SWEAR

Not every teen paranormal romance requires a sequel—and this demonstrates why.

In Swoon (2009), readers were mesmerized by the sensually seductive Sinclair Powers, a ghost-turned-golem whose many charms left teenager Dice sighing under his spell. Nowadays, Dice has been living Sin-less, but when her best friend’s boyfriend disappears, she surmises that supernatural forces are again at work. A deranged dead debutante has declared her undying love (literally) for Sin, has taken said boyfriend captive and will not free him until she and Sin are wed. Dice, with her psychic abilities, acts as an intermediary between the two ghosts, trying to figure out how to both get her friend’s boyfriend back safely and how to once again make Sin hers. Readers looking for the same erotic tones found in Swoon will be disappointed; Sin is a stark 180-degree departure from his previous womanizing self, a watered-down shell of his earlier characterization. This plodding affair moves along discontinuously, from a battle of the bands to haunted houses to a sylvan party with the gods. While Swoon was neatly resolved at the end, this sequel feels like an unnecessary offering, more rambling and with a decidedly different tone.