The Dark Divine

Grace Divine! How’s that for a name! And she’s a PK, a “Preacher’s Kid”. Grace always knew something awful happened between her brother Jude and his best friend Daniel (who she has loved for years)…but she never knew what. One night she and her younger siblings were sent to stay with her Grandmother for 3 weeks and when they came home Daniel was gone and no one ever spoke of “that night”

It’s now several years later and Grace discovers a very different looking Daniel in her high school AP Art class holding some of her work. She is shocked! She mentions that Daniel is back and the whole world starts to cave in on itself.

It’s a long journey to the truth of what happened…one no one will forget and some may never show more recover from.

Couldn’t put this one down…just devoured it in one sitting. I had to know what happened between Daniel and Jude! Ohhh and it was big enough to carry all the mystery and suspense! I could deduce what the secret Daniel was hiding, but didn’t see the other big reveal coming until it hit me. That was a surprise!

I could totally relate to Grace in regards to Daniel being her first love and all the emotional highs and lows that go with it…especially since everyone but Daniel seemed to know she was in love with him. Grace wanted, so much, to save Daniel…yet another aspect a lot of us women can relate to. I thought Daniel and Grace were really sweet together.

Thankfully I have the second book all queued up on the Kindle ready to dive in. I hope it’s as good as The Dark Devine was! show less

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 show more 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’. show less

I was skeptical about The Dark Divine at first glance. It is a story featuring Grace Divine and her siblings Jude, Charity and James, Pastor's kids all. It seemed like a bit of overkill. And it's a paranormal romance. And when it first came out it inspired nail polish giveaways all over the blogosphere. But it's not cheesy, and it's not overkill. For a book about PKs there is surprisingly little to no religious overtone. Don't get me wrong, religion, the physical location of the church, and Christian mythology are all very important to the story. I really want to tell you why, but the best part about reading this story, for me, was not knowing anything about it, really, in advance. Just trust that Despain does not throw a ton of stuff show more at you without context. Everything that needs to be explained is, without an obtrusive info dump in sight.

On the surface, Grace is trying to figure out the cause of, and therefore mend, the riff between Daniel and Jude. Whatever happened between them caused Daniel to disappear for years and caused the whole Divine family to pretend he never existed. When he suddenly returns, Grace is drawn to him, and not in the magical "We have a future destiny/past connection with each other" kind of way, but in the "We grew up together and I've had a crush on your since time immemorial and now you're back and broody and angsty and muscle-y" kind of way. I love this about their relationship. The scenes that we've all come to know and love (maybe) in paranormal romances are there. Daniel and Grace have plenty of tense conversations where he tries to convince her that he is too dangerous for her, but these scenes are tempered with flashbacks to their childhood together and the kind of flirty banter girls the world over share with their brothers' friends.

But for all their normalcy, Jude cannot stand Grace around Daniel, and Grace can't resist him. She promises Jude she won't have anything to do with him, and then invites him over for Thanksgiving dinner. The worst part is that if it wouldn't make them total corndogs, Grace's best friend wouldn't be April; her best friend would be Jude. They are so close and Grace knows that she's hurting him by talking to Daniel. Forget the fact that she's falling in love with him. And she doesn't want to hurt Jude. What Grace does not know is what this hurt is really doing to Jude and, in turn, to Daniel. This is where they real story is, and this is what I've probably already hinted at too much. The outcome will not be what you expect.

Book source: Philly Free Library show less

Three years ago Grace Divine saw her brother, Jude, standing on their front porch covered in blood. Three years ago, Daniel disappeared. Three years later, Grace still doesn’t know what happened or why Daniel left.

Now Daniel is back and those feelings that were buried just under the surface have come rushing back for Grace. Although, not everyone is happy to see Daniel return, namely Jude, who has yet to forgive Daniel for whatever it was that happened three years ago. Now Grace must decide between being loyal to herself, or being loyal to her brother, and at the consequences that both choices hold.

Lying within all the threats and warnings surrounding Daniel, and Grace being involved with him, is still a secret that she needs an show more answer to. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more Grace starts to miss the innocence her life held before Daniel came back and before she found out a truth that affects her and everyone she holds dear. Can she save the ones she loves without losing herself, and her soul, in the process?

This is one of those stories that is almost impossible not to fall into. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down, not even for a minute. Daniel starts as your typical (ish) bad boy (I love when he’s first introduced into the story!), and continues to push and pull you into this “is he or isn’t he?” type of wonder throughout most of the story.

Grace isn’t this typical “dumb girl falls for bad boy” character either, she’s not as simple as we’ve come to know lately and but she’s not so complex that she’s unrelatable. I actually enjoyed Grace, she’s very real. She gets flustered and annoyed as anyone else would, she has conflict, and she doesn’t just make her decisions and say to hell with everyone and everything else. Of course she has her impulse, “don’t think, just do” moments, but everyone has those, but she takes the time to think about how her choices are going to affect the people around her.

And like most of your bad boy types, Daniel is funny. He has these lines that just literally made me laugh (and get funny looks from the people/animals in the room), like this little passage between Daniel and Grace:

Daniel looked up at the sky and scratched behind his ear. “You really are one of a kind. I mean, it’s not every day my girlfriend offers to kill me.”
“Girlfriend?”
That wry grin slid across his face. “That’s the part you question? Man, I should leave town before I really screw you up.”

How can you not find that amusing? Seriously. There are so many other moments like that in The Dark Divine that will make you laugh, and even more that will make you simply think. One of Grace’s biggest struggles comes from her religious background and beliefs (and being the daughter of the local pastor doesn’t really help her cause much), and that’s something else that makes her as a character easy to relate to.

There was something so right, so beautiful about this story, these characters, and their moments. Moments that at times I felt like an intruder into something that wasn’t meant for me, like I shouldn’t be seeing them or listening, but I was so involved in their story that I couldn’t help it. There was this perfect balance of mystery, romance, thrill, and a twist that made my jaw drop. If there’s one book you must pick up, The Dark Divine is it.

It has caused me to add another slot on many of my lists, including (but not limited to): “Fictional Characters I Wish Were Real”, “Books I Will Reread”, “Favorite Books EVER” and of course the “Must Recommend to Everyone” list. There’s definitely something for everyone in this book. An amazing debut from an author I look forward to seeing more from, and revisiting this story! show less

Grace Divine is the daughter of the local priest, and one of the oldest sibling in a group of four. Grace's parents and older brother, Jude, are keeping a secret from her, a secret about her first love, Daniel. One night Jude showed up all bloody on the families front porch and Daniel was gone. This incident occurred three years ago, now all of a sudden Daniel is back in town and mysterious things are happening. Humans go missing and cats being killed. Grace doesn't believe that Daniel is evil but her brother, Jude, who also happens to be Daniels former best friend, seems to feel otherwise. There is something special about Daniel that's for sure but is it something bad? Gracie wants to help Daniel get a normal life, but is she willing show more to sacrifice her relationship with her family in order to help him?The Dark Divine was one of the books I had high hopes for, it sounded so so good and I just had to pre-order it. I got the book but it took me awhile to pick it off my shelves, I've read all these great 5 stars reviews of the book and that actually made me a bit reluctant to read it. Yes, I know that it's a bit weird of me to think like that :)Grace was a bit to naive and good girl for me and I couldn't always relate to her reactions. She had it in her mind that it was her task to make things right for everyone. That being said she wasn't all good like a one dimensional character. Grace chose to do some things she knew would get people hurt, but in the end she felt like it was her only choice.The bad boy in this book, Daniel, has suffered greatly from a childhood were he was abused be his father and was abandoned by his mother. I honestly think it is very important to get such an important subject out in the open, sadly there are many children out there who suffers. Daniel is a well carved bad boy and I think that you can never be quite sure if he is good or evil. He was my favorite character!Some of you might have noticed that these days in some YA novels the main character has a best friend, which in my opinion really qualifies as the worst best friend ever. In The Dark Divine Grace has a best friend called April. April has a huge crush on Grace's older brother and when a tragedy hits and Jude needs support April is there for him. She is so there for him and in love that she almost forgets about Grace. When she does give Grace attention it is always due to something that will give her more time with Jude. April is one selfish girl, she reminds me a lot of the character called Veens in Becca Fitzpatrick's novel Hush, Hush(those of you that have read it surely will understand what I mean).I devoured The Dark Divine in a couple of days. It was a quick and entertaining read but not as good as I had hoped. That being said I will read the next book in this series, I have to know what's in store for Grace, Daniel and Jude in the future. All in all a nice debut novel by Bree Despain. For second opinions check out the review links below, if you do you'll notice that I'm one of a few that wasn't blown away by this book's amazingness. show less

The Dark Divine creates a new and definitely unexpected take on werewolf mythology by basing it in religion. The resulting story is an interesting mix of wholesome goodness and supernatural danger. While I usually prefer to avoid religion in my fiction, the references were put to good use, never preachy and aided in making the story that much deeper.

The mysterious story unfolds at just the right pace and the emotions exhibited by the characters are honest and realistic. The best friend turned mortal enemy rivalry between Jude and Daniel hits just the right notes of hostility and sorrow while Grace's reactions to the the situations she finds herself in feel true.

The Dark Divine is a young adult novel that showcases themes in adolescent show more life often missed by other novels for teens. The characters have homework. They have parents that are actively involved in their lives and the story itself. Grace's mom, for example, got under my skin as a mom who cares about her children above all else. You truly feel Grace's frustration in certain scenes when her mother is ordering her to do things, as moms are apt to do.

The book is a pleasure to read. The writing style is great - easy to read and understand, a total immersion into the world and action and yet, a complete lack of descriptive overkill. The Dark Divine is am all-around authentic and enjoyable story. show less

The Dark Divine has often been compared with Twilight, but the two books have little in common besides genre and some very basic plot elements. Instead, The Dark Divine has characters with a solid emotional foundation for their relationship, difficult decisions with actual consequences, and an unexpectedly deep exploration of the principles of grace and forgiveness.