Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard

I love how the past and present can sometimes collide!

In Gabriel's Inferno it does so in a BIG way.

You see;
Julia Mitchell is a practicing MA student, and
Gabriel Emerson is her professor.

Professor Emerson is a jerk, and
He has absolutely zero issues letting Julia know just how big of a imbecile he really is (or can be!).

Thing is...
He's mostly annoyed with her because -
A).  She's his student
B.)  He is attracted to her (and knows he shouldn't be), and
C.) She's all too familiar and he has no idea why - Eep!

OK!
Now that I have your attention, gather in.
*scoots chair forward*

Julia knows exactly who Professor Emerson is.
They have "history" together.
Oooh...yes...

Thing is, Gabriel is completely oblivious to it! *Shakes Head*

So, this is where they had me in the whole ants in my pants stage...

Julia knows Gabriel and his family.
She's best friends with his sister for cryin' out loud, yet he still remains clueless - Gaa!

As their platonic "relationship" continues, and Gabriel comes to realize, she knows his family, and it's beyond his control that they'll be seeing more of one another outside of school activities...
Truth be told, he's not hatin' it...

As you can imagine, things between Julia and Gabriel progress.
Especially when a big, HUGE, secret is revealed!!!
*Sorry...no whips and chains here folks*

But moving on...

Throughout all the scenario's in this book;
I was anxious, because of Gabriel's temper and assholery, yet
I felt warm because of their shared attraction, but
Not heated because nothing like that was really going on.
It was all the wanting and not having temptation.

Still...
I continued to have that teenage like/love/what is going on with you, you arrogant jerk, relationship with Gabriel.
It's like you hate to love him, love to hate him kinda thing.

He has a troubling past <--We all knew that was coming!

So, throughout most of the story, he's overly guarded, but
Under the layers, there's compassion, and
Understanding, and
Imaginable steam once you get inside the guys head.

Aside from all that -
I found myself having a pretty good educational lesson too.
I'm not a history buff by any means, but enjoyed learning about Dante and Beatrice (as well as others).
What I enjoyed even more is some of the scenarios that were playing out in their real lives but they were comparing to those of the past - So that was fun.

Another thing I got a kick out of was all the nicknames.
The ones for each other and ones they had given other people - hehe.

The only thing that was missing for me, is that I liked the story leading up, but the ending...
Well, it just kind of cut us off. *Hrmp*
It wasn't in a brash way, and I liked the ended.
It just didn't give me everything I wanted.
Like more of them.

Now cliffhanger haters - Don't go throwing the towel in just yet.
The ended provided the information we needed, but everything we had worked up to just kind of up and ended.

For me, I want to know how their stories continue, and I'm excited for "Gabriel's Rapture ".

4 Stars

To summarize, I would say "Gabriel's Inferno" is the getting to know you stage.

Looking forward to seeing what "Gabriel's Rapture" has in store for us.

I have a feeling there are going to be some surprises! xo