{Review} Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Sweet Evil
(Sweet Evil Trilogy, #1)
by Wendy Higgins

Released: May 1st 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: Paperback, 447 pages
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Source: Bought online from B&N.
Buy: Barnes and Noble | Amazon

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?

Rating: 2 stars

Where to start... Well, I'd like to say first of all, that this was disappointing. I was expecting way more out of this book from the positive reviews I've been seeing all over the net. Some of you may know that I hardly ever down a book. But this just didn't cut it for me. It had definite flaws all throughout the book that were cliche and just downright frustrating.



As for the history/plot in the book, I think it was the only thing that kept me reading, because it was a pretty cool take on angels and demons. The seven deadly sins are in demon form--also known as Dukes--except sloth and gluttony. Those two have been ranked under one form. And there's six addition sins in demon form as well; lying, murder, hatred, theft, adultery, and substance abuse. Also, humans have guardian angels, Nephilim can seem in them, but Anna just started out seeing a white puff of smoke beside the human since she hasn't trained for her "work." I did like that idea, it was something I hadn't read before.

The main heroine, Anna Whitt, is the daughter of Belial, Duke of Substance Abuse. And I didn't like her, just to put it bluntly. I don't even get her behavior, since she was raised like a southern Bella Swan that basically pants for drugs and alcohol. And she had no idea what was going on with who she really was. I have my limits with weak characters, and Anna met that limit within the first few chapters. She was way too...good. I know how that sounds, but it was just a headache to get through her nice bullshit. And there was a huge thing about her being a virgin. They treated that like it was a sin all on its own, which to me, isn't right. Then, when she got to work with her dad on her alcohol limit, it was just a cluster-fuck. Especially when she went into the bar to...work...or whatever she calls it. To me it's just being a floozy drunk.

As for Kaidan Rowe, the main hero, is a total arrogant asshole. But it's expected since his father is the Duke of Lust. So there wasn't no surprise there. He's in a band as the drummer, as that's just the icing on the cake. He's got so many fangirls, he can't even count since he's screwed them all. He's the biggest man-whore I've read about, and he didn't even try to hide it that he was since he calls it "work." I don't even know what else to say about him, other than I didn't like him one bit. He knew he was hot shit and didn't care about his reputation. I'm pretty sure his inner self was like:



For the other characters, Jay has to be my favorite out of the whole book. He's nice, cute, and he looks out for people when they apparently don't need looking out for. Meaning Anna. Since she's got the entire Nephilim world protecting her it seems. My second favorite is Kopano, son of the Duke of Wrath. Believe it or not, he was a sweetie pie. I was hoping him and Anna would share a little kiss or two. But nooooo, Anna being all hung up on Kaidan's whore-self made her go into lock down mode on her feelings for anyone. Like Bella Swan, when Kaidan left her, she didn't eat, sleep, or communicate with friends. I didn't like the twins--Marna and Ginger--or Blake, there's not really much to say about them other than Ginger was a conniving bitch and Marna was the exact opposite. Then there's Patti. I don't really feel anything for her. Because she sent her adoptive daughter on a road trip, alone, with--apparently--the hottest guy in the whole freaking universe, who also happens to be a demon. Yeah. That's an awesome way to deal with this situation, ay?

I know I've read a lot of YA books that have dealt with the use of alcohol, sex, and some drugs, but this was just full-blown drug use and alcoholism. It was making me sick even thinking about it, to be honest. It was invoking teen drinking, drugs, and sex. Big time. There was a couple of scenes where Kaidan was pushing Anna to loose her virginity. But it was to "test her limits" though. Which to me, is making me feel confused for her, seeing as he was on her one minute then pushing her away the next. There were some parts in which they almost did go all the way, but Kaidan was like "oh I don't want to take your virginity in a ratty motel room." like that's stopped you before.... But it's always "make an exception for the good girl who's got to save man-kind." And to tell the truth, I almost expected Kaidan to push her too far.



There was one part in the book where Anna and a bunch of Kaidan's friends were at an after party after one of Kaidan's shows, and they were drinking and playing truth or dare. Kaidan dared Anna to kiss Kopano, causing Miss Anna to knock Kaidan over in his chair. She was just about to leave when one of the twins was like, "Kaidan! Get over here!" for an apology.

I heard him approach through the long blades of grass, Marna and Jay must have walked away, because when I looked up, it was only the two of us. He stared down and nudged an old tree stump with his foot.
"Sorry," he said, concentrating on giving the stump another good thump.
Wow. An apology. I felt myself soften.
"I'm sorry, too, about the whole chair-flipping thing."

Am I the only one who thinks Kaidan deserved a good kick in his ass? If I were Anna, I would have kick him where the sun don't shine, and laughed about it. I hate it when this happens, where the hero does something stupid and caused the heroine to feel shitty, then he apologizes like a 6-year-old does when he pisses outside of the training toilet.

I don't know if I'll read the next books, it's highly unlikely. The book ended off in a weird cliffhanger though, and it left me like, "That's fucking it? That's the end of the book?" So yeah, I don't know.