The Savage Grace by Bree Despain

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Egmont

Pages: 488pgs

The Story

Wrestling with the werewolf curse pulsing deep inside of her, Grace Divine was finally able to find her brother, but it nearly cost her everything.

With her boyfriend, Daniel, stuck in wolf form and Sirhan's death approaching, time is running out for Grace to stop Caleb Kalbi and his gang of demons. If she fails, her family and hometown will perish. Everything rests on Grace's shoulders.

The final installment in The Dark Divine trilogy brings Daniel and Grace's love story to a breathtaking conclusion.

The Review

As most of you should already be aware of by now, I've been a huge fan of this series since the first book had came out a few years ago and I was extremely excited to get my hands on the final installment of this YA series, especially since I've grown so attached to the characters, to the storyline, and to the overall world Bree Despain has managed to successfully create. But most importantly, I wanted to read this last book because I was SO eager to find out how everything would be concluded for these favourite characters of mine, especially since the previous sequel offered up a pretty shocking ending for everyone with myself included!

THE SAVAGE GRACE is the third and final book of The Dark Divine trilogy with the werewolf genre at its very best. With her beloved Daniel still stuck as a wolf, the main heroine, Grace, continues battling her own inner demons - the wolf herself - that has always been inside of her. As she's desperately trying to fight with everything she's got against the evils of her own town and her own wolf, she's also trying to find a cure or find some way to turn Daniel back into his original human form. But as the inner wolf begins to test her in so many ways she cannot even imagine, Grace will need to put all of her energies and strength into this deadly and dangerous final battle in order to save Daniel, her family and friends, not to mention herself . . . before it's all goes to hell . . . literally.

Much like with the rest of this series, THE SAVAGE GRACE does a splendid job in weaving a tale with religion, action, romance, and some desperate struggles between the rights and wrongs of the world - only with a great supernatural twist added onto it. While the first book, The Dark Divine, remains to be my favourite book in the entire series but a lot of things were really improved with this third book compared to its sequel, The Lost Saint, which I struggled a little bit with from last year. But for some reason, there was just . . . more happening in this storyline and there was more romance which this series really needed to amp up the finale of this YA series. So I was truly grateful for that element alone!

However, what amazed me more this time round was Grace as our leading lady. From the first two books she was unsure of herself and her own capabilities of being 'the strong one' for the rest of the characters, but everything soon changed for her character in this final book and she finally allowed herself to shine in moving forward and putting those self-doubts behind her. Grace, after all, has come a very long way from book one. Firstly, she had to deal with being the perfect role model of her perfect religious family and for her perfect father. And secondly, she also had to deal with her life crashing down before her eyes when her brother, Jude, falls into the clutches of the wolf and where she had soon found herself falling in love with boy with a deadly curse. And to top it all off, Grace had to fight her own inner wolf and try to not lose herself like her boyfriend did once . . . which is easier said than done. But despite those complications, Grace had more control over her life and her goals so she gets the total thumbs up from me!

Now onto Daniel, Grace's wolf-boy main love interest. I've always loved Daniel from the get go and while he did have his own ups and downs character-wise, but much like with Grace's character he too had also gained himself back to being the good old Daniel that we had fallen in love with so years ago, and it only made the story THAT much more interesting to be honest. Even the supportive character Talbot, someone who I didn't mind in the previous sequel, was loved by me though it was pretty obvious what was going to happen to him . . . but regardless of that and regardless of the predictability of certain elements of the storyline, it was so much better than the sequel. So much better! Even the ending was a great conclusion. Sure the ending wasn't exactly happily ever after for everyone, but it was enough to say, "Hey, I can make up my own mind about what happens in the end and we'll leave it at that." Yeah . . . that ending . . . it was cute. Very, very cute.

Overall, THE SAVAGE GRACE was a great conclusion to a YA trilogy and while it had its loves and hates about it, but I didn't care whatsoever. With the story having everything you could possibly want in a finale book - action, romance, evilness and some grand entertainment that goes in all sorts of directions for its reader to be left in awe - it's fair to say that fans of this series will absolutely LOVE this book, if not more than the previous sequel!

The Rating

4 1/2 / 5 stars

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

This book was provided by Hardie Grant Egmont's Australian publicist, Jennifer Kean! So, I would like to say another big thank you to her for sending me a brand new finished copy of this very awesome sequel book!

Release Day: March 7th, 2011

Publisher: Egmont Books

Pages: 404pgs

The Story

A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns.

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process. When Grace receives a haunting phone call from Jude, she knows what to do. She must become a Hound of Heaven.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot - a newcomer to town who promises her that he can help her to be a hero. But as the two grow closer, the wolf grows in Grace, and her relationship with Daniel is put in danger - in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her - not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.

The Review

This was freaking awesome! I loved The Dark Divine when it first came out, but clearly Bree Despain's sequel, THE LOST SAINT, topped it over the first book in the series! Sometimes sequels lack the action-packed adventures that you'd experienced in the first book, and it happens quite a lot in the young adult book world. But no. THE LOST SAINT was even better than I originally anticipated - Despain took it to the extreme - and I'm lost for words here. It's even hard to write a brilliant book review that will do the book justice, one that it definitely deserves!

In THE LOST SAINT, Grace finds herself fighting the inner wolf growing inside of her. The last time we saw her in The Dark Divine, she sacrificed herself to cure Daniel from his werewolf curse and now . . . she has to suffer the consequences for her heroic actions. At the beginning of the novel, we find Grace and Daniel happily dating but Grace's family is slowly falling apart. Her father is away in search for his son. Her mother is lost in grief of her son's disappearance. And most importantly . . . Grace is missing her brother and wants him to return!

With her disappearing brother Jude out on the loose and with her fighting to stay in control of her inner wolf, Grace's relationship also starts to fall apart as soon as she meets the mysterious, almost charming newcomer boy named Talbot. I loved him instantly because you wanted to trust him - like he wanted Grace to trust him - until the ending unfolds (which I definitely saw coming), but nonetheless . . . he was a very intriguing character to be introduced to. Of course, when Talbot suddenly becomes interested in Grace alone and visa versa , the more Grace is drifting away from Daniel. Why exactly? Well, Daniel is keeping secrets of his own and she feels as if he doesn't trust her, let alone believe she's strong enough to handle her inner wolf, and just as the story develops turn-by-turn, Grace and Talbot - whom ends up telling her that he too is an Urbat like her - they soon train in secret, in hope to make Grace become the Hound of Heaven. Or . . . so it seems.

While readers may find themselves annoyed at the mistrust in Grace and Daniel's relationship, but they both had their own reasons and in the end - GOD what an ending it was to say the least - everything fell into place and I just loved every moment throughout the book. There are some awwwwww moments, there are some actions scenes that Grace herself actually kicked total butt in, and there are some scenes that make you laugh and cry . . . it was amazing! The whole world was opened of the Dark Divine series and it was so addictive with each page I turned! Demons . . . death . . . love . . . betrayal . . . let's put another WOW word into the mix shall we? WOW!

As for the ending, well you'll have to find out for yourself because it's one hell of a cliffhanger and I don't want to ruin it for you guys! It's fantastic and yet so cruel of Bree Despain too! Overall, if you loved The Dark Divine, definitely expect a whole bundle of surprises in THE LOST SAINT because it's one hell of an adventure and one that will take you to a whole new level of awesomeness! I can't wait to get my hands on the third installment of the series! If only it was NOW!

The Rating

5/5 stars