The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Description

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.com

Review

So I decided to buy this based on reviews I'd read on Amazon, and on here. And it certainly lived up to my expectations! Normally, I'm not a big fan of books with religious undertones- I get enough of that at home, to be honest, but the aspects of religion in the book weren't boring or annoying.

Despain's writing was flowing and clear, and I especially liked her characterisation. To me, all the characters felt realistic and three-dimensional with the exception, maybe, of Grace's friend Amber.

Contrary to many other YA Supernatural novels, the theme of family was explored, and readers were able to see the family dynamics, especially between Jude and Grace. Jude was an amazingly developed character, and the revelation near the end...well I wasn't expecting it at all but it made a lot of sense.

Grace was a likable protagonist, maybe a bit too much of a goody-goody but it was understandable since she was, after all, a Pastor's daughter. Daniel developed into an attractive character- at first I was a bit wary of him but then as explanations were given and actions were made, I grew to like him.

What I liked about this book was that the bad-boy wasn't new or a complete stranger to the female protagonist at the beginning of the novel. This made the love between Grace and Daniel more believable, as they had been so close to one another in the past, which was shown by Despain through flashbacks.

The supernatural aspects were fairly similar to other books but there was a new religious twist on the concept of werewolves. I didn't really like the extracts from the diary of a werewolf's sister (was it his sister?) but that's because the font was quite difficult to decipher.

I did think, however, that the ending was too abrupt, especially the last paragraph of the book. But I guess there'll be a sequel, so I look forward to reading it!

Rating: 4.5/5