Almost Priest cover art

Almost Priest

McCullough Mountain, Book 1

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Almost Priest

By: Lydia Michaels
Narrated by: Amber Battaglia
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About this listen

The perfect small-town beach romance brimming with forbidden love, secret desires, and one irresistible virgin hero from best-selling and award-winning author, Lydia Michaels.

Colin McCullough has always been a man of devotion, and at summer’s end, he will finally receive his Holy Orders. Samantha Dougherty never intended to cause trouble, but when she’s invited to stay at McCullough Mountain for summer break, she proves to be an irresistible temptation.

Hot summer nights lead to secret moments of seduction neither Colin or Samantha can resist. No vow of celibacy is without sin. Colin’s thoughts are far from pure, but his intentions to become a priest remain. What should have been a relaxing holiday with his family has turned into a trial of loyalty, lust, courage, sacrifice, and possibly love.

Best-selling author, Lydia Michaels, has created an unforgettable family saga bursting with sizzling secrets and scandalous moments in this award-winning series, McCullough Mountain, where each story can be listened to as a stand-alone!

©2015 Lydia Michaels (P)2023 Lydia Michaels Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance Summer Feel-Good Heartfelt

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Lydia Michaels never ceases to amaze or entertain me, she is truly a gifted author with a brilliant mind and regardless of the genre or trope I know it is going to be a treat of a story, one that will captivate my attention from start to end and “Almost Priest” is all that and more. First off, I have to say it is a great start to a new series, the McCullough family are quite the bunch and despite not having met them all yet, i just know each story is going to be something special. Braydon McCullough brings his girl friend Samantha Dougherty back home with him so she could spend their summer break from college on the mountain. His family welcomes her with open arms and Samantha just adores them and the big family dynamics and the camaraderie amongst them, it was something she did not have growing up. Staying in Braydon’s room, she surprised another McCullough by walking in on him, his older brother Colin, even more surprising was the instant attraction she felt for him. Colin, studied to become a priest and is close to making his vows to the church and to god, he has always been devout and abstinent, but Samantha stirs up something in him he never felt before and he has to fight that feeling, not only for his sake but his brother’s sake too. Brayden and Samantha’s relationship is not as it seems, and even his mother and family can see that. But they never see what is happening between Colin and Sam, the two connected like no other, they share a special bond, and while he fights the attraction for the sake of his faith, it is hard to fight feelings as strong and true as the ones they share. Holy moly, the depth and layers to this story are absolutely amazing and the same goes for all the drama, heartfelt emotions and the sensual and stolen moments they got to share. Lydia Michals, thank you for another wonderful story and emotional rollercoaster ride, I am looking forward to more visits with the McCulloughs.

🎧📚🎧 And for the fabulous narration, Amber Battaglia is a talented narrator and versatile voice artist. She did an awesome job bringing the characters to life, performing the voices for both the male and female characters, giving each their own distinct sound, making it easy to follow along and tell who is who. She had a complete understanding of the characters she was portraying, took each role and made it her own, sounding believable and just as I pictured the character to sound. You could hear how much heart she put into her work as she captured all the characters’ emotions and projected them into her performance and had you feeling every single one. Amber Battaglia is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for this great listen.

A Sinfully Beautiful & Amazing Story & Listen🎧

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Listener received this title free

I love a family saga series and while I’m only one book in, I can tell the McCulloughs are going to be a great one. Almost Priest is Colin and Samantha’s story. I love a good forbidden read so Lydia Michaels had me halfway sold before I started reading. She did amazingly with building that tension. The will they or won’t they vibes were intense. I could feel the angst seeping through the pages. I found myself totally engrossed in the story. The sexual chemistry was combustible and my kindle pages felt the burn. This story was spicy, it was scandalous and sweet all wrapped in a sinfully pretty bow. I loved meeting all the different family members, this was one heck of an opener to this series and I cannot wait for more from this family! Amber Battaglia did fantastic bringing not only Samantha and Colin but the story as a whole to life.

Sinfully Sweet Read!

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This was such an emotional story. I loved this audiobook. The narrator did a great job and really brought these characters to life. If you love sweet, angsty, instant attraction, slow burn and crazy Irish families, this is the story for you. Colin and Sam were going in different directions in life but found themselves drawn to the other. Will they be able to overcome all obstacles in the way? I loved this book and definitely recommend.

Angsty, slow burn

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Loved the narration of Amber Battaglia

Samantha goes home with a classmate Braydon McCullough for summer break in college . The McCullough family is a tradition Irish family who have 7 children . Colin is the oldest brother and who always wanted to be a priest and just short of making his final vows . Well that is until Samantha showed up and turned his world upside down . This will be the longest three weeks in both their lives .

What a listen ... WOW

oh sweet lord

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At first this story was kind of confusing for me.
When you meet all the McCullough family members - and there are a LOT.

Colin and Sam had an instant connection and attraction, but both wanted to deny it.
The outcome was predictable, but still I enjoyed the story.

Think the McCulloughs are a funny, chaotic family and I wanna get to know them better.

Almost Priest

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Lydia Michaels has done it again. Given me a new series to sink my teeth into and enjoy. This one is especially fun, as the family had me laughing the entire time, we were together, and the romance is so sweet! Meet the McCullough family. This story focuses on Colin, a seminary student on the verge of taking his vows. All his life he has known this is his calling, but when his brother brings home Samantha, all bets are off! Samantha came home with Braydon, and while the two enjoy spending time together, the chemistry is not romantic. She is drawn to Colin, and the two have an immediate connection. Samantha comes with some baggage, and now Colin is questioning the path he has chosen. What will become of these two? Colin is very conflicted, and I love how he begins to work through the decisions he needs to make. It's not an easy time, and his brother is there for him. Samantha has a lot to deal with, and her love for a man who cannot be with her is just the icing on the cake. But the McCullough house is so inviting, she feels at home. I fell for this couple immediately and felt right at home with the family. The banter is hysterical, and the family endearing. I can't wait to get to know the others better.

Amber Battaglia brings the entire story to life with an amazing performance. She nails the Irish and Gaelic, picks out the perfect voices for the characters and keeps me as a listener engaged. She adds in the emotional turmoil along with some comedic timing and creates a new world I thoroughly enjoyed.

Amazing listen!

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Almost Priest is book one in the McCullough Mountain series and is the incredible forbidden love story of Colin McCullough and Samantha Dougherty.
Samantha has agreed to go home to the mountains with Braydon McCullough, she knows there is nothing more to their relationship than friendship, however it becomes clear very quickly that Braydon not only thinks they are more but expects them to share a bed despite never having never done so to date. Sammy makes it clear that she isn’t comfortable with that and ends up with a room of her own but gets the shock of her life when she comes face to face with Colin in the bathroom that connects their rooms. Colin has just got out of the shower and Sammy’s body instantly reacts to him, she feels things for him she doesn’t feel for his brother and begins wondering if she is with the wrong McCullough, only to find out her beautiful bathroom sharing companion is about to become a priest and take a vow of celibacy. To say she is devastated would be an understatement and she tries everything she can to stay away from him, but she is drawn to him like a moth to a flame, heart, body, and soul.
Colin McCullough has known since he was 12 years old that he wanted to join the church. He has been to Ireland and now he’s back, he is just 2 months away from taking his vows and giving himself to the church wholeheartedly. That is until his little brother brings a girl home to the mountains, and she walks into the bathroom they share. He has never had feelings or urges for a woman before, but Sammy just does things to him and his body. He see’s that his brother is pretty much ignoring her and has no idea about her fear of water, so he takes it upon himself to be her guide and help her overcome her fear. The two grow close and despite them both fighting their attraction they can’t help but fall not only in lust with one another but also in love, leaving Colin with one hell of a decision on his hands. Does he follow his head and love for the church or his heart and his love for Sammy?
Amber Battaglia brought this incredible audiobook to life and did so on a solo basis. Considering there are eleventy billion side characters/family members as well as Colin, Samantha, and Braydon to focus on, Amber was a total rockstar and brought the house down with her performance.
I absolutely loved this forbidden romance story, the way they tried in vain to resist each other but that pull of attraction was simply to much and they had no choice but to give in. I laughed, cried, swooned, got angry and swooned some more during this. I’m so looking forward to falling in love with the rest of the McCullough clan and their stories throughout the rest of this series.

An incredible forbidden, small town romance!

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Listener received this title free

I really enjoyed this taboo romance between Sam and Colin. When Sam spends the holidays at her boyfriend's family home, the last thing she expected was to fall for his brother, Colin, an almost priest.

The chemistry between these two was electric, I loved every minute of it. Their struggle, passion, and love were just so sweet and touching. I could feel their pain and it was clear how much these two meant to each other.

This book was exceptionally well written and I really enjoyed it. I dropped one star just for the fact that I am Irish and I saw one or two misconceptions when it comes to the Irish language and culture, unfortunately for me, I couldn't overlook it, however, if I (the reader) were unaware of these, it would have been an easy 5 stars.

Overall I highly recommend this audiobook.

really enjoyed it

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This is the first book in the McCullough Mountain series, a family saga. I loved to follow Samantha (Sam) and Colin in their journey to love. This is a beautiful story, sweet and heartwarming. The story has unpredictable twists and turns. The McCullough family is amazing. Amber Battaglia did a great job with the narration. I enjoyed it. This is a great start to the series, and I am looking forward to listening to Beautiful Distraction, the next book in the series.

Beautiful Story!

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Well I purchased this book based on the reviews but it did not live up to the positive reviews it’s very boring. Sam was a sickly simpering idiot and Colin was tortured. It was rubbish not worth the effort there was little real tension and the sex scenes were clumsily written .

Almost priest

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