A lifelong vow. A Catholic priest with questions. A penitent woman with a secret past. A jealous friend. The fourth in this lover’s knot? God.
Robert Souza, a blue-collar Portuguese boy raised by a poor widowed mother, gave up on marriage when he sat at his kitchen table and signed the application papers for the seminary. For a brief time, before his ordination, he strayed and considered marrying Shannon. But he strongly desired the union with God.
Now, six years later, a priest at St. Justin Martyr, Rob once again faces the forbidden desire of his own heart when Jessica, a victim of a brutal assault, comes for counseling. Along with Rob’s best friend, Lawrence—a priest with an artistic temperament and trials of his own—Rob and Jessica are forced to make choices they don’t intend against the backdrop of a Greek chorus of gossiping priests and church politics riddled with suspicion and engaged in the battle for souls.
About the Author: Julia Park Tracey’s historical fiction includes The Bereaved: A Novel, named in the top 100 indie books published in 2023 and Silence: A Novel (Sept. 2024), both published by Sibylline Press. Prior to this she published three novels through Book Trope, all being reissued as new novels by Sibylline Digital First. The first, Veronika Layne Gets the Scoop, in The Hot Off the Press Romance series was a number one Amazon bestseller. Park Tracey is an essayist, poet, and journalist as well as a magazine- and book-publisher. She was named Poet Laureate to the city of Alameda, CA, for three years (2014-2017). She holds a BA in journalism and MA in English.
Editorial Reviews
“As erotically compelling as the Song of Songs.” —David Baker, author of Snapshots of A Marriage
“Sexually charged: I was struck by [Park Tracey’s] lush, hothouse, erotic style.” —Dan Barnett, Chico Enterprise-Record
“Tongues of Angels swings open the doors to the Catholic Church, lifts up the chasuble and exposes what’s underneath…Her novel talks about all the things [they] hope we won’t talk about.” —Christa Martin, Santa Cruz Good Times
“Hot under the collar…A scandalous yarn.” —Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
"Julia Park Tracey brings wicked honesty and scathingly hot nuance to this soulful novel; with crackling prose, she seduces readers. Tongues of Angels is both sexy and spiritual." —Jordan Rosenfeld, author of Forged in Grace
“[An] engaging and affecting novel with all the detail one hopes for in a story: characters we root for, conflict that makes our hearts beat fast, obstacles to overcome, resolution we can accept in the end.” —Rebecca Lawton, author of Junction, Utah
“Wow, peeling away the curtains of the Catholic Church is a bit like opening Pandora's box. This story gives the reader a candid view of the men behind the collars. Their parishioners exalt and Angel-ize them, but they're really only humans, right? Yeah, humans battling desires against an iron-clad promise to God. Talk about sizzling tension, and this book delivers every juicy minute of it. Sometimes God wins, sometimes desire, but either way, one side loses until the tug-a-war ends in the ultimate climax.” —Christina Mercer, The Bee Queen
“I particularly liked the fact that the author stresses her background on why she is able to write such a book. It does make the reader wonder if there is more truth to this fiction book than meets the eye.” —Quality Reads UK Book Club
Julia Park Tracey's historical fiction includes The Bereaved: A Novel, named in the top 100 indie books published in 2023 and Silence: A Novel (Sept. 2024), both published by Sibylline Press. Prior to this she published three novels through Book Trope, all being reissued as new novels by Sibylline Digital First. The first in this Hot Off the Press series was a number one Amazon bestseller. Park Tracey is an essayist, poet, and journalist as well as a magazine- and book-publisher. She was named Poet Laureate to the city of Alameda, CA, for three years (2014-2017). She holds a BA in journalism and MA in English.
