The Dark Divine

I’m in a bad spot right now.  I don’t know if other book nerds experience this or not, but I’m in a dry spell.  A bunch of new books came out in January, February and March…and now I’m waiting for the books that are coming out in May and June.  So for now, I’ve got nothing.  I find myself depressed and re-reading things in preparation for sequels, which is slightly pathetic.  I imagine myself looking something like this picture of my youngest son:

Okay...so hopefully it's not that bad.  Last night after work, I thought to myself that instead wallowing in a state of depression, why not backtrack a little bit and spotlight a book that recently came out?  If you’re looking for a fun and light read and you enjoy the whole YA supernatural genre, you might enjoy the Dark Divine trilogy by Bree Despain.

 It includes three books, including The Dark Divine, The Lost Saint, and The Savage Grace, which just came out in March of this year.  Warning, this is a little bit of a spoiler…no major plot points, but I don’t see how I can get around saying it.  If you don’t want to hear it, then stop reading!  It’s basically another werewolf book, but with a completely different take on the whole idea.  The change of pace was refreshing.  Grace Divine, a pastor’s daughter, comes to find out about Daniel’s little secret and can’t seem to stay away from him despite her brother and father’s desperate pleas to stay away from their old childhood friend.  There’s something terrorizing their small town and of course Daniel is suspect.  It’s got a twist at the end that I did not see coming, which makes the rest of the series much more interesting for Grace.  It’s got a touch of mystery and danger, a touch more of a superhero complex, and a little bit more romance.  It’s an easy, light read when you just want to have fun, but it still has deep issues of faith, forgiveness, and redemption.  I loved the way the author brought in the strong religious themes without making it a “religious” book.  The newest installment, The Savage Grace, was really long, but didn’t seem like it while I was reading it.  It had a resolute ending, but still had some things left unresolved, leaving the possibility for more books in this series.  The series is always referred to as a trilogy, so I don’t believe there will be any more, but who knows.  Hopefully that will keep you satisfied if you are as pathetic as I am this month.

FYI, there are two books on my radar that are coming out this month.  There’s the second installment in the Darkness Rising series by Kelley Armstrong, which is called The Rising, and the third installment in the Body Finder series, which is called The Last Echo.