Credence by Penelpe Douglas Review

Title: Credence
Author: Penelope Douglas
Format: Kindle

Tiernan de Haas doesn’t care about anything anymore. The only child of a film producer and his starlet wife, she’s grown up with wealth and privilege but not love or guidance. Shipped off to boarding schools from an early age, it was still impossible to escape the loneliness and carve out a life of her own. The shadow of her parents’ fame followed her everywhere.

And when they suddenly pass away, she knows she should be devastated. But has anything really changed? She’s always been alone, hasn’t she?

Jake Van der Berg, her father’s stepbrother and her only living relative, assumes guardianship of Tiernan who is still two months shy of eighteen. Sent to live with him and his two sons, Noah and Kaleb, in the mountains of Colorado, Tiernan soon learns that these men now have a say in what she chooses to care and not care about anymore. As the three of them take her under their wing, teach her to work and survive in the remote woods far away from the rest of the world, she slowly finds her place among them.

And as a part of them.

She also realizes that lines blur and rules become easy to break when no one else is watching.

One of them has her.

The other one wants her.

But he…

He’s going to keep her.

*Credence is a new adult standalone novel suitable for readers 18+.

Okay, so I am going to be going back to my old style of reviewing for this one, because I don't feel like I can write a very good description for this book.

I will start off by saying that I have loved Penelope Douglas in the past and I also have books I don't like by her. But this one was by far the worst and I hate saying that.

I do have to drop a *somewhat* spoiler, because of a trigger warning and just for girls in general. This book, in my opinion, glorifies rape.

Let's get into this review.

What I Liked:

The Flow and Pacing - This is something Douglas always does well. It was a quick read.

Noah - Funny enough I did like Noah. He was the only one that was *somewhat* decent. And I wouldn't say "liked", it was more of tolerated more than the other two.

What I Didn't Like:

The whole idea - Okay, so yes, I should have read the summary more before going in. But a 17 year old stuck on a mountain with 3 fully grown men doesn't sound like my idea of a good story. It put me on edge and it made me nervous.

The girl - Our female main character actively tries to have sex with all of these guys, including her 40 year old uncle. I know Douglas has done agegap books before, but this didn't sit well with me.

The uncle - So, yes, I didn't like the girl for this reason. But I didn't like the uncle for trying to take advantage of her. But this wasn't the rape I was speaking of.

Kaleb - The oldest brother that doesn't speak with a world of anger issues. He hits our main character on more than on occasion. He breaks her things and is incredibly mean to her and without any redeeming factors wants her to love him. This character is toxic.

The Rape - I mentioned this above, but I am going to touch base on it again. It happens more than once, I feel, but one time in particular where she says no and begs for it to stop. And then crawls back into bed and cries. I am not saying you can't have something like this in the books, but the way it is handled and how the character doesn't deal with it at all isn't sending a good message.

Sexism - So many people probably feel that this book is empowering. It isn't. Yes, she learns to shoot a gun, but she is also put in the kitchen. And on more than one occasion she is told that her purpose that winter is in one of their beds and to keep them happy.

Not Confronting Issues - So this girl has issues and it is easy to see. Her parents die on page one, but we never really see her work through that. She doesn't work through anything really.

Flat Characters - God the characters were so flat and unlikeable.

I gave this book 1\5 stars. I hate giving books such a low rating, because I know how hard authors work on them. But this was just awful and I think it sends such a terrible message to women.