Young Adult Book Reading Challenges discussion

What do you think of his story? What it was like for his family and his family secret?

What do you think of Daniel and Jude's relationship or what happened to it?
What do you think of Daniel's secret?

Let's discuss all things Daniel.

I love me some Daniel! I'm one of those women who likes a fixer-upper and he fits the bill. I, like Grace, just wanted to make everything better for him.
I've known children from abusive homes and really felt for Daniel and his messed up childhood.

As far as his and Jude's relationship-I'm not sure what to think. Jude didn't seem like the type of person to automatically discount someone because of a past offense. I would've thought he'd have given Daniel another chance. But then again, considering what went down before Daniel disappeared, Jude had every right to hate him.

His parents deserve each other. I can't believe his mom came and got him, then got back with his dad and called Social Services like it was all Daniels fault. She should have left him with the Divine's. But that would have been thinking of Daniel's needs.

I am amazed by Daniel's strength. He was lucky to have his surrogate family. I think he would have fallen a long time ago. I don't see him and Jude patching things up.

Jude, I think, is going to be the enemy for the series. I don't see him being able to accept himself now, or forgive Daniel. Everything that happens to Jude will be somebody else's fault. He is good, he can never be at fault. He does everything for everyone. The Good Son.

Grace's family is going to fall apart I think. Daniel will be helping Grace this time.

Deborah wrote: "Jude, I think, is going to be the enemy for the series. "

It's interesting how our perceptions of the the characters change as the book progresses. Jude is the 'good' guy in every sense of the word - thoughtful, unselfish, willing to put himself out to help others.

Daniel is percieved as being 'bad' because he disappeared under mysterious circumstances after apparently leaving Jude to bleed to death.

At the end, Daniel has been redeemed and Jude is now the 'bad' guy but really only in so far as Grace and Daniel are concerned.

I never liked Jude. Remember when he came from serving Thanksgiving dinner at the shelter? He came back looking proud that he brought back so many helpers. Not worried about his brother missing. (He turned out to have done it but unconsciously)

He had his friend (Pete?) go out with Grace and stage a rescue of her, have him scare her. I don't know if he was fully part of that plan.

He LOOKS for praise. He works people for his own benefit. To fit his world view, other peoples beliefs/views don't matter to him.

Sorry, this post is supposed to be for Daniel and I'm focusing of Jude.

I love Daniel! He was everything I look for in a bad-boy. He was dark, mysterious, teasing, but above all keeper of a good heart. I felt bad for him when I heard his story. I loved his secret; it's always the best part in the book. To me he was a very believable character.

Loved Daniel! Bad Boys with a mushy center always get me !

I really took a liking to Daniel as well. I was happy to see how he turned out! I would check the next book out just to see what happens to him and Grace.
I had a strong feeling about his secret early on but I found the religious twist to be refreshing.

mmmm... i'm lovin me some Daniel!

I liked Daniel but I wasn't head over heels for him. In some way he reminded me of Patch from Hush Hush, probably only because of the bad-boy-in-paranormal-romance-scheme.
He didn't really seem all that much of a bad boy to me. It was more of an image he had. I found the explanation for his drug abuse in the ending a bit ridiculous. I mean, it made sense but it sounded so preachy goody-good.

I think it's interesting too that at the beginning of the book I thought Jude was the good guy and Daniel the bad guy. But I guess since it's the wolf inside him, is Jude really bad? Daniel was my favorite character in the book. And I did enjoy him being an artist and picturing the art in my mind.

I don't think Jude is truly bad. I found him very interesting at first as well but toward the end he lost some of his credibility and I didn't want to know that much more about him than in the beginning.

I really liked Daniel and his story; his upbringing, how his relationship with his parents left him scarred.

Jude really annoyed me, perfect people usually do haha, so I was kind of hoping there would be something up with him. I have to admit that during the fight at the end I felt so bad for him and hoped that Daniel and Grace could make him see sense before it was too late.

I felt that the author did well with the suspense leading up to us finding out his secret. I tried to look for the hints (cold skin=vampire/zombie, very hot skin=werewolf, normal skin=angel?) that would help me know what he was but maybe I think it was an off day for me because I didn't realise he was a shape-shifter till he said it haha.

I have to say Daniel didn't really woo me as the lead guy. I didn't get that mushy feeling I do when I have a crush on a character in a book... he was just okay.

Wow, I thought the hints were painfully obvious!
SPOILERS:
The wolf Grace saw when she looked outside her window, the howls in the forest when her little brother disappeared, the homework her sister had to do etc. Every third line practially screamed werewolves! ;)

Hey! I was having an off day lol. You're totally right, it's all coming back to me now, duh!

No problem :)

I wish I could comment on if I would've known if the books was about werewolves or not. If I don't have a discussion leader for a book, and I haven't read it yet, then I have to google questions about it and of course I ran across what the book was about.

Argh, damn, that sucks, Angie. Thanks for going through such trouble for us!