Fantasy Friday: The Lost Saint

The Lost Saint, by Bree Despain

Publisher: EgmontUSA
Pages: 461
Reading Level: 12 and up
Enjoyment Level: Very High

The non-stop sequel to The Dark Divine delivers an even hotter romance and more thrilling action than Bree Despain's first novel. Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She gave her soul to the wolf to save him and lost her beloved mother. When Grace receives a haunting phone call from Jude, she knows what she must 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 be a hero. But as the two grow closer, the wolf grows in Grace, and her relationship with Daniel begins to crumble. Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace becomes prideful in her new abilities - not realizing that an old enemy has returned and deadly trap is about to be sprung.

I started reading this book with a nervous twitch in my stomach. I knew something bad or difficult was going to happen and I didn't know if I could handle it. I had fallen in love with these people through the first book, but with my nervous twitch in place I started reading. Since this is the second book, I knew the main characters really well. Grace is a good, strong female lead even while making mistakes; maybe even because of her mistakes. Her feelings and frustrations were readily accessible and believable. I was right there with her even through the times I wanted to choke her and scream at her when she made bad decisions! Luckily, the screaming was only in my head.

Daniel was just as compelling and frustrating. You know what he feels for Grace and all that he would do for her. Knowing all that, I was screaming at him a lot, too. He was also really believable and solid.

Both of them had to deal with the decisions made at the end of the first book, and I think that they did it very realistically. Ms. Despain made it easy to be there with Grace as she dealt with her depressive mother and absent father. Although some of her choices were not the best, I believe she was doing her best.

The other characters, new and old, did nothing but help the story along at a frustrating (in a good way), but workable pace. I never thought to myself "oh my gosh this makes no sense", or "could we move along here?”

The wayward brother Jude - the main driving force for Grace is an enigma. Is he more wolf? more human? Ms. Despain does a really good job of keeping you guessing the whole time. There was no point in the book where I thought I had it figured out before Grace did.

New and old characters work together to bring frustration, chaos, hope, love, and a completely crazy ending to the readers!

Thank you Ms. Despain. I was there, nervous, the entire time. If you loved the first book I have a feeling you will agree with me. I loved this one and can't wait for the next one.

:Thyra:

We have two ARC copies of The Lost Saint to giveaway, and each one has a little bottle of blue nail polish specially designed for The Lost Saint.

To enter:

1) be a blog follower
2) leave a comment on this blog entry
3) tweet, FB, or blog about this contest (include links in your blog comment)

The deadline to enter is February 11, 2011. Winners will be chosen and announced the following Wednesday. Good luck!