Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Title: Sweet Evil

Author: Wendy Higgins

Series: The Sweet Trilogy #1

Publication: May 1st by HarperTeen

Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal

Format: Paperback, 447 pages

Cover Rating: 5/5

Content Rating: 2/5

First Line: The newborn wailed as the midwife wrapped her in a receiving blanket and quickly handed her to Sister Ruth.

~Synopsis~

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?

My thoughts: 
I won Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins a while ago, which made me really happy. I think it was one of the first giveaways I ever won. I fell in love with the cover and also got an awesome looking bookmark with it. It did take me a while to finally read it but I did and finished it in a couple of days.

I liked Kaidan Rowe right from the beginning. Because, well, he's a drummer. I love drummers! And also he has that whole sexy, tortured guy thing going on that I love. Plus he's british! *drool drool drool* At first he was the reason I kept on reading this book because I had a lot of trouble to keep reading at the beginning. 

The world of angels and demons in this book is absolutely one of the more original ones I've come across and I loved that. With the whole nephilim who have to work the sins. That was probably my favorite thing together with Kai (Who's the son of the duke of Lust, of course).
I didn't always liked Anna's relationship with Kai, but most of the time I did. I do hope they can be together eventually. Anna's character was hard for me to like at first because she's so "good". But I came to like her when she got more sure of herself, around at the end part.

First of all I wanted to say that even though I only gave it 2 stars, Sweet Evil was not a bad book. I felt like I wanted to give it 2.5 stars but I don't work with halves so I had to give it two. Obviously I didn't fully enjoy it due to some factors I couldn't look past. And I do have to say that I am very very critical when it comes to angel books. I have no idea what it is about them but I am... It was an okay book to me, sadly enough. I really wish I enjoyed it more because it has a lot of good reviews from other. Guess I just wasn't feeling the love. It happens.
I had problems with the writing and all the little things that happened. Some of it just didn't make sense to me. Sometimes I liked Anna, sometimes I just wanted her to go away. Also some of the other characters bothered me a lot, like Anna's adoptive mother, Patti. I'm sure she's a great mom, but she let her sixteen year old daughter go alone on a roadtrip with Kaidan. I mean, come on, what was she thinking? Also I had mixed feelings with Anna's father, who's a demon. At times I liked him, at other times I felt... I don't know... maybe that he's hiding something or their was something off about him or maybe it was just the way he was written and the way he talked. *sigh* I also didn't get why Anna liked him so fast and accepted him. She called him dad so soon... I don't get it. I really don't. The characters I really liked were the other nephilim kids; Kopano, Ginger and Marna and Blake. They seemed cool to me. So coming at the end I was mostly reading to know more about them and also Kai. Always Kai. :)

So really the thing that bothered me was the writing, the parts that didn't make sense to me, like it didn't fit in with the story? I could've been much better. But I do have to say again that the world was original and I hope to read more about it. The romance between Kai and Anna was very nice. It got a little steamy on the roadtrip (well how far it can get steamy in a YA book...) They were obviously very attracted to each other even though a relationship wouldn't work and I know Anna saw it eventually. Well, after she got all clingy, that is... 
Anyway... if you want to read something new and different this is the book for you. I just hope you'll enjoy it more than I have. 

~Quotes~

"I felt you come alive when we kissed, and I know you’re afraid of that. Afraid to unleash that other side of yourself. "

"Wait,” Kaidan called from behind me. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, but kept walking. Then I felt his hand around my wrist, spinning me in a half circle and pulling me to his chest. His face was so close. He reached down and cupped my face with one woolly hand, and wiped the top corner of my lip hard with his thumb. I flinched back.
“What are you doing?”
“I...” He appeared to have no idea himself. “I wanted to see your freckle.”
A vulnerable tenderness flashed across his face, more painful to see than the coldness. It took every ounce of strength I had not to beg for one last kiss. As fast as his expression had softened, it was back to stone again. “What do you want from me, Kai?”
“For starters?” His voice lowered to sexy, dangerous depths. “I want to introduce myself to every freckle on your body.”
A powerful shiver ripped through me."

About the author:

After earning a bachelors in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford, Wendy taught high school English until becoming a mommy. Writing Young Adult (YA) stories gives her the opportunity to delve into the ambiguities of those pivotal, daunting, and exciting years before adulthood. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, daughter, and son. Sweet Evil is her debut novel.
Visit Wendy at http://www.wendyhigginswrites.comFind her also at: Goodreads ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Waiting On Wednesday #29

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Lullaby (Watersong #2) by Amanda Hocking

Expected publication: November 27th 2012 by St. Martin's Griffin 

Harper only wanted a safe, normal life. But when her younger sister Gemma runs off with a dangerous clique of beautiful girls, Penn, Thea, and Lexi, everything changes. Vowing to get her sister back no matter what the cost, Harper must face dangers unlike any she's ever experienced. Fortunately, she has Daniel by her side, a gorgeous guy who's devoted to helping her find her sister—and who's immune to the girls' dark powers.

While Harper searches for her sister, Gemma struggles to adjust to her new life. Gemma's powers are growing by the day, and the longer she lives with her new "sisters," the harder it is to resist entering their magical world. It's a realm both dark and beautiful, and where she's plagued by strange hungers and unspeakable needs. Just as she's drifting far away from her old life, Harper and Daniel find her...but no one can deny how much she's changed. All she wants is to return to her family and the mortal world, but how can she do that when she's become something else entirely—and will they still love her once they learn the truth?

Prepare to fall under the spell of Lullaby, the second book in the Watersong series from New York Times bestselling author Amanda Hocking.

I am eagerly anticipating this book because I definitely liked the first book, Wake. I really want to know what's coming next and what will happen to the characters. :)

August New Release Giveaway Hop!

The new release giveaway hop is hosted by Book Twirps and Refracted Light Reviews.

~August 15 - 31, 2012~

Welcome to my stop on the August New Release Giveaway Hop! I am #22 on the linky list and It's the second time I'm participating. The other new release giveaway hop I participated in was the one of last month in july. I had so much fun with it and this month a lot of awesome books come out so here I am again! 

Let's jump right in...

The giveaway is international as all my giveaways are. 

You  can win one of the following August new releases, as long as The Book Depository ships to your country.

Rift (Nightshade Prequel #1) by Andrea Cremer

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas

Heaven (Halo #3) by Alexandra Adornetto

Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle

Defiance (Defiance #1) by C.J Redwine

Onyx (Lux #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Innocent Darkness (The Aether Chronicles #1) by Suzanne Lazear

The Iron Legends (The Iron Fey #1.5, 3.5, 4.5) by Julie Kagawa

Wake (Watersong #1) by Amanda Hocking

Glitch (Glitch #1) by Heather Anastasiu

Enshadowed (Nevermore #2) by Kelly Creagh

Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2) by Kendare Blake

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to hop by the other blogs!

Teaser Tuesdays #28

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

My teaser: 

I jumped and let out an embarrassing squeak when two hands came around my waist.
"Just me, luv," he said, close to my ear. "Aren't you the picture of domestication? Do you cook as well?"
I put both hands on the edge of the dryer to steady myself. The machine was still hot.
"Kai," I said. I could feel his nose and mouth move over my hair. Why was he doing this to me? Telling me not to romanticize him, and then nuzzling me from behind? "You shouldn't..."

-page 233, Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

 Anyone can participate in Teaser Tuesdays. Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Review: Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Title: Storm
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Elemental #1
Publication: April 24th 2012 by Kensington
Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal
Format: Paperback, 353 pages
Cover Rating: 5/5
Content Rating: 5/5
First Line: The self-defense class had been a waste of sixty bucks.

~synopsis~

Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys - all the ones she doesn't want. Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They're powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life's at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who's hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming.

My thoughts: 
Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my!

Hot guys alert!

Hot guys, brothers, elements, twists and turns on every corner... How could I not love this book? It was fantastic! I knew it would be but damn, Brigid Kemmerer is one amazing writer. She definitely gained a fan with me. I need more!

The first time I saw this cover was probably somewhere on Goodreads and I just knew I had to read this book soon. The four guys on the cover makes it very different from other book covers I've seen lately. Not to mention they are hot! Also the title and synopsis drew me in. I love reading about people who have a thing with the elements. It rocks!

I was pretty much hooked the moment I started reading and before I knew it I was more than a 100 pages in! The book alternated with POV's from Chris and Becca. I loved both. Also character wise I loved both these characters. When we first meet Becca we see her saving Chris Merrick from some guys who were beating him up. Right away I knew something is up with Chris and that he has a thing with water. I loved him also right away. I really liked Becca too. She wasn't a typical YA girl character who waits for people to safe her, even though she actually gets saved a lot in this book but she isn't helpless! She knows how to defend herself. 

I loved the Merrick brothers. All of them! Michael is the oldest, raising his younger brothers since their parents passed away so he has taken up the parenting role. However his younger brothers just want him to be their brother, not their father. I also read Elemental, Michael's story about what happened with Emily and it makes me very sad so I can't help but love Michael and be sad for everything he went through. Michael controls the element Earth, which seems very fitting for him. Then we have the twins, Gabriel and Nick. Gabriel is fire and Nick is air. Gabriel is the more hot headed one. No surprise there since he controls fire. He also has a lot of issues with Michael. Hope they work it out! Nick... I really like him! I don't know what it is about him though. I just know I really like him. And then we have Chris with his element water. I just love him. How he fell for Becca and just the way he is. He loves his family so much even though things have been so hard. 
Now, you would think it was all about the Merrick brothers and Becca. Wrong! There's someone else involved too. New Kid as Becca called him first, but his real name is Hunter. I love that name, by the way. :)   I really liked Hunter too. I even loved him. With his piercings and tattoos and just his whole look was awesome to me. Also I think he really cared for Becca even with everything that happened and the secrets he kept. And he's so cute with his dog!  And yes we have a love triangle there!
The other more characters I kinda wanted to bitch slap all the time. Tyler, Seth and Drew. Assholes. I hope they get what they deserve soon. Especially Drew. I also didn't feel the love for Becca's best friend Quinn. At times I liked her but not mostly. She was kinda meh to me. Oh well... I did love Becca's mother. She seemed just so loving and when Michael showed up in scrapes and what not she took care of him even though she didn't knew him. It was good for Michael too since his mother passed away years ago. It was adorable to see him being fussed over and him letting her. One of the more bigger turns was with Becca's father. I so didn't see that one coming but it was a really good twist! Loved it. There was also a twist with Hunter but I saw that one coming since the start. And with Becca too. About how she's also a *spoiler* fifth!

I really really really loved this world. I loved reading about these elemental powers. How the brother could draw strenght from each element they could control (or does the element control them?!).  I never read anything quite like it before. 
The only slightly and that's a tiny tiny tiny slight thing that bothered me was the repetitive use of the word hassle. I saw it a lot. So I was like maybe Kemmerer could use a different word sometime? Maybe not even worth mentioning but yeah there you go. But really the books was kinda perfect to me!

The romance was oh so sweet! Becca had a hard time trusting both Chris as Hunter because of the rumours her exboyfriend had spread. Trust me, it wasn't nice! But eventually she learned to trust him and then Hunter totally ruined her trust. Anyway... I don't have a favorite between those guys. I love em both. I did love how Chris kissed Becca at the end after he found out she wasn't dating Hunter anymore. So totally cute! 
Storm was a flood of action, 5 hot guys, witty dialogue and sweet romance. A must-read for every person who wants something totally different to read. You'll love it!

~Favorite Quotes~

“Mom!" Becca stared at her. "You think—you think I'm dating Michael?"
Her mom stared back at her, obviously thrown. "You're not?"
This would be hilarious if her mom didn't look so serious.
"Oh my god," cried Becca. "Are you kidding? Michael is the last person I would ever—oh my god. I wouldn't go out with him if someone paid me. Ugh, that's just—"
"You know I can hear you, right?" called Michael.”

“So she doesn’t like the rain,” said Gabriel.
Nick smiled. “I kind of like the irony.”…
Chris sighed. “No one likes the rain.”
“You do,” said Nick. He flung the lighter back to his brother. Gabriel caught it. “Maybe we should put some money on it, see how long it takes Chris to get her wet.”

“If you want me to fix your homework, you need to leave me alone.” Then he spotted her. “You’re back.”
“Yeah.” She glanced between him and Gabriel. “You do his homework?”
“Just the math. It’s a miracle he can count to ten.”
“I can count to one.” Gabriel gave him the finger.”

About the author:

Brigid Kemmerer was born in Omaha, Nebraska, though her parents quickly moved her all over the United States, from the desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the lakeside in Cleveland, Ohio, and several stops in between, eventually settling near Annapolis, Maryland. Brigid started writing in high school, and her first real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs. Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in her head for the last seventeen years. (Though sometimes that just makes her sound nuts.)

Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager.

While writing STORM, it’s ironic to note that Brigid’s personal life was plagued by water problems: her basement flooded three times, her roof leaked, her kitchen faucet broke, causing the cabinet underneath to be destroyed by water, the wall in her son’s room had to be torn down because water had crept into the wall, and her bedroom wall recently developed a minor leak. Considering SPARK, book 2 in the series, is about the brother who controls fire, Brigid is currently making sure all the smoke detectors in her house have batteries.

Brigid loves hearing from people, and she probably won't refer to herself in the third person like this if you actually correspond with her. She has a smartphone surgically attached to her person nearby at all times, and email is the best way to reach her. Her email address is brigidmary@gmail.com.

Visit Brigid at 
http://www.brigidkemmerer.com
Find her also at: Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Facebook