Review: Swoon by Nina Malkin

This was an impromptu read. I wasn't really planning on reading this, but admittedly, when I saw Nina Malkin's tweet to me, I took it as a sign and read it.

To start, I have to say, this book is plain crazy! But! In a good way. :)

Title: Swoon
Author: Nina Malkin
Pages: 425

Summary:

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?

I haven't read about ghosts in YA novels. Well, ghosts and golems. This is the first one I've read in a while and I was curious how it was going to turn out.

I'm fine with a lot of things in YA. I'm okay with people cursing, as long as the characters in what I'm reading doesn't live to curse, that there's a point in them cursing. I'm also fine with references about sex, or reading about sex itself since I've read of it a lot when I was into romance novels, but of course I'd like for it and expected it to be toned down in YA novels.

But you know what, I think one of the most captivating parts of this book was how "sex" was written. It was tasteful, it was nicely written to the point you wouldn't mind reading about it at all. The last few pages actually changed my view of the book, because I was ready to give up reading it, I'm glad I didn't.

Dice and Pen are two crazy teens. Maybe they just want to try out a lot of things, them being teenagers and all. But I was a bit thrown off, and I wouldn't agree with some aspects of the book, considering that this is YA, and I'm not even a teen anymore. Maybe I'm a bit sensitive and most things don't really bother me, but drinking is one thing (and I'm fine with that) but drugs, smoking weed? I wouldn't want much of that in the book I read.

I liked Sin and the way his character has developed. I've said countless of times before, I have a weakness for bad boys, and Sin just happen to be a bad, bad boy. Wait, scratch that. He's a diabolical, scheming boy. Okay, that's better...

However, Sin, evil as he may be, was changing Swoon. Some lives for worse, but most for the better. But it had to be done. His ways might be bad, and he might be driven by a purpose, even revenge, but he was changing the lives of everyone in that small town. And, what he didn't know, was that Swoon, a town that has shunned him even when he was alive, was changing him as well, along with Dice.

Dice, who was desperate for someone to be with her, who learned to deal with her past mistakes, to finally let it all out, to deal with her life, to let go, and to start anew.

Despite my disagreements with some aspects of the book, this has more substance than what I had originally thought it had. It wasn't just about a girl having visions, or some ghost ending up in a girl's body. It gave me a sneak peek in a life of teen, which I think, was a bit truthful than what was written in most YA novels. It dealt with serious issues (abuse, coming of age, coming out of the closet, sex, cheating, use of drugs, you name it...). When you think about it, it was deep, in a sense.

My most favorite part was when Dice sang. I love the way her train of thought went. That beyond that wild, curious, experimenting, teenager that she is, is someone who is also bothered by more serious things in life, like love.

I sang for everyone who’d ever been screwed over and dragged under and messed up by love. And I sang to everyone who’d ever done the screwing and the dragging and the messing. And I sang to and for everyone who’d some day be on one side or the other, probably both. In other words, the whole wide world.

Only let’s be honest: I sang for me.

The lyrics came easy, as if already scribed on the tablature of my subconscious. I went from sitting in my bale of hay to standing astride it. I sang with my arms thrown open and my eyes half closed. I sang from my belly, from my intricate system of female parts, and from those sacs inside me that wouldn’t show up on an ultrasound but held all the rocks and stones and broken glass of want and need I’d managed to collect in seventeen years.

It's a very peculiar love story. I haven't seen anyone like someone she was hating so much as well, and I mean hate. Dice knew Sin was bad, yet despite all of that she felt for him. I guess he was the one mistake Dice made that actually turned out right.

Overall, this was a nice read. It might shock you a bit, but give it a chance. =)

Rating: ★★★★☆ : This is a really nice book.