Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Sinner

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

katieek's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? No

3.75

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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

Content Warnings

lafillesversion's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

When I read Priest last year, it was a total revelation for a recovering Catholic like myself. (Thirteen years of Catholic education - 4 all-girls. TYSM! I’ve done my time.) I was a little nervous to continue with the Bell brothers because of how much I felt Tyler and Poppy’s story.

And then Sean Bell came barely in with his age gap and best friend’s sister… and oh yeah. She wants to be a nun! I ate this up. I had to keep my headphones near because any moment I needed to hear this story.

The narration done mainly by Jacob Morgan was so incredibly hot. I’m excited to hear more from him in other books. (And I’m definitely putting Saint on my TBL list when my Spotify audiobook usage resets.)

The other side of this novel does deal with parental death and cancer which left in me in tears at time. This is not something that personally affects me, but I would very much use caution if that is a trigger for you.

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withreveling's review

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
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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renfyre's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

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

There is age gap romance and then there is intentionally infantalizing an already young but legal character even more and salivating over thoughts of her as a young girl. This was the latter and it was not a cute look. I thought the insta love in Priest was a bit annoying, but at least it wasn't creepy.

I can't even give this stars in a "I didn't say it was good, I said I liked it" way. Because it wasn't and I didn't. I finished this for the same reason people crane their necks to see a car wreck on the highway or listen to true crime podcasts. Morbid curiosity.

Sean Bell talks about himself in the third person. Sean Bell fantasizes about minors masturbating with teddy bears. Sean Bell is only 36 but refers to himself so often as a dirty old man and Zenny (21) as a sweet innocent girl that it's clear it's not Zenny the newly adult woman he is lusting after but the concept of old man/young woman. It is gross. Sean Bell's Religious Trauma TM is the whole point of his character but whether he believes in God and hates God or doesn't believe in God at all changes from one page to the next. How were we supposed to root for this guy?

Zenny is barely a character. Between Sean's infantalizing her and it being his perspective, she seems like a big sexy nun baby. Her playing into the old man/young girl of it all so intensely feels like the most Men Writing Women moment ever actually written by a woman. There is nothing sexy about pretending to be a minor who talks about being horny the same way a little kid asks for help with a booboo, and if I never read "her college girl pj's" again it will be too soon.

The ending was a cop out. And the character development fell very flat. The whole story takes place over 1 month. A week in, Sean, a milionaire playboy, catches feelings. Two weeks in, he is in love. Three weeks in, he wants marriage and babies... with this woman it is repeatedly emphasized he held when she was a baby and he was a teenager....gross..Four weeks in, he is a Brand New Man - ready to give up his high paying job and settle down with this barely not a teenager. She has made him a better man with her magic almost nun pussy. Hope she keeps the nun clothes because it seems like the second she is an actual adult with a fully formed frontal cortex and not forbidden virginal church fruit, his interest is gonna go poof.

I feel like Sierra Simone tried to recapture the inner turmoil of the beloved Father Bell, but Tyler's struggle made sense. His want to be good and his faith clashing with his want for Poppy felt like a real moral dilemma. It was him reconciling his own internally set standards of behavior.

Sean's struggle was entirely about wanting to fuck zenny, knowing he shouldn't for very valid externally set reasons and doing it anyways. And then doubling down and impregnating her at the ripe age of 22. The end.

I'm probably still going to read Saint just to put a bow on the Bell Brothers trilogy, and because I know Simone can write great MM, but if anyone uses the word PJs in a sexual context I am out.

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