Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Priest

This is very well written and the sex scenes certainly get the job done ;) BUT The religion and guilt are so heavy handed that I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish the book. I have no issues with the context- it just got excessive for me.We get it, this isn’t priestly behavior… get back to the plot or the smut. If religious guilt turns you on this is definitely the book for you!
The continuous mentioning of the sister’s suicide/abuse really throws a wrench in the momentum of the lustful, steamy moments. It provided important context early on and when he discusses it in more depth… but it was poorly placed otherwise and ruined some really hot scenes for no good reason.
This book isn’t really my cup of tea but the writing style is. She writes in a way that acknowledges the toxic masculinity that drives a lot of erotic entertainment, using it to her advantage without letting it completely ruin the spicy descriptions. She developed a fantastic balance of rough, unforgiving dominance and consent/respect/understanding of each others needs
Yes aftercare!!!
The dive into the details of finding the sister developed the vulnerability and trust between the characters and helped the plot to have a little more substance. It made sense here but I still hated the way it was thrown in after/during sexy moments.
Milly is a fabulous sprinkle of flavor. I love this blunt, sassy old lady.
Kinda disappointed that the plot and characters were so shallow. There was a chunk of text in the second half that felt like the beginning of a plot but it was too little too late and ended up being really boring to get through after the fast-paced first half. Why bother starting to create depth now?
I definitely will give a chance to other books by this author… just probably not the religion based ones.

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ireadinbed's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

3.75

I DNFd this book last year but im glad i picked it back up.

I really like lots of things about this book. Sierra Simone is my preferred erotic romance writer and honestly i really feel seen in her choice of themes and characters internal struggles. Excessively so in this particular book.

The spicy scenes were excellent as always and i really loved the banter and sweetness between Poppy and Father Bell.

But the pacing was off for me, especially in the second half of the book. I could have used more chapters from Poppy's perspective.

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bleaksalad's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

3.25

I started reading Priest as a joke and I ended up loving it….until I didn’t.

Pros:
- Tyler’s dilemma is original and thought provoking. The heart of this book is undeniably great.
- The writing is phenomenal. This book has some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever read.
- The smut was 10/10

Cons:
- 0 communication between the two characters causes most of the plot.
- Poppy must have been written by a man and you can’t convince me otherwise. From beginning to end she is a caricature of a woman.

Overall, a good read if you want your smut to have plot, but the cons significantly brought down what could have been a 5 star read.

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alliek315's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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psyched_np's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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marysbookinit's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-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

5.0

Just….wow. I was not expecting this book to be so (pardon the pun) revelatory. I had 12 years of Catholic school and was never compelled to think about the faith and my relationship with God the way this book had me doing. Yes, it was an erotic novel so their was a lot of on-page sex, but every sex scene played a distinct purpose in exploring faith, emotion, and connection. Tyler obviously was so driven by guilt in this novel and I think a lot of religious people or people who have had religion as a part of their lives (especially Catholicism) can deeply relate. Recommend for those who have grappled with this notion of guilt, faith, and love and also for those who are looking for an erotic novel because it certainly very good in both respects.

“This won’t come easy to us Catholics. In a way, it’s easier to dwell on sin and guilt than it is to dwell on love and forgiveness—especially love and forgiveness for yourself. But that’s what’s been promised to us, and I for one, will not refuse God’s promise of a full, love-filled life. Will you?”

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shaylee_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

Ratings:

Plot: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Writing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Characters: ⭐⭐/5

Romance: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Diversity: ⭐/5

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Sadness:💧💧 /5

Spice:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ /5

Age Rating: Adult 18+
Tropes & Kinks: Taboo Romance, BDSM elements (bondage and rough sex), and forbidden romance.

Before we get into this review I do want to say that this book does deal with a very triggering topic so please do your research before reading this book and decide if it's good for mental health. As with all my reviews the trigger warnings for the books are at the bottom of my review.

I had been warned that this book was DIRTY and I have read a lot of very smutty books so I wasn't really phased but holy cow!!! I was not expecting that! Sierra Simone didn't slowly dipped her feet into the water of the smutty pool instead she threw you head first into the deep end and hoped we could swim. This book went from 0 to 100 so quickly and I was NOT ready. I felt so dirty while reading this book and I'm honestly so glad I'm not christian or even religious because I can't even think about how I would feel while reading this book if that was the case.

I do have a few minor things that I didn't love about this book. One of the biggest one being I felt like the smut came on way too fast and we never got to see them grow and their feelings grow for each other. It was like oh the meet each other and now they are having sex. It was too hot and heavy way too soon without much romance development. Going alone with that another issue I had was I felt a lack of connection to the characters and their romance. I don't feel like we truly knew the characters, I liked them enough to keep reading and be interested in the book but I also never felt truly connected to them and actually knew much about them.

I also felt as if their relationship was lacking and wasn't very well developed. This book definitely felt like it focused more on Tyler's issues with the church and his desires then the actual romance. It also didn't feel like Poppy was as into the relationship as Tyler was. Tyler seemed to care about her so much and I just felt like she didn't really care that much about him. I think if we had gotten her point of view way more often than we did, that wouldn't have been such a problem and I would have connected with her more.

Overall, It was beautifully written with a lot of very quotable moments. The smutty scenes were really well done and oh so very dirty. It was enjoyable and I plan on picking up the priest series and some other works from Sierra Simone.

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kristynpittman's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

3.0

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