Author: Sierra Simone
Priest Book 1
Audiobook, Audible
Narrators: Jacob Morgan and Elena Wolfe
There are many rules a priest can’t break.
A priest cannot marry. A priest cannot abandon his flock. A priest cannot forsake his God.
I’ve always been good at following rules.
Until she came.
My name is Tyler Anselm Bell. I’m twenty-nine years old. Six months ago, I broke my vow of celibacy on the altar of my own church, and God help me, I would do it again.
I am a priest and this is my confession.
This is the book blurb and, let’s face it, it’s a tale as old as time. Nothing new here, folks. Don’t act surprised.
Before I start the review I have say a few things about myself. Since this book deals with touchy, taboo subjects, you have to know where I am coming from: I was raised Catholic. Baptized, did the First Communion and Confirmation and all that jazz. I went to Catholic school (Thank God I was put in the hands of the most progressive nuns EVER, just saying), went on to Catholic University (twice!) and then spent my whole life as a teacher in… guess! A Catholic school! I am, however, one of those people you can call a “relapsed Catholic”. Why is that? Because I believe that the Church is still stuck in 1600s. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, the OG hippie. HE was all for tolerance and love and inclusion and I haven’t seen much of that in the Church. But I digress. Let’s get to the business of Father Bell and Poppy.
Although I am that relapsed Catholic mentioned above, I was a little hesitant to read a book where the priest broke his vows on the altar at his church! After all, too many years of ingrained Catholic guilt live in me somewhere. It was thanks to Crystal, after watching her talk about this book on her BookTube channel, that I decided to take the plunge and see what this book was all about.
This is definitely a romance book, but most of all, it is Tyler Bell’s journey of discovery. I thought I was going to read about a man in a crisis of Faith. I was wrong. Right by chapter 2, I already understood that this man pretty much has an unbreakable Faith in God. This is a book about a crisis of vocation. Right from the beginning , we learn that Father Bell has lost his only sister. She committed suicided and we learn that she had been abused by their priest. That was the motivation for Tyler to join the Church: he wants to “fix” it. And there is no way better to fix it than from the inside. It takes a while for Father Bell to understand that. So when Poppy comes into his life, she hits him like a bolt of lightning. She is there looking to find her faith, she’s a little lost and in need of spiritual guidance. But Father Bell is conflicted, because he very much wants to help her in this journey, but it’s not Father Bell who is in control anymore, it’s Tyler Bell, the man.
I completely understand why Tyler joined the church. One of the reasons I never completely left the church is that if everyone who thought there was something wrong in the church just left, there will be no one else left to actually fix those wrongs. (That’s why I drove all the nuns and my priests in my life to drink with my constant challenging and arguing and asking for WHY?).
If you are a pearls clutching church mouse, PLEASE stay away form this book. It’s not for you. You will be offended by some things you will consider sacrilegious. Yes, there are some VERY steamy scenes, and they help you understand who Tyler Bell really is.
Ms Simone is also a very good writer and some things that could be very cringeworthy ended up not being so because of how beautifully she writes. So if you want to see a beautiful and touching journey of self discovery and a romance between two people who were maybe put in each other’s lives by a force bigger than themselves, go ahead and dive in. You won’t be disappointed.
Narration: Sweet. Baby. Jesus. Jacob Morgan can make you sin just by reading his grocery list. Need I say more? Elena Wolfe narrates very little but she is a powerhouse, the Meryl Streep of narrators ( she’s narrating under her alias, since I don’t out narrators, I won’t say her real name) so her Poppy is just perfection.
Possible trigger warnings: death of sibling, suicide, mentions of sexual abuse, toxic relationship
