Hot Under His Collar

By: Andie J. Christopher

Narrated by: Andrew Eiden

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

He’s forbidden fruit and she’s a rule follower, but their connection is something to believe in.

Father Patrick Dooley joined the clergy to fulfill his mother's dying wish. While it once gave him purpose, he not so sure it’s his calling anymore. But it’s all he’s ever known, and he’s not sure what he wants to do with his life if he decides to leave the priesthood. How can he reconcile his faith with his growing desire to live a different life?

Sasha Finerghty was content to admire Patrick from afar while she dated men who were perfect on paper and wrong in real life. But with Patrick’s church in need of funding to keep a community program afloat, she’s just the girl to solve their fundraising problem. Spending more time together only fuels Sasha’s crush on him, who finds a kindred soul in her.

The more Patrick gets to know Sasha, the easier it is for him to see a future unfolding for them. But it will take a leap of faith to turn their friendship into something more, and neither of them are quite ready to make the jump.

©2021 Andie J. Christopher (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

One of Buzzfeed's Best Books of July

“Christopher offers up an achingly introspective and heartfelt examination of faith, how we define what we're allowed to want, and the meaningfulness of love as a vocation. In spite of some fiery love scenes, what is striking about Hot Under His Collar is how pure, how decent it all feels. It's provocative, but only because it dares to imagine a vision of faith that leaves room for all the corners of one's heart.” (Entertainment Weekly)

"Delightful, playful, and sparkling with keen, observant humor, Christopher's signature crisp storytelling sings in this forbidden-yet-sweet romance. Hot Under His Collar is a walk on the wicked side, yes - but it's also a story as tenderly told and complexly layered as it is gleefully fun. Five forbidden stars!" (Sierra Simone, USA Today best-selling author)

great

loved it, so great! one of my favorites you can understand the feelings the characters are feeling and you want them to work out

I couldn’t stop listening

This book is ridiculous in so many ways, and yet I couldn’t put it down. The story is pretty trashy, moves way too fast, is full of unnecessary adverbs, and is read by a guy who regularly misplaces the word stress in the dialogue. But, despite the flaws, it still did a decent job of scratching the forbidden romance itch. So there you go.

Too much random 'woke ideology'

Sad to see fiction authors interjecting random 'woke' comments & ideology into an otherwise generic romance. I do not want to feel preached at or put down. Leave that to the culture wars and politics. Reading a romance should be a pleasant 'escape' from everyday issues. It is not necessary to blame toxic masculinity for bad behavior, identify some characters as cis-gender, or denigrate a religious denomination. These types of biases from the author did not add to the story-line, but rather made it less enjoyable.

Hot and bothered

Oh my goodness! What a performance by Andrew! The story was sexy and cheesy and funny and serious. I loved the development of Patrick and Sasha as individuals and as a couple.

Felt like a published first draft…

I tried very hard to love this book and read the whole thing. This book went for a really great romance tension builder- The priesthood. The main characters are written vapidly. We are given GREAT reasons for their internal struggles, but EVERY thought they have is spelled out for us, there is absolutely no nuance in their internal struggle for their attraction. They‘re just into eachother and every time they‘re left alone BAM! [insert softcore scene]
This is for somebody who wants the story, the feelings, and the conflict explained to them, walked through and delivered to the end.
I think the premise and the characters have great potential to be a deeply developed story, but as of right now it felt like a published first draft to me.