By Jodi Lynn Anderson
Published July 3rd, 2012
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .
Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.
Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.
With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up. -Goodreads
Review
At first, I was only
vaguely interested in reading this book. It was only until I saw it on a
library shelf that I decided to try it, going in without high
expectations. However, Tiger Lily far exceeded my expectations.
It turned out to be such a wonderful story of a girl who is so brave and
strong on the outside, but has so many doubts and fears that she can't
express, not even when she falls in love for the first time. It is so
much more than just a retelling of the well known story of Peter Pan, it
is Tiger Lily's story, one about love, loss, and loneliness.
In the story of Peter Pan, Neverland is seen as a magical place where good will always triumph over evil. That is not the case in Tiger Lily's Neverland, and through Tinker Bell's view point the readers can catch a glimpse of an entirely different world other than the Disney fairytale setting. The story is a brilliant mix of the Peter Pan that I know and grew up with and a whole new story that makes you question everything from the original fairytale and see it in a different light. In this Neverland, there is a deeper and darker side, where good doesn't always win and love doesn't always carry the day.
From the outset, Tiger Lily has always been different from the rest of her tribe. She is bold, fearless, an amazing huntress and tracker, and doesn't fit into the mold of what her tribe expects her to be. She has always had to deal with that loneliness and the feeling of being an outsider. She manages with all her problems by shoving them deep down inside of her where they will never show. Not only that, but it is very hard for her to communicate and show her feelings and break through her outward mask of being uncaring and cool. I feel such pity and empathy towards her.
By the end I was very disappointed with Peter. I knew that he would leave Neverland with Wendy, but I still didn't want it to happen. I will always root for Tiger Lily, though I think that the ending was the best it could possibly be (after all Peter and Tiger Lily can't end up together as it's not in the original story). They are such a good match, and are so similar. I also feel that in the end Peter betrayed himself. He ended up growing old and living a life of comfort and security when before he was so adventurous and fearless and didn't think it was possible to grow old.
I absolutely loved this book. The writing was beautiful, and flowed from one thing to the next. Neverland became a real and magical place, and the characters had such a deeper meaning to them than in the original story of Peter Pan. Tiger Lily is such a poignant tale of first love and how confusing and cruel life can be. The ending was so sad I cried (a lot) and was so bittersweet. In my heart I knew what would happen but I couldn't help but want Tiger Lily to finally get the guy. However sad the ending was it was also satisfying, and it made the story complete. I guess it's like life, there isn't always a happy ending.
In the story of Peter Pan, Neverland is seen as a magical place where good will always triumph over evil. That is not the case in Tiger Lily's Neverland, and through Tinker Bell's view point the readers can catch a glimpse of an entirely different world other than the Disney fairytale setting. The story is a brilliant mix of the Peter Pan that I know and grew up with and a whole new story that makes you question everything from the original fairytale and see it in a different light. In this Neverland, there is a deeper and darker side, where good doesn't always win and love doesn't always carry the day.
From the outset, Tiger Lily has always been different from the rest of her tribe. She is bold, fearless, an amazing huntress and tracker, and doesn't fit into the mold of what her tribe expects her to be. She has always had to deal with that loneliness and the feeling of being an outsider. She manages with all her problems by shoving them deep down inside of her where they will never show. Not only that, but it is very hard for her to communicate and show her feelings and break through her outward mask of being uncaring and cool. I feel such pity and empathy towards her.
By the end I was very disappointed with Peter. I knew that he would leave Neverland with Wendy, but I still didn't want it to happen. I will always root for Tiger Lily, though I think that the ending was the best it could possibly be (after all Peter and Tiger Lily can't end up together as it's not in the original story). They are such a good match, and are so similar. I also feel that in the end Peter betrayed himself. He ended up growing old and living a life of comfort and security when before he was so adventurous and fearless and didn't think it was possible to grow old.
I absolutely loved this book. The writing was beautiful, and flowed from one thing to the next. Neverland became a real and magical place, and the characters had such a deeper meaning to them than in the original story of Peter Pan. Tiger Lily is such a poignant tale of first love and how confusing and cruel life can be. The ending was so sad I cried (a lot) and was so bittersweet. In my heart I knew what would happen but I couldn't help but want Tiger Lily to finally get the guy. However sad the ending was it was also satisfying, and it made the story complete. I guess it's like life, there isn't always a happy ending.
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