Credence

overall 4/5 for me. had to suspend quite a bit of disbelief given that this is a genre that isn't meant to be taken seriously at least in terms of plot and tropes, but overall it was surprisingly engaging. that's also something I wanted to emphasize - it is not meant to be taken seriously, and people should also realise that there should be a line between what you might find spicy vs the values you actually espouse and believe in irl. this book leans into the taboos that work for some people but it's not like everyone who enjoys this book is actually going to be acting on these taboos in their real lives. it's pretty normal and common for people to find certain situations spicy in theory or roleplay but would be nauseated and disgusted by it if it happened in a real-life situation.

anyway, spoiler thoughts: the incest thing in this book is fairly mild - Tiernan hooking up with an uncle (half-uncle?) and cousins whom she's never met. relationships like that have been fairly common in human history (and I'm talking about as recently as the early 20th century, at least for cousin marriages and romances). the book really leans into the "family" thing so much that it's actually quite hilarious and makes for funny commentary on these sidelines. i think what was perhaps a bit more taboo was firstly the idea that a teenage girl was having sexual relations with 3 men while stuck in a cabin during winter (albeit consensually and barely legally - the author makes sure to note that she just turns eighteen before anything starts), and some scenes that i guess are supposed to play into non-consent in a BDSM way because Tiernan is shown to be wanting it. i think those non-consent scenes could've been written a bit better though, because it's never made clear to her partner that she wanted it, and we as readers only know from what we can read from her internal monologue. that veers a bit into dangerous territory IMO in validating sexual assault. again though, i only gave this book a bit more leeway because as i said earlier a lot of the events in this book is playing into painting a fantasy of taboo sexual kinks (basically porn in written form and with a bit more story), and non-consent is a big one.and that's also why i don't like Kaleb. he was a huge red flag to me throughout the entire book and I'm honestly surprised that he was end-game for Tiernan. he was the one who bullied and pressed her the most. I kinda couldn't quite buy into the Kaleb romance in the end. I kinda got a little bit why Tiernan might feel sorry for him but couldn't really quite understand why she would fall in love with him at all. also didn't get why the whole Jake affair had to happen either, especially the fact that she had sex for the first time with Jake of all people. he was pretty calm when she eventually moved on to his sons. I know everything settled nicely in the end for Tiernan x Kaleb to happen, what with Jake randomly shifting his attentions to Mirai and Noah deciding he's more in love with moving away than with Tiernan (weird considering he spent so much time saying he loved her), but ultimately I was still Team Noah. Kaleb was just too extreme in every way and the moments of vulnerability felt too contrived and too inconsistent given the rest of his behaviour for me to really get into it.