Credence

Description

Credence is a new contemporary romance novel by Penelope Douglas. Themes of love, self-discovery, desire, and bizarre relationships have been underlined. This novel, from start to finish, handles complex emotions and relationships in the darker, more mature scenes of life. Here is a brief review:

Plot Overview:
The story revolves around a 17-year-old girl named Tiernan de Haas. Tiernan had grown up in the Hollywood life of opulence with emotionally dumbfounding parents. Tragically, it so happens that she loses her parents in a horrific car accident, and thus finds herself on her own. Tiernan de Haas is whisked away to a remote mountainous region of Colorado to live with her uncle, Jake Van der Berg, and his two sons, Noah and Kaleb.

Jake, Noah, and Kaleb are conducting an isolated, rugged life, far removed from the luxury Tiernan is used to. As Tiernan settles down into her new environment, she finds herself coming up with complicated feelings for the three men, each of whom represents different aspects of masculinity and life in the wilderness.

Jake: Her step uncle, who is protective, caring, and strong, gives her a sense of security.
Noah: He is the sibling that can give love, gentleness, and warmth to Tiernan easily.
Kaleb: The more subdued and intense brother has a dark past, mystery, and passion and Tiernan falls into his world of pure emotion.
There is tension and emotional conflict between Tiernan and the three men as she finds herself out, develops independence, and identity in a somewhat isolated place. The novel is an account of desire, boundaries, and complication of relationships which challenges the morals of society.

Themes:

Self-Discovery: Tiernan’s journey portrays personal growth as she discovers who she is and what she ultimately wants in life and in relationships.

Unconventional Love: It deals with the darker themes, among them complicated love arrangements that are mostly not based on the expected conventions of family love and even romantic love.

Healing and Emotional Connection: Credence is an extremely emotional healing novel because every character has some sort of psychological trauma and secrets that are exposed at various points in the novel.

Isolation and Survival: Having the characters in the wilderness emphasizes their physical as well as emotional isolation, which makes them come across their wishes and fears.
Credence is a highly emotive, provocative, and potent novel by Penelope Douglas, the content explicit and darker, with themes that are controversially raised. I would argue that it falls directly into being for mature audiences only, but the synergy of romance, tension, and development of character holds together an engaging book to be read by and suited for readers of the romance genre.

Reception:
Credence received mixed reviews. One finds people who are very appreciative of its bold story-telling technique, emotional storytelling, and non-traditional relationships, while others would feel that the material was too rough or hard to tackle because of its subjects involving relationships of the taboo variety and power plays. However, it is incredibly popular among readers who like dark, complex romance novels.

The book is really about individual identity and the liberty to be oneself, in spite of one’s unorthodox tastes.