Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

publisher: HarperTeen

release date: May 1st, 2012

paperback, 464 pages

intended audience: Young adult (recommend 14+)

rating:



source: from publisher for honest review

description: What if there were teens whose lives depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil.

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 will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

A cross-country trip to meet her father forces Anna to face the reality that hope and love are not options for her kind. When she confronts her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Review: One of my brilliant fellow bloggers told me drop whatever I was reading and read this ASAP. And so I did. And she was so right (thanks, Mindy!) I actually finished this book last week, devoured all nearly 500 pages of it in about two days, and it's taken me this long just to find the words to explain how much a I LOVED this book. Sweet Evil is one fantastic bit of storytelling. As much as it's been done in YA, I have to give Wendy Higgins huge props for taking the Angel & Demon concept and giving us something completely original and outstanding. It was fun and sexy and dangerous...not necessarily non-stop action, but just non-stop awesome.

If you read my reviews, you know how much importance I place on great characters. Sweet Evil brings it in this department. Anna, Kaidan, her family, his friends, and the whole creepy demonic cast---every single one of them jumped off the page and captured my interest. Anna, who has been raised by her adoptive mother with impeccable southern values, is just a joy to read. She has an unexplainable ability of being able to see other's emotions as glowing auras. Strangely enough, she also has a very disturbing draw to substance abuse---and she's about to find out why. Enter Kaidan Rowe. This mysterious drummer seems to have all the answers she's been looking for---but what he knows is still only a small piece of her story. What does a sweet southern girl do when she finds out the main purpose of her existence is to bring sin into the world?

Another really interesting and unique aspect of this story came with the relationship between the demons and their children. It was sort of a twisted aristocratic secret society and the nephilim were treated more as employees--- slaves, really, to do their parent's bidding or face sometimes deadly consequences. In contrast to that, was Anna and her father, who has been imprisoned since her birth. I loved how their part of the story played out. It was so surprising. I also loved Anna's adoptive mother, Patti--she was a fierce mama-bear. :)

The plot really has it all, a fantastic love story, a family drama, mortal danger and all manner of sins, heart-stopping seduction, bravery in the face of pure evil, and even a road trip adventure. I can't say it enough...READ THIS BOOK.

Visit Wendy Higgins site: www.wendyhigginswrites.com

Purchase Sweet Evil at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository • Indiebound