A prodigal son. A dangerous love. A deadly secret . . .


First Impressions: This was another book that I found out about online. The cover was what dragged me in and the description was interesting. However, when I first started it, I didn't really know how I was going to like it. It was grabbing my attention, but I couldn't tell if I was intrigued or not. It was sort of a weird feeling.
Setting: The setting was okay. I wish I had more of a description. All we really got was that it was small. I had a hard time picturing it; only certain elements.
Characters: The characters were pretty good. I'm not crazy about them, but I thought they were pretty well developed. I liked the names of the Divine Family as well, that was clever. Sometimes, though, I was a little confused on ages on a few people, which made my mind jump all over the place. However, the main character, Grace, was a good character to follow. She wasn't too strong or too weak. There were places, though, when I thought she just reacted strangely; she was too calm in certain places and too over the top in others. It was in those places that I didn't find her believable enough, but other than that, she was good. Her brother, Jude, was probably the best developed in my opinion, but even he could have used some work. I also wish I would have fallen in love with Daniel more. I started to toward the end, but I wish it would have been more.
Writing Style:By no means is Mrs. Despain a bad writer - she's good - but I could tell she was new to writing. There were way too many "I"s and some sentences were pretty choppy. She has a lot of room to grow and I look forward to seeing her do so in future books. I felt she could have given more to certain areas. I don't think the details were as strong as they could have been. And what bothered me was that she mixed past tense with present and I was taught not to do that. So that was a little problematic. But she did have a gift for making me want to keep reading. I practically devoured the book.
Cover: I love the cover! It doesn't really relate to the book, but it's a great cover. The violet does relate in a way and it pops along with the white legs. It's one that stands out of the crowd at the store, that's for sure.
Plot: Now the plot was pretty well crafted! I wouldn't say that the description is misleading but it really didn't lead me to expect what happened. Which isn't a bad thing by any means. Mrs. Despain started the book with a twist and kept them coming. Throughout, I kept changing my mind. At one moment, I would think one character was responsible. At other moments, I would think someone else was involved. It was all over the place in a good way. There were a few places were I got just a tad bit confused, but it wasn't too big of a deal. The ending really makes me curious for the sequel, The Lost Saint.
Dislikes: This has nothing to do with the book itself, but I hated the way it was formatted. The font was bold and there are letters in some places and the font used to write those were too hard to read. I found myself trying to read it instead of trying to process what I was reading when I got to the letters.
Final Thoughts: I can't decide whether I liked this book, really liked this book, or loved this book. It's definitely worth the read and I can't wait for the sequel, so I guess I really really liked it and loved certain parts.

Ratings:

Setting:★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Characters: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Writing: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Cover: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Plot: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Recommend it? Definitely! It was a great read and a book I couldn't put down. Check it out!