““Si vis amari, ama,” you tell me. If you wish to be loved, love.” – 3/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: rosaries, confessional booths, celibacy, churches, rules, sins, and red lipstick.

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.

Priest is a standalone, full-length novel with an HEA.  For mature audiences only

This was a little disappointing, but maybe I had high hopes for it?
I don’t read a lot of taboo romances, but this book piqued my interest because of its nature – a forbidden romance with a priest as a main character. And while the idea was interesting… the story did not deliver.
I think what disappointed me the most about this book was how weak the plot was. Everything felt too… artificial? We have Father Bell who is very holy (but apparently is also always horny), and he “falls in love” with a stripper who happens to be very rich and super intelligent? I mean, c’mon…
I was expecting a little more other than the taboo aspect, but there were a lot of things that felt flat to me. Both main characters were very bland, immature, and one-dimensional, and I kept thinking about how they were always contradicting themselves and their own story. With that said, for the most part, I liked Father Bell as a character – Poppy I didn’t like as much. She came to the church seeking absolution for her sins, but she clearly didn’t want it since she was constantly and deliberately trying to seduce the priest.
The “romance” they had was only based on sex, they didn’t actually build a relationship so it was essentially an insta-love story – which is also not my favorite trope to begin with. The spice was good though, and that’s why I’m giving this a 3 instead of a 2!
At the end of the day, it was entertaining for what it is, but it wasn’t a great book. I’ve heard great things about the second book in the “Priest” series, so I’ll probably read that and decide afterward if I’ll continue reading the series! If I were to recommend this book to other readers, I would say to read it if you’re in the mood to read something easy and hollow, but full of smut.