The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Summary:

So basically, the book is about fighting the evil side with in all of us. 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 his own blood--but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held.The memories her family has tried to bury resurface when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's high school. Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry glint in his eyes.The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind the boy'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. (Summary by goodreads.com)

Review:
The Dark Divine was surprisingly quite a good book! At first I was a little apprehensive to read it, because it sounded like just another spin off of Twilight, but I found the character development to be much better. I actually liked the realistic way Bree made her characters feel, though I feel that her male characters were stronger then the female ones.

I did find the main heroine of the story lacking in some personality. It's not that Grace was not likeable, I just think that you expected her to grow more as the book progressed. Her growth was stunted, I think, because the author was trying so hard to capture Daniel and his struggle that she forget to continue to develop Grace in the same ways. I wish she had gone a little bit deeper into Jude's side of the story as well, so you could really see what was going on between both of these very compelling characters. I feel Jude hung there for a long time not being used. Over all I liked the book a lot: it portrayed some very human emotions, it was not "CHEESY", it moved well, and had great humor. Bree makes you fight to love these characters, as much as the characters in the book are fighting to love each other. I loved the end. It showed that you do have to sacrifice, and I think that's one element love stories tend to leave out. A very nice read over all!!!

Profanity: Mild
Drugs & Alcohol: Medium, talked about, and a scene where a guy is high, but nothing really bad.
Sexuality: Mild, there is some kissing :)
Violence: Medium, but really nothing gory.
Rating: **** 4 out of 5 stars.