Review: Credence by Penelope Douglas

Title: Credence
Author: Penelope Douglas
Publication: January 13th 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Purchase it on: Amazon
Rating: 3.5/5★

From New York Times bestselling author, Penelope Douglas, comes a new standalone!

Three of them, one of her, and a remote cabin in the woods. Let the hot, winter nights ensue...

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 full length, stand-alone romance suitable for readers 18+.

This is yet another recommendation from Gen (Whispering Chapters) that I bought right away. At this point I'm trusting her blindly with books recs because I haven't been disappointed yet. And while Credence wasn't quite a four star read for me I still highly enjoyed it and am so happy to have discovered this book and author, since it was my first book by Penelope Douglas.

This book was certainly something else. So hot, so steamy, so taboo. One of the kinkiest books I've ever read. It's definitely not gonna be everyone's cup of tea but for sure loved it. It also wasn't just a typical smutty read but it also had a lot of emotional appeal. It often made my heart hurt for all the main characters. So yeah lots of passion and emotion in this book.

The main characters were my favorite part of this book. The plot I was a little less enthusiastic about but oh the characters. Tiernan, Jake, Noah and Kaleb. They all had my heart. I loved the guys' bond with Tiernan so much. Tiernan made quite the journey and found herself in this book. Her growth was amazing. She was amazing! The guys were all great and super hot in their own ways but I gotta say my preference went out to Noah. Honestly, my heart just hurt for him mostly. He was precious.

Also, I only finished this book in two days, which is extremely fast for me with a 485 page book. But I'm also not surprised about this actually because I could hardly put my Kindle down and had to force myself to stop and finally go to bed. I also wish this was a series instead of a standalone because I just didn't want to say goodbye to these characters. The ending was obviously great and well done but I could've done without the epilogue. It was fine but for me it was necessary. 

If you like hot as hell, downright dirty taboo menage stories then Credence by Penelope Douglas is definitely a book you have to read!

About the author:
Penelope Douglas is a writer living in Las Vegas. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she is the oldest of five children. Penelope attended the University of Northern Iowa, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, because her father told her to “just get the damn degree!” She then earned a Masters of Science in Education at Loyola University in New Orleans, because she HATED public administration. One night, she told the bouncer at the bar where she worked that his son was hot, and three years later she was married. To the son, not the bouncer. They have spawn, but just one. A daughter named Aydan. Penelope loves sweets, The 100, and she shops at Target almost daily.
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