Sweet Peril by Wendy HigginsSeries: The Sweet Trilogy #2
Published by: HarperTeen on April 30, 2013
Genre: Angels, Demons, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 384
Source: Purchased
Book Details
Rating: ★★★
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?
I think Sweet Peril suffered a bit from second book syndrome. Anyone who fell in love with Sweet Evil probably adored the romance, but that aspect was yanked out of Sweet Peril. Kaidan is non-existent for about 75% of the book. It definitely made the book less interesting for me.
But I think the biggest problem was the lull in the plot. Sweet Peril is spent gathering allies, but that in itself isn’t very interesting. It made Sweet Peril felt like a “second book” because the very act of gathering allies is the process of preparing for something bigger to come (in book three). “Preparing” just wasn’t very exciting. The book was very clearly a small bridge between two larger, more substantial books. Even the “climax” at the ending just felt so trivial to me. View Spoiler »
The fact that the plot didn’t progress beyond gathering a few (more specifically, like 3) allies worries me. I think I just imagined so much more. Like, as it stands right now, I can’t imagine there being a big, epic showdown/war, and that’s what I imagined happening from book one. I guess I’ll wait and see before passing judgment on book three though.
Despite my issues with the plot, I did still enjoy Sweet Peril. I think the best part was the last 25% when Kaidan was finally back. There were some HOT HOT HOT scenes! Kaidan and Anna are just sooo cute together! That last 25% really reminded me why I loved Sweet Evil so much.
I am excited for Sweet Reckoning, I just really hope it can amp up the intensity factor, because Sweet Peril was a letdown on that front.
The Verdict
Yes I totally know what you mean! I still gave it four stars, but I feel like it would’ve gotten a lower rating if I read it today, because I gave a similar rating to Sweet Reckoning. I feel like once the buzz and tension of the romance wears off, the plot suffers because there’s really nothing that they can do except travel some more and talk to other people. I think I remember you saying that you didn’t like the third book very much, either because of the same reasons you didn’t like this one. Fantastic review, though, Ashley! <33
I still have to get to this one myself. Great review.
I still haven’t picked up Sweet Evil but it makes me sad that this one suffereed from second book syndrome. I hate it when the climax is trivial but I’m glad you still found the book to be good, Ashley. I think that last 25% you’re talking about is something to look forward to. Lovely review! 🙂
Less Kaiden? No good. That’s my train of thought.
Honestly, I don’t know why I haven’t picked this book up yet. I’ve been THIS close to buying it so many times. And then I think about the massive amounts of unread books on my shelf and put it back.
It really sucks that this suffered badly from second book syndrome. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the final installment.