Monday, July 28, 2014

Review: Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

Title: Sweet Peril (Sweet Evil #2)
Author: Wendy Higgins
Published: April 30th 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things.

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.
When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?

Buddy-read this gorgous thing with Rashika and had so much fun discussing it. Sweet Evil was one of the first YA books that I just about died while reading, because I was too busy swooning over the love interest. Yes, I’m fully team Kaidan and proud of it! While I adore Wendy Higgins to pieces, loved the first book a lot and know that the fans were satisfied with Peril, I was hesitant. Why? Well, I knew that Kai wouldn’t be in the first half that much, so I honestly didn’t know if Anna and her own adventures would be captivating enough to keep me hooked. Were they?

“We had a secret knowledge that demons couldn't fathom. They saw love as a weakness, but they were wrong. Love would keep us going, love was our strength.”

I really think they were. Yes, I had a tough time with Anna at first simply because.. Well, I know, as a reader, that Kai and Anna are meant to be. They are and will be the endgame no matter what kind of obstacles they have to endure and surpass. However, watching a girl pine for a guy like that IRL would be devastating and my rational side says “Get over him, Anna, and start living your life! Do not chase a guy who doesn’t want to be chased.” So as much as it pains me to say this, Anna can be a touch annoying. At the end of the day (especially during chapters 14-19), I’m glad she fought for what her heart wanted the most.

This book is more about the character growth than world building. If you’re looking for excessive world building, you’re looking at the wrong place. It’s not necessarily a bad thing though: we meet new Nephilim kids, get more proof of how malicious and evil some of the Dukes are, all relationships are developed and given more depth to, you even may start liking some characters *ahem* Ginger *cough*. The pacing is pretty fast and what I like about Wendy’s writing is that she doesn’t take time with overly long descriptions of Anna’s day and whatnot. She knows we want to see the real action, so it was nice to see Anna, step by step, becoming closer to fulfilling the prophecy.

Moreover, kudos to Wendy for not giving us an excessive love triangle. Yeah, there is a moment where you probably think that “yikes, will it really turn into one?”, but nope! Anna is confident in her choice and I very much appreciated it. Aaaalso, this book is way steamier than Sweet Evil was. So. Much. Swoon. You, guys! SUCH SWOON, SRSLY! I felt like we were rewarded with so much goodness after all that waiting, almost-moments, back & forth? It was sweeeet. (Pun intended.) There were some really sweet father-daughter moments here and there. Ohhh, and the Blake & Kai bromance? I SHIP IT SO HARD.

As a whole, I wished that there was a little more world building, but we got some great revelations. I’m happy with the way things wrapped up and even more excited for the finale. Sweet Peril is all about the character growth; much more steamy and full of I-need-to-fan-myself moments. Kai and Anna fans will be very, very pleased with this novel :)

Overall rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Stars: ★★★★

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15 comments:

  1. This was steamier???! Is that even possible? I'm not a redhead but when I read Sweet Evil I felt like I blushed to the roots of my super black hair. I didn't realize how I miss Anna and Kaidan until now. I've been so busy starting some of the series I wanted to read this year that I neglected some of the series I started last year. I would love to see Anna develop because I felt like she was only good when Kaidan's present. Okay, you can smack me now. Aaaaah, you and your books are killing me, Siiri!

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  2. Woah woah, Sweet Evil was already steamy enough and to hear this is steamier, wow! It's a shame Kai isn't in the novel very much as I really enjoyed their banter in the first book. Great review, I'm glad you really enjoyed it and I can't wait to pick it up!

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  3. I've had my eye on Higgins' series for a while now, but I only read a handful of YA books a year, so it takes me a while to decide. You might have a fight on your hands for Kaidan though, if I do add these novels to my TBR pile. Hehe ;) I hadn't expected Sweet Peril to be so steamy! Good to know!

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  4. I liked Sweet Evil, but I never felt any compulsion to pick up the second book. I'm thinking I have to change that because you mentioned the magic word, "steamier"! (Haha, yes! Perv alert! :P)
    Anyways, I really liked Anna and Kai together in the first book. They definitely had smoking chemistry together! It's sad that he isn't there for much of the first half though. That would annoy me a little because I didn't like Anna as a character, especially when she got super desperate and whiny after Kai told her they shouldn't be together.
    Regardless, I think I would still want to read this eventually because I need to finish the series.
    Glad you liked this, Siiri! :) Lovely review!

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  5. "Moreover, kudos to Wendy for not giving us an excessive love triangle.:

    YESSSSSSSSS SIIRI!!!! I have to admit, I was downright scared to read this one even though Sweet Evil is on my shelf of all time favorites. I feared it would fall prey to second book syndrome and would give us a new love interest and unnecessary drama and all that. I should have known Wendy wouldn't let that happen. I loved how Anna handled everything too - I could feel her pain, but she didn't let it drive her to do something that would deliberately hurt Kai. SO GOOD! Can't wait to see what you think of book 3:)

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  6. Soo which one got Kai at the end? :D Or you simply left him for me :D I love it that this one focuses on characters and they seem like a nicely developed ones too. I'm so glad you could see more of them and yay for no love-triangle. I think we all cherish books without them. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one. Great review, Siiri :)

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  7. Love some great character development. I have been wanting to read this for a while but haven't made time yet.

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  8. You know Sirri I loved book one and then I dropped the ball and didn't pick up the rest. After reading your review I am convinced I need to pick this up again! I love that this was such a strong second book!

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  9. I haven't read this series yet, but I've heard quite a lot about it! I'm definitely going to consider giving it a try because it's received quite a bit of hype, and your review is really convincing! ;) It's a shame the world-building wasn't as strong as the characters in this instance, but it sounds like a fun novel all the same. Thanks for sharing and, as always, BRILLIANT review! <3

    ~ Zoe @ The Infinite To-Read Shelf

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  10. I've read this series up to this point, and feel the same as you on the second one. I can't wait to dive into the third one, I've heard good things about it.

    I do agree with you on Anna, there's time where I definitely wanted to shake some sense into her LOL. Like come on, stop being so naive and whiny. I did feel like there was some much needed character development in Sweet Peril for Anna, she became a lot stronger and confident in my view. I'm also glad there wasn't a contrived love triangle wooo. I really do love Kai, think he's the one for Anna. So if there was a love triangle I'd be all for him haha. I find him to be utterly swoon worthy, which is funny because generally bad boys aren't really my thing. I think I enjoy Kai so much because he's more than that typical bad boy trope. He just has so much more depth to him.

    Great review Siiri! (:

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  11. You know, the more I think about it, I think that kiss was a result of... not exactly attraction (although Kope IS hot) but off.. you know that thing.. his secret.

    I think you're right, though. If Anna were my friend in real life, I'd tell her to GET THE FUCK over it. I mean I ship the two but if this thing were going on IRL, things would be seriously different. I think what made it more bearable for me was the fact that I kind of knew that Kai cared for her too and that his reason for being away from her was genuine. It wasn't some flimsy excuse.

    I think everyone would have rather had Blake and Kai end up together but.. hey, you cannot have everything :P

    Lovely review, hon!! <3

    Rashika @ The Social Potato

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  12. This had the New Moon effect for me. Where Kai was good most of the book and this other guy just keeps showing up and while he's nice and all you just want him to go away and want Edward, um Kai, to hurry the fuck up and come back! It was frustrating! But once he came back in the picture, it was good. And yup, steamier :)

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  13. I adored Sweet Evil, so I have no idea why I never continued the series. I guess I'm still burned out of YA paranormal. Almost every review I've read as the series went on was still positive, do I'm hoping to eventually want to pick this up. I'm glad you had so much fun on your read along!

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  14. I don't want to read to much into the review because I do want to read this series :) I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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  15. I agree with this 100%. I mean, I love that Anna believes in what she does and sticks to it, but I wanted her to move on a bit as well, after Kai left her. However, knowing that he stopped working for her makes me happy she didn't move on too much. But there was a moment or two that I wanted her to just pick Kope instead…anyway, YES to swoon. and YES to this statement "This book is more about the character growth than world building." I needed that growth, from Anna and also from Kai. I love their transitions through this entire series. Great review!

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