Sweet Evil takes the typical fallen angel book to a whole new level. The Demons are split in social levels; lowly demons, whisperers, and the Dukes. The lowly demons do not leave hell and do not work on the earth plane. The whisperers are dark shadow-like creatures who obey the orders of the dukes as they whisper bad thoughts and insecurities into the ears of the humans. The Dukes are the only ones who are permitted to possess a human body. They each are the embodiments of sin and work to spread sin amongst humans. Their children, however, are called Nephalem and are half human. It is their job to be bad influences among their peers and use their lure to their demon parent's sin to promote it.Anna Whitt is as good as it gets. She's the goody two shoes of the school and has one of the most empathetic souls out there. She's the the last person you would expect to have demon blood coursing through her veins. Anna can see people' aura's (how they're feeling by the color that surrounds them), can see everybody's individual guardian angels, and has supernaturally magnified senses, but she also has a strong pull towards drugs and alcohol that she has been struggling to repress. At a concert with her best friend Jay, her eyes land on the drummer. Kaiden Rowe is one of the most good looking guys alive, a phenomenal musician, and has an english accent. To make matters worse, he is basically the son of lust. There's something strange about him; he doesn't have a guardian angel and she can't read his emotions. He is a Nephalem. From the moment they meet, Anna's life is turned upside down with the discovery that she isn't the only one with her abilities. She discovers that she is the daughter of The Duke of substance abuse, but she is also different from the rest of the Nephalem because she is the first ever half angel and half demon. Anna must stay out of the eye of the other Dukes and the whisperers as she and Kaiden make their way to California to find out more about who Anna really is. If the other Dukes find her and see that she isn't able to perform at being a bad influence because of her good nature, she is of no use to them and she will be killed.
The use of a demon social pyramid gave this book a new and refreshing quality. While I love the typical angel falling for a human book, the new play on the Nephalem was intriguing to me and made for an interesting plot. However, I found the book to be predictable and the characters were less developed and realistic than I would have liked. I didn't find myself falling in love with Kaiden like I knew I should have. There just wasn't enough personality put into him. I also didn't feel like I could relate very well with Anna. Higgins put a lot of effort in selling that Anna was the "ultimate good girl" and in the process she made it so that Anna was a little too good to believe. I didn't find enough strength in her character and she fell in love a bit too fast. While I know Anna is innocent and part angel I think there should have been a bit more stubbornness and power in her personality, something to root for. Sweet Evil was definitely a quick read. I breezed through it in one sitting. The idea behind the book had a whole world of potential and while it was good it still didn't meet my expectations. Even so, I really want to get my hands on the sequel and I do recommend reading this book, but only for anybody who has run out of material and needs some supernatural romance to hold them over until the next book in their favorite series comes out.
Rating: 3 stars
Recommendation: If you're looking for angels and romance try the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick
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