I didn’t grow up religious. So I think it’s only coincidental that three of my favorite M/M romances feature clergymen. Two of them have BDSM elements, which is… another coincidence? They do happen to be by three of my favorite M/M authors, so there’s that. Anyway, whether you have a priest kink or not, these are all worth checking out.
I’ve never read anything by Lyra Evans I didn’t enjoy, but A Consecrated Heart is undoubtedly my favorite. Lyle is a demon whose job is to harvest souls but his heart hasn’t really been in his work lately. Then he meets Father Aaron who has the most pure soul he’s ever seen.
It’s a question of who’s going to convert who here. Aaron has a pure soul but a tortured heart as he struggles with his sexuality. He dreams of being punished for his sins and Lyle begins to fill that role, first in his dreams and eventually in real life.
This has some harsher BDSM in it, but the scenes are pure lust and emotion. You really feel Aaron’s need for what Lyle can give him and vice versa.
A Taste of Sin is a second chance romance by Kate Hawthorne in which Dominic returns to find the man he was torn away from as a teen. Since then, Reed has become the principal of a Catholic school and his faith is very important to him. Dominic also lives in faith, but in the Episcopal faith where he can be both a priest and gay.
There are some great scenes showing how faith that doesn’t condemn LGBT+ children can give them a place to grow safely, but the real magic is between the two men. Reed isn’t just gay (and hiding it). He’s also kinky (and hiding it). There’s a lot of repression going on, and Nic is the right guy to help him gently (and not so gently, as they get into some mild D/s) unwind it.
Great chemistry, lots of emotion, and a satisfying resolution that doesn’t feel like anyone has to give up his faith to be both gay and happy.
If you have a priest kink, you’ve probably already read Vespertine by Leta Blake and Indra Vaugh, but I love it not just for its exploration of faith vs. sexuality but for its treatment of addiction and recovery.
This is another second chance romance. Nicky and Jasper were in love as teenagers, but Jasper’s family steers him away from Nicky—who they see as destined for trouble—and Jasper ends up hearing the call to become a priest. Nicky does, in fact, end up in trouble. The book start with him coming back home to continue his recovery from drugs and the generally unhealthy lifestyle he’s been living as a rock star.
I don’t like when books act as if love is the answer to addiction, because it’s quite the contrary. Love is a dangerous drug to be messing with in early recovery. But Vespertine acknowledges that Nicky has a long, difficult road in front of him, and I appreciate the fact that all the struggles aren’t on Nicky’s side. Jasper has almost worse ones as he owns up to his sexuality and tries to figure out how to reconcile it with his calling and his faith.
This is another book that shows how LGBT+ children can be either helped or harmed by faith. When Jasper makes his decision at the end, it’s partly for Nicky and partly for the kids who need his example and support.
So there you have it—three priestly books you can read that are all seriously hot but also explore some deep topics. If you want to see my take on reconciling faith with sexuality, check out my free (also BDSM) short story, One Man’s Hell, which features not a priest but Satan himself.