Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Priest

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: BookTok and my book club made me do it.

Overall rating: Whew...not going to lie, 'Priest' is a doozy. I don't know if it's the fact that I grew up in a very religious household and then found myself a bit as I got out of college, but there was something that went straight to my heart with 'Priest.' Tyler clearly has a savior complex (duh) for both his sister and Poppy and I'm not sure that Simone does the best job of explaining why he seemingly went from bad boy heartthrob to clergy cutie trying to maintain his purity. Yeah, you get the little lines of 'this is why I do it...' or 'I have to remember my purpose...' but it's not super realistic the way that Tyler's storyline seems to develop.

There are quite a few good quips and lines, but overall 'Priest' feels like it juuuusssssst isn't quite there and could be so much deeper and impactful. Although not every book needs to be deep and impactful in the same way...and there are plenty of deep and impactful things happening between these pages, it's just not emotions or storyline. 😂 I do like the juxtaposition of the priest and the stripper, the good and the bad, the worthy and the broken. And as far as the spicy scenes go - praise Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they are written VERY well. However, if you're sensitive to the use of a specific four-letter C-word to describe female anatomy, this isn't the book for you. I've already recommended 'Priest' to multiple people and I finished it in less than 24 hours, so realistically, for me at least, it was a good read.

Reader's Note: 'Priest' includes themes of suicide, religious trauma, sexual assault and rape (related to the main character's backstory but not actively part of the sexual scenes in the book), and consensual sexual relationships including light BDSM.

Content Warnings

mccutiereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

This was soooooo cathartic for my repressed middle school Catholic girl. Being raised a cradle Catholic, I’ve had my fair share of guilt and shame when it comes to my *ahem* “carnal pleasures” (as Father Bell so eloquently put it). It has taken a long time to embrace my sexuality (and to be honest the embracing is STILL going on)! I gobbled this up literally within 24 hours (thank you Daylight Savings) and will be moving on to the next in the series! The tension and spice was hot hot HOT! And I loved the personal struggles the characters went through and how they came out in the end. My only misgiving was the third act breakup — god help me — and how it clearly went against the characters personalities. It was a happy (and spicy) ending though so I’m fairly happy!

Content Warnings

laceyjaden's review against another edition

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fast-paced

3.5

Picked up this book anticipating a smut-heavy forbidden romance but it didn’t fully give off that vibe in my opinion. Yes, it was lust filled, but I found that it really relied on the “love at first sight” trope a little bit once they moved past the initial lust and it bored me a little after that. I honestly wanted something filthy and dirty like I was told it would be, but it had maybe one scene like that…I still may give the other two books a try.

I wanted to add that although I dislike reading from a male’s POV, I enjoyed the realism of Tyler’s inner thoughts. It felt very much like I was in his head and not just reading his diary, haha.

Content Warnings

iida_a's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

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