Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Saint

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Saint by Sierra Simone

11 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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 read this book because I enjoyed the first two books in this series even though it made me question my morals the whole way through the whole series. But again, I'm going to tell for enjoying this book.

This book is based on Aiden Bell who we’ve met briefly in the previous two books. He is the other brother out of the Bell Brothers. He wants Elijah Iverson, but he can’t have Elijah because he is Sean’s best friend. He can’t have him because Aiden broke his heart five years ago because he’s now engaged to someone else – someone kind and dependable who deserves his whiskey eyes, his soft mouth, his fierce intellect. He can’t have Elijah because Aiden has chosen God instead. However, the Bell Brothers don’t have a great track record with vows. But Aiden is determined to do this monk thing right-to pledge himself to a cloistered life and spend the rest of his years in chastity and prayer. But now Elijah’s here. He is here and he’s going with Aiden on his European monastery road trip, and between the whispered confessions and the stolen kisses, Aiden’s vows are feeling flimsier by the day. And vows or not, Aiden knows in his heart that it would take more than a good day and a holy monk to resist Elijah. It would take a saint.

I liked that it wasn’t all smut and no story. I know there was a lot of smut in this book because of the context of a monk and his ex re-kindling and pushing the bounds of chastity. There was an actual complex story with actual characters with two very different family dynamics and very real trauma – Elijah battling his sexuality and his feelings with the catholic church and then the feelings of re-bounding with the ex and breaking off the engagement. Aiden’s story of having suicidal thoughts and then feeling guilty because that’s how his sister died, and then losing his mum to cancer before he could tell her, he was bisexual and in love and then seeing his ex and trying to decide between love and faith because he doesn’t trust himself to go back to the old Aiden. I think it’s interesting that we see this whole series from the Aiden's point of view and then having chapters from Elijah’s diary just made things more heartbreaking.

Even though we got snippets from Elijah’s notebook, I would have loved to have more POV from Elijah especially when he left Aiden. I would have loved to be inside his head and why he wanted to leave and how he was feeling about leaving.

I still feel like I need to go to church after reading this series. I think I will read more of Sierra’s work in the future.

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melist6's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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books_after_bedtime's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

3.75

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kelsmckinney's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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blupblup's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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careliza's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I think this is my favorite book of the year. This book made me cry. The conflict felt the most realistic out of any book I’ve read this year. It was an amazing representation of mental health, and I really felt for both of the MCs. It dealt with hard topics such as being queer in a religious community. I loved both of these characters with all of my heart. Everything they did for each other was out of love, and that’s what made it so special. They loved each other so much that they were each willing to give up their own happiness for the other. And Jamie is a champ. On top of all of this, the book was HILARIOUS. The scenes between Sean and Aidan were ridiculously funny. I fell in love with the other monks, and I just absolutely loved the entire vibe. I love Father Jordan, and I love the magical vibe he has. I want to read this book over and over again. It was so good.

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galleytrot's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

READ: Sep 2023

FORMAT: Audio

BRIEF SUMMARY:

In this contemporary romance, Brother Patrick left behind a life of sex, drugs, money, and love in order to live a monastic existence of devotion and austerity, after one devastating night left him feeling out of control and in search of answers. Despite years of connection to God, he’s still having trouble shaking off his all-consuming love for and connection to Elijah. A stricter order might be just what he needs give himself completely over to God, so when his Abbot decides to send him off to tour three Trappist Abbeys he might be willing to serve at, he is excited by the opportunity – right up until Elijah shows up to check in on him with some distressing news, looking for answers of his own, and messing with the years of progress he hasn’t exactly made.

THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 4.5 / 5⭐

I won’t be able to give this book a thorough review as per usual, because I threw this one on as background noise while I accomplished some work around the house. I was not taking technical notes, highlighting content, or consuming the work with undivided attention. As such, there was likely much that I missed, and it wouldn’t be fair to offer a truly critical analysis of the work.

I can, however, say that I found this book to be emotionally compelling, wonderfully reverent, and filled with vibrant imagery. Religious stories aren’t especially my cup of tea, though they’re always made immediately more interesting when characters explore their own faith within a doctrine that is typically exclusionary to their like. It’s faith itself that I am attracted to; even as a non-religious apatheist, I find faith in itself to be a wonderfully useful tool for people to access when they need a little bit of hope, beauty, and purpose in their life.

This story is a very compelling example of faith making a significant impact on someone’s life for the better. As is likely clear from the book’s synopsis, Adrian is going to face a life-altering choice between devotion to God and devotion to Elijah, and the question of whether there is any scenario where he could possibly have both. I honestly felt myself rooting for him to stick with his vows and live the life that has been so healing and restorative for him, even though the obvious “dude, you can absolutely have both” was always the correct mindset.

This book has representation for gays and bisexuals. One of the main characters/love interests is black.

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail. This list may not be fully comprehensive or complete, as I was not taking notes at the time.

This book contains: mentions of bi/homophobia, religious bigotry; alcohol use; infidelity; mentions of racism; mention of drugs and past drug use; mentions of past sexual abuse of a minor by a religious figure leading to a suicide; and, past suicidal thoughts and struggles with depression.

Content Warnings

preservationaux's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring slow-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

5.0

I am once again here to tell you that Sierra Simone and the Priest series is perhaps the most beautiful piece of Catholic marketing I've ever read (and I grew up in an Italian Catholic family). Saint entranced me. It wrapped my heart up in silent contemplation and hot sex and asked me what in my world is meaningful. It is an erotic story that burns so brightly it shades into esotericiscm.

It is simply beautiful.

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booksalacarte's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

3.25

Saint- 3.25⭐️ 3🌶️

M/M Romance

Second Chance Romance

🏳️‍🌈 MMC

Forbidden love

Travel

Miscommunication

Mental Health Rep

Cheating

This could have very easily turned into a M/M version of Priest and it didn’t. Not even at all. Thank God for that.

I find that the prose and poetic imagery of Sierra Simone is great in this book... but sometimes overdone. But it was a beautiful POV to read. It was dark and painful and vivid. However I did find that sometimes the thoughtfulness and big themes overshadowed the plot.

Aiden was a complicated character in that he was unapologetic about himself in a setting where you would think he would feel the most shame- a monastery. So many tough topics were addressed and I can’t stop being surprised by how deep these books go in addressing issues in the Catholic Church, and Christianity itself. It’s such an interesting take and I applaud that.

The plot/story itself was pretty standard in the reformed bad boy millionaire searching for himself kind of way. I found myself not as invested in Elijah or their love story as I was in the instance of seeing the characters staying true to themselves and finding their peace. But I loved how respectful and focused they were to each other in their intimate moments… In that way, this was the most wholesome of the series.

While the descriptions of mental health and how they affect you was talked about in a way that was gritty and opaque, I found myself interested in how Aiden created his mini support group. I wanted to know more about how he helped others while he shifted through his time there.

The snapshots of former MC’s in the series was nice… but I often forgot that there was another brother… who just is mentioned randomly.

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jonezzzing's review against another edition

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5.0

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