Review & Giveaway: GABRIEL'S RAPTURE by Sylvain Reynard

Gabriel’s Rapture
by Sylvain Reynard
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Source: Review copy from publisher

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?

Gabriel’s Rapture begins where Gabriel’s Inferno ended. Julianne and Gabriel are still in Italy. It’s the day after they’ve finally consummated their relationship. They are both giddy with happiness and deeply in love with each other. They have waited until their professor/student relationship ended to become intimate with one another. The policy against fraternization is taken seriously at the University of Toronto and the two have not wanted to risk Gabriel’s job or Julianne’s possible expulsion over their relationship. The pair continues to deal with the demons from both their pasts as they become closer to one another. 

This novel was much more romantic than the previous book in the series. In Gabriel’s Rapture we get to watch the relationship between Julianne and Gabriel become stronger. Gabriel has definitely become softer. There are still glimpses of his bad boy persona and dark side but it not as prevalent as it was in the last novel. Even though the pair has tried to be careful about keeping their relationship a secret they return to Canada and get wrapped up in a potential scandal that threatens the Professor’s job and Juliannes’ chances of getting into Harvard. It was worrisome to see how they would deal with this potential scandal. Would they rally together to fight the charges against them?  Or would they use each other as scapegoats? 

I enjoyed watching the characters grow as individuals and as a couple. Sylvain Reynard’s writing was incredible as usual. I liked the flow of the book and the numerous musical and literary references. The imagery of the Italian setting was vivid and made me feel like I was there with the characters. I recommend that you read the first book, Gabriel’s Inferno before reading this one. There are references to events from the first book that are sometimes explained within Gabriel’s Rapture but you will appreciate the novel more if you know the full back story. I really enjoyed re-visiting the Professor and Julianne. They had a beautiful and captivating love story that kept me enthralled throughout both novels. Gabriel’s Rapture is a must read sequel for those readers who loved Gabriel’s Inferno.

Giveaway Time:

Omnific Publishing is gifting a random commenter one Gabriel's Inferno mug and one Gabriel's Rapture mug AND an ebook copy of Gabriel's Rapture!

To Enter: 

Leave a comment and include your email address. 

Contest ends on May 30th, 2012. One winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified by email. They will have 48 hours to reply otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Good luck! 

Find Sylvain Reynard on the web:

Website
Twitter
Facebook Fan Page
Goodreads

Please click on the banner for a list of other tour stops. 

Guest Post & Giveaway with Author Cari Quinn

Hi Everyone. Please help me welcome Cari Quinn to AsianCocoa's Secret Garden today! Thanks for stopping by today, Cari.

Thanks so much for having me here today!

What’s your favorite flavor of menage?

I write, among other things, menage romance. There’s just something so fascinating about seeing how three personalities can mesh into one semi-functional relationship, because, c’mon, isn’t a relationship between only two people already hard enough? Plus, there are so many flavors of menage.

The first flavor of menage romance I wrote was the temporary, sort of menage. In PROVOKE ME, Spencer and Kelly enjoy sexual activities with a third party (well, Kelly does) that stops before penetrative sex. Spencer is a bit possessive, so he wouldn’t let things go that far. But much fun was had anyway, I assure you.

The next flavor of menage I wrote was the permanent menage. In UNWRAPPED, lifetime best friends Cait, Matt and Tristan decide to go for the full trifecta—because really, if you love your best friend, might as well really love them, right? Nothing was out of bounds for this frisky trio, that’s for sure.

Then I wrote another temporary menage, though this one went for the whole enchilada. In NEED ME, Marcia finds out that if sex with one younger man is great, sex with two is beyond amazing—at least until you have to deal with the morning after.

And finally, in my current work-in-progress, SCREEN SHOT, Aidan and Layla are a committed couple who decide to bring in a third. Which is all fine and dandy and hot as heck, until Layla discovers she’s not sure if she wants to end up with Aidan or Sawyer.

See…one topic, so many possible avenues for exploration! Now I have a question for all of you: do you like menage romances, why or why not? And if you want to go for the bonus round, what’s your favorite flavor of menage to read? 

Cari Quinn bio:

USA TODAY bestselling author Cari Quinn wrote her first story--a bible parable--in 2nd grade, much to the delight of the nuns at her Catholic school. Once she saw the warm reception that first tale garnered, she was hooked. She attempted her first romance in junior high, long before she'd ever read one. Writing what she knew always took a backseat to what she wanted to know, and that still holds true today.

Though she also fires up her computer as a graphic designer, proofreader and editor, she can't resist the lure of disappearing into a world of her own creation. Now she gets to pen sexy romances for a living and routinely counts her lucky stars.

Giveaway Time:

Cari is gifting a random commenter a $5.00 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice) AND one of her ebooks so comment away to win!

To Enter:

Answer Cari's question from her guest post and include your email address.

Visit Cari Quinn at www.cariquinn.com

Waiting on Wednesday: Gabriel's Rapture by Sylvain Reynard & The Reckoning by Alma Katsu

Gabriel's Rapture

 by Sylvain Reynard

Release Date: May 22, 2012

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?

  

The Reckoning

 by Alma Katsu

Release Date: June 19, 2012

Lanore McIlvrae is the kind of woman who will to do anything for love. Including imprisoning the man who loves her behind a wall of brick and stone.

She had no choice but to entomb Adair, her nemesis, to save Jonathan, the boy she grew up with in a remote Maine town in the early 1800s and the man she thought she would be with forever. But Adair had other plans for her. He used his mysterious, otherworldly powers to give her eternal life, but Lanore learned too late that there was a price for this gift: to spend eternity with him. And, though he is handsome and charming, behind Adair's seductive facade is the stuff of nightmares. He is a monster in the flesh, and he wants Lanore to love him for all time. 

Now, two hundred years after imprisoning Adair, Lanore is trying to atone for her sins. She has given away the treasures she's collected over her many lifetimes in order to purge her past and clear the way for a future with her new lover, Luke Findley. But, while viewing these items at an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Lanore suddenly is aware that the thing she's been dreading for two hundred years has caught up to her: Adair has escaped from his prison. He's free—and he will come looking for her. And she has no idea how she will save herself.

 

Gabriel's Rapture by Sylvain Reynard and The Reckoning by Alma Katsu are both the second book in the authors' series. I read and reviewed the first installments and can't wait to read the sequels. And aren't the covers lovely?

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to showcase the books we can’t wait to get our hands on.