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

Book Review: Fallen in Love

Fallen in Love (Fallen #3.5)
by Lauren Kate
Hardcover, 201 pages
Published January 24th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: NetGalley

Summary: 

Unexpected. Unrequited. Forbidden. Eternal. Everyone has their own love story.


And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories combine over the course of a romantic Valentine's Day in Medieval England. Miles and Shelby find love where they least expect it. Roland learns a painful lesson about finding-and losing love. Arianne pays the price for a love so fierce it burns. And for the first -and last- time, Daniel and Luce will spend a night together like none other.


Lauren Kate's FALLEN IN LOVE is filled with love stories . . . the ones everyone has been waiting for.


True love never says goodbye . . .

Review:

Fallen in Love is a collection of stories that happened on a Valentine’s Day. It includes the Valentine of Shelby and Miles, Roland, Arianne, and Luce and Daniel. To be honest, I had little hopes for this book. I was never that into Luce and Daniel and the other characters. I just liked to read the books because of the story itself. Fallen in Love didn’t exactly start after Passion. Miles and Shelby’s did. For Arianne, it happened during the medieval time. And for the others, it transpired during the travel.

The first short story was of Miles and Shelby’s. It started out quite dull, as expected, since they are my least liked characters in the books. After they separated from Daniel in Passion, Miles and Shelby stepped into an Announcer that was supposed to lead them back home, but instead, it led them to another place in the medieval era. I never pegged them as a couple so it surprised me how things between them developed. I thought it was a little too fast, but it also surprised me how I actually ended up liking their story.

The second story is Roland’s. At first, I thought all the stories would be fluffy, but his is bittersweet. But still, among the four short stories, his is my favorite. The third story is Arianne’s. I don’t read romance between two female, but strange enough, I also ended up liking her story. Like Roland’s, her story is sad and more tragic. She fell in love with a demon who wanted her to join Hell so they wouldn’t have to hide their relationship. But Arianne remained loyal to Heaven, and finally chose to follow Daniel.

The last is Luce and Daniel’s. Although each character has their own Valentine story, all of them happened on a single Valentine’s Day. This is the only Valentine’s that Daniel and Luce shared and it happened because Shelby, Miles, Roland and Arianne helped to make it happen. All in all, Fallen in Love, despite my initial impression of it, turned out to be a quite a good read.

Rating: 3.5 stars!

Disclosure: This e-galley was received from the publisher (Random House Children's Book via NetGalley) for free in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Angelfall

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)
by Susan Ee
Kindle Edition, 255 pages
Published May 21st 2011 by Feral Dream

Summary:

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Review:

Angelfall is not your typical post-apocalyptic angel YA fantasy book. Heck, I'm not even sure if there are other post-apocalyptic books that features angels as the cause of the devastation. Sure, there are some angel books where the angels want to annihilate the existence of humanity, but in no book does these angels succeed.

In Angelfall, the readers are transported into a post-apocalyptic world defaced by angels. Penryn, along with her wheelchair-bound younger sister and mentally unstable mother (mentally unstable as in someone-who-talks-to-the-devil-and-puts-lipstick-and-draws-six-pointed-stars-to-corpses-just-because type of mentally unstable) strive to survive the dismantled world. However, an encounter with a fight between an angel and five others separated their family. Her younger sister was abducted by the angels while her mother escaped. One of the angels lay unconscious in the aftermath, stripped off of wings. And in the hopes of finding her sister, Penryn decided to save him.

It's been so long since I read a book that has rendered me absolutely speechless. Angelfall's awesomeness was entirely unexpected, something that made it all the more surprising. Angelfall also has no boring page. The good scenes just keep coming and coming. It is action-packed, and the heroine is a badass. Both Penryn and Raffe are very likable characters. Penryn's mom is a serious case of nut, but I find her amusingly creepy. Other than her, there are also some more gruesome vivid scenes that may not be appropriate for the weak-hearted.

Also, original plot. And no insta-love! I like that Raffe and Peryn's relationship developed gradually. Although there's no clear signs of romance, the hints are everywhere. Overall, Angelfall is a captivating read that is capable of transporting you right into its world and keep you there long after you finish reading it.

Rating: 5/5 stars!!!!!

READ THE FIRST 5 CHAPTERS HERE