The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

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. Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot, a newcomer to town. But as the two grow closer, Grace's 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. Bree Despain delivers sizzling romance and thrilling action in the heart-pounding sequel to the The Dark Divine.

I reviewed The Dark Divine, the first book in this series, on this blog a couple of years ago. I loved it. I thought it was an fun and exciting read and I couldn't wait for the next installment to be released. However, with all the YA series that are currently on shelves right now, not to mention debut authors, it took me a while to get around to reading The Lost Saint. The first question I asked myself after finishing it last night was "why on earth did I wait so long?" It was fantastic! Maybe not quite as thrilling as the first one but I think it was pretty close.

With the characters and setting being well developed in the first book, it doesn't take long to jump right into the plot of book two. Things start moving along pretty quickly and I loved being back with Grace and Daniel and finding out what had been going on in their world since I last left them. I really liked the turn this novel took in terms of the storyline. The mystery surrounding Jude and what happened to him was well done and I really like the way the supernatural aspect of the story blended so well with the more realistic, natural way Grace's mother was dealing with things at home. I think Despain does a wonderful job in this series at creating such real characters that I found easy to relate to, even with all of the supernatural mythology surrounding them.

I really enjoyed the tension between Grace and Daniel in the story. It was frustrating to read, but in the best way. I love me some good tension between a couple in a novel. It's one of my favorite aspects of a story...seeing how each side of the pair deals with things that are happening and how the way they deal with things effects what happens next. I found myself angry with both Grace and Daniel at different points...but it was great, because I was really engaged in the story.

The end of the book threw a few surprises my way and left me wanting more. I thought I had everything figured out several times but I was never quite right. I can't wait until the next book, The Savage Grace, is released in March!