Review: Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1) by Wendy Higgins

*WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SOME SERIOUS FANGIRLING OVER A SERIOUSLY HOT GUY NAMED KAIDAN ROWE*

 

Title: Sweet Evil

Author: Wendy Higgins

My rating: 4.7 hearts

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Release date: May 1st, 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary: 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 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? (summary from Goodreads)

My thoughts: Too many feels! This is not okay! I can’t even! Oh my God, Kaidan Rowe is so perfect, I love him!

   Okay, now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s start with the actual review. My first thought when I read the synopsis on Goodreads: Give me it! Give me it! Give me it! I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages, so imagine my bliss when I finally got my hands on a copy. Tip: Lots and lots of screaming and fangirling.

   I’m not even sure how to start telling you how much I loved this book, so I’ll start with something familiar. Anna Whitt. Stereotypical good girl. Good grades. No trouble with boys. Virgin. You know the type. Usually, I’m not that excited about “good girls”. They’re usually pretty boring to read about, way too innocent for their own good. When I found out that Anna was not only a good girl, but also religious, I was less than thrilled. But then I started to get to know Anna, and it became obvious she wasn’t that perfect. Oh no, she has temptations, too, although she fights them with everything she’s got. Throughout the book, you get to follow her inner battle, trying  to decide whether to listen to the logical part of herself, or the other, very tempting, one.

   Anna feels a pull towards drugs and alcohol. She doesn’t take drugs or drink, but it’s the perfect way to make the reader a little more comfortable reading about her. No one is perfect, and it’s boring to read about a perfect character. It’s not believable.

   So, you find out Anna’s father is the Duke of Substance abuse and a guardian angel. Interesting combination, there. Demon and angel. That’s why she feels that pull towards drugs and alcohol.

   Anna’s mother died in childbirth, and she’s never met her father. She was adopted by Patti Whitt. Patti is super overprotective, and her reasons become pretty obvious pretty soon. It’s obvious from the start that Patti is like a mother to Anna, and that Anna is like a daughter to Patti. Their relationship is really sweet. The love between them is obvious, and I loved that. So often in YA literature, the main character has terrible relationships with their parents, which isn’t wrong, but when it’s in all the books, it gets boring after a while, so it was really great reading about Anna and Patti’s relationship.

   Alright, enough about Anna. Next, we have Kaidan Rowe. I’m not even going to get started on him. He’s the son of the Duke of Lust, so he’s a bad boy. His “work-description” is seducing and sleeping with girls.

   But he’s different with Anna. She gets short glimpses of the real Kaidan, a sometimes even sweet Kaidan, whom he’s hidden far down beneath layers of bad boy attitude, and I think that mix between bad boy and sweet is what made me fall for him so quickly. That, and he’s drop-dead gorgeous.

   The writing is great. It’s captivating and interesting, and the undeniable chemistry and attraction between Anna and Kaidan is believable and intense. I was so caught up in it, I could barely put it down and return to reality.

   For once, I made it my mission to take as long time as possible to read this, because I wanted it to last as long as possible.

   The only thing that brings my rating down a little is the love triangle that is introduced later in the book. I didn’t think it would be one, and I was disappointed. I don’t think it’s actually important for the plot, it’s just an annoying detail. I’m so tired of all these stupid, boring, unoriginal love-triangles, and I was so happy that this wasn’t one. But apparently not.

   I’m so emotional after that ending I’m having a hard time remembering what I’m supposed to write about.

   The characters were great, and I got really invested. The plot was good and coherent. I loved it.

   If you’re looking for a light read, this is not the book for you, because, being about demons and angels, it might make you consider a few questions about right and wrong, religion, and other deep subjects.