Gabriel's Inferno

When you prepare to dedicate over 20 hrs (or even 10 if you double speed it) of you life to listening to a book it is a bit daunting but the hours just flew by as I got drawn into the sweet and torturous love story between Gabriel and Julia. The story is completely set around their budding and blossoming romance but somehow it isn't boring and, due to the brilliant writing, it totally works.

Worth a credit? I couldn't stop listening - so that's a definite YES and I'm now downloading Book 2 Gabriel's Rapture.

I get angst. I get emotional conflict. I can even almost get that there are more than four people on earth under the age of 40 that are obsessed with Dante's Divine Comedy.

What I don't get is how a book can be written with such stilted, unnatural and totally unrealistic dialog. Nobody talks this way.

I also don't get how the reader is supposed to relate to such caricatures of real people. The hero's amoral past sounds awfully tame compared to the typical 20 something single guy. Certainly not a past that should cripple a man. And in spite of evidently being a sex and coke addict and a drunk he manages to get his doctorate degree and become a noted expert and sought after speaker on the subject of Dante.

And the heroine has so little backbone it is a wonder she is able to stand. She comes across as such a nonentity I don't know how anyone would ever even notice her enough to fall in love with her. If I were her friend I would constantly find myself slapping her and saying "Snap Out of It, for Christ's sake and grow some ..."

The Vermont farmboy/scholar who secretly loves the heroine from afar would be an even worse love interest than the hero. He is too good, too sympathetic, too understanding and too dull to pay any attention to.

And finally the premise is just plain silly. She goes to school in Toronto to see the man she has sworn to love forever and when he doesn't remember her she is either too shy or too stupid to remind him of who she is. Although the part about him not remembering her was totally believable. She isn't worth remembering.

This book is overflowing with unbelievable characters and premises that are so chock full of angst-ridden emotion and so sacchariny sweet my teeth hurt.

The only good thing I can say is the two main characters deserve each other. They can go off and bore each other silly for the rest of their lives, emoting endlessly yet saying nothing. I just wish they would put the rest of us out of their misery.

And I am really, really, really tired of all of this lower lip biting heroines seem to be doing lately. It is over done.

Perfect mix of pure fun and truly thought provoking, A masterpiece!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening .My only minor complaint it is ,when the narrator continues to read a supplementary information placed in parenthesis ,to emphasize the actions or a situations, instead of interpreting them.I would like this to be fixed if it is possible .

I enjoyed this book. Sometimes I grow impatient with timid characters like Julia. She cowered and trembled a few too many pages for my taste; but still, I remained in her corner throughout the story. Plenty of angst and tortured souls. If you're not a fan of heavy literature, some of the exchanges and references are a bit pretentious, but are necessary to reveal the inner workings of Gabriel's mind . These conversations reveal the musings of two brilliant but socially challenged individuals who have, thus far, lived very sad lives.

Anyone with a family will appreciate the imperfect and absolutely realistic characterizations of family relationships. There's a dad who can still give his adult children a scolding..and they still know they have to listen.

Be prepared..there is a sequel. This story comes to a conclusion..sort of. There are many loose threads remaining. A couple of the supporting characters were more engaging than the hero and heroine, in my opinion. All the ingredients for a series.

The performance was pleasant, although the sound of the narrator's voice and his speech patterns sound a lot like H.A.L. (2001 A Space Odyssey). Once it occurred to me who the narrator's voice resembled, it made me giggle and was somewhat distracting from time to time, but that's my problem, not the book's.

This may sound like a negative critique, but revealing my list of positives will give away too much. All in all, worth the credit, but I will likely read something a little sunnier before returning for the sequel. Something sans Dante.

I enjoyed this series and can't wait for the next book! It had the right balance in story line and sex. I couldn't stop listening until I got through both books. The narrator, John Morgan, was wonderful! I'm a true fan of Sylvain Reynard.

While searching for something to follow 50 shades, but written better, I saw several references to this book and its sequel…so NOT what I thought it would be. I will admit that the story was theoretically sweet, with more mature references to fine art and adult romance, but the story seemed to go on forever, and was totally unbelievable in spots with characters going against their core nature for no specific reason other than it continued the plot. I was looking for the hotness I got in fifty shades, and got hours upon hours of BORING drab. I listened to this book and its sequel, not wanting to be one of those people that rated a book without listening to it fully, and I found both to be VERY lacking. If you want a follow up to 50 try “Bared to You” by Sylvia Day, “Beautiful Disaster” by Jamie McGuire, “Thoughtless” by SC Stephens and Olivia Cunnings “Sinners on Tour”, don’t get these books.

I would rank Gabriel's Inferno among the top ten per cent of the audiobooks I've listened to so far.

What I liked best about this story was experiencing the journey with all its twists, turns and pit falls that typically happen in a relationship, but made more interesting the way the author interwove the Dante literary references. It sparked my interest enough to return to some college reading to see if I could glean more than I did in my youth.

To say I enjoyed John Morgan's narration is an understatement. His performance brings a depth of passion and vivid richness to the story that borders on the hypnotic.

The argument between the Professor and Julia in the lecture hall was memorable!

I highly recommend this as a wonderful listen. Not fast paced, but a slow, lovely journey of love.

Wow! This is an excellent book! I read the Kindle eBook and loved the story. I couldn't stop reading the book. I stayed up late each night reading the book. Purchase the book you will not be disappointed.

I don't even know where to begin, I just finished listening and I am completely overwhelmed. I smiled so much as I listened to this book because I was so touched by the relationship between the two lead characters. I LOVED their connection, its the stuff that really makes you want to believe in soul mates and fall in love. This book has to be one of my all time favorite romances--of my life!!! There were so many very touching moments throughout this book, I laughed, I wanted to cry at times, and probably the only negative aspect of it, is that it had to end. I am immediately going to buy the next book because I am literally addicted to the Professor. I think Gabriel (the Professor) may be the best male lead character I've ever had the pleasure of 'getting to know'--and I think I may be in love with him!! Excellent story, ridiculously fabulous narration/narrator--he should get an award--totally worth whatever the cost is and/or credit worthy.

This book took a couple chapters to get into (mostly getting use to the narrator), but once I did I fell in love. The book is a love story with two characters who have flaws (just like the normal person) and begin to relate to one another. It is poetic because of the religious and poetic insights the author adds and really makes you think about your own thinking on life and another point of view of things. I found it insightful and wanting to expand my reading genres. It is your typical love story though of a man with money with controlling tendencies and a woman with low self-esteem, but the back story of why they are like this is more natural and relatable. I hope everyone views it the same as I do if you can look past the cliches.