AOM Review: The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Posted by: harmonybookreviews on: December 13, 2009

• In: Book Reviews
• 4 Comments

Title: The Dark Divine

Author: Bree Despain

Rating: 9.5/10

Summary: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

My Thoughts:

The Dark Divine is one of my favorite books of 2009. It’s one of those books I want to read over and over again and still can’t put down.

The beginning started off slow and I had to push myself through the first couple of chapters until the introduction of Daniel. From that point forward, the plot becomes more complicated and more intriguing. There was never a dull spot in the story. The Dark Divine kept me guessing throughout the whole book and still left me surprised at the end.

While I found the plot intriguing, it is the characters that kept me from putting the book down. Daniel is, hands down, my new favorite male character. He completely opens Grace’s eyes, he has to many sides to his character, and I picture him as being absolutely gorgeous. Grace was a character that I could relate to. I have heard many people say she is annoying because she’s always worrying that what she’s doing is wrong but I completely understand where she is coming from. The other characters, from Jude to Grace’s parents to other minor characters, were unique and each brought a sense of individuality to the story.

I also love this book because of the romance. It’s not the cute, fluffy, and clichéd romance. It’s the rough but real, makes-my-stomach-ache romance and I just love that. I do believe I was even teary-eyed from reading certain parts of the story.

Overall, I highly highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good paranormal or romance book. You won’t regret picking it up!