Review: Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins
My rating: 3.5 of 5 genies
Published: April 30, 2013
Series: N/A
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal/Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Purchased
Pages: 371
Format: Paperback
Purchase At: Amazon.com or The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

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?

My Review

This book could have been better. I say this because Sweet Evil was the book that I pimped everywhere. I can't say that I will be doing the same with Sweet Peril because Wendy Higgin's second instalment wasn't as strong as her debut.

Sweet Peril takes off where its predecessor left and we're back with Anna and her daily Nephlim grind. She's got to work to keep her dad off of the other Duke's radar, turning the human population towards alcohol and drugs, but her heart isn't in it. Partly because she's half angel, and also because Anna's predominantly occupied with thoughts of Kaidan, missing him. They are still trying to take down the Dukes and gather allies, but it felt like all that really mattered was how much Anna missed "Kai." The fate of the world rests in her hands, and all Anna really wanted to do was see the boy.

To be fair, she does take the responsibility of saving Neph and Humankind seriously, but the teen swoony romance could have been dialled down. They are in love, I get that, but it felt like their romance dominated most of the book. I was looking forward to reading more of Kaidan and Anna, but with the way it was handled in Sweet Peril, I began to tire of their romance. It was like her life basically revolved around him, and one can only read about how smouldering a guy is before it gets to be enough. There are issues with Kopano, as can be expected, as well as an interesting revelation that has to do with Neph and their badges, but in all honesty Sweet Peril had more to do with Kaidan and Anna not being together than anything else.

I expected more substance, and even though we meet more of the other Neph, discovering additional information in regards to the prophecy, I wasn't as enamoured this time around. The series is still fantastic, I love you Wendy, but I'm hoping that Sweet Reckoning will more than make up for where this book fell short.

3.5/5 genies: Sweet Peril is compelling, and while it picks up nicely from where the former left off, this book fails to deliver as emotional an impact as the first.