Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Sinner by Sierra Simone

49 reviews

shelcmb's review against another edition

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challenging 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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miayukino's review

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emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Never read/listened to erotica before and perhaps it was a silly assumption to think that there’d not be a plot I was interested in or a plot at all but I was pleasantly surprised to find explorations of religious trauma, faith, anticipatory grief, and shame in this work? 
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ga_bby4's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

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luceeefur's review against another edition

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emotional sad 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

4.0

I got punched in my cancer related trauma and cried. If that's a trigger be warned,
it's the sad ending kind.
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melist6's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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justinekorson's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful sad 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? Yes

5.0

I cried reading this book, which I really didn't expect especially seeing how the first book Priest went. The scene was the one near the end when Tyler looks at Sean and asks, "Did you feel it too?" as they're crying. I cried with them because it was such a beautiful scene and because I obviously very much loved Tyler and grew to lvoe Sean because of this story. I'm excited to read the next one and figure out what happened between Aiden and Elijah!
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carissa230's review

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

1.5

Are you all alright? This book was so cringy. The fact that so many people consider this romance is wild. 

Sean is a 36 year old man who runs into Zenny a 21 year old he knew growing up. Zenny is working on becoming a nun, but she wants to fulfill her carnal lusts first. Sean is completely head over heels for her from page one and is willing to help her, even though she's his brothers little sister. They only have a month, but he doesn't know how he will ever let her go. All seems somewhat normal so far. 

The kicker is the way he constantly thinks about her as a child and a young teen while in middle of the "education". He remembers her as a baby when his mom made him hold her. As a 17 year old in knee socks pleasuring him. A young girl in class eager to please her teacher. I just can't understand the draw. 

He also wants to be the boss inside and outside the bedroom. He wants his woman to do what he thinks best and let him take the lead at all times. Um can you say grooming?
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binevolentbookworm's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

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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julianacosta_01's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective fast-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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sparklingpynk's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I appreciate that even though this is part of a series it truly read like a standalone book. Sometimes it feels like a lot is missed or too much is retold from the other parts of the series and I really liked how this avoided all of that. I also really liked the narration of this book and how easily the voices for each character are distinguished and flowed. I believe this is my second read from Sierra Simone and I appreciate how much this author can make me question my own personal limits. 😅
Overall I liked this but in what I will now refer to as classic Sierra Simone fashion, there were some parts of this that were slightly problematic for me.
We have a 21 yr old virgin nun-to-be with a 36 yr old sex god equivalent, which that in itself I can tolerate. What made it problematic for me is how the age difference is used during sex at times which I just could not stop cringing from. It is recognized each time how "sinful" the thoughts and words being said are in the moment. But there is still a part of my brain that hesitates to comprehend this is a fictional world just enjoy the crazy ride.
The smut overall in this one starts off like nothing I have experienced before. Very very detailed to the point where it could pass as an instructional manual for all those in need of assistance 😂 
Now, another semi problematic situation, which I do understand is the whole point of this book, is the mixture of sex, religion and death. Personally, it was a bit odd for me at certain points because of that mix but like the contradiction that my feelings are with this one, at the end of it all, I did like this book.
That last sex scene at the church before Zenny is meant to walk down the aisle, that had my past catholic school girl equally appalled and intrigued by the scandolus-ness of it all.
So in conclusion, if you can maintain an open mind and are aware of the trigger warnings within this one, I say give it a listen. And if you know of someone who needs a cunnilingus how to guide, pass this along to them.
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