The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

The Dark Divine
Author: Bree Despain
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: December 22, 2009
Edition: Paperback
* Purchased on my own.

Summary from GoodReads:  
A Prodigal Son

A Dangerous Love

A Deadly Secret

Grace Divine—daughter of the local pastor—always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came home covered in his own blood.

Now that Daniel's returned, Grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the ones she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul.

My Thoughts:

Grace Divine is an honor student, her father is the local pastor, and Daniel Kalbi is not someone that they talk about in the Divine household. When Daniel returns after four years Grace isn't sure how to react. After all, she still likes him and her brother Jude seems to have fallen out with Daniel for reasons he won't reveal to her. When the body of an elderly parishioner is found mutilated and frozen, murmurs of the Markham Street Monster surface once more. On top of this, Daniel isn't who he used to be. If anything, he seems... darker. 


As The Dark Divine progresses, Grace becomes the strength of her family and begins to stray from the straightforward path that she's been treading--a change one can thank Daniel for. Admittedly the first word that comes to mind for describing Daniel would be "tortured." He's trying to keep his inner beast locked away and being around Grace makes this difficult--a little less so thanks to his pendant, but he still believes it's too dangerous for Grace to be around him. Also, he does contradict himself during The Dark Divine. One minute he's pushing her away and the next he doesn't want to be without her. 


Least favorite character? April. I know the point of her character isn't to have a lot of depth--she was even described as cocker spaniel-ish--but in general, I don't care for people like that. Also, her obsession with Jude annoyed me. Speaking of Jude, I liked him for most of the book, but when he gets confused towards the end of The Dark Divine, I dislike him for running away and thus not dealing with his problem. There were also times--often when Jude is confronted with talking about or seeing Daniel--when Jude seemed childish--refusing to even look for the good in Daniel and trying to have everyone keep Grace from Daniel because of what happened before Daniel disappeared.


Overall, I did like The Dark Divine and I'll be picking up The Lost Saint when it comes out because I am interested in seeing how Grace is going to handle the changes in her life. However, it did take me a while to get through The Dark Divine and well, perhaps I'm in the minority, but the romance didn't seem very strong in The Dark Divine. Sure there was some kissing and a confession, but it just didn't really hit home. I was really hoping that I was going to love this book and well, it didn't quite fill my craving for a paranormal romance although I will say that I love the cover and it is what made me pick up a copy. If The Dark Divine sounds interesting to you, I'd suggest picking up a copy or perhaps borrowing one from your local library. The werewolves are certainly unique and Grace being the daughter of a pastor certainly does make things interesting. 


Overall Rating:  ★★★