“Father” By: Clarissa Wild- Book Review

The name Clarissa Wild is one I have heard quite frequently since becoming a fan of this genre so when I saw the blurb for this book I was pumped. I love all things taboo and religious taboos are a favorite. I had a lot of fun reading this and found parts of it pretty funny. If you think this may be too offensive for you, it probably will be and you may want to pass this one up. The religious aspect is confusing (which the author does mention at the beginning) because while a lot of the church practices are synonymous with Catholicism, it isn’t a Catholic parish. It isn’t in reference to any specific church. Just heed the warning.

We meet “Father” Frank and his language, violence, and drinking are definitely not characteristics one would normally find in a preacher. He gives his sermons wasted and even the messages are dark and foreboding. The church has lost many members and he himself is clearly lost. We meet him in a bar to which he is a frequent patron when a couple thugs come in and start messing with him. He tries to ignore them until one of them goes too far.

The bald one gets so mad, he grabs my collar and almost pulls me off my stool.

This is a point of no return for me.

Normally, I would let them off with a warning, but he crossed a line right there.

No one, and I mean no one, touches my collar.

That thing is sacred.

It becomes apparent that he has a past where he was mixed up in some pretty shady dealings and has had something terrible happen. He is a good person and is willing to be a big help with other people, he just refuses to help himself. His only family is “Mother” Margaret who raised him from a young age and got him into the church. She tries to help him, but he’s also a full grown man. He sees beautiful girl in the congregation one day and is immediately taken by her.

Her eyes…I can’t stop looking.

For some reason, my brain stops functioning.

Even if only for a second, the worries disappear. And I don’t know why, but somehow, someway…she feels familiar to me.

I wanted to like Laura, I did, but she just rubbed me the wrong way. I almost got the feeling she had a preacher fetish and she only liked him because of his position in the church. He begins to spend time with her and she is easy to talk to. He is able to get things off his chest and it eventually makes him feel lighter. Everything is wonderful until their lies and pasts catch up with them. Their relationship falls apart and he has to decide what the right thing for everyone is.

I will work toward gaining her trust.

I will learn to love this church and God once more.

After forsaking this church for so long only for a bit of recognition, I owe that to her. To myself. To God.

I will repent.

I had a hard time rating this one because while I enjoyed the erotic scenes and the taboo (and sometimes blasphemous) aspects of the novel and I could ignore the religious inaccuracies, it fell a little short for me with the predictability of major plot twists and the repetitive inner dialogue. I decided on three and half stars because ultimately, this book kept my attention and I had a lot fun with it.