Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Credence by Penelope Douglas

158 reviews

velmad's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

I want to know... WHO HURT YOU, PENELOPE DOUGLAS!

Fantastic book, while as taboo as they come.  The underlying theme of grief and abandonment was compelling and emotional.
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hannahhagedorn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

So clearly there is something wrong with me but that’s for my therapist to dissect. This book has been on my tbr for years and I was so scared of it cause everyone said it was really bad and filled with incest. In legality terms maybe, in blood terms… no. Yes there’s some pretty taboo themes and questionable choices at times but I think we all need to remember that this isn’t reality. We are stepping into another world where things may not be as black and white as the pages of the book. This book is set up really well and as with most of this author’s works it has substance (as opposed to what all those one stat reviewers say). There is a plot and it’s actually pretty heartbreaking most of the time. I think the people reviewing low either bypass the trigger warnings or think they can handle more than they actually can. I liked the relationships Tiernan formed with Jake, Noah, and Kaleb. I think each of them had such distinct personalities that it almost felt like reading multiple books at once with one overarching plot. Almost like Devil’s Night but with the same fmc of course. I was in such a reading slump the past few weeks but I read this book super fast, and when I wasn’t reading I was thinking about what was gonna happen next. I don’t recommend reading before you’ve read the trigger warnings, I didn’t read them but I also haven’t been triggered by a book in the past and I’ve read much worse than this. Again that’s a problem for my therapist that I will not likely address. All the love, always <3
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melrose's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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sophieseltz's review against another edition

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emotional medium-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

2.5

“Uncle Jake” gives me the ick… Noah and Kaleb are great
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itssable's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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leilychee's review against another edition

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

2.5

I wish I would have picked a different book to start off the year but unfortunately I went into this book without knowing anything about it.
I couldn’t fully understand why the love interest was both her cousins and uncle (they’re not related by blood) but it’s definitely still weird because they refer to each other as such. I think that was my biggest problem with the book and some may say it’s because it’s a forbidden romance but why is she 17 for most of the book?? Her first sexual encounter happened before she was 18 and with her uncle that is twice her age. I fully understand that this book (hopefully) was written to explain and show how people deal with grief differently and seek unhealthy ways to cope. However I did not like that each of the male interest were preying upon the fmc. It was weird and I hated the dual perspectives, I didn’t need to know what was going through any of their heads. But at least the in uncle knew what he was doing was really wrong (didn’t stop him) overall did not like this book, but I wish there could have been more with the plot surrounding grief and self discovery because it was the most interesting.
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whatkatyread87's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

In my opinion, the step-family taboo was totally unnecessary. This is a great story where things move forward and progress in a way that makes sense. But the taboo didn’t even really add anything to the story? 
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roachquesadilla's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.0

I wanted to hate this book so bad but I can’t not love it. Had me squirming in my seat, I couldn’t put the book down for hours. I would give it a 5 if the whole uncle/cousin thing wasn’t weirdly brought in into many of the sexual encounters. Other than that I fear I am team Noah till I die.
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katladson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense 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

2.5

They really didn't have to be related, and the author really didn't have to keep reminding me.

After reading this book I am going to make my new years resolution to read the synopsis of each book before I read it - because I went in blind on this one and was just not prepared. 

I was definitely entertained before getting 50% of the way through the book, but pretty much as soon as you hit the half way point everything is (to put it delicately) intimate and weird. 

To be honest, I skimmed the spicy parts because they didn't make much sense, and the random "uncle Jake's" grossed me out. 
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captnsmack's review against another edition

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

4.0

Listen... this was some disturbing, disgusting, hillbilly Alabama, weird, problematic af BS. 
Don't ask why I gave it 4⭐️ because I have no idea. 
I'm ashamed to say I liked it. I don't agree with it. I cringed my way through and turned green more than once, but it was like a train wreck I couldn't look away from. 
🤷🏼‍♀️
If this was irl I would call the police 😆
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