Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Priest

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Priest by Sierra Simone

127 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I want to read this because it was all over the book community. I knew this book would have me questioning my morals the whole way through. But holy mother of balls, I feel like I'm going to hell for enjoying this book.

This book follows Father Bell. He is a priest and there are many rules a priest cannot break. A priest cannot marry. A priest cannot abandon his flock. A priest cannot forsake his God. Father Bell has had no problems playing by these rules for the last three years after a family tragedy set him on this path to priesthood. But this all changes when the sultry voice of Poppy Danforth sinks its claws in them through the screen of the confessional booth, and he can’t get her sins out of his head. It should be easy for Father Bell to put his impure thoughts of her to rest, considering the vows he has taken. It should be nothing to overcome what the sight and sound of her does to him, when his life with the Church meant everything. But the more he sees Poppy inside and outside of the church, the more she makes him feel like Tyler Bell instead of Father Bell. It gets worse once he has his first forbidden taste of her lips, Tyler can’t help but break all his rules for Poppy – no matter what it might cost them both.

I liked that it wasn’t all smut and no story, there was an actual story with actual characters with two very different family dynamics and very real traumas. I think Tyler’s head was a very intriguing and damaging place, knowing why he joined the church and trying not to go down the same road whilst falling in love was difficult and confusing for him. Also, I love the fact that he fell in love with a stripper which obviously added to the sin aspect of the book. Poppy, I thought was also a damaged character who didn’t understand why she was like this and instead of going to therapy she went to church. The smut was fire and honest to god, the alter chapter is going to be stuck in my brain for longer than normal.

I disliked the single POV, even though I was surprised to see that this was from a male’s point of view being the priest, I would have loved for this to be a dual POV especially with the last couple of chapters when they were apart. I liked the forbidden aspect of the story, but felt like it was easily pushed aside once Tyler got over his inner monologue and started sleeping with Poppy. I would have liked more of the forbiddenness.

I feel like I need to go to church after reading this book but I'm looking forward to Sean’s book.

Content Warnings

hellowildflower's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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percervall's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

4.0

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rs1023's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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emmaline09's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

4.0

Content Warnings

christikb's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-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

3.5

Let's dig in on this one because I have some oddly nuanced feelings about it, a lot of which circle around severe trauma regarding sanctimonious church folk so...here goes. Ultimate forbidden smut for a no-longer-catholic because Father Tyler Bell is raunchy af. He and Hot Priest (from Fleabag) could get in a room together and have a hot, domineering, sweet "priest off." Seriously. He and Poppy were *chef's kiss* so spicy and so sexy, good Gaia, six peppers for this one. I disconnected from some of the story because the pure emphasis on holiness and godliness and being near to god rubbed my childhood trauma so very, very raw. For anybody who has lapsed from the church, it feels incredibly sanctimonious and aggressively gross to have biblical analogies and internal dialogues about what god would think of behavior. It all very much gels with the story (seriously: Tyler is a priest. Piety goes with the job, even if the priest is sexy af), but it made it hard for me to engage with those story elements. But an enjoyable, extremely spicy forbidden smut, especially if you too had dreams as a teenager about defrocking the hot priest.

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soluunaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

I read this for January’s Cliterature book club. This was for me an introduction into the world of spicy books. At first I was unsure if it was for me but I loved it.

The dynamic between the main characters was interesting and engaging. The spicy scenes never felt like too much (although if you are religious I would consider maybe not picking this book up).

The romance between the two man characters had me rooting for their love. However the last part of the book was not what I was expecting and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Regardless I cannot wait to continue on in the series.

Content Warnings

bertrandlm's review against another edition

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emotional fast-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

4.0

Content Warnings

alclvdl's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-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

3.75

Content Warnings

lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

1.5

Although I didn't particularly enjoy it, I didn't dislike it enough to hate it. The more accurate description was I was able to tolerate it enough. There was little to no plot, and the characters were flat. In all honesty, their relationship appeared more lustful than loving. The smut was okay at first, but I eventually grew tired of it and skipped over those scenes about halfway through.

I only read this because it was book club #4's pick of the month. I know I could DNF it, but I wanted to finish it so I can join in the discussion.

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