I can’t have Elijah Iverson.
I can’t have him because he’s my older brother’s best friend. I can’t have him because I broke his heart five years ago; because he’s now engaged to someone else—someone kind and dependable who deserves his whiskey eyes, his soft mouth, his fierce intellect.
I can’t have Elijah because I’ve chosen God instead.
The Bell brothers, though . . . well, we don’t exactly have the greatest track record with vows. But I’m determined to do this monk thing right—to pledge myself to a cloistered life and spend the rest of my years in chastity and prayer. But now Elijah’s here. He’s here and he’s coming with me on my European monastery road trip, and between the whispered confessions and the stolen kisses and the moments bent over an ancient altar, my vows are feeling flimsier by the day.
And vows or not, I know in my heart that it would take more than a good and holy monk to resist Elijah Iverson right now. It would take a saint.
And we all know that I’m no saint.
I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
My Rating: 5 Stars
I don’t even have words for how much I loved this book. I loved it for such a multitude of reasons that I feel one short review won’t do it justice. I had a feeling when I first met the Bell brothers in Priest, that Aiden would be my favorite. He was fun and light, and spontaneous, and I was dying for more of his story.
What I got was so much better than what I expected. Aiden and Elijah’s story is full of so much angst, passion and longing that at times it took my breath away. There were a few things that contributed to me feeling more connected to both Elijah and Aiden in this book than the couples in previous Bell brother books. I felt so much more invested in Elijah as a character than Poppy and Zenny (although I LOVE both of them) and I think it had a lot to do with Elijah’s POV being shared in small snippets of his writing. Those short chapters added so much to the story.
The mental health rep in this book is what really blew me away though. It was so well done, so incredibly raw and painful and real, that I wanted to reach through the pages and hold Aiden. I didn’t imagine I’d enjoy a book in this series more than Priest because…well Father Bell is a snack. I loved this book in a completely different way though and cried much much more than I expected.
This was deep, and atmospheric, and honestly everything I wanted from Aiden Bell’s story, but didn’t know that I needed. This is one of my all time favorite romance novels and will definitely go down as one of my favorite reads of 2021.
As The Book Ends 