Gabriel's Inferno

By: Sylvain Reynard

Narrated by: John Michael Morgan

From New York Times bestselling author Sylvain Reynard comes the first novel in the Gabriel's Inferno series, a haunting, unforgettable tale of one man’s salvation and one woman’s sensual awakening—NOW A FILM FROM PASSIONFLIX!

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.

Devoted Fan

Any additional comments?

Words can not describe this wonderful story. I love Professor Emerson and Julia!

similar to 50 shades in tone, not intensity

This book is about a young, smart inexperienced but not emotionally fragile woman who meets a world-savvy, sexually experienced, rich man. In the beginning they misunderstand and dislike/distrust each other and themselves, but a deep relationship ensues nevertheless, with each opening up about secrets and relationship needs along the way. Sound familiar? If you enjoyed the self-exploration and relationship-unfolding aspects of 50 shades, you will like it in this book, too.

In the case of Gabriel's Inferno, imitation is not only flattery, it is successful for the most part. The characters and story are vastly different than 50 shades despite the similarity mentioned above. Another major difference is the absence of explicit sex scenes. There is plenty of longing and sensuality, but don't get this book if you want a sex scene to read every few chapters -- you're going to be disappointed and have to make it up in your head. I don't think I would have listened to this book had I known that from the start but I enjoyed it nevertheless. It had everything else but that.

The story seemed longer than it needed to be. Not that it was boring (it was not) but I kept thinking, "Ok, THIS will be the plot turning event" but that never happened. Rather, there were small moves forward here and there as the story unfolded. Lots of little raised and resolved plot aspects as you got to know the two of them. Maybe a bit too much like a lot of teasing only to be let down at just the right moment, if you know what I mean. It's not that THAT isn't also fun, right, and then there is a great ending.

The narrator bothered me a little in the beginning because his sensual voice occasionally sounded more smarmy than inviting. Of course, that's to my ears, and yours might love it. On the other hand, Gabriel is an unsavory character at that point in the story, so maybe it is fitting. As the story went on, I found the narrator to be expert in his ability to capture and express all kinds of emotions from all the characters. Even without intense and explicit sex scenes (which I would love to hear this narrator do!), the narrator made Gabriel's expressions of love, need and desire extremely, uhm, worth listening to!

Many people complained that the writing in 50 shades was poor and everyone was just reading it for the explicit content. I never agreed with that and felt it was a solid piece of romance story telling, better than most. I would say the same for Gabriel's Inferno. It gets great marks from me for character development and for exploring the way that our personal experiences create obstacles for us and we need to learn to open up and trust that one person in order to grow. Is it great American Literature, no, but it is not junk.

Overall, I'm glad I took the time to get to know these characters and I am definitely going to get the next in the series. I'm not sure if this was the first book or not, but if not, the first wasn't needed at all for me to get involved with these characters.

Dedicate Your Time for a Romantic Love Story...

If you're looking for a long romantic love story, this is the book for you. You learn a lot of historical info from Dante and Betrice's story which mixes with the characters of Gabriel and Julia and makes the story interesting. The story was unpredicatable and captured my interest throughout, however, the last part of the story had me rolling my eyes saying, "Get on with it already!". Julia acts like more of a school girl in the bedroom than a woman. Not a lot of hot and heavy moments in this book till the very, very, very end. This book was more like a slow historical romance novel. Even though bits of the story were slow, it still motivated me to download the next series. Hopefully, in the next series, "Gabriel's Rapture", will have more hot and heavy moments, otherwise, I will be yawning for another 14 hours.

Loved It!

I found myself completely engulfed with this love story. While it does play on the classic professor & grad student story line it is a beautiful story & done so tastefully. I am so excited to finish the series!

Depth of story

I discovered this book on the streaming platform Passionflix. I then went on to Audible and ordered the complete series. I have enjoyed listening to it over and over. I have told my friends, love this and everything this author has written!!!!