The Savage Grace: A Dark Divine Novel [Hardcover]

Bree Despain (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 13, 2012 | Series: Dark Divine

Grace's life is a mess. Daniel is still a werewolf, Talbot can't be trusted, and Caleb is still out there. With Sirhan's impending death, war seems imminent. Will Grace give in to the wolf to save her family? What will happen to Daniel . . . and can their love survive one last test?

Also available in e-book edition (ISBN 978-1-60684-222-5)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Oh my goodness, talk about a book that had everything I wanted: a bad boy with a dark, tortured past, a complicated romance, and a mystery that made my heart beat in double-time right up to the last page. The only thing I can hold against this book is it robbed me of a night's sleep. Do I regret it? Not one bit. Darkly comic and surprising, this paranormal rises to the top." -Becca Fitzpatrick, New York Times Best-Selling author of Hush, Hush and Crescendo

"Bree Despain takes familiar myths and legends and wraps them elegantly around a haunting story of love, loss, family and forgiveness. Beautiful." -Lesley Livingston, author of Wondrous Strange

About the Author

Bree Despain rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo. You can visit her online at www.breedespain.com.

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: EgmontUSA (March 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606842218
• ISBN-13: 978-1606842218
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #644,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THE SHORT VERSION
Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo. THE DARK DIVINE is Bree's debut novel.

THE LONG VERSION
As a kid, Bree would staple folded papers to make her own "novels." As a teen, she wrote stories in notebooks while her friends waited for the next page to be finished. Her teachers told her she should be a writer. But Bree thought only special people could be writers, so as the years past, she settled into the idea of becoming a lawyer or something else just as ordinary.

Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner city teens from Philadelphia and New York. With a renewed passion for story, and the young adult audience, she returned to Brigham Young University, filled her schedule with creative writing and literature classes, and started writing stories again. But regular life kicked in, and she soon found herself married with a new baby, working full-time, and with very little writing done.

That's when the universe threw a pick-up truck in her path. The car accident left Bree with an understanding that life was too short to not do what you absolutely love. A few days later, her husband brought home a used laptop computer, placed it by her bedside, and said, "You'd better start writing." Her life has never been the same since.

In a moment of karmic perfection, Bree received the offer to purchase The Dark Divine on the 6th anniversary of the car accident that put her back on the path to becoming an author.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing ending March 16, 2012

By Fall Into Books

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wow. I think this the best series ending I have ever read. The only reason it got an A- instead of an A+ is because of the many grammatical, spelling, and typing errors that were in my purchased Kindle copy. If this had been an ARC, then I would have overlooked it (obviously), but since it was a finished edition from a major publishing company, I thought that an editor would have looked at it. I've never had this trouble with a book by Despain or released by Egmont before, so I'm not sure if someone sent the wrong copy to the Kindle making people or if the print book is like this as well. However, the story was fantastic.

I have enjoyed this entire series, and while I normally don't like literature that focuses on faith, these books never felt preachy. The faith is woven into the story, much like any other mythology is used in a story. Therefore, it should appeal to readers of various religions. Also, Grace is just a good character. Sure, she's flawed, and she has to overcome a TON of internal and external battles in this novel, but she grows and she her goodness is always apparent, even when she is struggling. I also enjoyed how we got to know the other characters better, and the secondary characters who have been present throughout the entire novel also evolved over the course of this narrative. After seeing Grace's battle with her wolf first hand in The Savage Grace, I understood the horrible things Jude did in the previous novels. That made me like him much better.

Grace and Daniel's story is a sweet one, but instead of being all sugary, gross, and co-dependent, they always treat each other with mutual love and respect. It's a healthy relationship, which is very uncommon in any YA novel these days.... Daniel treats Grace as an equal and doesn't try to be the white knight constantly. Of course he wants her to be safe, but he also understands that she has to fight her own battles. I love that about him. Grace, likewise, puts Daniel's needs before her own many times and respects what he feels he must do. It's a nice balance, and we could all probably learn a bit about interpersonal relationships by taking note of those two.

The plot of the story is extremely suspenseful in that keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-can't-put-it-down way that Despain has mastered with this series. The action did not stop for the entire book, and there were many moments when I wasn't sure if Grace (or anyone else, for that matter) would make it out alive. And the way the chapters counted down the time until the big finale at the end added to the suspense. This was an extremely intense read.

The Savage Grace is longer than the other books were, but it still flies by. The pace is super quick, but nothing feels rushed. Everything is full explained and has time to fully develop before Despain moves the story along. I never felt that things lagged, though. There were plenty of surprises and mysteries to keep the story going.

The Savage Grace has love and loss. Some characters will shock you (in a bad way), and others will surprise you (in a good way). You will laugh and cry right along with Grace, and in the end, you'll feel like you just finished riding the craziest roller coaster of your life. Despain does a terrific job of wrapping up this series. This is one ending you do not want to miss. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bittersweet Ending to the Saga... March 16, 2012

By Books&Stuff

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Two books came out on the same day that I'd been anticipating for 2012, I chose to read the other one first. It turned out to not be nearly as good as this one. This book was amazing, I read it in a little over a day. So this book starts off about one week after the last book ended. Grace is trying to figure out how to turn Daniel back to Daniel before she loses him to the white wolf. And it's making her inner wolf an angry and bitter person...

I love Gabriel in this one, and I loved the "lost boys" the ones who followed Daniel when he turned Alpha at the end of book 2. Grace decided she was their Wendy (Peter Pan) and they were her lost boys. They stayed around Grace like babysitters and all of their fun and unique personalities really shined. There was a lot of sad and traumatic events in this book, there were HUGE plot twists throughout, and an ending I didn't suspect. I don't want to give anything away. There is love in this, there is loss, this was a truly fantastic ending to a trilogy I just wished that all of the bad guys had been caught in the end, however; I do believe that what is left is nothing that Daniel and Grace can't fight through together. Grace's parents, sisters, April, and her parents all returned for this book as well as Caleb, Talbot, and many others.

I think this is the book I really fell in love with Daniel, I also loved Jude. He seemed to be more like the Jude from the beginning of book one. Amazing job Bree DeSpain, I did ask her and she does have another book she is writing I'm unsure if it's a series or what but it is due for publication next fall and I will definitely be in line to read it! I'm so sad to see this trilogy come to an end and cannot wait for more books from this talented author!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but... October 25, 2012

By Bookworm

Format:Hardcover

The Savage Grace is the final book in the Dark Divine Series and it picks up right where the second book left off. Daniel is stuck as a white wolf and Grace is desperate to change him back to the human Daniel she loves. Unfortunately, she isn't quite sure how to accomplish this and she feels that Daniel is running out of time.

Not only does Grace have Daniel to worry about but her problems are piling up. She still has Talbot texting her asking if she needs him and keeping her guard up for Caleb and his demons. Sirhan's death is coming. Not to mention her family problems, both her parents end up in the hospital in this book. Her mom ends up in the hospital because she had a nervous breakdown after she was told the truth by her husband and Pastor Divine ends up in the hospital because of being caught in a bomb blast in the warehouse where Grace and Daniel were captured. Of course there's Jude to worry about too. Grace is hesitant to trust her brother after he handed her over to Caleb so Jude's stuck in a cage in the church basement.

Grace also has to deal with some personal problems, them mainly concerning Daniel. She's angry that because he saved her he's stuck in wolf form when he was suppose to save himself instead and because he's not human he can't be with her. Her inner wolf now talks to her frequently since she lost her moonstone and Grace has to do her best not to give in to her inner wolf knowing what will happen if she does. In addition Grace admits to Gabriel that she has lost her faith in God.

Boy did Grace have a lot on her shoulders in this book but because she faced her problems and dealt with them I liked her as a character in this book. However, and I hate to say it I really do, but I felt she was pulling a Bella Swan in some places in this book.... Yes, yes, I know she loves Daniel but she was acting like Bella longing for Edward in the Twilight Series.

When her dad, Gabriel and April were trying to get Grace to go home and rest for school the next day and think about her future, Grace tells herself that they don't understand that without Daniel she has no future. Doesn't that sound like Bella Swan?

Still even though Grace displayed some Bella qualities, she still was her own character. Yes, Daniel was her main focus but she still loved and worried about others that mattered to her. She tried to heal her dad and even though she failed the first time, she succeeded the second time with Daniel's help. She went to talk to her mom to try to snap her out of her daze and convince her that she needed her at home.

Well with Jude I'm still annoyed with how everything ended for him. I was annoyed with Grace for how she treated her brother when he was caged in the basement although I understand she couldn't really trust him after everything that happened between them. Still I found her annoying for taking Daniel's side and lacking love and sympathy for her own brother.

What's more the guys who left Caleb's wolf pack and made Daniel their Alpha instead, Grace dubbed them the lost boys and took charge over them while Daniel was still stuck in wolf form and even tells Slade that to Daniel and her their pack is a family. I loved them as characters, liked the reference to Peter Pan and I was sad when two of them died.

As for Daniel and Grace I loved them as a couple even though they annoyed me at times well mostly Grace did. The romance was good even though it sometimes took priority over the situation they were in. I'm complicated when it comes to reading about love in books. I hate it when the girl immediately falls in love with the guy when she just met him but then I hate it when it takes forever for the girl to admit she loves the guy and keeps denying it for half the book. But for Grace and Daniel I liked how the author wrote and developed their relationship. She didn't make them fall in love at first sight although both were attracted to each other and she didn't make them deny their feelings for each other for half the book.

I have mixed feelings toward the ending. Caleb got what he deserved and Talbot I guess will always be around to stir up trouble for Grace. I'm sad another lost boy died and annoyed that Grace couldn't save her own brother although I know that only true love can save a person from the werewolf curse and Grace couldn't safe Jude because she felt only family love for him and she knew that she wouldn't be risking her soul for him. Still after Jude's death I found that it was rather unrealistic and cold for Grace to be moving on with her life so quickly and making future plans not long after his death.

I was disappointed that there wasn't a wedding scene in the end and it was really disappointing that the ending for Daniel and Grace was a repeat of Daniel's proposal in the warehouse with a few added words and a ring which was sweet underneath their very own walnut tree but still a disappointment since we won't ever see the actual wedding.

I give this book more like 3 1/2 stars. Read more ›