Morgan
Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Goodreads summary:
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.
My review:
Growing up, Peter Pan was always one of my favorite movies. Therefore, I think it is only natural that I would enjoy this book. And enjoy it I did. It did take me a while to get into it, because it is not your normal life, or even a normal fairy tale. Once I really got into it though, I did not want to stop reading. There were parts of the book that were strange, but I think it just adds to the magic of it all. Parts of the original Peter Pan are strange as well.
I loved how little pieces from the original story were woven into this one, while it was still very different. Tiger Lily is almost the prequel to Peter Pan, but different enough to be considered more of a retelling. When watching the original movie, I don’t remember ever caring about or paying too much attention to Tiger Lily. What a shame that is. I loved having a whole book about her and her romance with Peter. I want to go back and watch the movie now and compare the two when they are fresh in my mind.
I found it very interesting that the story is told from TinkerBell’s perspective. I always loved TinkerBell, so i loved getting to see her perspective on everything that was happening. She have a different way of thinking than I always imagined she would. However, I do think it makes since since this book kind of takes place before the original. Maybe a lot of things changed to make her outlook change. I think having TinkerBell narrate was a great way to show all of the different things going on at the same time in the course of the story. TinkerBell is able to move from place to place without many people noticing. Whereas, if the story was told from Tiger Lily’s perspective there is only so much we would be able to know.
This book is so bittersweet. There is such a liveliness and youthful feel of the characters, but later there is a definite maturity and wise quality too them as well. We almost get to watch them lose their youthfulness throughout the course of the book. Another touch aspect was the romance. We got to see Peter Pan and Tiger Lily discover each other and fall in love. SPOILER ALERT——– It is so sad to watch them in the ending. They forgive each other for the hurt that they have cause each other, but it is not enough. They don’t end up together, but they never get over each other. They both fall in love again but never forget their first love. That is so heartbreaking and so sweet at the same time. I can barely handle all the emotions it makes me feel!! Normally I get really upset if a book does not have a happy ending. Like, really upset. I am not though. I think it is done perfectly in this book. There was really no way to wrap up the story with them ending up together and it not being weird. Tiger Lily and Peter had both gone through too much- together and apart- for that to happen. They were no longer the same people, because they have both had to mature. What a sweet, sad story.
4 stars