Did you ever have to open an academic ebook to read for an exam and see a fiction ebook next to it that attracts you and you decide to leave the pdf for a while and see what’s behind that novel? That was how I got to reading Credence by Penelope Douglas.
I’ve had this book in my elibrary for over a year but whenever I say to myself that its high time I get this book of my To Be Read list, some other book (both academic and non-academic) just comes and takes my attention off of it, lol.
So, that particular day between my exams, I started reading this book and for an unknown reason, it took me weeks to complete reading it. My bookish spirit went on vacation I guess or the book wasn’t just good enough to get me out of that reading slump.
I’m so sorry but this review might contain spoilers. So, if you don’t mind getting spoilers before getting to read a book, you can continue. On the other hand, I’ll try my best to contain these spoilers.
Credence is a book about Tiernan de Haas, the daughter of Oscar award winning actress Amelia de Haas and her husband Hannes living in California. Tiernan who was the only child of her parents, lacked parental affection as her parents were too busy obsessing over each other to love her. Tiernan’s mother, after learning that Haanes had been diagnosed with cancer and his death day was near, decided she couldn’t do life without Haanes. On the day he was supposed to die, she drugged herself and died alongside him in his sleep, leaving Tiernan to her father’s stepbrother (Jake).
Tiernan, a day after her parents death, received a phone call from a man named Jake, claiming he’s her father’s stepbrother, saying she had been entrusted to his care till she turns 18. Needing a change of environment, she agrees to go and live with them in Colorado till she comes of age although she dreads her stay there because she believes they might not understand her and that she might not know how to convey her emotions properly, which might result in misunderstandings between them all. She begins to live with them and things continue to go smoothly till things begin to take a sexual turn.
Noah, the second son of Jake Van der berg has a very outgoing and fun personality. He’s lonely on the inside as he feels like there’s no similarity between him and any of his family members, therefore he is drawn to Tiernan because he feels they’re the same on the inside. He takes Tiernan as the sister he never had and acts the nicest towards her in the house.
Then, there’s Kaleb, the first son of Jake Van der Berg who is mute due to a traumatic experience he had at four. He has a habit of running into the woods and staying there for a long time when things don’t go his way in his father’s house. On Tiernan’s arrival to the Van der berg’s home, Kaleb had ventured into the woods as usual and on his arrival, seeing Tiernan in his father’s workshop, he thinks its one of the street girls who would do anything to get laid by him, tries to make his way with her. But luckily, Noah’s quick intervention saves Tiernan from being raped by him. Although their first encounter was not nice, Kaleb kept making it unbearable for her by purposely ignoring her. By ignoring her, I mean he can write and nod but refuses to do so whenever she asks him a question or something.
Now, first of all, this book has the ability to draw you in right from the first page. I got hooked from the first page and couldn’t drop it at first. Tiernan was a very interesting character and I kept itching to know more about her. Starting the book was a good relief from all the academic pressure I was going through at that moment.
Also, the complexity of all the characters, I really liked it. From Jake, a father struggling to tame his two sons under his roof, to Noah, the most outgoing character in the family and at the same time, the loneliest, and Kaleb, the traumatized mute Van der berg who struggled to express himself to his family but kept trying to act all matured like he didn’t need his family’s intervention in his life. And Tiernan also, trying to adopt a familial lifestyle and trying to drop the cold and aloof lifestyle she grew up with. I loved it all as we were filled in on what was going on with the characters soon enough. We weren’t left to start figuring it out by ourselves halfway into the story. This was one of the things I liked the most about the book. Penelope really did a good job where the characters were concerned.
This book is a very good book. That, I must admit but it’s sad that I can’t say I enjoyed every part of the book. Some parts didn’t stick out well to me. When I started the book, it started off really really well. (Some will say the plot was plotting). Everything was going as it should. The characters progressed sensibly till they got to a point where they began to lose all sense of rationality. As readers, there are some things we overlook and there are things that can’t be overlooked. The whole relationship between Tiernan and the Van Der Bergs didn’t sit well with me. She was at first portrayed as a smart and sensible character which made me like her but along the line, she threw rationality to the wind and went on a sex spree. Who does that? Personally, I feel like Pen just wanted to write a book for entertainment purpose alone. She didn’t really think the whole storyline through.
Another thing I found dissatisfying also was the unnecessary smut scenes in this book. In most novels that we see today, smut is almost inevitable. I found the smut scenes in this book too much that it began to get irritating at a point. Whenever some smut scenes began, I found myself scrolling past till I get to the next substantial part of the story. I actually find it hard to read books just for the smut entailed. I think this contributed to why it took me a very long time to complete this book.
But it was a nice read anyway.
Rating: 7/10
So, to you my dear reader, if you’re looking for a book on age-gap, mute characters with animalistic habits, forbidden romance, this book is a perfect choice for you.
Images above were screenshots taken by me while reading.