Review ~ "Sweet Evil" by Wendy Higgins

Title: "Sweet Evil"
Series: The Sweet Trilogy, #1
Author: Wendy Higgins

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Published: May 1, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 464
Format: ebook
Source: Overdrive

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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?

Reading the synopsis of this book, I should have known that it just wasn't meant for me. But I wanted to give it a chance, maybe it'd surprise me! However, I think deep down I knew I wouldn't like it, and just wanted to inflict pain on myself, while being very entertained with my reactions to things. I think the author was trying to make this book edgy and sexy, yet the outcome was cheesy, over-the-top, and, at times, cringe-worthy.

I decided to add my status updates from Goodreads in here. It's safe to say I was feeling a bit snarky while reading this book. If you have trouble seeing the picture, here's the link that should take you to it on Goodreads.

We start off with Anna, a sweet, lovely girl who's just too pure for this world. I got an instant Mary Sue feel from this girl. She claims to me nothing special, but she seems to be just so amazing. She says she doesn't care much about her appearance, but then she describes her looks to great lengths. She was adopted when she was a newborn because her father was arrested and her mother dies during childbirth. She also remembers what life was like when she was a mere fetus in her mother's womb; she refers to this time as the "Dark Time" and calls her mother's uterus a "warm hammock." *barfs* Well, there goes my breakfast. She then puts the icing on this warm, squishy cake by describing being born. All I could think of was those super long Pro-Life stories people would put in their Fan Fiction bios. Even though I'm not Pro-Life and have no problem with people who are, this kind of felt like that and it made me uncomfortable at times. Oh, did I forget to add that she doesn't like showing skin because she feels bad for boys and their hormones?

Yeah. That happened.

And then there's Kaiden. He's 17 and already a master of sex. Yep, I bet you can guys which of the 7 (actually 12 in this book) deadly sins he's the spawn of. He sleeps with any female that comes his way, has masculine knuckles, and chuckles deeply. Yes, those last two points were used to describe him (look at picture for proof). He's your stereotypical Young Adult Paranormal Romance Love Interest. He's gorgeous, mysterious, rude towards the main character, and makes her want to completely change herself. He has a bad reputation, but Anna's convinced she can change him because she immediately falls in lurve with him. Haha, no. But still, they form a relationship where he calls her "Little Ann" (such a sweet and totally not condescending nickname) and they hold pinky fingers instead of hands (what?).

As you can see, this book totally did not click with me. But I guess not every book is for every person. Looking through Goodreads, that's pretty evident as it seems most people love this book, and I'm in the minority of people who did not like it at all. However, I do give the author points for creativity. I haven't seen too many books where the 7 deadly sins are the concept, so this is really interesting.

Overall, despite being intrigued by the concept, I just could not connect to this book at all. The characters just seemed so flat and annoyed me the entire time, as Anna was the typical Mary Sue and Kaiden the token Bad Boy. I doubt I'll continue on with this series, unless I was to see if it entertains me (in a bad way) like this one did.