Sweet Evil

He was smoking hot. As in H-O-T-T, hott. I'd never understood until that moment why girls insisted on adding an extra t. This guy was extra-t-worthy.Kai, like Thai, only yummier.Good gracious, he was sexy—a word that had not existed in my personal vocabulary until that moment. This guy was sexy like it was his job or something.

h-o-t-t

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins is a paranormal young adult book about angels, demons, and humans mixed into one world.

The main character, Anna Whitt, is a good girl that doesn't get into any trouble. She knows she is different from humans though because she can remember her birth. She has the possibility to see auras of how the people around her are feeling, her sight is extreme, and she can see guardian angels. She doesn't know until later in the book that she is half demon and half angel. Her mother was an angel of light and her father is a Duke demon.

The main male lead, Kaiden Rowe, is a sexy half demon that has the control of lust on the other girls around him. His job is to get as many girls in bed as he can because that is what he is supposed to do. His father is a Duke demon also. Kaiden is also a drummer for a band and this is how Anna and Kaiden meet.

[ WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ]

So this book was a good read and I really enjoyed both of the main characters. This is a re-read review because I decided to marathon all three books but that doesn't mean I really remembered what happened when I read it first in 2012.

The relationship between Kai and Anna is very complicated. Anna is worried about Kai's line of work in the first book mainly because she is still so innocent. She doesn't understand the world that Kai lives in and how demons cannot say no to their fathers. They must work to be able to live some sort of life with their dad off their back.
Throughout the book, I was really interested in Kai and how he worked. Wondered what he would do for Anna once he started showing feelings for her. This book was a normal way to show a want but can't have theme throughout the entire book. It seems like that may be the case throughout the whole series until something changes. Wendy Higgins has an interesting way to take that though because they don't try to be together against everyone else. That can mess things up in other books and upsets the readers. Even though this is also tedious because you want them to be together, there isn't any problems except how they feel.

I think the next two books will be a good journey to take with Kai and Anna. I cannot wait to read more about them in the final two books. I would recommend this series to anyone that enjoys a paranormal read with a love aspect mixed in with some drama.

(Review originally posted here at The Book Barbies.)

Sweet Evil was a super-quick, super-addicting read. I sped through it in a flash. It had an interesting premise. The two main characters had some great chemistry. Higgins had an interesting habit of combining two words into one such as “bloodred” of “superfast,” which I actually wound up liking, because it made Anna's voice more authentic. I could totally hear her thinking like that. However, Higgins was entirely too fond of pronouns; there were two scenes (one of which was possibly on purpose) where I had no idea who it was who was actually speaking the lines. It really took me out of the story. Other than that, though, I liked it.

Sweet Evil is a truly twitter-patted roller coaster of a ride, not just with the way Anna feels, but the emotions she sees in humans around her everyday. The journey alone for her in for the thirst to have questions answered is intoxicating.

The level of disturbing graphic detail is maddening to the scene of the characters at their age was like witnessing those movie moments (i.e. - Saw). All you needed was jigsaw and it would have been a gruesome situation by the end of the story.

I commend Anna with her vibrant integrity to say “no” at certain points. Not many teens can get up that kind of courage, but I found such a reflection of myself at her age, that it made me root for her even more. She is also truly confused at best, but as she grows up, I feel she'll know more in what she needs to keep fighting the insanity of the dark side in her bloodline.

Kaidan at best, is her weakness and ultimately is her strength; a double edge sword. He is a contradiction as well. He plays on Anna's desires, tries to lure her in, yet at the same time tries to push her away. He does however warn her from the start, but that doesn't last long by the time they get towards the end of the novel. I've got high hopes for him the sequel and intrigued by how things will play out between him and the choices he makes in regards to the second to last chapter of the book.

Patti was as typical, if not a little overbearing, of a mother. I do like that they kept a few of the southern hospitality traditions, like offering a beverage/sweet tea to guests. She also was really relaxed about Anna's father coming in and teaching her the ways of his life: drugs, alcohol, and excessive use.

The culture is important to add to the story, it's a character within itself. So major points to Higgins for not missing that part.

I've enjoyed the chaos that comes from Anna meeting her father, Belial, and knowing the other Nep. children, and the training she endures to prove herself. Seeing her with Kopano was thrilling and a good change to the story. Knowing he was different than the other Nep's was nice. Let alone when she meets the others in New York. Now that was quit a scene being played out! The cruel jokes and forcing choices on the Nep's like it was everyday stuff, just seemed inhuman to none other than humans, but to them, was part of their lifestyle. It was most certainly one of those worlds I would never ever want to be apart of for those reasons and more. But it was fun to venture into for reading fun.

I love the scene when they are in New Mexico and exploring the little rest stop area. You got to see another side to Kaidan with Anna.

One fact about the book I loved is that Higgins was found on the site Figment (originally was from Inkpop, but they closed down and moved everything to Figment.) If you wish to see more about her Figment page, head on over here to see it! Anyway, on a side note this should encourage other reader/bloggers out there to maybe start writing and publishing their work over at the website. Maybe someday they can get the chance just like Wendy Higgins and Katie McGarry.

Anyway, back to the book.... I'm also dying to know how the story continues with Anna and Kaidan. It left it with such an interesting, yet simple way, that you can't help but crave more. Overall, I've really enjoyed it! Not many straight up paranormal romance books hook me, but Sweet Evil most certainly was worth every page.