Review: Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard

Gabriel’s Inferno
(Gabriel’s Inferno #1)
Author: Sylvain Reynard
Publisher: Penguin
Published: October 11, 2012
Genre: Romance, Adult, New Adult Contemporary
My Rating:

Enigmatic and sexy, Professor Gabriel Emerson is a well-respected Dante specialist by day, but by night he devotes himself to an uninhibited life of pleasure. He uses his notorious good looks and sophisticated charm to gratify his every whim, but is secretly tortured by his dark past and consumed by the profound belief that he is beyond all hope of redemption.

When the sweet and innocent Julia Mitchell enrolls as his graduate student, his attraction and mysterious connection to her not only jeopardizes his career, but sends him on a journey in which his past and his present collide.

An intriguing and sinful exploration of seduction, forbidden love, and redemption, Gabriel’s Inferno is a captivating and wildly passionate tale of one man’s escape from his own personal hell as he tries to earn the impossible—forgiveness and love.

“You are a only a magnet for mishap, Miss Mitchell, while I am a magnet for sin.”

There are three things I loved the most about this book:

Gabriel Emerson

Gabriel Emerson

and GABRIEL EMERSON

Gabriel Emerson aside, I loved all the things about this book. I was pulled in the moment I started reading it because of Sylvain Reynard‘s unique and captivating writing. The storyline, although you can call it cliché, is usually the kind of story that holds my interest. Forbidden student-teacher love? Right up my alley!

Gabriel’s Inferno is written as a 3rd person POV. It follows the enigmatic Gabriel Owen Emerson, a Dante specialist and professor at the University of Toronto. As a professor, he is not allowed to get romantically involved with any of his students, but when he met the innocent, vulnerable and somewhat familiar graduate student Julia Mitchell, he wasn’t able to resist the physical and even emotional attraction that he felt for her.

I’ll be honest with you. There was a slow build-up of the plot and the romantic development here, but I thought it was a good thing. I love stories that begin with enough prelude before getting into intimacies. Julia and Gabriel’s romantic development gave me goosebumps. The fact that they started their relationship as platonic…. it was sweet and breathtaking.

I especially adored the classical sound tracks that were mentioned in this book. I am a fan of Andrea Bocelli and his song Sogno was featured here, so it automatically made me swoon. The dialogues in this book were also charming. I cannot properly formulate a thought on how I enjoyed the way Julia and Gabriel had deep conversations and how they connected Dante’s The Divine Comedy to their own story (Although I honestly don’t have the knowledge about The Divine Comedy lol). When it comes to my favorite scene, it happened in Chapter 15. Man, that was some fiery exchange of dialogues.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way the story climbed as a whole. It was slow burn but so worth it. I am so excited to delve into the next book!

Rating:

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