The exciting debut paranormal romance from Bree Despain. A prodigal son. A dangerous love. Haunted yearning ...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. Join Grace in the enthralling story of The Dark Divine, perfect for fans of Twilight and the latest trend for vampire books and werewolf books. 'A book that had everything I wanted: a bad boy, a complicated romance, and a mystery that made my heart beat double-time right up to the last page. Darkly comic and surprising' - Becca Fitzpatrick, New York Times best-selling author of Hush, Hush.

I read this a while ago, and I was reminded of it today during a read-alike search for [b:Sisters Red|6357708|Sisters Red (Sisters Red, #1)|Jackson Pearce|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255962639s/6357708.jpg|6544454]. However, all I can recall of the plot is a vague sense that I didn't really care about the main character much. It's one of those books I finished and promptly forgot about.

It seems that werewolfy romances and I don't get along. I didn't particularly care for [b:Shiver|6068551|Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)|Maggie Stiefvater|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1257962751s/6068551.jpg|6244926] either, and lots of people love love loved that one. It's their gorgeous covers that keep sucking me in. Curses!

Oh well. It's still good that I remembered it and can use it for teen book recs. ( )

Ohmyjellydonuts, this was soooo good!

Full review without mention of jelly donuts will come once I've calmed down.

Plot: 5/5
Ohmyjellydonuts, this is a werewolf book. It is an amazing werewolf book. Like, one of the best I’ve read in a long, long time. The mythology was so unique and convoluted and cool, man.
This book was very Christian-y, and the Christian-ness wove into the werewolf stuff and it meshed and it was amazing. Like, so good.

Characters: 5/5
Daniel: He’s a werewolf. It’s a very rare occasion when I run into a werewolf that I do NOT like and am NOT extremely attracted to.
Grace: Okay, I wasn’t raised as a backwards Christian-type who wasn’t even aloud to read Harry Potter, but still I would expect that when someone tells you he’s a werewolf, there’s enough knowledge within you to know that werewolfism can be transferred through biting. But that was the ONLY time she annoyed me, so overall, she’s pretty good.
Jude: I must have been emotionally invested in him, because at the end, when he was being STUPID, I was in tears whilst I shouted at him, “Would you stop being stupid, Jude!?!”
Pete: Ah, Pete Bradshaw. Your average high-school, jock-type, douche-bag. There’s one in every YA PNR story, isn’t there?
Don: As soon as Grace compared to Lenny, I couldn’t get that impression out of my head.

The Romance: 5/5
The romance in this book was set up in such away that I can’t really see it as insta-love. I’m sure some people out there do, but I don’t. One time, I read a book where the author tried to avoid insta-love by having me go into the book and having the character say “I’m already in love with this boy.” Actually, I don’t remember what book that was, but I didn’t like it. In this book, Bree Despain applies a similar technique, but she does it in a way where I don’t feel like I’m being told to love this boy, even though I met him two pages ago, and it WORKS. And I loved it.

Overall Grade: 15/15, perfect score. Plus ohmyjellydonuts makes for a great book. ( )

There are some religions undertones that are kind of annoying, but once you get past that its an okay story.

Werewolves. Mystery. Family Secrets. Runaway Brother. Kissing!

It was an alright story. I want to find the sequel and find out what happens next. She needs to find her brother! He's gone a little crazy. uh oh.

The book is filled with things like:
Follow your heart.
Fight for what you believe in.
Love conquers all.
Family important.

Not bad things for a book to have, and it's wrapped up in a nice fantasy bow. ( )

Umanamente Divino

Dark Divine è un romanzo "soprannaturale", un libro bello e coinvolgente. Un libro che parla di un amore giovanile, di una maledizione che era, in passato, una benedizione e di fede, indipendentemente da quale "Dio" si preghi o veneri.
E' un romanzo che segue la scia di una "moda narrativa" ma che si innova e rinnova per noi lettori presentandoci una vicenda diversa, dei personaggi davvero belli e "vincenti" e delle vicende umane diverse dal solito.

I temi trattati sono molti e profondi. Forse non è, per una volta, la storia d'amore fra i due giovani a fare da protagonista, quanto, invece, il perdono, la fede, la gelosia, l'invidia, il non sentirsi mai all'altezza, il tentativo si salvare il prossimo, la carità, la consapevolezza dei propri limiti... Insomma in questo romanzo, young adult, c'è tutto e per tutti.

Abbiamo una protagonista che ama il ragazzo "dannato", che fa di tutto per aiutarlo e salvarlo ma che alla fine si rende conto che è tutto più grande di lei. Non ci sono sviolinate da romanzetti rosa in cui la fanciulla dona il suo cuore contro ogni logica e legge di conservazione, c'è una ragazza che scopre il mostro, lo teme, lo rifugge e cerca di salvarsi in barba al proprio cuore. Una ragazza che sceglie la famiglia e non se stessa, c'è Grace Divine.

E c'è Daniel, dannato e arrogante quanto fragile e disperato. C'è un passato difficile e un presente pesante sulle sue spalle e lui, che di eroe ha poco ma probabilmente tutto visto che gli eroi non esistono, spera di essere salvato. Vuole essere salvato e chiede aiuto. In barba alle classiche "fughe" che quasi tutti i belli e dannati dei romanzi compiono abbandonando le loro "compagne" perché, ovviamente, vogliono proteggerle da loro stessi.

I personaggi sono molti, diversi e tutti ben costruiti, perfino un padre reverendo che non sa come salvare tutti e che si lascia andare alla disperazione per questo motivo. O un povero pazzo armato di coltello che, in fondo, tutto pazzo non è.

Un romanzo da leggere, dove niente è quello che sembra e dove il confine fra bene e male, fra mostro e umano è così labile e frastagliato che rispecchia perfettamente l’imperfezione umana.
Unico neo? E’ il primo libro dell’ennesima saga di cui, purtroppo, non si prevede il sequel prima del 2012; dovremo attendere un bel po’.
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