Review: Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy, #3) by Wendy Higgins

Title: Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy, #3)
Author: Wendy Higgins
Rating: ★★★★★(5/5 Stars)
Paperback, 379 Pages
Published April 2014
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Summary: Evil is running rampant and sweet Anna Whitt is its target. Nobody knows when or how the Dukes will strike, but Anna and her Nephilim allies will do anything necessary to rid the earth of the demons and their oppressive ways. The stakes are higher than ever, and Anna is determined that the love she feels will be her strength, not a liability. But trying to protect the ones she loves while running for her life and battling demonic forces proves to be perilous—especially as faces are changing and trust is fleeting. When the Duke of Lust sends Anna’s great love, Kaidan Rowe, to work against her, Anna must decide how much she’s prepared to risk.

Oh my goodness, this book very truly played with my feels in a totally heart-aching way that makes me want to cry and bow down at Wendy Higgins's genius. This book was the final installment in the Sweet Trilogy and I couldn't have come up with a better ending if I tried myself. 

Warning: For any lovers of Kai and Anna, this book is perfect and super steamy. You will looooove the romance (and special surprises!) that develop between these two. 

In the final installment of the trilogy, Anna, Kai and all of the other Neph allies are gearing up to do the one thing they've set out to do to restore natural order in the world: take down the Dukes. However, this is no easy feat--Kaidan's father is on Anna's tail to make sure she's impure and no longer able to wield the one weapon that they're all afraid of--the Sword of Righteousness.

As for the drama that unfolds between the other Neph, there's plenty of that. Marna and Ginger make a return back to the States and then get tied up in a chain of events with an irreversible, shocking ending. Roni and Jay have some drama, as well as Ginger and Blake, and...it's just drama all around.

This book was the perfect balance of heart-racing suspense and romance, equal parts fast-paced and slowly sweet. I was hooked to this book and pretty much read it nonstop for two days in a row, only stopping to do the boring, mundane things like eating and school and sleeping. The "One More Chapter" Disease was highly prominent for me in this book! I kept wanting to turn the page and find out what was going to happen next, especially when the story was solely focused on Kai and Anna. (Oh, Kai and Anna. Shippers of these two will definitely be in their glory with this book. *wink*)

As a reader, I also got to see Kai as a person develop as well. He went from being the super-tough bad boy in Sweet Evil to the compassionate, caring sweetheart that he is in Sweet Reckoning. The character development throughout the trilogy was definitely noticeable by the end, and it only made me fall in love with him even more. *Major heart eyes with this book*

Okay, now it's time to Kanna shipping/fangirling. As I mentioned several times already, THE KANNA FEELS ARE STRONG WITH THIS ONE. Amber and I were furiously texting about scene after scene because it felt as if we got punched right in the feels. Long story short, I won't spoil anything for anybody, but let's just say that Anna and Kai find a loophole in the prophecy--a way to become impure by the Duke's standards without actually breaking the purity rules required to wield the Sword. ;) The romance between these two is steamy and strong and perfect and just ughhhh. <3 

THAT DARN EPILOGUE. That was possibly one of the most fulfilling epilogues I have read, second only to the epilogue in Mockingjay because I'm still in love with Peeta Mellark. But back to the main subject, here. I feel like this epilogue took the shredded pieces of my heart that remained in this book and just totally finished me off and annihilated every last hope of me emerging from this book in a semi-normal emotional state. For the most part, every question is answered, every couple is highlighted and taken care of, and the epilogue has a couple of twists and turns of its own that screws the knife in your chest just the tiniest bit deeper. The feels are certainly strong with this book and my heart is aching and my mind is reeling and Wendy Higgins is just AWESOME.

All in all, Sweet Reckoning was a passionate book about love and loss and good and bad and standing up for what you believe in, no matter what the circumstances are. Wendy Higgins created a killer ending to this trilogy and I can't wait for the novella to be released in Kaidan's point-of-view--even if it is classified as NA! ;)

Hats off to Higgins for a great trilogy that I'll be recommending to quite a few people!