Book Thoughts: The Savage Grace

Title: The Savage Grace
Author: Bree Despain
Series: Dark Divine #3

I was so excited to finally get to read this one, because I loved the first two and haven't been able to get my hands on this one until now. I was a little fuzzy on the details going into it, couldn't remember exactly how the last one had ended, but this one reminds you of the details without it reading like a summary, which is nice.

The writing in this fell a little flat -- not because the story was bad, but because it just felt like the book didn't get proofread very thoroughly before it was published. I kept finding little errors ("of" instead of "or," "your" instead of "you're," and "peek" was insistently spelled "peak" through the whole book) that kept pulling me out of the story. Probably wouldn't be a problem for someone who doesn't really care about grammar, but it put me on edge.

That said, I loved the story and the way the trilogy concludes. I mean, heartbreaking, yes -- but what story about demons and werewolves is going to be light and cheery? I thought the action made sense and I really enjoyed the story was resolved, and I'm going to stop talking right there because otherwise spoilers will happen. I'm glad it ended the way it did.

Also, can I just say -- she's a really minor character, but Grace's little sister Charity is pretty awesome.

Grace's struggle with the wolf is incredibly relatable for anyone who's ever been torn between anger and forgiveness, and even though Grace seems to have almost superhuman patience, I liked the hopeful note of the novel.

So, yeah -- I didn't adore this the way I did the first two books, but it's still definitely a series I'd recommend, with a well-handled ending and an awesome take on werewolf mythology.

Book Thoughts: The Dark Divine

Title: The Dark Divine
Author: Bree Despain
Series: Dark Divine #1

When I started the book, I really loved the story but I kept getting distracted by the print. The font seemed to be in all bold, which I thought was weird, and honestly, that was the only thing that kept me from getting into this book from the very beginning. But once I got used to that...wow. Awesome book.

Grace is the daughter of a pastor, and her family is almost obnoxiously religious and saintly. On the surface, anyway - but they go out of their way to not talk about anything that creates a real problem. So they don't talk about Daniel Kalbi, Grace's one-time childhood crush and a friend who used to be so close he was like an extra brother to Grace and her older brother Jude. Three years ago, he disappeared, and something happened between him and Jude that Jude still won't talk about. So when Daniel turns up in her AP art class and starts flirting with her, Grace has no one to turn to.

It quickly becomes clear that something is up with Daniel, who is demonstrating abilities bordering on superpowers, and there are almost too many clues lying around (I figured out the secret well before the end of the book). Something's up with Jude, too: he's not acting like himself at all. Grace wants to find out the secret about what happened that night, but it might put her in more danger than she can imagine. And as she works to find out what's going on and how to fix it, her once-perfect family life is falling apart around her.

I really loved The Dark Divine. Grace was such a relatable character, and even though her family was kind of unnaturally nice, I felt like all of those characters could have been real (Jude probably least of all, but even him). And Daniel was the ultimate bad-boy, unlovable-and-yet-totally-lovable character, and I really related to him, too. I also loved the characters of Don Mooney and Grace's father, especially. And the plot had just the right mix of action and romance and mystery...it was great.

Also, Bree Despain did an awesome job with the mythology in this. It was a very interesting new approach to a very familiar paranormal topic (and no, it's not vampires). I'm not going to say anything else about that because I don't want to spoil anything...but, yes, it was awesome.

So, the one-sentence summary of that review: The Dark Divine is an excellent paranormal romance with an interesting twist on the legends that I would absolutely recommend.