Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1) 
By Wendy Higgins
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Personal Copy
Reviewed by: Jenn and Daisel T.
Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads / IndieBound

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Daisel's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads 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 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 discover 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?

Daisel:
           I absolutely love this book. I might fangirl throughout this post but with good reasons! The plot, the twists with the demons and the angels, Anna, Kaiden, the whole story. Sweet Evil really has it all. The storyline is great, the characters developed throughout the story and they are believable. The good girl and the bad boy don't change their personalities for the other. I found myself enjoying the secondary characters AND there's no love triangle! *pump fist in the air* The romance is really steamy, talk about sexual tension. I had to reach for something to fan myself with during some scenes from the book.

Anna was such an incredible female protagonist, a really wonderful character. I felt like hugging her sometimes for simply being herself. She is the sweetest and nicest girl you can ever imagine, there's nothing bad about herself. Kaiden, on the other hand, *fans self* is the complete opposite of Anna. He is thrilling, alluring, sexy and he is very, very, VERY seductive. Like this is JOB. Kaiden is the bad boy that daddy warned us about, yet we can't resist or stay away from him. He is not innocent, he uses girls and throws them away, yet he doesn't come off as an asshole.

"He was smokin' hot. As in H-O-T-T hott. I'd never understood until that moment why girls insisted on adding an extra T. This guy was extra- T worthy." - Anna

~B&S~

"What do you want from me, Kai?"
"For starters?" His voice lowered to sexy, dangerous depths. "I want to introduce myself to every freckle on your body."

The plot in this book is really interesting. When Anna meets Kaiden, she comes to a realization that her life is going to change forver. She learns about who she is and what her purpose on Earth is supposed to be. Good or Evil? What will she choose?

"The purpose of life is to find your way back to a spiritual way of thinking and living - to be able to get past the physical stuff."

Overall, this story has it all. Romance with some steamy scenes, action, some quick exchange of wits, and I experienced all sorts of emotions while reading: swoons, butterflies in my tummy, heartbreak and tears. The story is fast paced, and it's never boring or overwhelming; Sweet Evil is a highly seductive read. It's one of the best stories that I read in 20120 and I would recommend this book to anyone. 

Jenn:
          After a lot of pushing and prodding from Daisel, I finally decided to pick up Sweet Evil.  And after finishing, I went ahead and apologize to her for delaying in reading it. I won't go into a lot of details about the book since Daisel already said most of what needed to be said but I'll just explain why my rating is a little bit lower than hers.

I really like the story and the premise of Sweet Evil but I just couldn't find it in me to love it. I found the writing a little too...plain. There are some authors that just have a way with words that just makes you fall in love with their characters and the world they created. They create such a vivid and real world that you can't help but fall into the storytelling. But I just didn't feel that way about Ms. Higgins' writing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book and I'll be reading the rest of the series because I need to know what happens next. Also stopping me from rating this higher is Anna, our heroine. She is just too much a good, religious, naive girl that is sort off putting. Her naivete sort of makes me a bit exasperated because it feels a bit forced and not real.

I can't wait until Sweet Peril comes out because, let's be real, I need me some Kaiden and I need to what he's up to. He can't be left alone for too long, so I hope Anna gets some answers.