Scan barcode
A review by wickedlovely
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
3.0
My Thoughts:
I'm going to try my best to write this review without spoilers which is gonna be difficult given this book is mainly about Daniel's "secret".
Anyway,Grace is the daughter of a pastor & stepford wife-esque mother. She also has three siblings; a younger sister, older brother, & baby brother. When she was younger, she & her older brother were close to a neighborhood kid Daniel which ended abruptly when he disappeared the night her older brother (Jude) came home beat up to all hell. Years later Daniel reappears in their podunk town out of the blue & the mystery begins.
On to my thoughts. Throughout this novel I debated whether to give it 2 stars or 3. There were chapters where I felt 2 stars were too generous. The concept for this novel has been recycled billions of times but there were a few twists (& the author's viewpoint based on her mormon background) that saved this novel from paranormal YA mediocrity. I enjoyed the lore surrounding the mystery. I enjoyed the family & friendship dynamics. I enjoyed our teen hero Daniel. I even enjoyed the religious aspect although I felt like it was being shoved down my throat a few times. What I didn't enjoy was our heroine, Grace. She annoyed the crap out of me. Grace has this irritating need to fix people which often comes off as intrusive. What makes it more annoying is that she isn't doing it so much out of the goodness of her heart as to rationalize her own feelings. For example, she would bring food & clothes over to Daniel & tell herself it was because she was such a good christian & living up to her name. In actuality it was so she could be near him. It would be cute if she didn't come off as holier-than-thou. She also was very childish & naive for someone who is almost 17. One second she loved Daniel & thought Jude was a liar. The next she hated Daniel & couldn't believe she didn't listen to her brother. She was all over the freaking place & it stayed that way until nearly the end of the book. I tried my hardest to like her but the second I felt something more than intense dislike, she'd do something stupid that put her back on my TSTL list.
Overall, I think I would've enjoyed this novel alot more if it wasn't told exclusively from the heroine's view. It doesn't really break new ground & comes off as cliche.But I did find some parts of this novel entertaining. I might even read the next in the series (yes its a part of a series. Seems like every freaking book these days is a part of a series) in the hopes that Grace redeems herself & grows a brain/backbone.
I'm going to try my best to write this review without spoilers which is gonna be difficult given this book is mainly about Daniel's "secret".
Anyway,Grace is the daughter of a pastor & stepford wife-esque mother. She also has three siblings; a younger sister, older brother, & baby brother. When she was younger, she & her older brother were close to a neighborhood kid Daniel which ended abruptly when he disappeared the night her older brother (Jude) came home beat up to all hell. Years later Daniel reappears in their podunk town out of the blue & the mystery begins.
On to my thoughts. Throughout this novel I debated whether to give it 2 stars or 3. There were chapters where I felt 2 stars were too generous. The concept for this novel has been recycled billions of times but there were a few twists (& the author's viewpoint based on her mormon background) that saved this novel from paranormal YA mediocrity. I enjoyed the lore surrounding the mystery. I enjoyed the family & friendship dynamics. I enjoyed our teen hero Daniel. I even enjoyed the religious aspect although I felt like it was being shoved down my throat a few times. What I didn't enjoy was our heroine, Grace. She annoyed the crap out of me. Grace has this irritating need to fix people which often comes off as intrusive. What makes it more annoying is that she isn't doing it so much out of the goodness of her heart as to rationalize her own feelings. For example, she would bring food & clothes over to Daniel & tell herself it was because she was such a good christian & living up to her name. In actuality it was so she could be near him. It would be cute if she didn't come off as holier-than-thou. She also was very childish & naive for someone who is almost 17. One second she loved Daniel & thought Jude was a liar. The next she hated Daniel & couldn't believe she didn't listen to her brother. She was all over the freaking place & it stayed that way until nearly the end of the book. I tried my hardest to like her but the second I felt something more than intense dislike, she'd do something stupid that put her back on my TSTL list.
Overall, I think I would've enjoyed this novel alot more if it wasn't told exclusively from the heroine's view. It doesn't really break new ground & comes off as cliche.But I did find some parts of this novel entertaining. I might even read the next in the series (yes its a part of a series. Seems like every freaking book these days is a part of a series) in the hopes that Grace redeems herself & grows a brain/backbone.