Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Saint

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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anjoureadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was so much better than the first two books (Priest and Sinner).
Actually it’s the best in the series.

I love everything about this story but here are a few I want to highlight:
-The angst. My heart was aching for the both of them so bad omgggg.
-They way mental health was handled with so much care.
-The healthy mix of sweet and spicy. Compared to Priest, the spice wasn’t excessive and each time it happened, it was actually necessary to the plot.
-The commentary around religion and secular life, the culture of shame and control. I really love how it was discussed.
-The ending was perfect as well. I loved how things were resolved. It was just wonderful. Tugged at my heartstrings.🥹😭♥️

PS: Check your trigger warnings before starting this.

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julianacosta_01's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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

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alisonreadsdmv's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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g_monaghan's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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.

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binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

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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.

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