My Thoughts: Sweet Evil (Wendy Higgins)

Goodreads Link/Blurb:

Embrace the Forbidden

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?


Cover: Thumbs DOWN
Published: May 1st, 2012
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Purchased

Okay. WOW. I literally JUST read the last word of this book. Color me impressed!
When I started reading, I thought to myself, this is pretty good. Not bad. Angels and Demons. Good writing. Good characters. Enjoyable. It wasn't until about half-way through that things took a turn for the amazing and I couldn't put the book down! The action, the heat, the suspense, the everything! YES!  SO GOOD.

The basics of this story aren't that original. Bad boy and good girl meet.  From different sides of the tracks but drawn together. Fighting against the demands of others and the demons within themselves.  Heat, passion, yes, no, YES.  I could see some ties/similarities to some other stories as far as the type of characters.

But the similarities quickly ended and the story took on a path all it's own. I found the angel/demon lore interesting and unique. You have the Dukes, who represent 12 different sins (gluttony, pride, murder, greed, lust, etc.) and work under Lucifer. Their children, the Nephilium, are half demon half human products of their fallen angel fathers.  The offspring are forced to do the work of their fathers and unleash their sins on humans, trying to basically rid the world of all that is good.  If the Nephilium refuse to do their father's work, they are killed and sent to hell.  I really enjoyed all the religious elements that were infused into this story. I marked several passages that I could relate to real life and connected me to the story.
I ended up LOVING the characters. Even the evil ones.

I don't want to reveal too much about the characters, so I'll just say there's more to Anna then meets the eye and Kaiden is more complex then he appears. The romance between Anna and Kaiden worked VERY well. Hot. Yeah. Definitely hot. OH THE ANGST.  It was a bit of a quickie love, but Kaiden IS the son of the Duke of Lust after all!

This isn't a pretty, happy ending type of book. And that makes it GREAT. I was literally 10 pages from the end and I had NO IDEA what was going to happen and was on the edge of my seat with anticipation and excitement!  As soon as I finish typing this, I will be pre-ordering the next book in this series.
I'm not usually a huge fan of Angel books because I feel like they are very similar. But this one is different and wonderfully written.  Very much recommended.

Bottom Line: Gripping, hot, dark, and sweetly evil! 5/5