thebookdisciple
Written on Nov 26, 2014
Fans of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series will be drawn to Wendy Higgins's sexy, thrilling Sweet Evil series. 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?
- ISBN10 0062085611
- ISBN13 9780062085610
- Publish Date 18 May 2012 (first published 1 May 2012)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
- Imprint HarperTeen
- Format Paperback
- Pages 464
- Language English
Reviews
Amber
Written on Apr 27, 2013
I wasn't a fan of Anna at all. One minute she's being all goody two shoes, and the next she's a rebel. Her characterisation was all over the place in this book. I think if she had developed into a rebel more slowly it would have been interesting, instead the back and forth was annoying. Especially as, ultimately, she's bland and boring and dull... I'm running out of words. She's a total Mary Sue/Bella Swan.
Full review on Books of Amber
zarahoffman
Written on Jan 19, 2013
Read full review at http://zarahoffman.com/blog/book-review-sweet-evil-by-wendy-higgins
Kelly
Written on Oct 12, 2012
boghunden
Written on Sep 12, 2012
When I read the first couple of pages, all I could think of was [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258] - book that I've tried to read twice without getting through. This book, however, I continued to read, and the middle part of the book was actually quite good. The ending was rather flat, so I guess this book just didn't work for me.
The characters were very predictable to me, I felt like I knew how they would act in any given situation. I was looking forward to fall in love with a new character, Kaidan, but that never happened. Even though he was predictable, I also felt like I never got to know him. Such a shame!
I don't think I'll be continuing this series.
notajammiedodger
Written on Aug 23, 2012
Ashley
Written on Aug 5, 2012
Let me just say that it's a good thing I was home alone while reading this book. Every single page I would burst out with insanely loud laughter or girly shrieks or "OH MY GOD!" I imagine my family members would have been annoyed with my psychotic outbursts!
Sweet Evil is an insane emotional ride through the paranormal. This book is really about good vs. evil, giving into temptations, and romance.. OH MY GOD THE ROMANCE! This is definitely a book that will make you miss your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, or at least make you desperate to like.. kiss someone.
I adored the romance in Sweet Evil because it was so full of contrast. Although Anna is half demon and half angel, she's definitely dominantly angel. She's sweet, innocent, and pure, which made her a heavy contrast to Kaidan — the dark, mysterious, bad boy demon who is all about the one night stands and partying. Although it may seem like the typical good girl and bad boy relationship, I felt like there was so much more here. Maybe it was the intense story behind their relationship, or the obstacles they faced, or just the deliciously swoony scenes where things got hot and heavy. I don't know, but I adored it! I was screaming into my book and constantly texting my boyfriend to tell him that I missed him desperately. This book did crazy things to my emotions!
One thing I didn't like was the love triangle that developed. It felt very awkward to me. I feel like the love triangle didn't play a big enough role in the story to actually be important or have a significant place in the book. It just seemed very unnecessary to me. That, and the fact that I'm not a fan of Kopano. He was supposed to be the nice guy to contrast with the bad boy Kaidan, but he seemed kind of emotionless to me. He was a little too serene or something.
But that's really my only issue with the book. Other than that, I absolutely adored every inch of Sweet Evil! My heart was constantly racing, my fingers were whipping through the pages, and I was so glued to the book that I even took it in the bath with me — which is something I NEVER do! The story in Sweet Evil was also fascinating to me. I'm not a religious person, but Sweet Evil had a lot of religious plot elements and messages and I found it fascinating! I loved how Wendy Higgins came up with all these eloquent ways of explaining things in the world, like the voices inside our heads that put us down or praise us. There were so many intense scenes filled with love, wonder, confusion, and other crazy emotions. Anna's mom Patti reminded me of my own mom (who's name is Patty!), and I totally wanted a best friend like Veronica!
If you like paranormal and/or romance, this is one fierce read that will have you hooked until the very end. And then you'll cry and start begging for the yet-to-be-determined sequel because it's sooo heart-wrenching and surely the world of Sweet Evil can't end until everything has been set right and made happy!!!
Kelsenator
Written on Jul 24, 2012
Anna has had heightened senses since she was younger, better sight and hearing, as well as healing and the ability to see and feel others’ emotions. She wasn’t sure exactly how she was different until she met Kaidan at one of his band’s performances, and he hints at something. She later finds out that they are Nephilim, and he is part demon. She however has some angel of light in her as well as the demon, which is one of a kind.
Being raised by her adoptive mother, she decides that she needs to find some more answers. The convent where she was born is a good place to start, but she also needs to talk to her demon father who is in prison. Kaidan volunteers to take her, so on they go on a road trip. The difficult part of the trip is that not only does she find Kaidan really attractive but also annoying at times, but his demonic tendency or gift is lust. Anna has been good resisting her own demonic side so far, but you’ll have to read and see if she gives in or not!
All of the higher demons (Duke’s) have something they spread around and govern like a job, like Wrath or Pride for instance. There was an index of these dukes and their kids in the back of the book, which was really helpful as I was reading too! Not only are these Dukes extremely powerful, but they see the Neph as only tools, with one exception who loves their child. With all of Anna’s virtues, she needs to be careful. The Duke of Lust, , can already tell something is different. She needs to stay careful and lay low, but when she starts getting involved with all the Neph, that keeps getting harder especially when her emotions change.
I was really surprised, I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. It was a good read, not so much focused on just the angel side, but more on her demonic side too which was great. I like how the author suggested that it’s easy to give into darkness, but it’s harder to stay true to yourself, and then showed us a character who was strong enough to show this.
I definitely recommend this for young adult fans of paranormal who like angels and demon stories. I can’t wait to see what the next book is like!
Raven
Written on Jun 26, 2012
This book was really hard for me to rate. On the one hand I wanted to give it a better score because despite all its faults (and oh boy were there a lot of them) I still enjoyed the story. It was a nice read. At the same time I wanted to give it a much lower score because the faults it has are so bad and when I finished reading it I wanted to just bash my head against a wall.
The plot is incredibly small and mild. The first half of the book is all about the romance and sexual frustrations. The second half of the book gets better when the romance starts to fizzle and the actual plot starts taking place, but it was too little too late by then. The plot itself was dull and predictable. The "climax" happened way way way too late in the book and was dull and unfulfilling. This book was very obviously meant to introduce the characters and story to prepare for the rest of the series. While this type of thing can be a good thing when done properly (see [b:Grasping at Eternity|13505141|Grasping at Eternity (The Kindrily Series, #1)|Karen Amanda Hooper|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337649323s/13505141.jpg|19055352] for a great example) when done badly all it does is frustrate the reader. Sweet Evil is an example of it being done badly. You are left with the book feeling like it was a complete waste of space. You wonder why most of the "romance" and "action" couldnt be wrapped up in the first act and the next part of the series begun immediently.
The characters are dull and flat. The side characters are hardly interesting and worth acknowledging. Anna is a complete Mary Sue. She is too perfect and her "flaws" just make her worse. She cries too often, she is a complete goodie-two-shoes and her "sins" are minor. The author tries to give her a few good flaws and ends up making her rediculous and annoying. She was all over the map with her emotions, she would say one thing and then do another. She didnt act like a real person, much less an overly sheltered teenager starting to break out of her shell of naivity and into the real world.
Kaiden was a hot and cold mess. He was bad and embraced his bad but as soon as he met her he was over the bad and just handling it. Then she obviously started to change him because all bad boys have a heart of gold and can be changed. But change is bad so he pushes her away and only makes her love him more. He tells her he cant see her and then when she screams he shows up at her house to protect her? Make up your mind buddy. The mixed signals just ruined his character even more. So he went from a droll boring jackass to a Mary Sue of his own.. what are boy Mary Sues even called? I shall call him Jim Bob. Jim Bob and Mary Sue, perfect couple. Then the author tries to lean her towards Kope, one of the side characters, in attempts to start a triangle because obviously Kaiden needs to show how much he "really cares" by getting jealous of the two of them spending any time together at all. Then because Miss Mary Sue is sooo perfect, obviously Kope has to fall for her and she doesnt like him like that which breaks his heart. It reminded me of Cal and Sophie in the [b:Hex Hall|5287473|Hex Hall (Hex Hall, #1)|Rachel Hawkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1259686913s/5287473.jpg|5354884] books. Cal was this super sweet guy that Sophie should obviously love instead. Kope was the better choice here but Anna wanted Kaiden and only Kaiden. I know the heart cant choose who it loves, but seriously, she was attracted to Kope enough that she couldve given him a chance.
Patti, Anna'a adopted mom.. wow.. this woman. She was in a word, overprotective. No, overprotective isnt strong enough. She was so sheltering that she made normal overprotective parents look loose and leinient. She had the common sense of a fish. She allowed her 16year old daughter to go on a cross country road trip, alone, with a 17year old hormone crazed teenage boy, that oh yeah, they had both just met shortly beforehand. Sure she didnt know he was the demonspawn of lust at the time, but she still considered letting it all happen at all. He couldve been a normal boy and this still wouldve been bad mom award material.
Too many of the plot points happened quite conveniently. The Nun dies without telling Anna what she needed to know to add the drama surrounding the lack of explaination about the sword hilt. Her father needed out of prison and just happened to have a parole hearing the following week. Kaiden hadnt been in four or five pages so he invited Anna's best friend to a party. Patti needs out of the picture for a few days so she magically has to work.
The book was so bad and yet entertaining at the same time. It was a train wreck if Ive ever seen one and as unsettled as it left me feeling I just cant look away so I await the next novel in the series and pray that the story gets better upon its release.
kimbacaffeinate
Written on May 13, 2012
The tale begins with fifteen year old Anna Whitt. She is a good girl who struggles with a sixth sense that allows her to see the emotions of other people. Anna is unusual; she never gets sick, heals rapidly and remembers everything about her life from the time she spent in her mother’s womb. Anna knows she is different, but as her sixteenth birthday approaches she meets the dark and mysterious Kaidan Rowe. He is a drummer in a band and drop dead gorgeous. He is like her, only he knows what he is and what he was raised to do. She is immediately drawn to him despite his bad boy reputation. As the tale unfolds Kaidan and her adoptive mother Patti help her understand who she is. Now Anna must decide what she will do about it. Anna and Kaidan drive cross country so she can meet her father, who is currently serving time in jail. I loved the journey and getting to know the two of them. When Anna’s father meets her and learns that Kaidan’s Dad is aware of her existence, he immediately makes plans to be released. Anna also goes to visit the convent where she was born and is given a gift by the nun who was there at her birth. From here the tale becomes action-packed as we learn more about this world.
The characters were all unique in this novel and I immediately felt connections with them. Anna is all goodness and sweet, and watching her step out of her comfort zone was interesting. Kaidan oozes smexy and is definitely a bad boy. Despite his violent protests you quickly realize there is a warm, fuzzy compassionate side to him. Of course, their relationship is forbidden and watching these two play off each other was a blast. I am a sucker for romance and found myself rooting for them. The relationship is volatile and I am anxious to see how it develops. The one thing I am sure of is that Kaidan will be there for her. We meet some of Kaidan’s friends who are also special. All of them are unique and I enjoyed seeing the chaos they brought to the mix. Kopano was sweet, and I worried about a love triangle developing. Anna senses he would be the better relationship choice, but her heart belongs to Kaidan. It’s pretty clear he has feelings, but he hasn't yet made a move. Kaidan is extremely jealous even as he states they cannot be together. I am hoping Higgins avoids the whole triangle all together as I am already firmly team: Kaidan.
The world-building is awesome and Higgins offers an interesting spin on how the devil influences humans. The tale is filled with demons, angels and all kinds of supernatural entities. Higgins has set the stage for an epic battle, not so much between good and evil, but on the issue of souls. The romance is steamy in this novel and there were a couple of intense scenes. I loved the scene where the council met, and I am flat out afraid of Kaidan’s father and the other Dukes. All of the children like Anna must do their fathers bidding, if they don’t the consequence are horrific. I am not talking about a grounding or loss of your cell phone. Disobedience brings punishments like torture and death. I loved how Higgins made Dukes out of the seven deadly sins, and the hierarchy she has set up. While she didn’t bog us down with a ton of back-history, she did adequately provide enough that I have a strong sense of this world and the path we are on. That’s not to say, she won’t provide twists along the way, but I am excited to take the next step in this journey and look forward to book two.
I recommend Sweet Evil to fans of urban fantasy, angels and demons. I am looking forward to continuing this tale and have added Higgins to my author’s to watch list. I will update you when news is released regarding book two, and plan to share its review with you as well.
You can see this and other reviews on my blog: