Sylvain Reynard - The Raven

Raven Wood spends her days at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery restoring fine works of Renaissance art. But an innocent walk home after an evening with friends changes her life forever. When she intervenes in the senseless beating of a homeless man, his attackers turn on her, dragging her into an alley. Raven is only semi-conscious when their assault is interrupted by a cacophony of growls followed by her attacker’s screams. Mercifully, she blacks out, but not before catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure who whispers to her…
Cassita vulneratus.
When Raven awakes, she is inexplicably changed. She returns to the Uffizi, but no one recognizes her and more disturbingly, she discovers that she’s been absent an entire week. With no recollection of the events leading up to her disappearance, Raven also learns that her absence coincides with one of the largest robberies in Uffizi history – the theft of a set of priceless Botticelli illustrations. When the baffled police force identifies her as its prime suspect, Raven is desperate to clear her name. She seeks out one of Florence’s wealthiest and elusive men in an attempt to uncover the truth about her disappearance. Their encounter leads Raven to a dark underworld whose inhabitants kill to keep their secrets…

Comment: I've had this book to read for years, since I've read another trilogy by the author (apparently there's a fourth installment now) and because those books captivated me, I also purchased this one, but it has been languishing in the pile until now.

In this book we meet heroine Raven, a restorer at the prestigious Uffizzi gallery, who lives a simple and quiet life, not only because it suits her personality but also because she has a limp which makes it painful to embark on a more active lifestyle. One night she sees a homeless man she is familiar with being attacked by a group of drunks and she can't be quiet. They turn on her instead and as she is about to be hurt, someone rescues her and kills the attackers. Raven wakes up the morning after with a completely different appearance, her limp cured and friends having  hard time believing it's her, especially since it has passed one week since they last saw her. Going back to her daily routine is even more complicated because she can't explain her absence and some valuable paintings are missing from the gallery. When she stumbles on a clue, however, she can't know she is entering a dangerous world...

This is well thought story, with a lot of detail and cultural information, which I had seen in the other books by the author, clearly showcasing knowledge on Renaissance and art, with a fictional story included. I feel that it was as important to the author to create a possible love story as it was to explain and give context to a lot of the historical information included. I think anyone who likes these themes will enjoy going into this story.

For me, the reason why this story wasn't as amazing as I imagined was very simple: the romance didn't convince me because the differences between the protagonists were made to be such an obstacle that I struggled to see them as HEA material. On one hand yes, one has to bear in mind this is one of three books, so the whole story wasn't told here, but this said, thinking on what does happen, I confess I don't feel eager to read the rest and, therefore, the romance feels lacking enough support to be believable.

Raven is a young woman who sort of reinvented herself by becoming a restorer and her academic work brought her to Italy, where she feels she has reached a steady work persona. She might have a predictable life but she likes being in control and as the story advances we learn things from her past, all which make it realistic she would have wanted a new life away from the US. She has a likable personality, she isn't perfect but she is definitely heroine material.

The hero is, actually, a vampire. I won't go into spoilers but he's an old soul and has become jaded as the years went by. Nevertheless, he has a taste for art and history and I could appreciate certain ideas from his POV. Of course he has that whole "mystery" vibe going on, making him alluring and special somehow and he helps the heroine, he likes and desires her despite her notions of her physical aspect and he seems to go into romantic mode by the end of the book, meaning we can imagine the potential romance when the trilogy ends.

This makes me think the romance, to be developed in three books, has room to grow and I believe when the trilogy ends we will have them more in sync, in love and not afraid to demonstrate it. However, for me there's also a big reason why I don't feel like carrying on, to find out how/when it will happen: the thing is, in these books vampires aren't the good guys. The hero seems to be an anomaly and, I assume, because it suits the story, romance-wise, and because it helps to distinguish him from the others, being "cured" out of his apathy and negative aspects by love.

There's nothing wrong with this tactic, things are as they are and if the author went this road, who am I to say it shouldn't be so, but I've been severely ruined by so many PNR novels or series out there where the vampires can be the good guys. I now have a hard time putting them again into a box of  "enemy" or "horror" and admit I felt frustrated by how things went in this regard, there being a division between humans and vampires. I suppose it does suit the tone of the series, the whole historical atmosphere and old kinds of stories where the out of the ordinary was not to be trusted but part of me wished things had been different.

This aside, I liked the pace enough, most of the details too...Still, I think, for such an important and visible place as a famous gallery must be, things were too weird and lacked believable explanations for too long for me to just enjoy the inconsistencies... for instance, with Raven's presence and absence at work, how her looks changed and how others didn't found it weird long enough and other apparently unimportant elements but that still distracted me.

All in all, this wasn't a bad book, don't get me wrong. It's sufficiently structured for it to offer a steady reading and years ago, it might have meant a lot more to me, but nowadays, even recognizing this, I still wish it had focused on a different tactic overall.

Grade: 6/10

Sylvain Reynard - Gabriel's Redemption

The third book in the wildly romantic Gabriel's Inferno series by Sylvain Reynard, following on from Gabriel's Inferno and Gabriel's Rapture.
Professor Gabriel Emerson has left his position at the University of Toronto to embark on a new life with his beloved Julianne. Together, he's confident that they can face any challenge.
But Julianne's graduate program threatens Gabriel's plans for their life together, as the pressures of being a student become all consuming. When she is given the honour of presenting an academic lecture at Oxford, several individuals from their past appear, including an old nemesis intent on humiliating Julia and exposing one of Gabriel's darkest secrets.
In an effort to confront his remaining demons, Gabriel begins a quest to discover more about his biological parents - a search that has startling repercussions for himself and for Julianne.

Comment: This is the last installment in the Gabriel's Inferno trilogy by author Sylvain Reynard. In the previous books we've met professor Emerson and his student Julianne, we saw how their relationship started, developed and stabilized. In the second book we saw how they were dealing with what was happening and how others weren't likely to leave the alone. Now, in this third book they are married and living a good life together. Well, almost.

In this final story Gabriel and Julianne are finally happily living together, away from Toronto and the problems they faced there. Their marriage is new but already meaningful and everlasting. Things seem to go smoothly except Julianne has so much to do sometimes she can't cope. But Gabriel is there to help even if there's something else in the back of his mind he can't let go of.

While looking for clues about his past and trying to help Julianne, Gabriel also faces the fear of any man, what if he loses Julianne?

I liked this story a lot. I remember I've read the first book in 2013 and that it wasn't as spectacular as I thought because it had, mostly, too detailed sentences and scenes. Then I've read the second book and it seemed better structured. It seems the author had only planned those two books, which, all things considered, I ended up liking.

However, this last book, unplanned and only in existence, apparently, by fan's requests, ends up being my absolute favorite. I really liked the place where Gabriel and Julianne are after they put all the troubles and opposition they faced in the other books. This is their HEA happening and I actually liked how the author decided to give them some stability. Even in the times where they had a fight or exchange more heated words, it was obvious it wasn't with mean intent or that it would signify the end. I liked how they talked about things, how they were considerate of the other's feelings in the end. It doesn't mean they are perfect and bubbly but I think there's a good balance in what they used to be to what they are now that can be together.

Also interesting was the secondary character's roles. In the other books it seemed they were there to be the people the protagonists had to be compared with or had to interact with but in this one it felt like the important characters were 1) part of the family connections Julianne and Gabriel needed and respected and 2) people that existed in their lives even if not close by.

I don't think this was casually done, so my thanks to the author to have done it in a way that gave consistency and maturity to the story, something else that wasn't all evident in the other books.

The conflicts here are all valid though. The things Gabriel wants and fears at the same time are well thought for the type of person he is meant to be. Things wouldn't just happen perfectly in the life of someone like him and his behavior in trying to solve it all and in reacting that way seemed something he would do. I really liked the character growth Gabriel went through during this final book.

Julianne always seemed a more quiet and dreamlike character but she acted human here and she made valid points in her need to fight for a career, despite her want of happiness too.

I think that, even if this book was never meant to be when th author thought about writing Gabriel's story, there's skill, thought, there's a mind process and careful structure in writing this. That is why I really loved it, it's a story done with care.

I couldn't put this one down. It took me no time to finish and I'm really happy to say I looked to know what would happen next all the time. I think the pace is faster here and despite the label names and detailed clothes and food they ate, something that annoyed me a bit and which I think isn't all that necessary, in this book it was almost unnoticed because the story was flowing so smoothly and the character's actions seemed more suitable for intelligent people, heartfelt feelings notwithstanding.

So, in the end I liked it and I'm sure it will be wonderful to re-read my favorite parts when I want. I know taste and opinions are always personal and I understand if others don't agree but for me this story really worked and I loved it.

Grade: 9/10

Alphabet Soup Challenge: Sylvain Reynard - Gabriel's Rapture

Professor Gabriel Emerson has embarked on a passionate, yet clandestine affair with his former student, Julia Mitchell.
Sequestered on a romantic holiday in Italy, he tutors her in the sensual delights of the body and the rapture of sex. But when they return, their happiness is threatened by conspiring students, academic politics, and a jealous ex-lover.
When Gabriel is confronted by the university administration, will he be forced to share Dante’s fate? Or will he fight to keep Julia, his Beatrice, forever?

Comment: This is the second story in the Gabriel's Inferno trilogy by Sylvain Reynard. I've read the first story back in 2013 and in the previous year I've purchased the remaining two books so I could read them closer to each other, considering I enjoyed the first story enough to keep reading.

This is the continuation of the story of professor Gabriel and his former student Julia. Now that the semester is over and Julia has a different teacher, she and Gabriel aren't hiding anymore and despite being reserved, they appear together in Italy when Gabriel is there to participate in a conference or something. While finding out the beauty of true love they still have their everyday lives to go through and deal with jealousy and problems others put in front of them. The real challenge is to be true to themselves while many others don't see what they have.

I liked the previous installment enough to keep reading, like I said. I think the biggest issue I had with that first book keeps up to this one and most likely will still be present in the last one. I think the author takes too long and is too wordy about certain pointless details such as the clothes they wear, the brands and how they get ready for everything. I think descriptions are always useful and offer a lot more than just adjectives, but balance is everything.

This book has less pages than the first but I got the same feeling too much space was being occupied with things that didn't really matter to the plot. Some ideas are slightly inferred which is great for us to use our brain but instead of so much detail, maybe space would have been better used for more interesting information. I feel too much attention was given to things that didn't have any relevance to the plot while other things happened in a way I feel wasn't done as well as it should.

Julia and Gabriel have had a relationship hard to accept by some people, especially when those people don't know everything about them or the connection between their families. This happened on purpose, of course, to better show the distance in status between them. But I think that the risk was too high to ignore, although they do that anyway.

This happened because they claim to love each other, and so on, but their relationship doesn't seem as well balanced as I thought after the first book, mainly because of the focus given to each of their personalities. I don't mean to say they should change themselves completely, but a better proof of their evolution and growth would have better, in my opinion.

I just think sometimes things happened because of stupid moves and avoidable steps and I wonder how clever people would do it, but there seemed to exist a certain rick factor that made their love and relationship something others wouldn't want to see but of course people can't help but look and know.

This being said, the main subject of the plot is of course their relationship and the fact there's a hierarchy and rules they should have followed on the college's sphere and didn't. I assume they took the risk for selfish purposes, not exactly because of blind love guiding them. Like I said, they are clever people, with pasts, with animosity in the beginning of their relationship. They should know to be careful, to do things right from the moment things changed between them. 

But they took a chance because they probably thought it wouldn't matter, because it wasn't any body's business, because who would care, because of their love bubble...I don't know, but the key conflict of this second book was how others found out about their relationship in a place where it shouldn't exist.

The following scenes and decisions are a huge part of the angsty development and subsequent making up, and apart from the sugary levels in there, most things happened in a way very close to a possible reality. Still, I think sometimes we might make decisions not always well thought so I can understand the conflict but again, it kind of needed a bit more polishing.

All in all, the slow pace, the exaggerated and endless details everywhere plus the many descriptions of every said detail cost much of my attention for this book. I still have high hopes for the next one and I hope that it offers less descriptions of what they wear and go to because that isn't as interesting as the author tries to make it so.

Grade: 6/10

Sylvain Reynard - Gabriel's Inferno

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.

Comment: After seeing so many opinions about this book in the Portuguese forum I participate in, I've decided to try the book. I was a bit unsure about it tough, because of its similarities to 50 Shades of Grey, which I haven't - or plan to - read. But I now I don't want to now about more BDSM stuff so I stay away from it. This book people said wasn't like that and it was quite romantic, so knowing it was different from something I don't intend to read was a plus for me. I got it in July but well, same old story ever, it stayed behind until now.

This is the story of Gabriel Emerson, he's a reputed professor in a college in Canada. He's a specialist in Dante's studies and he hides a past that shames and makes him feel unworthy.
In comes Julia Mitchell, a young student attending his class and working on a thesis on Dante and other themes. They don't seem to get along at first despite Julia being a friend of Gabriel's family back in the US but after some time things can't e ignored anymore between them and they start a relationship but before they can admit their feelings they must tell their secrets...

Well, the buzz around 50 Shades was more than enough to one see the close details about this story and that one. I wasn't put off but it still annoyed me a bit. How weird is this, to dislike something without having read it and to feel annoyed at something we do read because it might be similar? Someone cares to discuss?

Anyway, his story started quite well for me, that first chapter where Gabriel demands an answer in class from Julia and she's too shy and nervous to reply made me thin we'd have one of those stories where they can't seem to connect despite all clues saying they do... I like this kind of plots because the couple must have chemistry in order for this to work. While this idea didn't come true in a way I'd have liked I was still happy enough with the way the plot evolved. But I'll say this, it did annoy me a little bit more than what I wanted to see so many details, from the clothes they wore to what they were eating and how many times they went to each of their huses and then the other's and I don't know what else, but it got tiring...perhaps a good less 50 pages could not exist but for this, which was exaggerated in my opinion.

In terms of the plot, I was mildly unhappy because it went from the I can't stand you to you're the only one I'd ever love and cherish in a way that didn't convince me much, but overall, I can't say it was bad, because it did allow them to explore their issues and it was a good start for their story. The writing was fluid enough and apart form that annoying habit of puting too many details, I didn't dislike the reading experience. The sex only happened once which was quite the surprise. Not as good was the sex description because at that time I was so bored with how long it too them to address their passion I found it not passionate enough! Maybe in the next book they'll be more hot together.

Julia and Gabriel have different pasts and experiences. I liked how each one overcame what seemed like dreadful prospects to become someone and be worthy in the eyes of those they cared about. Many mistakes in there but who doesn't make them? So, I liked how they did talk abut their problems and fears and doubts and in the end the story felt more solid because of this. Their romance wasn't as romantic as I thought, but it had the elements needed to work out.

In the end, I was happy enough like I said, but this wasn't the amazing book I thought I'd get. Still it was done good enough to entertain. With a little less detail and a little more passion it would have been wonderful, I think.
Grade: 7/10