swoon

As far as brain candy goes, some of the current crop of YA books are destined to provide plenty of cavities. And that is fine, to a point. Not all books have to prove a point, provide a lesson or deliver some amazing 'truth' to their readers. Some books are just fluff and should be enjoyed for their fluffiness.

Then there are books that are so fluffy that they slip over the line and become irresponsible....they suck their readers into thinking that the fluff is a desired reality. That is dangerous stuff when the targeted audience is teenaged. My latest YA read isn't fluffy...and I can't imagine that most readers would want to inhabit the world between the covers.

"Swoon" started off as an interesting read, but by the end, I wasn't so sure that the author didn't intentionally include every teen angsty problem and then some, just to counter act the fluff that some other YA paranormal books deliver. The dedication was to a reader who wanted something darker....and Nina Malkin delivers just that. Let's see, we have teen sex, teen drug use, teen drinking, teen burglary, sexual abuse, adultery, patricide, suicide and the list goes on and on.

The base story was very intriguing. A ghost haunts the tree where he was hung after being convicted of murdering his lover back in the 1760's. Said ghost then possesses a young girl, then goes on to trick another girl into creating a 'golem' for him to inhabit. Once given his own body, he then delivers all sorts of 'bad' to the citizens of the town, the modern day descendants of those who killed him and his love. He is the ultimate bad boy, his nickname is even "Sin"....with no soul...who can only be redeemed by the love of his creator.....

For me, this book came across as a bit too much. Sometimes when a novel throws in everything but the kitchen sink of teen aged problems, it just doesn't work. The interesting idea of a golem was not enough to carry the plot I guess. It is not that a book for teens shouldn't talk about serious issues, but when every single one is incorporated into a single plot, it just got to be a bit much for me.