REVIEW : Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
Sweet EvilAuthor : Wendy Higgins
Publisher : HarperTeen
Source : Bought
Pages : 453 (Paperback)
Summary from Goodreads :
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?
Review:
I need to confess that at first I decided to buy Sweet Evil because of the cover, look how pretty it is! For the story, actually I didn't expect too much, I even have prepared myself I might not like this book because from the revealed summary, the story could go wrong like some other books about Angels and Demons. But maybe it's a perk of not expect anything on the first place, because this book is surprisingly very AMAZING! I totally fall in love with the story!
The story is well-balance, not too complicated, not too paranormal, even feels a bit more contemporary, but it's still very intriguing and fascinating, thanks to Wendy Higgin's exceptional writing skill! The characters are so wonderful and charming in their own way and talking about the chemistry between them especially the romance between Anna and Kaidan, WOW! Even the 'almost' moments can be so steamy and sexy *fanning myself*. Glad to find another refreshing Angel series which is quite unique and original, evil yet sweet in the same time, the title tells it damn right! =D
Higgins took a different side of Nephilim and mixed it with seven deadly sins concept (and she even added some sins). It's very interesting and I enjoy every detail of it. They are sons and daughters between demons and humans and they have a purpose in this earth, to spread bad influences to humans in this world based on their demon-parents job. This concept was actually the one that make me a bit worried at first. I really love Anna's characters and can easily relate her to myself. I loved and respected her for being such an angel, so genuinely good, and not that sickening kind of good, innocent and sweet, willing to control herself to refuse any bad temptations. But then she meets Kaidan Rowe, a nephilim, a son of Demon of Lust who literally flips her world almost upside-down. While I read this book, I was actually waiting for the moment when Anna would disappoint me, like turned to be a new bad girl since she was mandated to be one, lost all the goodness in her in the name of love to Kaidan. Well, I can't actually blame her though because who won't be in love to a hot, perfect bad boy like him??? Instead, every page made me so excited, I didn't find any single disappointing moment. I even grew to love Anna and Kaidan more on each page! Thanks God! Anna is still the good Anna although she grows stronger and more determined than before and Kaidan totally stole my heart. I found myself rooting for the forbidden love between Anna and Kaidan, I sympathized him so much and felt bad for everything that happened on him and other fellow nephilims.
The support characters are also very wonderful. I really liked Patty and Anna's demon father. He's very cool! I also especially enjoyed fun moments we met other nephilims like Kopano, Blake, Marna and Ginger.
I used to be a bit worry about this, but in reality thankfully I wasn't. One thing you should know, Higgins subtly included some religious (Christianity) aspects in this book. So obvious but yet not too overwhelming so it can be enjoyed by all people. And what made me so grateful is that she did it with a lot of respect. I didn't find it offending at all and the Christian side of me still can enjoy it as a part of fiction's flavoring. Thank you so much, Wendy Higgins! =D
Right now I'm impatiently waiting for my copy of the sequel, Sweet Peril. The ending was very heartbreaking and my heart bled for Kaidan actually, yeah he successfully makes me so cheesy *sobs*. I really can't wait to know what would happen with Anna, Kaidan and the other Nephilims on the next book! =D
Of course I have to highly recommend it to everyone, though considering some steamy scenes in this book (and Kaidan is son of Demon of Lust, you can guess what would you find then) maybe this book is more suitable for older young adults. However, this book is well worth to be read so don't miss this awesome debut series! Oh, and maybe you want to read two special chapters from Kaidan's POV that you can find on here (chapter 1) and here (chapter 26). Trust me they are so swoooooooooon-worthy! ;D
Happy reading! =)
