REVIEW: Wendy Darling--Stars by Colleen Oakes

From the Best-Selling Author of Queen of Hearts comes a dark and mesmerizing twist on the beloved Children's Classic, Peter Pan.

Wendy Darling has a perfectly agreeable life with her parents and brothers in wealthy London, as well as a budding romance with Booth, the neighborhood bookseller’s son. But while their parents are at a ball, the charmingly beautiful Peter Pan comes to the Darling children’s nursery and—dazzled by this flying boy with god-like powers—they follow him out of the window and straight on to morning, to Neverland, a intoxicating island of feral freedom.

As time passes in Neverland, Wendy realizes that this Lost Boy’s paradise of turquoise seas, mermaids, and pirates holds terrible secrets rooted in blood and greed. As Peter’s grasp on her heart tightens, she struggles to remember where she came from—and begins to suspect that this island of dreams, and the boy who desires her—have the potential to transform into an everlasting nightmare. 

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I received an ecopy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

MY THOUGHTS
I love retellings of all kinds so when I saw this one on Netgalley, I was immediately curious! It took a little bit to get into this one, but the ending was very exciting and I enjoyed this book.

Wendy Darling is in love with the bookseller's son, Booth, but she can't be with him. Booth isn't of her class and it's forbidden. Wendy is about to sneak out to see him, when instead, a strange boy flies into the nursery. He promises adventure and a tantalizing world. Wendy and her brothers travel with him to Neverland and at first it seems to be an amazing adventure, but it turns out to be dangerous...

This book is obviously a retelling of Peter Pan. For a long while, there weren't a whole lot that felt like they were definite retellings. Sure, there were differences, but it felt more like Peter Pan being told from Wendy's POV. Still, I thought it was very well-done!

I liked Wendy as a character. She's not as strong as a character as I'm used to, but she's also a woman in the early 1900's, so she would be much different from what we're used to. I liked how she cared for her brothers. Though, John is a complete jerk, Wendy still cares (even though he doesn't deserve it). She also tried to care and protect Michael.

The romance with Booth didn't wow me. I guess I felt like the romance way too strong. I admit that I might've felt more if I saw the romance come to play, but the book obviously has to begin with their heavy feelings for each other already there.

I mentioned that the book didn't feel like it was a definite retelling for awhile. It was also very slow-paced in the beginning as well. Well, in the last parts of the book, the book gets very interesting and much more fast-paced. I love how it twisted the original story and how the book ended! Yes, there's a cliffhanger, but I loved how it gives us a strong basis of what the next book will include!

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, this turned out to be a great retelling! It took a bit to get really exciting, but I loved how it turned out. The ending makes me really want to read the sequel! I recommend this to fans of retellings and I am definitely continuing this series!

I hereby give this book

3.5 Stars

Meaning: I liked it, but it wasn't quite amazing.