Gabriel's Redemption is the third book in the Gabriel's Inferno series by Sylvain Reynard.

The first two books in this series were real hits - they were dramatic, full of suspense and tension, and romantic. This book, on the other hand, was mostly full of sex scenes and Gabriel demanding that Julia have a baby.

In all honesty, I really wanted to like this book. I love Sylvain's writing style and have fallen in love with his words. His stories are smooth as silk and feel like a master class in writing. But, this time around I felt like Gabriel was a giant jerk and Julia was putting up with it. Gabriel wanted a child and Julia didn't, so they had a child. A woman was hitting on Gabriel and tried to woo him away, and that story line just... ended? I wanted to see more than it just suddenly end. It felt like it could have not been included and the story would have ended the same. Paul pining after Julia was also a story line that didn't go very far. Rachel wanting a baby also felt like it was cut short. The entire ending felt suddenly rushed too! It felt like there was a lot of wasted potential.

I still loved the writing and I felt connected to this story. I like Gabriel and Julia's story so I felt like I needed to know how it ended. There's going to be another book in this series so I'm curious to see how Sylvain will make that story go. This book literally felt like Sylvain was answering some reader's prayer to continue the story, but didn't pack the punch that the last two books did. It was just a very long epilogue.

The highlights of this book are as followed: Julia's Dad's story arc, Julia's lecture, the beautiful scenery described and the love story continuing.

That being said, I still liked it. All of the hype built up for this book was probably why it fell so hard for me. My expectations were way too high. This book is the honeymoon for Gabriel and Julia, not the finale. I truly hope the next book finishes off some of the storyline Sylvain opened up. Especially since this book was just one giant cliffhanger.

Three out of five stars.

P.S. The Superman and Lois Lane comments were really funny but felt out of place. I came for the love story and stayed for the comic book references. ( )

El profesor Gabriel Emerson ha dejado su plaza en la Universidad de Toronto para iniciar una nueva vida junto a su amada Julianne. Está seguro de que juntos podrán enfrentarse a cualquier desafío, incluso a su deseo de ser padre. Pero el programa de doctorado de la joven pondrá a prueba los planes de Gabriel, ya que la dura vida de estudiante le roba demasiado tiempo. Cuando Julianne recibe el honor de dar una conferencia en Oxford, éste se muestra reacio, pues ambos tienen opiniones encontradas sobre la materia. Para complicar un poco más la relación, aparecen varios personajes del pasado empeñados en humillar a Julia y en sacar a la luz uno de los secretos más oscuros de Gabriel. Obligado una vez más a luchar contra sus propios demonios, éste iniciará una cruzada en busca de sus padres biológicos, lo que desencadenará una serie de acontecimientos que repercutirán en ambos y en los anhelos del profesor por formar una familia.

I have to confess an affection for this series, despite it being fairly sexist (of the "benevolent sexism" stripe), homophobic, and twee as hell. I think it's the focus on academia and the ways in which prissy Gabriel does remind me of myself. Although he is an ass.

At any rate, I was shocked when this book was announced, as totally unnecessary as it was (I thought Gabriel's prayers in Florence/etc. were his redemption?) and was overall fairly disappointed with the plot.

I did find it interesting how characters that were very one-dimensional caricatures in the past--Christa, Simon, Natalie, Paulina--did have softer sides, even Simon. I felt this was potentially in response to criticism, and it wasn't great, but I did like to see, say, Christa's feelings reconsidered (although she still gets punished by the narrative; ditto Simon).

I take back any irritation I had at Gabriel's Inferno that they didn't have sex until practically the last page, because here it was on every page. I am definitely not opposed to sex scenes, I was just BORED.

Overall, the book introduced tons of new plots/new twists to old plot threads (Paulina, Paul, Tom, Natalie, etc.) but never really wrapped them up.

And I won't be specific, but after spending the first 50% of the book in a battle of wills where Julia wants X and Gabriel wants Y, doesn't it just figure that at the end Gabriel gets exactly what he wants, and Julia will just have to make it work? ( )

I liked the story of Julia and Gabriel. The only problem I have with the story is that the two main characters are extreme stereotypes. She's the sweet innocent student and he is the worldly older professor that falls in love with her. Other than the characterization, the story was interesting and did delve into real world problems that married couples face. ( )

I liked the story of Julia and Gabriel. The only problem I have with the story is that the two main characters are extreme stereotypes. She's the sweet innocent student and he is the worldly older professor that falls in love with her. Other than the characterization, the story was interesting and did delve into real world problems that married couples face. ( )