Book Trailer: The Lost Saint by Bree Despain!

The sequel to the Dark Divine, which I read and loved! I can't wait to read this next one.

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Grace Divine always tried to do the right thing. Growing up in a devout family, she was raised into a girl with a heart of gold. When she spots Daniel, her once almost-brother who lived with her family as a child, she knows he needs her help. Helping him proves difficult when Jude, Grace's brother, makes Grace promise to stay away from Daniel. Grace is not sure what happened years ago, but something changed between Daniel and Jude, and Daniel was never seen again. Until now. Falling for the boy but feeling guilty for Jude's sake, Grace tries to help fix the broken bonds between Daniel and her family. Instead, she learns what he has been hiding, and the mystery of Daniel's disappearance starts to piece together.

I bought The Dark Divine on Kindle because I had read a good review and it was only $2.39 on Amazon. The cover is also extremely pretty! I wasn't quite sure I would like it, because of the religious aspect. Being a deeply religious person, I tend to stray from religious fiction, just in case it gets weird or even blasphemous. This book was not at all either of those things, but very easy to relate with. I could identify with Grace's family and her beliefs. It was actually very refreshing to read about a girl with a real family and real values, in stark contrast with many parentless teen books. Grace is not "goody" or "holier than thou," or annoyingly nice. She is easy to like.

The book was an emotional roller coaster, and mysterious. I was dying to know what was happening! It had a ton of plot twists. I even audibly gasped a few times and shouted "No!" into the book, much to the annoyance of my friend in the bus seat with me. There was a lot of suspense, and some good action scenes too. Just when I thought I could predict who was who and what would happen, something would change and I would get shocked all over again!

Daniel, I was surprised to discover, I really liked. I'm not really a broody, stereotypical bad-boy type, and at first I pegged him as one. He isn't! He's actually very deep and nice and goodhearted. He treats Grace with respect but still shamelessly flirts with her. There was no contest, I fell for that guy!

The Dark Divine really blew me away. It was very well thought out. Some don't like Despain's style of writing, but I thought it was well-written, for the most part. I don't know how I felt about the chapters being broken up into "At school," "On the way home," "Later," etc. It didn't affect the story, which was good enough that I fell in love with the book. The Lost Saint is #2; I'm looking forward to reading more about the Divines!

4.4/5

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Published by Mira

Length: 416 pages

Yelena has been through hell in the last few years. Orphaned and taken in by a power-hungry sadist, she was the victim of cruel experiments to uncover and hidden power she may contain. When Yelena finally snaps, killing her captor, she is imprisoned for a year and expects the noose. When she is offered a position at the castle instead, she knows it would be foolish to accept, but more foolish to decline. She becomes the Commander's new food taster, learning to detect poisons and foil assassinations, an occupation that comes with a heavy load. She expects the certain death by poisoning, but does not expect the danger that seems to plague her in every aspect of her life, down to the castle servants. A startling truth surfaces, one she has been dreading to face, and she has to come to terms with her abilities as well as protect the Commander. With murder attempts following her like shadows, she is unsure how her life will end happily. She recruits new friends and an amazingly skilled trainer, Valek, to help her find peace when her world is not threatening, but beginning to collapse.

I LOVED IT!!! It's one of my favorites this year, for sure. Just when I needed an amazing heroine and addictive new world, I found this book on Kindle and read it in 2 days. I got sucked in to the trauma that plagued Yelena, and at the same time knew she was strong enough to handle anything. She is my favorite type of heroine, determined and strong, so independent it almost gets in the way. When I read about her horrific past I wanted to cry for her, but Yelena never pouted. Instead, she put on a stone-cold face and took it like a woMAN. When she is offered the job of poison-tester, she takes it and runs, and soon becomes the best poison taster, impressing everyone. It isn't long before everyone trusts her, save the goons who keep trying to murder her.

When you combine the poison-tasting, the vengeful father of the man Yelena killed, magical abilities, Yelena's back story, a plot against the castle, plus Yelena's progress through the castle ranks, you get a lot going on in the story. There was never a dull moment, and I couldn't ever find a good place to put the book down (which lead to some sleep loss, yes).

The writing was very well done! I can't exactly pinpoint the way Snyder did it, I'm no expert, but it felt very real, and I connected very easily with the story. It was fairly easy to read, but it wasn't dumbed down. It flowed and her word choice was intriguing but natural. I especially liked all of the snippy remarks Yelena threw in.

I don't want to say too much and ruin it, so I will leave it at that. Poison Study was excellent! I can't remember the last time I was sucked into a story like this one! There are two more books that I cannot wait to devour: Magic Study and Fire Study.

5/5 !!!!

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Length (hardcover): 464 pages

Lucinda Price, aka Luce, did not mean to kill Trevor. He died in a mystery arson incident, Luce standing helplessly by to witness it. No one around her believes her claims of innocency, and she is sent to reform school. Not even her loving parents are sure Luce is sane. She is followed by shadows that have haunted her for her whole life, shadows that have recently begun to develop deadly tendencies. More uncertainty arises for Luce as she starts to fit in at reform school, and meets Daniel. She knows him from somewhere, but where? The mysterious boy assures Luce she is wrong, but she is certain. Gradually, he comes to accept her, but something about him is still not right. Luce finds herself smack in the middle of a heavenly battle with earthly consequences.

This was another book that surprised me. It wasn't what I thought it would be (I've got to stop forming prejudices, apparently). The tone was not dark like the cover suggests, although the setting most definitely is. I also found myself in the middle of a love triangle, a battle between Cam and Daniel, and I wasn't ever sure who to root for. The plot was a little slow between run-ins with Daniel, which made me feel as if the plot centered entirely around him, which was a bit of a turn-off. I'm certainly one for cheesy romance, but when it's realistic and thoroughly developed. She had NO reason to like Daniel, at all, he was sending awful signals. But women are gluttons for punishments, and Luce doesn't seem to put much stock into Cam's sweet moves. Don't get me wrong, I was intrigued by Danny boy, and he was smokin' hot.

The twist was cool! If I hadn't known what the book was about prior (curse you, best friend!) I would have been much more shocked. There was suspense leading up to it, and I enjoyed the mystery. Then there was the epic action at the end, that wasn't described AT ALL to the reader. I was really looking forward to a paranormal battle scene, but Luce gets whisked away. I won't spoil it anymore, but I was quite disappointed that poor little Lucy was too delicate for the fight :( !

Character development was unusual, leaving the reader feeling unsure of whom to trust and definitely interested. I liked Arriane, I think, and Penn is AWESOME. There were a ton of kick-butt ladies to love (and hate). The romance was good, pretty decently written, and had the whole star-crossed element to sweeten the deal. Luce was a nice heroine to be rooting for, and was very strong. I liked that she didn't take no for an answer, and when she had a question, she wasn't afraid to demand answers, instead of tiptoeing around it. She wasn't too girly or too punk to be relatable, and had a pretty upbeat personality, considering her very sucky circumstances.

Writing didn't blow me away, I guess I didn't notice either way. There were a couple of lines of Luce's dialogue that I had to pretend I didn't read because I was thinking "there is NO way a teen girl would say that," but it only happened once or twice, otherwise Lauren Kate did a great job of creating Lucinda's character! An entertaining read, will definitely pick up Torment, the second book in the saga.

3.85/ 5 (a difficult one to rate)

Review: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush is the story of Nora, a sophomore who has been through a rough year. Her difficult time has served to make her slightly more mature than most of her sweet-sixteen counterparts, especially her best friend Vee. She thinks she has it all figured out until she meets Patch, a bold, dramatic boy with the annoying tendency of showing up when least expected. When Vee and Nora set out to discover more about Patch, Nora learns more than she expected-- and isn't sure how to feel. With the added pressure of the sexy Elliot moving in on her, Nora starts becoming more and more brave, maybe brave enough to believe in Patch. The closer she gets to finding the truth, the more dangerous it becomes.

I was VERY surprised at how much I liked this book! I expected it to be a so-so teenie-bopper novel from an author trying to make a break in the paranormal romance world. But it was actually a thrilling story. I liked, sorry, loved, the romantic sparks between Patch and Nora. At first, I wasn't sure if I was team Patch or Elliot. But WOW, Fitzpatrick blew my mind with Patch, and I quickly fell for the darkly funny guy. He was full of humor and innuendo, plus totally sexy with Nora. It never got too risque, which I appreciated. The plot was a little slow in places, thinking back, but I sped through it. It was creepy, exciting, and totally made my heart stop in places. It was easy to look past the somewhat-cliche characters and the too-convenient absent mother that seems to exist in most teen fiction. It was a really amazing story, and different than anything I have read, or expected from Hush, Hush. Looking forward to reading the sequel: Crescendo.

4.5/5!