Review: The Savage Grace by Bree Despain

A troubled soul. An impossible choice. A final battle.

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.

I've been in love with this series from book one, following it for years, since it first came out. I'm a little sad to see it finished, but all good things must come to an end, right?

The Savage Grace is quite a bit different from the first two books. Start off with the cover.. It's completely different from the way the woman is positioned in the picture to the font and location of the title. It's less delicate-looking and more dramatic than the first two covers, and even though there was such a fuss about it by readers, I think it suits the content pretty well.

Grace is no longer helpless and she finally learns to trust not only Daniel, but her own judgement. She comes into her own in this final novel, carrying courage for everyone who has a moment of weakness. Where I thought she was naive and sometimes annoyingly ignorant in the first two novels, she's definitely grown into an admirable character, learning from her mistakes, trusting her gut instinct, and becoming the backbone of strength that holds everyone together.

Her relationship with Daniel, as always, is sweet, although it doesn't dominate the pages ~ something I quite admire. It's become a nice, steady presence in the story, and I won't ruin it with *spoilers*, but I'll say Despain provided a LOT of closure for their relationship. Romantics will be pleased :).

I love the unique background of the Urbat/Hound of Heaven legend, and it's nice that it's not the typical werewolf curse. The complexity of the packs, their dynamic, and history create a solid, believable world where these sophisticated beasts exist. It's not all *happily ever after* because, hey, they're all cursed and because not everyone has a loved one willing to stab them in the heart, but in a way that makes it feel more real and less hokey.

As always, Despain's writing style flows and is a pleasure to read. She's very descriptive, creating scenes that easily conjure up whole pictures in the readers mind. From the sweet moments between Grace and Daniel, to the pain each of them feel as they face loss, to the rather bloody fight scenes, each image and emotion is tangible through Despain's excellent choice of words.

The characters grow, the storyline evolves, and everything is brought to a close very nicely. Grace and Daniel still have obstacles to face, but Despain leaves that to the imagination. Besides, after all they've been through, I think they can handle what lies ahead.

Great read, wonderful series!

Find The Savage Grace on Good Reads

Find Bree Despain on Twitter ~ Good Reads ~ Website

Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser is plucked from Bree Despain's The Savage Grace:

" I bit my lip and closed my hand over the stone. What if I tried to change Daniel back and only made things worse, like I had with my father? 'Why me?' "

Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~ 

Booking Through Thursday and From the Review Pile

This week's question asks:

Have you ever bought a book, started reading it and then realised you have already read it? If so, how far did you get?

This has never happened to me with a book, although I used to reread books all the time - intentionally - but I've definitely done this before with movies. I've added movies to my Netflix queue that sounded awesome, received them in the mail, only to have realization dawn on me thirty minutes in. So strange.

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

Right now, I have a few books patiently waiting for my undivided attention. I can't wait to get to them!

First is The Savage Grace by Bree Despain. I love this series, and although I need to brush up on the events of the last one (hey, it's been an entire year), I can't wait to find out what happens next!

A troubled soul. An impossible choice. A final battle.


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.

Second is one I found for an astounding $2.99 for Kindle. The Demon Trapper's Daughter has been on my TBR list for too long now and I'm excited to finally be diving into it - soon.

Demon Trapper Riley Blackthorne just needs a chance to prove herself—and that’s exactly what Lucifer is counting on…

It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night. Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving citizens from Grade One Hellspawn. Business as usual, really, for a demon-trapping teen. When a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood, she realizes that she’s caught in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell.

Happy Reading Everyong :)

~ Keely ~

Writing Playlist

An enormous part of my inspiration aside from the books I read comes from music.. I've always loved music, but I haven't become a freak about it until I recently discovered that it gets my creative juices flowing, unlike the silence I used to think I needed in order to write...

Over the past few weeks, I've been collecting a playlist of music and it's sorta become the 'soundtrack' to my WIP... The lyrics apply well to what my characters are experiencing both internally and externally...

Definitely nothing like rockin' out while you write.... :)

Happy Reading & Writing Everyone :)

~ Keely ~

Review ~ Graceling by Kristin Cashore

 Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away... a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

It's been a while since I read a book I couldn't wait to get home to read. And when I say that, I don't mean it as a quick thought of wanting. I was literally itching to stretch out and finish it, rushing through my daily routine, trying to get everything done so my easily distracted thoughts could focus solely on this book. 

The story takes place in a land of seven kingdoms, including massive fairy tale castles, princes and princesses, kings and queens, secrets and magic. Every so often, a child is born; this child grows into eyes of two different colors ~ they possess, or more accurately, are graced with  an extraordinary quality that sets them apart from the norm. In Katsa's case, she can kill any man that crosses her path, maim him with a flick of her wrist, and is used to do so by her king. Until she meets Po, who allows her to see that her strength isn't only held in her physical abilities.

Of course, the plot drives the story, and does so well. Every action the characters take is based on one certainty: words dipped in lies will kill them and those they love if they don't destroy the speaker of those words first. However, I've always believed the characters create the plot, and as a character-driven reader, I couldn't have been more satisfied.

The credibility of the characters is astounding. As you read, you can see their facial expressions, hear the tone in their voice, and experience their emotions. Katsa is everything I could want in a heroine. She's strong, determined, and fiercely independent, qualities which, in her case, could be seen as both strengths and weaknesses. She refuses to rely on anyone or anything but her own sharp senses, afraid that dependence would cause her to lose herself. Katsa's relationship with Po arouses this deep conflict within her, the desire of her heart battling with her need to belong only to herself. What makes Katsa so admirable in my eyes is that she refuses to give up on herself in order to love. Her flaw, at first, is that she believes you can't have one without the other, but she soon learns that love does not mean losing yourself ~ in fact, she discovers that it makes her whole, gives her even more strength, and reveals honorable truths about herself she was blind to and never could have imagined. 

The pace of Graceling is quick but not rushed. From the first chapter, the reader is immersed in action and mystery as the book begs for questions and leaves the reader plowing forward for answers. Nothing is ever simple. The characters face obstacles not easily overcome, whether it is from outside sources or within themselves, giving readers constant reasons to ponder.

As a reader, I was never left wanting as I turned page after page, unable to stop. 

Verdict ~ *Highly Recommend*

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~