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.
Hardcover, 292 pages
Expected publication: July 3rd 2012 by Harper Collins Children's Books
1/2
Four and a 1/2 Stars: A heartbreaking tale of a lost love in Neverland.
Tinkerbell might be a small fairy but she is able to witness and tell the haunting tale of Tiger Lily and her lost love. Tiger Lily has traversed a difficult road her whole life, starting with the day her adopted father, Tik Tok, found her as an abandoned infant hidden under a tiger lily. She was reared as a member of the Sky Eaters tribe, but she has never been accepted. She was tormented and teased, but she never showed any sign of emotion while being bullied. Then a strange thing happened to one of her tormenters, the girl choked and died. A crow was seen near the body and the tribe saw it as an omen. From that point on, Tiger Lily wore a crow feather in her hair. The rest of the tribe keeps her at an arm's length, especially after she rescues a shipwrecked Englishman on the beach. The tribe feels it is time to rein her in and halt her wild behavior. She is betrothed to an odious man, Giant. One day Tiger Lily wanders into the forest to escape her evil-mother-in-law-to be, and encounters the elusive and supposedly dangerous Peter Pan. Even though she promises to never come see him again, for once she falters and breaks that vow and returns to meet Peter and the rest of the Lost Boys, time and time again. Somehow she manages to open up and lose her heart to this wild boy.......
What I Liked:
- I loved this retelling of the classic, Peter Pan. This story is told through the eyes of Tinkerbell. Tink for whatever reason is drawn to the strange maiden and spends her days following Tiger Lily. Through Tinkerbell's eyes, we witness the joy and heartbreak of Tiger Lily. I liked that Tinkerbell was the narrator because she is able to fly through Neverland and read the thoughts and emotions of those she encounters. I thought this was a creative way to relate the events. Don't expect Tinkerbell to be like the Disney version you are used to.
- I liked the way that Ms. Anderson takes the known elements and refashions them. In her vision, Neverland is wild and dangerous. For the the most part, all the magical elements are removed, no magic wishes, flying, etc. The only bit of magic that remains is the inhabitants of Neverland at some point in their lives stop aging, and the inclusion of the mythical creatures, mermaids and fairies. Everything else is realistic and believable.
- I enjoyed Ms. Anderson's versions of the famous characters. Peter Pan is the charming, roguish boy we all love, but he is also hiding his fear of the pirates. Captain Hook is actually not that villainous, he is a drunkard and almost a bit tragic. Tiger Lily is stoic, fierce, wild and haunting. I thoroughly enjoyed all the characters in this book, especially Tik Tok, Tiger Lily's wise and eccentric father. Try to set aside your preconceived notions as you go in, and it will make it a much more enjoyable read. Again, this is nothing like the Disney Peter Pan we all grew up watching.
- This book is haunting and sad, but I liked that about it. Tiger Lily's story will tug at your heart strings, for she is a young girl that has never experienced happiness. Her life is full of heart break and disappointment, and yet, through it all she holds her head up high, remains strong and shoulders her burdens. I couldn't help but to admire and cheer for her, and yes, I hoped in my heart that somehow the story would change and she would win Peter's heart.....but alas that is not the way the story is written. This is a novel that got in my head and stirred my heart, and clung in my mind as a picked up the next book. I love books that keep speaking to you for days after you finish reading them. Tiger Lily was one of those books for me. I loved it!
And The Not So Much:
- Wendy does not appear in the book until the final chapters. She flits in and steals Peter's heart behind the scenes, it is fast and abrupt. I felt that it happened too quckly in comparison to the rest of the story. Wendy's character, in contrast to the other characters, felt shallow and underdeveloped. I wish that she was introduced a bit earlier and that somehow we could witness the development of the relationship between her and Peter in more depth.
- I was a bit disappointed that Captain Hook played such a small role in this story. I did enjoy learning a bit of his back story, but I was expecting him to be the villain in this tale and he is not. There was not even a single scene where Peter Pan and Captain Hook meet face to face and square off in this book.
- I was a bit confused over one of the mermaid's actions. She ends up somehow betraying Peter to Smee and I was unclear on all of her motives. Was she driven by jealousy alone?
Tiger Lily was one of my most anticipated titles for summer 2012, and I can say this book does not disappoint. It is a refreshing look at the famous tale of Peter Pan told by the two other girls who lost their hearts to this wild boy, Tinkerbell and Tiger Lily. It is haunting and sad, yet beautiful. I loved this book, and Tiger Lily has certainly won my affections.
Favorite Quoatations:
“I’m not a stranger to your love of lost causes, dear one. But you have to be careful who you meet,” he said, stoking a pipe thoughtfully. “You can’t unmeet them.”
“But you’re a girl. Someday you’ll want to be a prisoner to someone other than yourself.”
“The bad things are some of my favorites.”
“Human hearts are elastic. They have room for all sorts of passions, and they can break and heal and love again and again.”
“You think you know that someone sees you one way, and barely at all, and then you realize that they see you in another. That was the night I realized Tiger Lily had seen--really seen--me all along.”
“How can I describe Peter’s face, the pieces of him that stick to my heart?”
“To love someone was not what she had expected. It was like falling from somewhere high up and breaking in half, and only one person having the secret to the puzzle of putting her together.”
“Things hurt, and don’t hurt, and then hurt again.”
A big thanks to Cindy and Harper Collin’s publishing for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
