The Dark Divine: Review

Synopsis: 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 blood. But she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night really held. And when Daniel returns three years later, Grace can no longer deny her attraction to him, despite promising Jude she’ll stay away.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, her actions stir the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind Jude and Daniel'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.

(source)

Details: "The Dark Divine" by Bree Despain, 385 pages, 4.5 stars on Amazon

My Thoughts: I have to admit: when I first saw the cover, I wasn't sure what to think. It was a nice cover - simple and elegant. But now that I've finished the story, I still don't see what the cover has to do with anything. Oh well. It's pretty and that's what counts, right?

The main character, Grace, was interesting, but I never felt like I really got involved in her problems or felt sympathetic for her. I suppose part of the reason was that she treated the guy who liked her, Peter, rather aloofly, even though he seemed like a perfectly nice, sweet, and overall charming guy. He invited her to go bowling multiple times with him along with her brother and his girlfriend, and she turned him down harshly. When she realized that she was falling in love with Daniel, she never felt an urge to let Peter know that she liked someone else, and on the night when she and Daniel officially got together, Peter conveniently - and suddenly - showed his "true colors", which were drastically different than ever hinted at in the story.

On the other hand, the werewolves bit were done quite well. A lot of paranormal romances feel like they read the same but this one was different. "The Dark Divine" had religious undertones, and while I didn't really like them that much, it was original. Daniel being a werewolf was portrayed as something dark and sinister, and there were parts in the book where I just had to keep reading. 

Overall - it could have been done better, but it was still pretty darn good. 3 out of 5 smiley faces.

Vampires and Werewolves and Angels, Oh My!

No. This is not going to be another post about how much I absolutely despise anything sparkly (except dinosaurs and unicorns) and werewolves are going to be the end of the world and angels suck and that they need to become more coordinated because why, why do they keep FALLING? *hyperventilates* But no, I'll resist. I'll even admit something:

I finished a book last night called "The Dark Divine" (review to come). It had werewolves in it. And I didn't like the book that much... but not because of the werewolves. Anyone who knows me is probably laughing at that funny joke I just made, but seriously - the werewolf part was good.

So now I'm rethinking my I-hate-sparklies philosophy. As my friends know, I've spent probably several lifetimes ranting about how unoriginal all vampire-werewolf-zombie-angel-demon stories are and how every one is a carbon copy of Twilight and Oh my God, isn't that the EXACT phrase ("I stood up") used in that other vampire book I was forced to read? THOSE UNORIGINAL JERKS!!!!!!!!! How is it that a hater like me enjoyed the werewolf part in "The Dark Divine"?

I don't think originality is much of an issue when it comes to sparklies (henceforth all commonly used paranormal creatures shall be known as sparklies), like I used to think. I mean, there are a crazy amount of books that are too similar to Twilight, and we all know that Twilight is a spin off from Vampire Diaries so someone call the cops right now, but is that really such a huge issue?

Consider the book "Speak". I like "Speak", and you (most likely) do too. It's a friggin' work of genius. But we've all read five hundred rape stories before "Speak", and we'll read five hundred more after, where the main character is raped and loses her friends and then recovers. So why was "Speak" so good? The story wasn't original, but the way the author chose to write the story was.

And so "The Dark Divine" approached werewolves differently than other books I read. It didn't try to give one of those cringe-worthy "scientific" explanations of lycanthropy (although I wasn't a fan of the religious one it did give), and it somehow made being a werewolf seem darker and sinister than Edward's sparkles. That's why the book was sorta-okay and kinda-good.

But still. I don't recommend you recommending me a sparkly book. Unless the book itself is sparkly. In which case, I WANT TO READ IT NAO K?

What are your thoughts on the sparklies? Have you read "The Dark Divine"? Do you know any paranormal romance that was actually pretty darn good?