Review: Swoon by Nina Malkin

Title: Swoon
Author: Nina Malkin
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pub. Date: 2009
Genre: YA
Main themes: Possession, Death, Spirits/Ghosts, Golem, Love, Lust, Sins
Pages: 421
Plot (from book jacket):
"SIN IS COMING... PREPARE TO SWOON.
Torn from her native New York City and dumped in a land of cookie-cutter preps, Candice is resigned to accept her posh, dull fate. Nothing ever happens in Swoon, Connecticut... until Dice's perfect, privileged cousin Penelope nearly dies in a fall from an old tree and her spirit intertwines with that of a ghost. His name? Sinclair Youngblood Powers. His mission? Revenge. And while Pen is oblivious to the possession, Dice is all too aware of Sin. She's intensly drawn to him - but not at all crazy about the havoc he's wreaking.

Determined to exorcise the demon, Dice accidentally sets Sin loose, gives him flesh, makes him formidable. Now she must destroy an even more potent - and irresistible - adversary before the whole town succumbs to Sin's will. Only trouble is, she's in love with him.

What do you do when the boy of your dreams is too bad to be true?"

I'll start out by saying that Swoon was not at all what I expected. However, I still ended up loving it in the end - once I gave up the idea of what I thought it was going to be.

If you like "bad boys" - real bad boys - then you'll love Sin. His name really says it all. I alternated between hating and loving him, but in the end I pretty much settled on love, despite some of the absolutely horrible things he did throughout the book. I think I loved him for Dice more than anything.

I really liked the symbolism and meaning found by reading between the lines of Swoon. It was a good novel at face value, but it was even better if look a little deeper.

There is a lot of sex in this book - and plenty of drug use as well. I didn't think that this content took away from the plot, rather they added the edge and "sin" that was integral to the plot.


Ratings (out of 10):
Characters: 10
Plot: 10
Writing style: 10
Romance: 10
Originality: 10

Total: 50/50 (A!)

Basically, I hope my review made you wonder - I didn't want to say too much or give anything away. Swoon is really one of those books that you just have to read for yourself - and I highly recommend that you do. It seems to me that it is one of those love it or hate it books, but I personally loved it!