Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Priest

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Priest by Sierra Simone

51 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

percervall's review

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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

booksalacarte's review against another edition

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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

imiyhaa's review

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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

2.5

WOW. um... what can i say. the smut was DEFINITELY there, the plot not so much for me. i didn't feel a genuine love connection between the mc's. their relationship felt rushed and unrealistic, but don't get me wrong their sexual connection was unmatched. the romantic part just fell flat for me but what can i say, i started it for the smut anyway. and in a way, it felt healing to my religious trauma tbh🤷🏽‍♀️

Content Warnings

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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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

vickyz_reads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective tense 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

4.75

Content Warnings

sarahholliday's review

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emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

This isn't my normal type of read, so I'm not sure how to review it. I think I'll go with bullets:

I would solidly put this in the "erotica" camp, not the romance. No judgment, just an FYI.
While not all of the sexually explicit scenes were my *taste,* I am sort of in awe at Simone's ability to write those scenes in a way that is at once completely absorbing and also educating. She realizes it's worth it to explain what's actually going on between the two characters, rather that just jumping into the action and letting readers draw their own conclusions.
I read this book because a friend of mine read it and said she found it "healing," given the purity culture she grew up in. I was also raised in toxic Christian purity culture, so that made me curious. And I know exactly what she meant. Even if I don't agree with all of the religious/theological conclusions in the book, it was SO incredibly healing to read a story where a religious person was struggling with sex, but never because it was "dirty" or "wrong."
The writing is actually quite good. I wish there was more to the scenes in between the sexual encounters, but I enjoyed Simone's writing style nonetheless.

Content Warnings

booksthoughtsandtea's review

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emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

How am I giving this book 5 stars?! How did the author manage to make this book so complicated?!

Content Warnings

troll_for_initiative's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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

5.0

Content Warnings

creativelifeofliz's review

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

3.0

I think this book was just not for me. I really wanted to enjoy it, but having the vast majority of the book told from Tyler's perspective kind of threw me off I think.

Content Warnings

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