Swoon [Paperback]

Nina Malkin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 4, 2010

Sin is coming... Prepare to Swoon.

Torn from her native New York City and dumped in the 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 intensely 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?

"Sexy and deeply seductive...Swoon will make your every sense tingle!"

--Melissa de la Cruz, bestselling author of the Blue Bloods series

“A captivatingly unique story of first love. Nina Malkin’s smart, vivid writing is a breath of fresh air. Simply unforgettable . . . Swoon will haunt you.”

--Lara Adrian, bestselling author of the Midnight Breed series

"Swoon is (forgive the pun) divinely swoon-worthy. Fast, sexy, clever--fans of Twilight have a new heroine to root for. I couldn't put it down!"

--Karen Marie Moning, bestselling author of the Highlander and Fever series

"A spine-tingling collision of past and present, revenge and justice, lust and rage. True love has never been so truly terrifying." --Robin Wasserman, author of the Seven Deadly Sins series and Skinned

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Swoon, Connecticut, stands proudly on its heritage and the good behavior of its Lilly Pulitzer–clad inhabitants, so semi-psychic New York transplant Candice (Dice) sticks out like a sore thumb. On the autumnal equinox, Dice’s sweet and gentle cousin Penelope suddenly changes into a dangerous vixen, and only Dice is able to see that she has been possessed. Dice knows she must exorcise Sinclair, the ghost of a handsome young man from the colonial era, but she has fallen deeply in love with the appropriately nicknamed Sin. Finally, Dice follows Sin’s directions for an exorcism, which frees Penelope from his hold and releases Sin into his own physical form. The golem-like Sin finally reveals his goal: to exact revenge on the descendants of those who unjustly hung him for the murder of his fiancée. Since Sin awakens the quaint town’s denizens to all of their suppressed urges, this steamy and suspenseful romance with a psychic slant and time-travel twist will pull mature teens. The paranormal angle and several star-crossed love pairings will appeal to fans of the Twilight series. Grades 10-12. --Heather Booth --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Sexy and deeply seductive...Swoon will make your every sense tingle!" -- Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Blue Bloods series

"Fast, sexy, clever -- fans of Twilight have a new heroine to root for. I couldn't put it down!" -- Karen Marie Moning, bestselling author of the Highlander and Fever series

"A captivatingly unique story of first love. Nina Malkin's smart, vivid writing is a breath of fresh air. Simply unforgettable...Swoon will haunt you." -- Lara Adrian, bestselling author of the Midnight Breed series

"A spine-tingling collision of past and present, revenge and justice, lust and rage. True love has never been so truly terrifying." -- Robin Wasserman, author of the Seven Deadly Sins series and Skinned

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse; 1 edition (May 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416998012
• ISBN-13: 978-1416998013
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (126 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I suffered through until the very end, hopefully so you won't have to August 11, 2009

By Deee Lovely VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I suppose the formula here is the supernatural teen romance ala "Twilight", but I think this book would be a complete turn off to most teens who read it. The plot is strange without being appealing. The narration voice is a teenage girl who switches back and forth between very contrived and inauthentic teen lingo and saying things that wouldn't mean much to anyone under 30; I found it very distracting.

The "love" story is weird. I never saw where the love came from--it came out of nowhere and made me feel like I missed something, 100 pages of story development maybe? ...but sadly that was not the case. The male love interest, Sin, is an abusive narcissist. Our damsel in distress, Dice, is obviously emotionally damaged to want him in the first place, although that baggage is never explained. Dice tells us on page one she has some sort of psychic ability masked as epilepsy...part of the story line, possibly? ...no, it is never mentioned again other than one line of dialog where someone asks Dice if she is having a seizure. Okay.

To top it all off the names are all terribly irritating; names converted to monosyllabic monikers (i.e. Candice becomes Dice) that we are supposed to believe are cool or trendy...you tell me:

Dice, Sin, Pen, Doll, Con, Marsh, Gel, Crane, El and Em (really), Duck, Wick, Boz, No and Way (not making those two up, either)

Rarely have I read a book and could not find one positive thing to say about it. The best I could come up with for this one is the book cover is nice.

46 of 56 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Disjointed story with flat characters and loads of casual sex and drug use June 2, 2009

By Karissa Eckert TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I got this book through Amazon Vine. I was excited to get it because I actually had this book on my wish list. Boy was I disappointed.

The concept is interesting. Dice has some psychic ability. When her friend Pen falls from a tree and dies for a moment; Pen's body is entered by the spirit of Sinclair (Sin). Sin was wrongly murdered many, many years ago and wants revenge against the town of Swoon (where they all live). Sins presence makes Pen act out and Dice tries to exorcise Sin; instead she ends up giving him a physical body that allows him to wreck havoc in person instead of through Pen.

Okay if the premise sounds interesting, it is. Unfortunately the execution of the story left a lot to be desired. All of the characters come across as stereotypical and flat. The story itself is inconsistent and disjointed; chapters end in the middle of a scene only to have new chapters start in a completely different setting. It leaves wondering if some pages fell out of the book or something. An example of this: a big deal is made about how Dice need to hitchhike to get someone to drive her back to New York city, she meets a psychic there. In the middle of their meeting the chapter ends. In the next chapter Dice is suddenly back in Swoon getting ready for a Halloween party. How did she get back to Swoon? A big deal was made about how she got out of Swoon, so how did she suddenly get back? What happened to her meeting with the psychic? I mean really would it hurt to have some consistency?

I also had a bit of a problem with this being dubbed a young adult novel. Throughout the novel drug use runs rampant. We are talking use of every kind of drug you can think of; it is casual use with no real purpose to the story. The drug use is such that every single character in the book casually uses drugs; it really gives the message that all young teens casually use drugs and I found it kind of disturbing. Which leads to the problem of the casual sexuality in this book too. I am all for liberal sex (big fan of the Anita Blake books here); but when you have young adults having loads of casual sex among themselves, trying to seduce teachers, and descriptions of casual sex between senior citizens...it was all just a bit weird for me. I would have been uncomfortable reading this as a "young adult".

Now let's briefly discuss Sin and Dice's "relationship". There is no relationship. Dice loves Sin (for no reason) and Sin constantly abuses her emotionally and occasionally physically. Still somehow Dice and Sin are supposed to be the ultimate star-crossed couple...ummm no, they are just dysfunctional. I found many of the characters' relationships with each other to be equally disturbing and unhealthy. I also never really got the point of the story.

Some of the above could be excused if the story was fast-paced, engaging, or fun to read. Unfortunately it is none of those. I had a lot of trouble getting through the book; believe it or not all of the sex and drug use was so prevalent it got very boring to read about. The whole time I read this book I was just counting down the pages, hoping that soon I would get to the end of it.

I usually try to find something positive to say about a book; but seriously I did not like this book and I have nothing positive to say about it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars not one redeeming quality February 28, 2011

By Mara E.

Format:Paperback

Truthfully, I was recommended this book because it is horrible. Although I was hoping it would be more Hush, Hush horrible instead of 425 pages of staring in mute astonishment that quickly verged toward confusion that ultimately ended in boredom. Even the glossed over erotica couldn't keep my attention, and there's a lot of glossed over erotica in this book. At first it felt sort of hilariously wrong, and then it just became stupid.

The plot...or whatever that was...involves cousins Candice and Penelope living in Connecticut. Only they are called Dice and Pen, because everyone in Connecticut shortens their name down to a completely random single syllable. (Also, everyone in Connecticut is blond. You only find curly brown hair in New York, apparently.) Pen becomes possessed by a ghost that probably has some very complicated gender identity issues. Dice falls in love with the ghost while it's inhabiting her cousin's body, although there's no telling why because even in Pen's body, the ghost is pretty much a huge jerk. I'll just let that sink in for a minute, because that's not even half of the horribleness. Eventually everyone comes to the conclusion that this possession thing needs to stop, because the ghost is making Pen steal the occasional Rolls while proposing incestuous orgies. (Likable, am I right? Who wouldn't fall in love with that?)

Except naturally something goes wrong in the exorcism, and instead of a possessed cousin, Dice has to deal with the ghost as a golem. Ghost/golem person also insists that they shorten his name (Sinclair Youngblood Powers) to Sin, a name he is determined to live up to, while Dice continues to fall in love for no reason as he's off deflowering her cousin (which apparently feels like being stabbed with a dull knife). This somehow leads to a homecoming dance floor orgy. Or something. Only the "abstinence queen" had to go scream rape, and that's where I stopped reading.

None of this makes sense on the most basic of levels, and the book steps in every YA plot device (different new girl who needs an impossible-to-be-with jerk to complete her or something, absent parents, etc) as it's on its way to being completely incoherent. It's only brilliant in its complete mediocrity, since the sexiness is laughably bad, adds pretty much nothing to the plot, or is just as incoherent as the rest of the story. What is the point?