Book Review: Sweet Evil

Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1)
by Wendy Higgins
Paperback, 454 pages
Published May 1st 2012 by HarperTeen
Source: Bought
Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

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 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:

When I first met Anna Whitt, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like her that much. She didn’t seem like an exciting character to me. She was an extreme Ms. Goody Two Shoes, she always told the truth, she cried so easily, she didn’t have vices and she wasn’t even funny. In short, she was boring. In most cases, if a character already bores me not more than 30 pages into the book, I would think twice before continuing to read it. However, in Sweet Evil’s case, my extreme excitement for the book overshadowed my indifference for Anna. Besides, I thought Kaidan Rowe was especially hot.

There’s no argument that Kaidan is a certified YA hottie. Brown hair, blue eyes, cocky attitude, an awesome drummer and oh, British accent, anyone? *Swoon* Too bad that as the story progressed, he became less and less enticing to me. Not that I don't love him as a character anymore (the guy is too sexy to ignore!) but my dislike for Anna dragged him down too.

I was never a fan of insta-romance so I was disappointed to find one in Sweet Evil. This insta-romance also involves a forbidden love, which is something I generally like in my YA books but weirdly enough, something I didn't appreciate in this book. Especially when the relationship of Anna and Kaidan confused me so much. One moment they're so into each other and the next, the other is all we can't be together blah blah. I also didn't like how Anna acted when Kaidan told her off. And though her reaction was quite understandable given that it was her first love, I couldn't help but be irked by it. My respect for her as a girl went couple of notches down then and there. I most especially didn't like how much emphasis was given to Anna's virginity. At first it was funny but then I just got tired of it. Practically every character in this book knows about her virginity. Even the evil bosses are calling her out for it. How weird is that?

Speaking of weird, Sweet Evil has a rather unique but weird concept. Nephs here are taught not to do good things contrary to others where kids are taught not to do bad things. However, I think Higgins's concept for this book is questionable. Wouldn't it be more pleasing to the evil bosses if the Nephs are not following the rules? Because violating the rules is evil, right? (That or maybe Philosoraptor is rubbing off on me.)

But by all means, I genuinely liked reading this book. In terms of plot, Sweet Evil is well-paced. The side characters are likable especially Jay and the other Nephs. Despite Anna's tendency to be annoying and confusing, I couldn't help turning the pages one after the other. I guess in spite of its flaws, Sweet Evil still has that grasping quality to it that makes it hard to put down. And did I mention that Kaidan Rowe is hot? It's just sad that I don't share the same hype that majority of the YA blogging community has for this book.

Rating: 3/5 stars

13 comments:

  1. Thanks for the honest review. I'm bumping this book down my TBR. I'm getting fed up with romances, especially when it's all perfect and insta-love. I also want my main character to have a bit of fire. I'm glad the plot is good though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She had her somewhat fierce moments toward the end of the book but meh, I still couldn't get myself to like her!

      Delete
  2. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who didn't LOVE this one. Although I thought quite a bit less of it than you did. There were so many things that really pissed me off that I just couldn't ignore. I despised Anna, and Kaidan was barely better. Sure, he was hot, but he was such a jackass that even being drop dead sexy didn't make up for it. My angry rant review

    Jessi @ Auntie Spinelli Reads

    ReplyDelete
  3. Annoying heroine? Insta-romance?... Um, I think I should reconsider reading this book. Usually, the protag makes or breaks a novel for me. But I'm glad you generally liked the book. Nothing worse than a book that falls far too short.

    Thank you for your honest review, Chel :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Howdy! I'm at work browsing your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the great work!
    Also see my page - alice in wonderland fancy dress childrens costumes

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chel, after everyone started raving about this one, I got my hands on a copy but for some reason didn't want to start reading it. It's a good thing I did because I have a feeling my thoughts might mirror yours more than others. I guess I'll continue to hold off on reading it I'm not a fan of on/off relationships. Oh, and everyone knowing about Anna's virginity is just too weird!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've been hearing a LOT of mixed reviews for this books. I still don't know what to think about it, TBH. Your review makes it sound great and interesting, but once I see the word insta-love. . . *shakes head*

    Thanks for the honest review, Chel. :)

    P.S. Love your blog! It's extremely cute!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the helpful review! So far, I've read mainly gushing reviews for this book so it's nice to hear a different take. Even though Anna was a boring main character, I'm glad you can still say you enjoyed this book. It's a shame about the insta-love though. Great review! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I pretty much agree with this review! Anna never really grew on me even though she did get better as the book went along. IDK, Kaidan never really appealed to me either? I've seen SUCH fantastic reviews of this that makes me want to re-read it to see if I was missing something, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chel, I absolutely agree about Anna! She's the reason I gave this book four stars instead of five, although I was really considering giving it a three like you. I love sweet characters, but there was just something about her that was TOO good, you know? x) I couldn't get over that! And I couldn't get over how everyone knew about her virginity and thought it was such a big deal either LOL -- I mean, most of the young adults who read this will be virgins. What does that say about them?? :P

    Thanks so much for the awesome honest review, Chel! You worded things that I didn't know how to say PERFECTLY and helpfully and totally awesomely! :) <3

    ReplyDelete
  10. I really agree with you, Chel! I read Sweet Evil quite recently too and didn't quite liked Anna although I enjoyed the book overall! I was still okay with the insta-romance but I was not able to connect with Anna. The concept of angels in this book is quite unique! I did love Kaidan (I could never ignore his British accent and his amazing-ness!) but his relationship with Anna was quite frustrating to me.

    Anyway, awesome review, Chel! ♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm actually reading this one right now and from what I've read so far, I completely agree with everything you've said! Yes, Kaiden Rowe is hot but Anna's naivety and how ridiculously good she was made her seem rather boring. Plus, you're so right about the insta-love :/ But KAIDEN'S BRITISH ACCENT *swoons* Oh my goodness, I'm in love with what I've read of him <3 I love your philosophy over the whole evil-angels-should-be-good-to-rebel as well, I actually never thought about it like that haha! Anyway, sucks that this didn't work for you completely, but I'm glad that you still somewhat enjoyed it! Thanks for the honest and totally fabulous review! x)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This book has been around in the book community, uhmm pretty much EVERYWHERE!? I haven't gotten the chance to read it myself yet, I hope to soon though, but I have read quiet a few reviews on it! Many were good, but a few were just like yours, saying it's nicely paced, and few characters are awesome. But the two main characters weren't exactly their favorites.

    Fantastic review!

    Lisa
    @turningpages94.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Internet high-five for every comment!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
 

Blog Template by BloggerCandy.com