*My Thoughts*
"There is going to be a reckoning, both sweet and terrible." ARC copy of Sweet Reckoning
Sweet Reckoning, the finale of The Sweet Trilogy, pushes Anna Whitt and her Nephilim allies (Kaiden Rowe, Kopano, Blake, Ginger, Marna, & Zania) that much closer to the final confrontation with the Dukes of Hell led by Pharzuph and Rahab. Ever since Anna was told of the prophecy that someone would end the Dukes existence on Earth, she's struggled to understand what it really means, and how she is supposed to defeat the Dukes while ensuring that her friends & family like Jay and Patti, survive.
Over the course of this trilogy, Anna has become a much stronger, determined, and focused heroine. After discovering her heritage, and knowing who her mother and father really are, and what makes her different from other Nephilim, she's had to make difficult choices in order to remain alive while gathering allies by her side. Her struggles and fights with Kaiden over his feelings for her are finally over and they can move on to what we've been expecting from the couple from the first time they met. Her determination to remain pure at heart and true to herself are still intact despite being watched over by the Legionnaires, and the Duke's who don't trust her and suspect her of being the person who will one day bring them down.
Sweet Reckoning isn't an action packed book that leaves readers gasping for air, but it does have some really emotional scenes that left me sniffling and cursing the author out under my breath. Readers will be happy that Higgins gives them plenty of Kai and Anna, and an Epilogue, although not necessarily needed to enjoy the book, that just seriously broke my last will not to cry.
Although Sweet Reckoning was pretty much the predictable ending that I had foreseen when requesting this title, I have a few puzzlement's that will linger with me since there are no more books in the series to read. I would love to flood this review full with quotes, but I am determined not to spoil anything that happens especially since I am writing this review several weeks before the book actually releases (April 29, 2014) to the general public.
As a reviewer, I have a responsibility to put forth my thoughts in a way that clearly tells readers why I liked, or disliked the story without revealing situations and characters or babbling like a newborn baby. There are small things that I would have liked to see changed, like the final battle between Nephilim and Duke's, but I understand that Higgins was probably constrained by editors who tore through this manuscript looking for things to remove so that it didn't turn into a Game of Thrones length epic novel.
I absolutely adore Patti, and am putting her high on my list of best mothers in YA Fiction even though she's not Anna's birth mother. I adore her no fear and all in mentality. I adore the fact that she loves Anna despite the hazards to her own health, and the fact that she stands side by side with Anna and the Nephilim and becomes the mother they never knew. I wept when Anna has all her friends over to Patti's for Thanksgiving, and laughed with the silliness that pursued knowing that at any time, the Duke's would come for Anna and break up the happy moment. I found myself swooning over Jay and his new romance as it were. It's hard to say who is the more adorable character, Jay, or Kaiden, but I'm not willing to vote either off my island.
In the end, I would have been plenty satisfied without the Epilogue attached but understand Higgins need to add it to the story. I've been bitten by the final book of a series so many times that the Epilogue kind of just threw salt in the wound knowing that other characters didn't have the chance to have their happy endings.
*Recvd via Edelweiss/Harper Teen 02/11/2014* Expected publication: April 29th 2014 by HarperTeen
Author - Wendy Higgins
Title - Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy # 3)
Published by Harper Teen
Released: April 29, 2014
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: E-Book 464 pages
I haven't read this series but I am curious if it has ended well. Like you I've been disappointed so many times I have a love/hate relationship with series endings. So your last line, does it mean that there's no obvious HEA?
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