Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Title:  Sweet Evil
Author:  Wendy Higgins
Series:  The Sweet Trilogy, book #1
Publisher:  HarperTeen
Publication Date:  May 1, 2012
Source:  purchased
Purchase:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

I was a non-believer in the beginning, and so I put off reading Sweet Evil for ages...until the Sweet Evil Read-Along was announced.  No more stalling.  And you know what?  I couldn't even stay on track with the read-along.  I had the whole thing read in two days.  So much for said "read-along".  =)  Sweet Evil was soooo fun, so sexy, so the book I needed right at that particular moment.  It pulled me out of a reading rut and I've been a little less tolerant of less-than-stellar books ever since.

So, since I did mini-reviews for each week's reading, I'm just going to combine all of those here and then add some final thoughts.  Sound good?  Great, because I'm afraid if I think about this book too much right now, I might just start reading it from the beginning again.  Seriously.  I really didn't think I'd be one of those swooning, arm-flailing fans of this book, but I can admit when I'm wrong.  Sometimes.

I like that although Anna's parents aren't in the picture, she still has a strong female parental presence in her life in the form of adoptive mom Patti.  It was also a pleasure to see that despite everything Anna's just learned about herself and her family, she doesn't go the overly dramatic route and throw a tantrum.  She digs for more answers, which leads her straight back to Kai.  *sigh*  I'm okay.  I'm okay.  It's also great that she has a perfectly platonic relationship with Jay, although I do wish she had listened to him and been smart enough not to fall prey to the likes of Scott.  (That d-bag better get his comeuppance!)  But at least it paved the way for Kai to save the day.  =D 

 

I ran the full gamut of emotions with this book:  anger at Kai's douchiness, surprise at his kindess, shock that Daddy Dearest isn't the evil demon I expected him to be, frustration at Anna's continued naïveté.  The further I delve into this world, the more I worry about what's going to happen to Anna and what the future might hold for her and Kai.  It's obvious Kaidan feels something for Anna, but the question is, will he allow himself to continue feeling it, or is he going to shut her out for her own protection? 

It was great meeting Kaidan's so-called "friends" and seeing how they interacted with Anna.  I liked each of them in their own way, but I'm worried about this Kope fellow.  He seems legit, but no son of a demon can be all good, can he?  At any rate, the training with Anna's father was fun, and it was good to see that Anna's making other new friends.  Seems she's really going to need them with everything she's going through.  That Kaidan can be a real pain in the arse, can't he?  I kind of do miss those road trip moments, though...sigh.

Anna finds out soooo much about her world in such a short time, and she still doesn't know the half of it.  And then Kai finally, finally admits that there's something between them, only to push Anna so far away that things may never be the same.  I'm just glad Anna has her father to help her through all of this.  Never in a million years did I imagine he was going to be the awesome man and father figure she's always wanted/needed, even if he has to lead her a bit astray to protect her. 

So.  Basically, this book has it all:  hot romance, good friends, strong role models, road trip fun, drama, more drama, and a battle between the forces of good and evil (i.e. the worst kind of drama).  Okay, I'll admit it, Kaidan is just as hawt as I'd been led to believe.  :0)  I do wish I'd read this book sooner, especially since it's been sitting on my shelf for months, but I kind of like the fact that while some were rediscovering their love for this book during the read-along, it was all so new and shiny to me.  I need the next book in my hands...like yesterday.  =D

Rating:  1/2

If you're curious about the Sweet Evil Read-Along or any of the themes for each week's reading, check out my posts below:

Week 1:  Road Trips
Week 2:  The Pear Incident
Week 3:  Truth or Dare
Week 4:  Halloween

And here are a few extras (courtesy of the author's website) to whet your appetite until next Spring when Sweet Peril is released:

Sweet Evil Soundtrack/Playlist
Sweet Evil - Chapter 1 (1st meeting) from Kai's POV
Sweet Evil - Chapter 26 (Halloween) from Kai's POV

And here's the trailer:

Labels: angels, book trailers, demons, excerpts, favorites, harper-collins, must-read, read-along, reviews, sweet evil, wendy higgins