Review: Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1) by Wendy Higgins

Title: Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1)

Author: Wendy Higgins

Published: May 1st 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen

Read synopsis: Goodreads

Rating: 2.5 stars

A lot of people seem to really love this book and seeing all the hype about Kaidan just added more to fuel my interest in reading this. Unfortunately, I was not able to fully see the greatness most people saw in this one. Although I love how the author managed to make the concept of angel/nephilim in this book pretty different and a little weird in a good way, I had quite a hard time warming up and liking the main characters, Anna and Kaidan. 

Anna is a good character, in a sense that she does good things not because she was well written. She follows rules, she's empathetic and understanding, and she always try to help other people and their situations. A character with that kind of personality would be so easy to like, however Anna could be so, so naive, stupid and awkward too. Not in adorable way but in strange and emabrassing way, especially when it comes to Kaidan. I saw very little development and growth in her character and soon her too good personality just felt old and annoying. 

Still I did try to appreciate some of her good characteristics. Her relationship with her foster mom was lovely and her friendship with Jay was great, her good intentions were pretty sweet and touching. There were moments that I'm starting to appreciate her but then she would act or say something that just kind of make the moment weird or awkward. Or just downright embarrassing or pathetic, like acting like a desperate clingy infatuated girl. I can't believe she fell into a freaking depression when Kaidan pushed her away and told her that their kind can't be together romantically.

Kaidan was a very confusing and frustrating guy. At first I thought I'm going to really like him, I thought he would be like the bad-boy type but with real good and endearing personality beneath it. Sadly, I wasn't able to see anything but an exasperating man-whore in it. I didn't give up on him right away though but it was really hard to connect to him when he's confusing the hell out of you. I don't get his intentions. I understand that he was attracted to Anna too but knows it was impossible given their situation but I just can't figure out where he's getting into with his decisions and actions. I should be able to see it as him being torn between wanting what he feels and following the orders of their kind. Simple as that but this dude is making everything confusing by going back and forth, back and forth and raising Anna's hope for nothing. 

I think Anna and Kaidan actually have a pretty good chemistry however the inconsistency of their relationship and decisions was really frustrating. I understand the appeal of forbidden romance and the obstacles coming with it, it makes me appreciate the love story more. However it was handled here in a very disorienting manner. That just soon makes the readers blaze in fury.  I think the only time that I really appreciate the both of them was during the road trip but after that everything went into blurry of annoyance, confusion, and aggravation. 

Fortunately, the story was well-paced and I finished it pretty fast. If it wasn't I might just have abandoned this book. The plot-line has actually a pretty good potential but I have serious problems with the characters. Oddly, when I finished this I came to a conclusion that I would still give this series another try and still read the second book. And I just really hope it would be better.