Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Title: Sweet Evil
Author: Wendy Higgins
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: HarperTeen
Length: 447 pages
Original Publishing Date: May 1st, 2012
Series: Sweet Trilogy #1
Where I got it: The e-book library
Links: Goodreads Amazon Author's Website


Synopsis from Goodreads: 
 
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?

 
Main characters: 1.5/5

Anna had a cute premise- the sweet, innocent Southern girl with an unusual ability- but she ended up a mixture of bland and frustrating. I say frustrating because of her attraction to Kaiden. I wanted to smack her upside the head! She kept repeating that she knew Kaiden was a bad boy who would never want to date her, and yet she keeps thinking that he will! Okay, maybe realistic for some teenage girls, but again, it's that line between realism and likeability of characters and Anna crossed that line by getting on my nerves!

Kaiden had that tortured thing going for him (overused as it is recently...) but I knew I wasn't going to like him when Higgins first noted that he had a British accent! I'm sooo over the British thing. I liked that Kaiden had this internal struggle inside, but when he was "working" it just grossed me out.

Overall, Anna and Kaiden's relationship just happened way too fast and wasn't based on anything other than lust/insta-love. There wasn't any depth to their characters or their relationship.

Secondary characters: 2.5/5

There was some promise on the secondary characters front for sure. Kopano was quiet and sweet and threw an interesting wrench into the whole Anna/Kaiden thing. I like his mixture of his innate personality matched with his mental roadblocks (aka his refusal to give in to his "nature").

Marna and Ginger had some cool drama but didn't add anything interesting to the plotline, and I didn't really understand why Blake was there at all. Anna's Dad was one of the more fascinating characters and I thought his introduction and contribution to the plot was useful and helpful. 

Overall, the secondary characters were surprisingly stronger than the main characters (though not by much). To say the least, they were decidedly less annoying.

Writing style: 1/5

Here's the thing about Higgins' writing style: it was completely unmemorable. And that's about the only thing I can say, because I honestly don't remember a whole lot more. There were definitely some stereotypical parts and aspects that made me scoff in disbelief, especially the dialogue and Anna's fawning.

Plot: 2.5/5 
On the plus side, I really liked the premise of this novel. While I'm plain sick and tired of the angel & demon storyline, I liked the unique spin that Higgins put on this one. The twist on the different types of demon (nephilim) spawn was fascinating and it combines multiple things that I've always found intriguing.

The plot itself felt a huge deus ex machina: everything was happening simply to further the plot points and some of it became unbelievable. Anna's mom is okay with sending her daughter off with a demon because some random nun (the only person who knows about Anna's past) is dying? They can't just call her?

Ending: 1/5

Everyone kept talking about what a big cliffhanger it was, but I didn't really feel shocked or "on a cliff" at all. More than anything, I just felt like, "that's it?". It was underwhelming and didn't inspire a "need" to read the next installment.

Best scene: Some of the party scenes- like Project X up in here


Reminded Me Of: Hush, Hush meets Fallen... you get the point

Positives: Unique premise, some secondary characters

Negatives: Writing style, ending, Anna & Kaiden


Cover: Okay, yeah, the cover is gorgeous. But when does Anna ever wear a ballgown like that? Or have that much confidence? It just doesn't really fit the plot.


Verdict:  Add it to the roster of subpar angel/demon novels


Rating:  3.4 / 10 (2 stars)


Your Thoughts: Have you read it? What did you think? If you haven't, will you be adding it to your TBR list? Let me know!

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