Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Priest by Sierra Simone

42 reviews

binevolentbookworm's review

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

3.5

 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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death, Infidelity, Grief, and Suicide

ktv's review against another edition

Cannot stomach porn in written form anymore. Never returning to this ever again. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

clareasday's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Infidelity, Suicide, Death, Sexual content, Stalking, and Alcohol

antidietleah's review against another edition

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

3.25

 So I'm kinda surprised how much I enjoyed it. The spice was on point, I generally liked the plot, but there were some pretty big holes. I think more work could have been done on why he went into priesthood... his sister's story in and of itself wasn't a compelling enough reason for me without knowing more about his thought process. I liked how everything got wrapped up, even though the final drama is eyerollingly predictable. I'm not religious (but was raised Lutheran) so a lot of the religious references were lost on me but I got the gist anyway. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Sexual content

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity and Stalking

kelisabeth's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Child death, and Grief

chloelj27's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

booksalacarte's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

2.75

2.75⭐️ 4.5🌶️

Forbidden love

Taboo romance

Contemporary romance

Miscommunication

MMC POV

The book’s story/character’s meet cute is starts kind of abruptly with very little context on the FMC’s side. The FMC point of view isn’t actually her POV, but her confessions to the MMC. So the all male POV was something new in contemporary romance, for me.

I was mistaken that this was a dark romance. What I expected to happen, did not happen. It felt like there was foreshadowing for it, but then kind of felt like a dud… but in reality it’s just a taboo romance… set up like a dark romance? 

The spirituality of the book is what caught me off guard. On one hand it seemed so genuine, raw and applicable, on the other hand it seemed perverse and fetishized in many different ways. I found myself very conflicted with the juxtaposition of the premise of the plot/theme/spice. I also kept reading… so I don’t know what that says about me. 

I’m reading the next book to see if it’s a copy and paste situation.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, and Abandonment

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

I’ve had beef with organized religion, and especially the Catholic Church, for a long time. The fact that this book is about a Catholic priest abandoning his vows for a pretty potential parishioner had initially steered me clear of reading it but the TikTok reviews about the spice had piqued my curiosity. This book is so steamy — mostly because there is so much of it that is taboo or not allowed. The God stuff I could take or leave —- but the spicy parts? Gimme a bunch more of that. 🔥 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Alcohol, Child death, Classism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Infidelity, and Sexual content

anararibeiro's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Toxic relationship

I have very conflicting thoughts about the fact that the characters get involved and have so much sex while he's still a priest and inside churches. I guess it's expected considering it's a romance with the main character being a priest. But I also see how that can be very distasteful or actually very triggering for some people. My most conflicting thoughts though come from the fact that his sister was abused by a priest and he as priest breaks the same vows, definitely not in the same way, but still... I felt weird about it. Just like him. I still don't know how I feel about it.

alclvdl's review

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

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity and Sexual assault