I rated this (darker) Peter Pan retelling a 4.8/5 stars. This YA contemporary/fantasy was NOT a romance but had a few moments in there. It was refreshing that the whole story was in Wendy’s POV.
Here are my live thought while reading:
Chapter 1 had TONS of info. So, 18 year old Wendy has a BFF who delivered info that another young child in their community has disappeared. The same fate happened to Wendy’s younger brothers before. Meanwhile, Wendy has been preoccupied with the issue that she keeps finding half drawn images of Peter Pan stories on her random receipts and notebook paper. Driving home from work one night, she gets in a car wreck, hitting Peter Pan himself.
So why does Peter remember her but she doesn’t remember him? Does Peter know where her brothers are? Did he take the other two missing kids? Is Peter trustworthy? If Peter never grows up, how long has he been this age? Will she try to free Peter from the hospital?
Page 37- shout out to all the fellow competitive swimmers out there!
Oooh! Uh oh! Their clothing samples match… The blood on the dog fur and blood under the fingernails is pretty creepy for YA.
I’m skating through this book without many complaints. So far I just wish there wasn’t as much repetition about her skepticism in the beginning. Otherwise I love the concept of the shadow both literally and symbolic. Peter Pan always creeps me out just a little since he also knew Wendy’s mother as a child.
The little acorn has to mean something later on. I don’t trust the police at all which is good because usually in other books like this I’m just wanting them to call 911. But it doesn’t make any sense here.
After chapter 15 it’s a little frustrating how reckless they’re being and how they haven’t created any type of plan yet. They don’t know many answers such as what attempts to make to reattach the shadow once they catch it. They’re not thinking things through much but overall I still love the story.
Stolen kids is one of the only plots as usually can’t handle but since this is from the sisters perspective instead of the parents I’m dealing with it okay.
Oh man … chapter 20 was rough. I need a break for a minute.
It feels like 3/4 of the way through her best friend, Jordan, was just forgotten in the story. Where do you go, girl?
The ending was satisfying but I still wanted it to work out so everyone involved would be happy. In reality, this isn’t the case. At least there’s closure. I appreciated how the author, Aiden Thomas mirrored the grieving process stage, recovering, letting go and acceptance. It was a beautiful and twisty retelling that’ll stay with me for a while.
Cassie Swindon 