{Review} Gabriel's Promise (Gabriel's Inferno #4) by Sylvain Reynard (@BerkleyRomance)

Author Sylvain Reynard returns with the fourth installment of the bestselling Gabriel's Inferno series.

When Gabriel and Julia Emerson first lay eyes on their newborn daughter, Clare, they realize life as they know it will never be the same. Gabriel has vowed to be a good father when he suddenly receives an invitation to give a series of lectures in Edinburgh, Scotland--an opportunity of high prestige--but that would mean leaving his wife and newborn child in Boston. Hesitant to bring it up, he keeps the opportunity from Julia as long as he can, not knowing she has a secret of her own.

When a frightening situation arises that threatens to break their new family apart, both parents must make sacrifices. With the family in danger, the looming question remains: Will Gabriel pursue his lectureship in Edinburgh, leaving Julia and Clare unprotected in Boston, or will he abandon the chance of a lifetime in order to ensure his family's safety?

​Life has never been richer for Professor Gabriel Emerson.  He and his beloved Julianne finally have a child of their very own and now he’s just been offered the highest honor of his academic career – to give the Sage Lectures at The University of Edinburgh.
 
Everything seems to be falling into place but looks can be deceiving.
 
Julianne is fighting to balance completing her own studies with the demands of being a new mother. She’s just discovered that there are those who would use her to mete out a personal vendetta against her husband. And now an even more menacing danger seems to threaten their very lives and forces them to abandon the sanctuary of their home.
 
She needs to find a way to protect her family and everything she’s worked so hard for.  But they will soon learn that Julianne is as strong as she is brilliant, and she won’t allow anything separate her from her heart and soul.

Gabriel recalled his time in Assisi, during his separation from Julianne, and how he had encountered grace and forgiveness in St. Francis’s crypt. He remembered his earnest prayers that Julianne would forgive him and marry him.  That God would bless them with a child.

He held in his arms a miracle – the extravagance of grace that had been bestowed on someone who was proud and sometimes angry, intemperate and addictive, lustful and profligate.

Forgiveness was not for the sinless or the perfect. Mercy was not for the just.  He had to learn to name and acknowledge his own shortcomings before he could receive the remedies.  The remedies themselves challenged him to treat other needy souls with mercy and compassion.  Julianne was a shining example of that.

​I have always been a huge fan of this series!  The way that Sylvain Reynard fuses art, religion and searing passion is powerfully hypnotic. So I couldn’t wait to devour Gabriel’s Promise.
 
It started so out strong. The birth of Clare softened Gabriel's sharp edges and made Julianne surprisingly fierce.  I loved rediscovering why I have adored these characters for so long. But as the story unfolded, the pace slowed, and I actually started skimming pages to find some kind of resolution.  
 
The good news for fans is that the ending is wide open. So it appears as if there is still more to come from The Professor in the future. And I’m hoping that we all won’t have to wait very long…

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