08 July 2010

The Dark Divine


Book blurb:
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.

Yes, it's teenage, paranormal romance. No, I don't normally get into this sort of thing. I met the author of this book at a conference a few months ago and I was so taken with the way she described The Dark Divine that I bought it. Honestly, I put it at the bottom of the pile of stuff to read. Mostly because of the teen romance angle. I need no reminders that some teenage girl can get a date with a supernatural creature and I can't. But let's not talk about my non-dating life.

In a nutshell, this book was the Prodigal Son and paranormal creatures. Huh. I picked it off my shelf yesterday afternoon and had 40 pages read before I knew it. The book was good! I actually read it in less than 24 hours, which I hardly ever do.

The main character, Grace, is believable and I felt sympathy for her right away. I liked the fact that there was religion in the book, but it all came from the characters, so it wasn't in-your-face. The Prodigal Son is one of those parables from the Bible that I think I fail to understand. I sympathize with the wayward son, sure, but the steady, loyal son has a good point. Yes, yes, I'll probably go somewhere besides heaven unless I figure it out before I die. It was the Prodigal Son angle that made me want to read this book, and it didn't disappoint. I got sucked in and stayed there until I finished it just a few minutes ago. Good job goes to Bree Despain for her first novel! Number 2 is supposed to be out this winter.

1 comment:

Lace and Books said...

Jo, honestly I think the Prodigal Son is for parents firstly and prodigals 2ndly THEN the good sons/daughters. So no worries about it for you ...yet

I love my daughter so much it's scary (ask any good parent) and if she were to go off the deep I'd worry myself to the grave. If she came back, no matter what condition, I would throw a party because I would have her in my arms again. The story isn't about fairness it's about the nature of Love. We are all Prodigals to our Heavenly Parents and this story tells us they will welcome us home no matter what we've been stupid about.

So the point is to not give up even if you were stupid or you didn't think something was fair. My 2 cents *bows*