Fiction · Novel · Romance · Dark romance

Credence

Penelope Douglas

First published 2020

Reading facts

✓ Checked

Reading effort: 30 / 100Moderate
Length: 560 pagesBerkley · 2024
Reading time: 11 h 15 minat 50 pages an hour ·
Pace: Moderate
Emotional intensity: 5 / 5
Heat: 5 / 5EroticSex is central to the book

Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.

About the book

Two months short of eighteen, Tiernan de Haas loses her wealthy, emotionally absent parents and moves to the Colorado mountains with her new guardian, Jake, her father's stepbrother. Jake and his sons, Noah and Kaleb, teach her the practical work of their remote household, giving her a sense of belonging she has never known. Her attraction to the three men complicates her dependence on them for a home and care.

Reader notes

Isolation and taboo desire shape this adult contemporary dark romance, with graphic sex involving a guardian and his family. The relationships carry pronounced power imbalances; dubious consent, sexual violence, domestic abuse, and suicide make the emotional territory harsh.

How it reads

Writing style: Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Direct
Tone: Dark · Intimate · Tense · Unsettling
Structure: Linear
Driven by: Character · Relationships
Point of view: First person
Setting: Colorado mountains

Reading complexity

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Themes

Belonging
Coming of age
Family
Isolation
Sexuality
Trauma

Content notes

Violence: Strong
Sexual content: Strong
Swearing: Strong
Substance use: Mild
Abuse: Strong
Self-harm or suicide: Mild

Questions readers ask

How explicit is the sex?

Erotic: sex drives the book. Graphic sex involves a guardian and his family, with taboo desire and pronounced power imbalances central to the relationships.

What difficult content should I expect?

Strong abuse and violence include sexual violence and domestic abuse. Dubious consent and suicide also feature, alongside relationships shaped by Tiernan’s dependence on the men for a home and care.

Is it hard to read?

Not really, in terms of prose or structure: the language is conversational, direct, and dialogue driven, with a linear first-person narrative. The emotional material is harsh, particularly around trauma, dependence, and power within relationships.

Is it a comforting romance?

No, the tone is dark, tense, and unsettling. Tiernan finds belonging in an isolated mountain household, but her attraction to her guardian and his sons complicates the care and home they provide.

How long is it?

560 pages in the Berkley 2024 paperback edition.

Which edition is shown here?

Berkley · 2024 · paperback. ISBN 9780593641972.

How long does it take to read Credence?

About 11 hours 15 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 560-page Berkley edition. Dense books can take longer.

About the author

Penelope Douglas

Penelope Douglas is an American writer and teacher whose romances center on volatile relationships, contested boundaries, and the pressure of secrecy. Douglas writes in direct, conversational prose, using dialogue and escalating confrontations to keep attraction entangled with rivalry, fear, or divided loyalty. In Punk 57, a friendship conducted through letters collides with the public identities its correspondents have concealed. Birthday Girl narrows the action to a shared house, where proximity turns an age-gap attraction into a threat to the household. Corrupt pushes this interest in power toward darker territory, making retaliation and control part of the courtship plot. Douglas often structures desire around a rule that the characters have already begun to break.

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