And speaking of which, I’ll freely admit that I don’t have a lot of exposure to priests, but I would expect them not to be dropping a ton of f-bombs.

There isn’t a lot of romantic development, aside from her sharing filthy experiences in the confessional booth and him spending the entire time thinking filthy thoughts about her. It continues that way, but then somehow morphs into love. She makes some questionable choices when it comes to a sexual partner, and then comes to confession to tell the priest about it in excruciating detail.Īs far as the relationship between Tyler and Poppy goes, it starts pretty quickly on a physical basis. She leaves a life of privilege and makes some decisions that would be frowned upon by the society that she was raised in. We’re told that Poppy is smart, yet all we get to see of her is the slutty side and the one where she consistently makes poor choices. However, there’s a lot of telling and not showing. And obviously we see him struggle with lust after meeting Poppy. There’s an aspect of guilt associated to his connection with his sister and the signs he missed, as well as a strong connection to his own spirituality and how he feels guided by the hand of God. Tyler discusses some of the things that he loves about the church and his faith, the aspects that comfort him as well as the things he hopes to change by working from within. I’ve never quite understood the appeal of joining the priesthood and living a life of celibacy, especially as a young man, but this book explains that part really well. There are some things I enjoyed, but others I didn’t like as much, and some things that surprised me. I’m not going to say it’s a masterpiece or a favorite, but it wasn’t a bad read either. Normally anything related to the priesthood wouldn’t appeal to me, but … I do trust Kim’s judgment and she hasn’t led me astray yet, so here I am, having just finished this book. I’ve seen this book pop up here and there on BookTok, but it wasn’t until my friend Kim told me about it that I actually had the urge to pick it up. 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’ve always been good at following rules. There are many rules a priest can’t break.Ī priest cannot marry. CONTENT WARNING: reference to systemic sex abuse within the Catholic Church, death of a sister by suicide, grief

Priest by Sierra Simone