, and Suicide

chaosdemonmonster's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

2.0

Sex scenes were hot but the forbidden romance was not my thing and the fact she was still in high school is def not my thing. I'm fine with she gaps but cousins/family, even non blood relatives, is just... No thanks. And find a different reason for the girl to be there other than she needed a guardian cuz she wasn't 18 yet at the start of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Cancer

itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.5

What a goddamn RIDE. Penelope Douglas writes bully romances and the "bad boy" archetype so well that it literally has me debating my morality after each book I read of hers LOL. My brain literally can't comprehend what I just read, and I feel the need to take several showers and rinse my eyes with holy water but I'll do my best to sum up my thoughts:

"Spicy" doesn't even begin to express this book. This is hands down the dirtiest book I've ever read. If my review was based on smut alone it would've been an easy five star read - Penelope Douglas knows how to write a love scene! However, where she lost me was the plot. It wasn't bad by any means, but I also wasn't very invested and guessed who our main character Tiernan was going to end up with pretty early on, so my level of intrigue wasn't as high as it could've been. It also didn't help that I didn't feel much chemistry outside of the palpable lust between Tiernan and who she ended up choosing.

My biggest issue I had with this story was how it handled the topic of consent. We got Tiernan's internal dialogue and we clearly knew that she desired a sexual relationship with each of the men at one point or another, but my issue with the consent specifically had to do with (view spoiler). She specifically was saying no while actively pushing him away and he kept going anyway, until she eventually "liked" it. It was gross and very triggering, but like I said there was so much gray area because her internal dialogue was clearly showing that she wanted to be intimate with him.

That being said, this book is not for the faint of heart, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to pick up more of her novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Rape, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent

finnickdeservedbetter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Yeah, I'll be honest...the LI is

an abusive rapist

who's unlikable in ever single way. "He

raped

you? Well boo hoo, his mommy didn't love him enough." I like dark and sometimes taboo romance but not the glamorization and romanticization of SA and domestic abuse. This honestly should have just been a dnf but I wanted to give it a full review with a star rating. The .5 is honestly just for the cabin and horses at this point. I was recommended Birthday Girl and this by a friend (I know you're reading this Kenzie) and liked BG a lot so I thought I would like this too. No. Just no. It wasn't even the

full on incest

that bothered me. The problem was the gigantic bag of skid marked gym socks called "Kaleb". He can chew rocks.

ellamycroft's review against another edition

challenging 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

Minor: Cancer

stupidcat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

book_lover56's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Abandonment

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

izzie_s's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Mental illness, Vomit, Murder, and Pregnancy

readiac1999's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I honestly have a lot of mixed opinions on this book. I think that I couldn't get behind the "forbidden love" aspects and would definitely recommend looking up trigger warnings because I sure didn't and regret that a bit. Picked up because of BookTok recommendation and because it was on Kindle Unlimited. The writing was good but I think the relationships between the characters just weren't for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Drug abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Pregnancy