Gabriel's Inferno

Summary (from the publisher): 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.

Review: Christian who??? Despite striking parallels to Fifty Shades of Grey, Gabriel's Inferno is different in every way that counts.  

This novel is about (sex god) Professor Gabriel Emerson who falls for his grad student Julia Mitchell (who just happens to be his adoptive sister's best friend). Both Gabriel and Julia have dark pasts and they don't exactly hit it off right away, but when they finally fall for one another, they fall hard. Because of school policy prohibiting fraternizing between students and professors, Julia and Gabriel keep their relationship a secret (and officially unconsummated) until the end of the semester. To be honest, that whole dynamic of forbidden teacher/student relations was not my favorite aspect, and it's obviously going to lead to trouble in book two, BUT it did create a very, very nice build up to their physical relationship which was dragged out until the very conclusion of the novel. Honestly, I found the delayed gratification, and the couple's desire to really know one another before they had sex refreshing - and very different from most romance type novels.

Things that irked me: the way Gabriel and Julia refer to themselves as Dante and Beatrice. Gabriel's ex Paulina and the fact that he had himself STERILIZED after a traumatic event I won't reveal. Wtf, Gabriel? You know we want to have your babies. The dynamic of the female as yet again the weaker of the two. I love that Gabriel is tender and sweet and comforting always with Julia (very different from Christian Grey). But, I'm sort of over the dynamic where the woman is constantly the weak, virginal, less socially powerfully, poor half of the couple. I hope that this couple continues to become more equal partners in book two. 

That being said, I hope Julia knows that she is extremely blessed. Gabriel is overwhelmingly attractive basically in every way. I love that he is supportive of Julia's desire to go to Harvard for her phd. I love that he wants to be totally open and honest with her. I love that he's a professor and very literary. And it doesn't hurt that he's wealthy, tall, handsome, and skilled. This man is perfect.

The writing of this book is far, far superior to Fifty Shades and there are no smutty sex scenes. I found this novel much more tasteful and the main characters much more appealing. I'm already reading book two and I'm counting on the author publishing a third!!

Stars: 4