I am so so honored to be able to do a review for this amazing book. This is one of my absolute favorite series, and by one of my favorite authors. I want to send a huge thank you to Stephanie at Harper Collins for being so wonderful to me. She not only got this lovely book to me, but has been working with me a ton on all the little questions and problems I have had. You rock woman :D
Embrace the Unexpected
Bad boy Kaidan Rowe has never wanted for anything—money,
popularity, musical talent . . . hot girls—but seducing them is part of his
duty as a Nephilim, slave to the demon Dukes. As the son of the Duke of Lust,
Kaidan has learned his father's ways, becoming a master of passion, a
manipulator of chemistry. Disobeying his father would mean certain death.
Thankfully for Kaidan, he's good at his job. And he enjoys it.
Until he meets Anna Whitt—smart, feisty, and inexplicably
good—the one girl seemingly immune to his charms. The daughter of a guardian
angel and a fallen one, she makes him wish for more than he could ever deserve.
Determined to save all the Neph from their dark lives, Anna
joins forces with Kaidan to overcome the Dukes' oppressive ways. In the light
of her affections, Kaidan must undergo his toughest test of all, a battle of
the heart.
Sensual and swoonworthy, this companion volume to the Sweet
Evil series, told from the perspective of the mysterious Kaidan Rowe, gives
readers revealing insights into the true emotions that drive him.
So I'm sure you can tell from that intro that I really really love this series. And Sweet Temptation was no exception to my love. In fact I think this may be my favorite one of all of them.
Getting this series from Kai's perspective was interesting to say the least. If you follow this series you know what is going to happen, and yet, Wendy managed to give us some new scenes of not only Kai when he was away from Anna but also a more in depth look at things that happened when they were together.
This book was so much fun to read because it is so much the opposite from the ones Anna narrates. Where she is sweet and innocent, Kai is wild and well no other way to put it but sex on a stick hehe. And that made for a very interesting look at the world Wendy created. We also lost that sense of newness that Anna experiences by being dropped into the Neph world so suddenly. Kai has been raised in it and knows the rules from day one. He knows what's at stake if he does not work or if he defies his father. And I really think that makes the battle Kai faces within himself more understood.
From the start of Sweet Evil we knew Kaidan Rowe was the arrogant lustful rock star. But one of the things that I found so interesting and probably my new favorite side of Kai was how insecure and worried for Anna he was. I mean we know he cares about her after a few important things that happened in books one and two, and well book three too. But after reading this book we see why he put up so many road blocks and tried not to show his feelings towards her. And to tell you the truth, I think I fell for him even more because of those reasons. It makes him such a complex character.
Lets talk Anna for a moment. I love her. She is by far one of my favorite book heroins. But I think that is because if I could relate to any book character it would be her. Well her and Katy from JLA's Lux series hehe. But really I feel like I was just as naive and innocent as Anna was going through high school. I mean I had a ton of band and drama friends so I was use to all the lewd terrible bad jokes don't get me wrong. But I was so naive when it came to other things. And I was ok with that. I liked the way I was, and when it came time to change that I was ready to fight however I needed to. Now I wasn't fighting demons out to destroy me or anything (That would have been a way better story. Obviously since it is a story lol) but I fought my own sort of battles dealing with a crazy divorced family, a pile of duel enrollment classes, going off to college, losing/gaining friends, meeting new people, not getting in trouble, living on my own... The list goes on and on. And why those seem like fairly normal things I can tell you a few of them were pretty hard to deal with. But characters like Anna remind me to always have strength, and to stand up for your beliefs and what you think is right. Sounds like a cliche add for one of those be your self campaigns, but I think it's something that people always tend to forget. We all want to fit in, and if Anna can stand her ground against icky demons out to kill her, than I sure as heck can stand my ground on the things that make me myself.
I also want to get in something about supporting characters here. Because everyone's favorite Neph's including Kope, Marna, Ginger, and Blake are back. And while they all had their own relationships with Anna we see them a bit differently in this book. And that's because we see them as the life long friends of someone instead of new acquaintances and love interests.
Oh oh! side note for a minute. Yeah Kope and Kai... That was so much better in this book. But I love a good guy tiff so that could be why haha.
Ok back on track now, seeing all the Neph from Kai's POV gave them a bit more depth as well. He knows a lot more about them all and understands why they act the way they do more than Anna could understand sometimes. Plus I love his relationship with the twins and Blake. Blake especially was fun because he is a lot more open with Kai, and well they are what you could call Kai's bestie. If big strong Neph men have such a thing lol
And what would a book about a guy in a rock band be if we didn't talk a little about said band?
While we know Anna and Kaidan met at a Lascivious concert we never got to see much about the other band members before. Now we get a pretty decent look at them. And they are pretty much what you would expect. Lot's of partying, groupies yada yada. While they weren't really my main focus in this story they were still super fun to finally get to see more of.
The last thing character wise I want to talk about was Kaidan's relationship with both Patti and Belial. Patti in general to everyone was the self appointed mother figure. Something none of the Nephs had. I love how supportive but yet stern she could be. That and she always showed so much love towards them all. She didn't care what sin they were burdened with from the daddy demons. She just saw that they needed the love and care she could provide and gave it to them. That in particular touched Kai I think. Especially after living under the thumb of the slightly disturbed, and very nasty lust demon Pharzuph.
Now Belial's relationship with Kai is very different than Patti's. Belial never really approved of Kai, but I mean can you really blame him? I'm pretty sure if I know the son of the demon of lust was interested in my daughter I would be pretty pissed too. But what I found so interesting is that over time Belial really does begin to trust Kai. Not just because Anna loves him, but because he sees the good in Kai. And sees how he would truly do whatever he had to do to keep Anna safe. Including staying away from her, or standing up for her even if it meant his own life was on the line.
So I have waited till close to the end here to really get into this because I know I am going to get kinda ranty. Not even the bad kind either. More the oh-em-gee kinda rant lol
We need to seriously talk demons. I mean this story would go no where without some grade-A spooks and that is just what Wendy gave us. After the other three books we got a pretty good idea just how despicable and terrible the whole lot of them are. But I have to say, Really getting a look into Lusty Daddy Rowe was quite an interesting experience. I mean talk about creep. That guy had some seriously bad things going on. And through him we saw some of his twisted relationships with the other dukes and man they are seriously a messed up bunch. I think my skin crawled a few times even. Then we get more of that Marissa lady, and oh God what I wouldn't have given to reach into this book and yak that woman's hair out. I swear I'm not a violent person either hehe.
But the badies in the book are something that I always thought Wendy did a great job of writing. She gives them just enough eww factor to give the heebie-jeebies, but just enough personality so you really get a sense of the nastiness and can truly feel the hate for them. Coming from my writing experience. The bad guys are the hardest to write. It's easy creating a character people will love, but the ones people hate... that can be difficult. And Wendy pulls it off amazingly.
So if you really need me to spell it out... I loved this book. It is simply amazing, and I think really gives a good closing to this series. Well that is unless there is plans on a few novellas about the Neph couples other than Kaidan and Anna. If those are in the works, than bring it on lol. But if they aren't I stand by my previous statement. We know the whole story now. What happened to each of our favorites when they weren't together. I always wondered what devious things went through Kaidan Rowe's head at a given minute, and while a good amount of what did didn't surprise me in the least. There were many things that did. And I have to say I loved that. He is so multi-dimensional, and it makes me fall just a bit more in love with him than before. Not that there was much more room to do that :D
Ya'll are probably going to say that I've already talked about this, but I want to give this topic it's own little spotlight and not just a few mentions. And that is because this is my favorite part of this book and Kaidan. I loved that Kai was so dang insecure about himself. That he really truly believed he was never good enough for Anna. I'm sure I'm getting strange looks for saying that too, but let me explain. All throughout the Sweet Evil series we saw Kai as this cocky guy. But knew it mostly an act, because he really did care for Anna and was just protecting her. But now we get a front row seat to those feelings. We see just how much he felt he wasn't worthy of the goodness that was Anna, and to me that shows more of how you are worthy of someone like that. Because he was so worried about how his relationship with Anna will effect her pureness and goodliness he really shows his love in a way not many people are willing to do. You will see this a lot in part three of this book. He actually made me get a little emotional there a few times, because I knew he deserved to be able to love someone and have them love him in return. I think it's good to see everyone's favorite bad boy rock star have a sweet and a bit unsure side. It allows you to see he is more than what he appears and is a truly deep character. I love that Wendy was able to do this giving us this book. It's just a great thing seeing how the characters develop and change throughout a story.
Oh and one more thing to add real quick. A full book of nothing but that sexy British accent? Yeah that was perfect. For the past week I have literally been trying to walk around using slang from the book. I didn't even realize I was doing it until I went to curse and used something from the book instead. (I live with small children and try not to curse in general. I'm always using words to replace the bad ones like Firetruck, that sort of thing. And now I find myself replacing them with this slang) Oh and let me tell you. I have a terrible British accent when I try so it just doesn't sound the same :(
But it does get me some laughs. Apparently I am pretty funny now with my "new lingo"
But can I just say if any hot Brits want to volunteer, I will seriously take you up on the offer to just read to me. That is the hottest thing ever. And Kai if you by chance are real, that invite goes out to you too bhahaha
I give Sweet Temptation: *****5 Stars*****
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