Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Saint

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Saint by Sierra Simone

78 reviews

bianca_swart's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

5.0

I knew I'd like this because of the MM romance but reading it I realised it was more than that.

Aiden Bell asks really important questions. Why can't you love the person you love and not have a life devoted to god? Why must it be one or the other?

I really found Aiden or should I say brother Patrick relatable, he had depression and thought that the life of a monk would help quiet the voices, I do think it helped but he also ran away.
Aiden is very hard on himself and doesn't forgive himself for anything he has done in the past.

I like that Aiden could get a life with Elijah and still spend time in the church. I think it's sad that the only time a queer in the church is really respected is when they are celibate or not actively gay (dating etc). It is a big issue I have with the catholic church, don't get me started on natural family planning.. I like that other monks and priests saw it and know that the catholic church is rigid. Something has got to give.

When he tells Tyler about 'it' and Tyler says he wouldn't have guessed and he was always happy and Aiden says "no most people don't guess, do they? Sometimes the people who laugh the loudest and reach for life the hardest are the ones closest to the darkness ", I literally cried.

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deadkitty4two's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Heavy content with a strong theme of reflection and inner battle of Catholic morals. Narrator’s voice made me want to fall asleep.

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crimson27's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective

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

4.75

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vadouglas's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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emmabemba's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad 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

5.0

“No, most people don’t guess, do they? That sometimes the people who laugh the loudest and reach for life the hardest are the ones closest to darkness”.

This paragraph hit me hard because I’ve been there and I’ve felt what Aiden felt in this book. This book was quite hard to read yet it was so good. In “Saint”, we meet Aiden, Tyler and Sean’s brother, who decides to stop his relationship with Elijah, the man he’s been in love with since he was a teenager, to become a monk.

While reading the book, you’ll know why he decided to stop the relationship with Elijah, his commitment to finding God and spending time with Him, and also how he dealt with depression and suicide talk 🥺 So yeah, guys, that book is quite heavy and the topics in there can be confusing, disturbing and even thought-provoking.

I recommend reading this book with an open mind: I’m a Christian and there was a lot of interesting themes related to religion and I loved that Sierra Simone talked about that and described them clearly. But I know that this kind of book is not for everyone and it’s not entirely related to maturity; it’s much more than that.

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shamelesslyash's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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luna_98's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

4.0

i love elijah and aiden together but i do think there needs to be #justiceforjamie, iykyk

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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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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