Swoon

Caitlin Greer's perky voice captures the character of 17-year-old Dice, the spunky narrator of Malkin's offbeat, sexually-charged tale of a dangerous connection between a human and a ghost. Dice communicates with the dead. She falls in love with a seventeenth-century spirit named Sinclair Youngblood Powers, who inhabits her cousin Penelope's body. Greer paces her narration to match the sassy Dice as she struggles to undo the botched exorcism that made Sinclair corporeal. Greer expresses Dice's frustration as she witnesses the irresistible Sinclair wreaking havoc of the sexual kind on the unsuspecting female residents of Swoon, Connecticut. Effortlessly, Greer differentiates between what Dice is thinking and what she is actually saying. Overall, Greer masterfully gives personality to male and female voices while keeping older listeners riveted to Dice's sometimes-dangerous erotic adventure. L.A.C. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

March 30, 2009
If ever a YA novel were primed for late-night Cinemax adaptation, it's Malkin's (The Uncensored Confessions
) latest. Protagonist Dice (who has visions) moves to Swoon, Conn., and, one day, while swinging on a tree, her cousin Pen awakens a restless, vengeful spirit, Sinclair Youngblood Powers. He initially inhabits Pen's body, but eventually gains a body of his own after Dice turns him into a gorgeous, living, breathing golem named Sin. Pre-golem, Sin turns Pen into the horny center of Swoon, and as a golem, Sin continues to wreak sexual havoc on the town—including deflowering Pen, a “Homecoming Orgy” (where a sexual assault occurs and is then mocked) and a spanking scene. While Malkin's prose has a jarring (yet pleasing) lilt to it—her chapters begin with short, vivid statements and Dice offers pithy observations about whatever is happening at the moment—her style is not enough to salvage what comes across as more a series of orgasms and innuendo than an actual story. This book makes Gossip Girl look like Sweet Valley High without the fun and irony. Ages 16–up.