{YES, I've listened to this book on audio and YES this post contains spoilers, as I am reviewing a book!! LOL! may contain questionable language, discretion is advised! Excerpt below from Good Reads.}

Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno, #1)

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Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno #1)

by Sylvain Reynard (Goodreads Author)

4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 · rating details · 48,218 ratings · 3,781 reviews

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.

Hello, hello! ;) So I just finished the above book today... and over hash browns and a fried egg w/ OJ this morning, I scribbled down a few notes, because my mind is sort of all over the place regarding this book and my "job" so I sort of wanted to get my thoughts out before I forgot them and they just kinda faded away! So here I go... lol!

I think this is honestly the first book that I've listened to, that was written by a male... odd, huh? I'm assuming he's male, *shrug* if I'm wrong, then oh well. I'm going to carry on with my fantasy that the writer is male, so shush. It was interesting to hear these same theme's and genre's come from a male point of view. Just wanted to note that down somewhere. I don't know why I'm more drawn to female writers? Maybe because we (I say that like I AM a writer, no no! I mean to say "we" as in us, females *wink*) are just more awesome...er? Anywho, (told you my brain was a-jumble! ack!) so I guess point #1, my awe and intrigue with the male author. Neat. Okay... moving on. I don't recall ever hearing a book read by the oh so loverly John Morgan, though he sounds quite familiar (and I just did a quick check...) this IS actually the first time his wonderful voice has graced my ear holes *snort*. He does such an astounding job at the foreign languages in the book (which there is a good bit) and it all sounded so flawless. His voice was like... silk. *slow nod* It was THAT good. (not that I have silk laying around or anything, because I don't! not one single bit. So I guess his voice is like what I think silk would feel like! hah!) How funny, the authors witty charm has seemed to have rubbed off on little ol' me! *grin* LOL! Really, the book was pretty witty and a relatively easy read. I'm intrigued by it, but also there were a lot of parts that were seriously MEH. Like almost TOO meh... but I made it through... The characters were believable... well, let's just say that the main male character, Gabriel was believable... I have no idea why Reynard would want to pair such an enigmatic fellow with Julia, I just don't know! It was just way too polar opposite for me. I mean I get what he was trying to do, I get the whole need for redemption on Gabriel's part, but I guess I've just been over exposed to a lot of smut in the past in my books, so when the whisper of dbsm flirted around, I clenched! ROFL! Over share?! Sorry... but I was like Ooooh, hottie professor, naughty student... yeah baby... because I'd never read that sort of story line before. But nope... this went into more of a tortured professor who's trying to find redemption and be all goodie goodie. Which meh, ain't no body got time for that. I want boinking on the professor's desk, gosh darn it! *wistful sigh* So anyway... A lot of the parts left me kinda of confused too. It starts out in the present, she has a few flashback/memory scenes where it sort of kind of explains this insane 17 year old girl crush she's got on this man, who ends up being her present day professor, something like ehh, 5-10 yrs separating their age. Which ain't no thang, no biggie because present day she's like 23 years old by now. So some crazy one night flirty, innocent virginal kiss by a drunk (later we find out he's also on coke) and some high as fuck hallucinating / rambling going on and this chick goes on a SIX year long crush of this guy. They part ways that night but she carries his picture around hoping to find him / meet up with him again and well, she does SIX years later and he doesn't even remember her (told you, high on coke, which she had no idea of at the time... soooo naive!!! ugh!).... so it all just snowballs into this pseudo relationship that feels almost forced and like he feels obligated to be her "boyfriend" because he didn't remember her... I dunno. All very strange. The plot was ALMOST there. The sexual tension (she's a virgin remember) was enough to give me lady blue balls, so I'm not so fond of that. And then when they finally did bone, well... it was like some teenage girls pink frilly fantasy, it was strange. It didn't feel like it was written FOR women at all. Well not slutty, sexed up whores like myself I guess! I dunno! *shrug* I mean the way the author describes Gabriel like well, I can see that man out and about, he's a rich trust fund mid 30's fellow, handsome, well kept, professor and yeah, those dudes are out there, he's a bit of a playboy, yanno, gettin' around, has to fuck his demons out of him I guess. Why is that always a "thing" in authors? Like fucking a bunch of strangers is going to make all your problems go away?! (hey, don't look at me that way!) *sigh* So yeah, that's kinda a realistic dude, and anyone, even this mid 20 something girl who has her own daddy/mommy/mean ex boyfriend issues isn't going to stand a chance against his hot hot hot kisses. It's like, Julia had a will of steel! Or... am I just a slut? Because I would've yanno, boinked him at 'Hello'. *offhandedly* So... that was strange for me too. He started off almost cruel and sexy and asshole'ish, which you know... ever girl LOVES (... again, don't ask) and she was all damaged, mouse'y and almost annoyingly docile. I wanted to smack her and say "HEY! Stand up straight bitch, work it! You are woman, ROAR, damn it! ROAR!!" but she just wasn't like that. She got hurt feelings and got all tongue tied and stupid around him. I kinda get it, but nah. Didn't want to get it. Didn't want to believe there were stupid chicks out there like that in this day and age! I just didn't understand the pairing of the two. I mean part of me gets it, but it would have worked maybe better to have a stronger female character paired with Gabriel. He was a playboy who got around and was cocky and just like MALE, so what the hell does he see in Julia? Maybe because she's a virgin? Nah, because he said "I will never seduce a virgin!" Which he totally ends up doing to the 'enth degree. It's like overly weird and like who the fuck's first time is like THAT? Honestly? Candles and shit? I dunno, it was like there could have been a little more details on the happenings rather than the ohhh I love him, ohhhh I love her. Ohhhh I love you. *barfs a little* It got way too mushy and lovey dovey way too fast. Comparing the Gabriel from the first chapter, to the Gabriel of the last chapter, and you end up wondering where the hell his balls went!! Yeah, it was that corny and bad! I am going to give the second book a go, and hope and pray to god that it gets steamier by way of 'now she's had sex, she's not a virgin' type thing and offers more detail in the actual physical acts they have. The author does do fine detail otherwise, like its just enough, the room they are in, the airplane ride, sort of on the people, but not too much on the people and their looks, but it's almost just right, just could use a tad bit "MORE". Of everything! ;) I'm hoping the second books gives me the "MORE" that I'm looking for. I want something interesting to happen now they have fucked and are a couple and the fraternization issue is off the books because her semester of being in his class is over. I need like some meat on the bones, and hope this second book comes through for me! Either way, it got this many stars from me: