I was more than a little surprised at first when I saw that there was going to be a third book in this series. Mostly because I thought the first two told the whole story pretty well and I wasn't sure what kind of plot this might have. Regardless of my thoughts, however, I decided to read this anyway because I loved the first one. I like the first two covers a lot - the flame and the mist/shadow are both visually appealing to me. I can't say I care much for this one. I understand that it's pointing out the importance of the orchard because it's where Gabriel and Julie met for the first time, but if you don't know that it's just two people doing it in a bush. Which is not . . . uh, the greatest thing ever to put on a cover in my opinion. 
 What kinds of sucks is that I was right. Events in Gabriel's Redemption just seem kind of scattered all over the place. One problem would arise, and then it would be solved. And the book followed the same pattern until it ended. There was no real main conflict to be resolved, which really threw off my level of enjoyment. The summary itself is misleading - it says that Julia is writing a paper with an opinion that goes against Gabriel's. While this does actually take place, it's early on in the novel and it's resolved quite easily. It also implies that one big major secret from Gabriel's past will be revealed, but looking back I didn't see a whole lot of new developments. I did learn a few new things about him, but nothing that was completely shocking or out of character. 
 People come along once in a while from the past, like Paul and Christa. Christa is definitely the more evil one, because she's still trying to break up Gabriel and Julia even after their marriage. I was deeply satisfied with what became of her character later on. I felt sorry for Paul but was happy with how things ended up for him. I was a bit confused about the inclusion of what Simon was up to. He never crosses paths with the main characters again, and yet for some reason the author thought it necessary to show us a few chapters following him. I found this to be really odd considering he was - and still is - a villainous character. I suppose it could be said that the main issue in Gabriel's Redemption is that Gabriel wants kids right away and Julia doesn't. She feels guilty over this but at the same time really wants to finish her schooling without too many distractions. I totally understood where she was coming from, and even though she and Gabriel argued about it more than once, I predicted exactly how the end would come about. 
 It kind of sounds like I strongly disliked this book, but I really didn't. I don't regret picking it up despite the fact that there was no driving force in the plot. This is mainly due to the fact that I really enjoy Reynard's writing and I didn't really mind hanging around characters that I adore quite a bit. I can't recommend it as the greatest conclusion to a trilogy (because it shouldn't have been a trilogy), but overall it was okay.