Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Saint

Smut AND plot??
Monk and ex- boyfriend reunite for a monastry beer brewing tour. Genuinely surprised at how heartwrenching and thought-provoking this was, as someone who grew up religious a lot of the themes resonated personally with me and I was surprised at how well crafted and considered it was, book also touches on themes around body insecurity as well as liberal descriptions of what you find sanctifying... brb crying in the corner - see triggers before reading.

Content Warnings

binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

combined review of PRIEST, SINNER, SAINT

"I came here to leave my past life behind. I came here to live entirely for God. But Elijah keeps blooming in me and I can't seem to stop him.

I can't stop the tender shoots and slender, seeking roots of him, and I am his garden, his soil, his place, and it would be wonderful if I wasn't supposed to be the garden of my god instead.” (SAINT)

if you told me a year ago i was going to post an in-depth review of a series based on catholic church erotica i would have told you, “yes, and?”

when i started PRIEST, i was not expecting much. i figured i would be like, okay, yeah, spicy! and move on. which is honestly kind of what happened, because i read it in december, watched fleabag, became obsessed with Hot Priests for a week, and then forgot about it until one fine day in february. i was at work and was needing a mindless audiobook to get through the remainder of my day and i figured hm, yeah i kinda had a fun time with the first book, i’ll try his brothers story, SINNER.

how funny i was to think it would be a mindless audiobook. i started it and immediately became invested. a series that started as a solid 3 quickly became a 4, and then, dare i say it? a 5 star read by the time i finished the final brother’s story, SAINT.

i saw an immense amount of growth in simone’s writing style, character development, and overall storytelling throughout the series - something, let’s be fair, i just don’t expect when i’m picking up a book for a spicy time. i was impressed with simone’s handling of the tough topics she chose to include in the series; including systemic SA, suicide/suicidal ideation, death of a parent to cancer, and depression, and she includes the CW at the beginning of each book for her readers.

this series was not without its faults, such as sometimes there was an overreliance on the “i’m not like other guys” trope from each of the brothers, while they were quite literally like other guys lol. also, simone did rely on the black fmc to basically give a racism 101 lesson to the white mmc in the second book. and while i do think simone tried to navigate writing interracial relationships responsibly and with care – she just could have chosen any other way to explain these things without putting the burden on the black fmc.

anyway, i came for the hot priest smut, stayed for the intimate storytelling and now i own physical copies of each book because i literally cherish these stories.

Content Warnings

rshearon's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad 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

people love to reduce this series to pure smut but it’s incredibly well written with deep, diverse characters! i love the main character and his motivation and growth throughout the book is personally moving! i cried!

Content Warnings

kaychelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

kelsmckinney's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

sara_mb's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

As always it’s was as great as I thought it would be. I was a bit nervous at first with the fact it was her first lgbtq+ book of the series and wasn’t sure how it was gonna flow. It was beautifully written, deep and reflective. It spoke about mental health issue, suicidal tendencies and sexuality. I love everything about it, the spice and emotion, perfect ❤️

Content Warnings

More...