The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Genre: YA Fantasy Fiction

Publication Date: December 2009

Author Website: www.breedespain.com

One Word Review: Serious

First Line: “Grace! You have got to see the new guy.”

Synopsis: Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared--the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in his own blood--but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held. The memories her family has tried to bury resurface when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's high school. Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry glint in his eyes. The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind the boy's dark secret...and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it--her soul. -GoodReads

Kathy’s Review: I’ve been waiting and wanting to read this one for a long time. I was excited to curl up and start reading yesterday and ended up staying up late to finish it. I liked Grace from the beginning and her relationship with her brother Jude reminded me of my relationship with my brother Doug. Doug was a year older than me in school and everyone loved him, so I could definitely relate to Grace in that respect. Anyway, I thought Dark Divine had a very original plot, and the characters were believable. As much as I enjoyed the story, it didn’t quite grab me like I had hoped. It seems like all the problems the characters faced could have easily been solved if they just sat down and talk to each other. Daniel was an okay leading man, he probably won’t be added to my literary crush list, but I enjoyed his character and thought that he had good chemistry with Grace. There were some slow parts and the ending wasn’t my favorite, but overall I enjoyed the story.

One thing that drove me bonkers was the sub-headings scattered throughout the book. I would just get into the story and then bam we’d have another heading (e.g. Five Seconds Later), these were very distracting and pointless. I think, for me anyway, the book would have flowed a lot better without these interruptions. Also, the book is rather serious, a few jokes and light moments would have added a lot as well.

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