Both Inferno and Rapture reminded me what intelligent writing was. This is the "thinking (wo)man's" romance and not smut unlike many of its contemporaries. This is a contemporary romance but it is much more than just a romance. The story centers around enigmatic and sexy, Professor Gabriel Emerson, a well respected Dante specialist by day, and by night avid devotee to all things carnal. 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 because of a childhood of benign neglect and the later loss of a child. When the sweet and innocent Julia Mitchell enrolls as his graduate student/muse, 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. Their romance is forbidden but inevitable as the sunrise. 
 She is Beatrice to his Dante 
 Fire to his ice 
 Virtue to his vice 
 A verdict to his plea 
 A must read for fans of Tatiana and Alexander 
 . I would put this on the top of my list of "MUST READ" romances.