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.

Review: Shayla Witherwood ~ A Half-faerie Tale by Tamra Torero

Title: Shayla Witherwood ~ A Half-faerie Tale 

Author: Tamra Torero

Published: May 8th 2012

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Read synopsis: Goodreads

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

The synopsis totally caught my attention, it sounds something really exciting and thrilling and who wouldn't when the guy's name is Jace? I was pretty much looking forward reading this but as the story goes by I wasn't really finding anything really interesting or exciting. It wasn't bad at all but for a paranormal book, I really find this bland and boring. 

The story starts when Shaylah Witherwood - a half-farie, half-human - started her real life in a regular high school. She had always been home-schooled her entire life so attending a public high school and socializing with lots of people was all new to her. Aside from that she has to keep her being faerie a secret because it can only cause big troubles for her. 

Much of the story was focused on how Shaylah was dealing with her new high school life - not very paranormal, really - there were parts though were she used her abilities like getting invisible, shape-shifting her ears and stuffs, learning new abilities but it was too cliche or too simple it wasn't thrilling at all. Yes, of course, there were parts were she has to reveal her secret to certain characters but it just didn't add to the excitement.

There was hardly any plot or if there is, it was pretty shallow. For the entirety of the story I keep on wondering what really Shaylah is supposed to do or what should really be happening. There were parts were I thought they were already getting into something really interesting but then it would suddenly turn into totally different way. There were twists by the end ,though but yay, it was too ordinary or cliche for my taste. 

I also feel that most of the characters were undeveloped. For every story I've read there is always a supporting character I grew really fond of but here there is none, maybe the closest is Jace but there are just really few things about him to make me love him enough. 

The good thing though was that the writing was fast and easy. I didn't really grew frustrated of annoyed but just bored. Nevertheless, I think this might appeal more on middle-school type of reading. It was really simple for a paranormal book so I think it would be better for younger readers. :))

*An advance copy has been provided by Cedar Fort via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*