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taylor13's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Rape, Blood, and Kidnapping
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
renmarie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
kaelizaco's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Pregnancy
kacithebookaddict's review
3.0
I don't think there has ever been a quote that could sum up an entire book so well until now. I love stories that are dark versions of the ones I loved as a kid. But this book? DARK. I've never read something so horrifying. Peter Pan the sexual predator and drug dealer- not my cup of tea. HOWEVER!! What bothered me the most is that Holly spent the whole book running around like a chicken with its head cut off. It's almost as if the author just lost her timeline for the book and just started throwing everything she could think of into it.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
micaelamariem's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
But there were things I really didn’t like and it wasn’t until reading the other reviews that I could put words to it. I will say that a main complaint of others is not of mine—BUT still check trigger warnings. There is SA in the book but I thought it was going to be more graphic based on the complaints and it wasn’t the main point of the book. The book is more about Peter Pan kidnapping children (which again is kind of a homage to the original).
I think it had potential if we saw more of Peter and how he grew dark—or even got to see what Neverland has become! That would have been much more interesting than just chapter after chapter of Holly worrying and sad with very little action to fix the problem.
Also, someone else said they were annoyed how Holly wanted to sleep with everyone she met, and honestly that was kind of annoying. Though I’m all for sexual freedom, I felt like this took away her agency.
The author also tried to push a romance that didn’t work for me—there was very little burn in it, it was just 0-100. In a sense, my main complaint for everything is that. 0-100, details of worrying but no detail of the action and how they solved the problem. I’m not going to be keeping this book.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
katieimre's review
0.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, and Grief
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
mccutiereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” - J.M. Barrie
This was a very interesting take on the original Peter Pan tale! Dark, but different than most modern retellings. Stay with me now - I’ll explain!
SUMMARY
We follow Holly, daughter of Jane (yes that Jane) and grand daughter of Wendy (YES that Wendy), as she copes with the aftermath of an ancient family tragedy. Holly has longed to escape the infamous Darling name and its legacy. From the extravagant balls to the ever looming prescience of Peter Pan (and yes, I do mean that Peter Pan).
While the world may delight in the tale of the charming young boy who never grows up, Holly Darling knows the sinister truth. And she is willing to do anything to keep her son from finding it. She has done unspeakable and questionable things in the name of protecting her child, all while going to the ends of the earth to hide away her comatose, and magical, daughter. When another tragedy strikes the Darling house, Holly takes matters into her own hands and sets out to track down the only person who might have an answer: Peter Pan.
REVIEW
This book was not at all what I thought it was going to be. And that’s not a bad thing. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t know how to feel about our star Holly Darling. After losing a husband, son, and daughter (basically) all while trying to hide from the Darling curse, she protected herself and her surviving son from everything. Including Peter Pan. And she went to CONSIDERABLE lengths to protect Jack. Now, seeing as I am not a mom I don’t know how well I can weigh in on what a mother would do in her shoes… but I did feel strongly that she was taking things a bit too far 🤐
But, strangely enough, I was singing a different tune about three quarters of the way through the book. Could Holly have saved herself, and son, heartbreak and pain by being honest from the beginning? Absolutely. But I finally understood that motherly instinct to care and protect. To nurture and keep your loved ones from harm. Hell, I do that to my friends AND family.
I’m going to go ahead and say that there was no “right” way for Holly to raise her son and cope with her losses. Because, after reading this book and sitting with the themes of motherhood, sacrifice, loss of innocence, and fear of growing up I realized that despite all the parenting books and guides out there there is no right way to 1) mother and 2) live your life. We will all go about it the best way we can. And we will ultimately fail, because we’re human.
Anywho, I promise this review has a point. I wouldn’t say this book is about Peter Pan. It’s about MUCH more than that. And I’m glad. So go read this book!!!
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Abandonment
emilyjeanne's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Main character is a textbook helicopter parent, and can’t figure out why her kid keeps pushing her away. She’s described as having multiple PhDs, but is somehow so, so stupid. She also kept mentioning she’d do ANYTHING for her kids, but never actually did anything, just threw money at other people to do stuff for her.
I could not root for her as a protaganist because I really just could not stand her character, and all the other characters fell completely flat. They had no personalities, and none of them really progressed the plot at all.
Also, this book has a huge amount of content that should come with content/trigger warnings but doesn’t.
CW: sexual assault, drug use, death of a minor, forced medical testing on minors, suicidal ideation, death of a spouse, kidnapping.
Honestly there’s probably more but this book was so bad I can’t even remember them all, since most of them had nothing to do with the plot anyway.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
ggreen1379's review
2.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Abandonment
vagrantheather's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Child death and Rape
Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, and Stalking
Minor: Car accident