Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: BookTok and my book club made me do it.

Overall rating: Whew...not going to lie, 'Priest' is a doozy. I don't know if it's the fact that I grew up in a very religious household and then found myself a bit as I got out of college, but there was something that went straight to my heart with 'Priest.' Tyler clearly has a savior complex (duh) for both his sister and Poppy and I'm not sure that Simone does the best job of explaining why he seemingly went from bad boy heartthrob to clergy cutie trying to maintain his purity. Yeah, you get the little lines of 'this is why I do it...' or 'I have to remember my purpose...' but it's not super realistic the way that Tyler's storyline seems to develop.

There are quite a few good quips and lines, but overall 'Priest' feels like it juuuusssssst isn't quite there and could be so much deeper and impactful. Although not every book needs to be deep and impactful in the same way...and there are plenty of deep and impactful things happening between these pages, it's just not emotions or storyline. 😂 I do like the juxtaposition of the priest and the stripper, the good and the bad, the worthy and the broken. And as far as the spicy scenes go - praise Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they are written VERY well. However, if you're sensitive to the use of a specific four-letter C-word to describe female anatomy, this isn't the book for you. I've already recommended 'Priest' to multiple people and I finished it in less than 24 hours, so realistically, for me at least, it was a good read.

Reader's Note:  'Priest' includes themes of suicide, religious trauma, sexual assault and rape (related to the main character's backstory but not actively part of the sexual scenes in the book), and consensual sexual relationships including light BDSM.