From the moment I discovered the spicier side of #BookTok, this book was anything anyone wanted to talk about.

"It's sooooo spicy!"

"Oh my god. People. This book is so spicy it will melt your tongue off. Literally. Your tongue will just leak out of your mouth." (That's not a direct quote or anything, but that's about the tenor in which these reviews with while giving you a weird, Dali-esque visual.)

So, I had hoped it was available of KU. It wasn't. So I shelled out the few dollars it cost to buy the e-book and read it.

You know... I've seen priest/penitent taboo played out in person before me (ifyouknowhatImean), and it's hot. It is. And this book is hot... in places. BUT -- And I know y'all are gonna come @ me, and I know this is showing my hand at just how far up my spicy/smutty scale is (compared to some), but beyond the exhibitionism and smut? I didn't like this book very much.

Almost every scene that wasn't smut I ended up skim reading, because it was too sentimental and trite for me. The sweetness, the gentle care? Trite trite trite. Father Bell's struggles with his more sexual and dominant side? Oh, ffs. Ovary up. So you have a sex drive and it's hella thirsty. You're human.

I didn't like that what happened to Father Bell's sister was used as a conflict device in this book. It made me feel as if HER story only existed to serve as a catalyst for male angst, and REALLY? No.

Honestly, the smut is what earned it the 3 stars it got. Honestly.