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Book Places I Don’t Want to Visit

By Brookelorren on February 26, 2019February 25, 201930 Comments

Today is Top Ten Tuesday, and the topic is supposed to be “Places Mentioned in Books That I’d Like to Visit” but I actually did that topic in October, and I’m not sure too much has changed since then. So I’m going to go the opposite direction and do places I DON’T want to visit. Some of the places I wouldn’t want to visit are dependent on the time frame too. If that’s the case, I’ll mention that.

I suppose if they do the topic of “Bookish Places I Don’t Want to Visit” as an official topic in a few months, maybe I’ll have more places I do want to visit by then. Anyway, as always, TTT is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

The setting of Red Queen – Nope. It might be an okay place ten years after the conclusion of War Storm, but during the series, I don’t think so. There’s a war going on, and it doesn’t really matter if you’re a red or a silver, it’s not really an appealing place. I think I’ll skip a vacation here.

Pre-Revolutionary War France (Enchantée) – There are a lot of historical places I’d like to visit, but if I were to visit the time period of Enchantée, I’d want to do it as an observer only. This would have been a nightmare of a place. First, if you’re poor, you’re probably starving. The crops had been terrible and there really wasn’t enough food for everybody. If you were rich, you were expected to be the king’s lapdog. No thanks. I wouldn’t mind seeing this place in a holodeck as a ghost where nobody could see me, but I don’t really want to live here.

Ukraine during the Holodomor (Red Famine). Another real place and real time period I wouldn’t want to visit, except as one of those ghosts that couldn’t interact or be seen by anybody else. The Holodomor was a time period in the last century where Stalin tried to starve the Ukrainians because they wouldn’t go along with his farm collectivization program. I haven’t read this book yet, but I know enough about this ugly little period of history that I don’t want to go there.

Several locations in The Last Year of the War. I would not have wanted to be set to one of the Japanese/German internment camps that the United States set up during World War II, despite the propaganda videos that show how happy the people were in them (I’m sure they weren’t). Then, I wouldn’t want to be in Germany or Japan during the end of World War II or right afterwards. I have a German textbook that was printed in the 1970s and even then, local calls were still expensive to make and most people didn’t have phones. That was 30 years after the war ended! So no, I think I’ll avoid taking a trip to this location.

Australia of A Thousand Perfect Notes. I absolutely adore Australia. I spent five weeks there many years ago, and it was wonderful. I spent time in Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane, even went to Canberra… and I loved it. But the people in A Thousand Perfect Notes have really rough lives. I’d love to visit Australia again someday, bu I’ll skip this particular neighborhood, if at all possible.

Weep of Strange the Dreamer. I’d love to visit Lazlo’s library, but Weep would have been a terribly depressing place. There’s this big monstrous metal structure hanging over the city, casting a shadow over the whole place, the whole town has recent memories of how the gods used to steal the people away, no thanks. I might want to visit the setting of this series after the conclusion of Muse of Nightmares, but not before.

Thule, Queen of Air and Darkness. I love the Los Angeles setting of The Dark Artifices, but I wouldn’t want to live in Thule, which is an alternate world that split off when… well, I wont give spoilers, but something bad happened during The Dark War in Thule. We’ll see more of Thule in The Wicked Powers, which I’m glad about, but I don’t want to visit Thule, even if I want to read about it.

The world of An Ember in the Ashes. I doubt it matters whether you are in a powerful position or not in this world, it seems like a terrible place to live. You’d always live in fear, and war comes to the land. Maybe this place won’t be so bad after Ember 4 (I don’t know), but as it stands now, I’ll stay away.

Brazil of Never Stop Walking. There are probably a lot of wonderful places to visit in Brazil. I wouldn’t pass up a trip there if offered. However, the particular locations that Christina Rickardsson talks about in her memoir… I’ll stay very far away from. Places where corrupt police shoot children, where kids live on the street and are vulnerable to exploitation or might have to kill to live… I’ll stay away from there.

Germany before World War II (Defying Hitler). Maybe Germany would be a good place to avoid entirely between say… 1900 and 1960? But I would’t want to spend too much time there in the days leading up to World War II, when people were trying to live with runaway inflation. After inflation was under control, they had to live with Adolph Hitler’s rise to power. No thanks.

So there you have it. Ten places mentioned in books that I wouldn’t want to visit. I look forward to seeing the places that you would like to visit, or maybe you went another direction like I did.

Bring Tissues to The Last Year of the War

By Brookelorren on February 25, 2019January 28, 20191 Comment

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner is a really sweet story about two friends, one German and the other Japanese. I have to warn you though, you’ll want to bring tissues with you when you read this. I received an Advanced Reader Copy free in exchange for an honest review.

The title of this book refers to two wars that Elise ended up going through: the literal war that she lived through during her teenage years, and the war against Alzheimer’s disease taking her in her twilight years. She might not be able to remember why she walked into a room sometimes, but she can remember what she was doing during World War II.

Elise ends up in one of the American internment camps that were set up during World War II to house Japanese and German people that the government thought were threats. This is where she meets her best childhood friend, Mariko. Towards the end of the war, they are forced apart, never to see each other again. Until finally, right before Alzheimer’s is about to claim Elise and she’ll never have another opportunity, Elise finds her old friend on Google and makes a spontaneous trip to see her (hoping she won’t forget why she went on the trip in the first place).

The Last Year of the War primarily deals with their story as children. It’s easy to forget that this is a fictional story. Even though Elise and Mariko weren’t real, people really did live through circumstances just like theirs. The choices they had to make weren’t always happy ones, because it was a really dark time in history, especially if you were German or Japanese.

I cried a lot while reading this book. The passages from elderly Elise’s point of view were so sad, because in them you watched her memories creep away. Then when she finally sees her old friend… more tears. I didn’t cry much during the parts where Elise recalls her childhood during the war, even though they went through rough times, because I knew it would all work out for her.

This is a book I highly recommend, especially if you’re looking for a good friendship story or you want to see the world through the eyes of someone living through World War II. Even though it’s a fictional story, there is so much truth in this book that it will definitely help you see a part of our history that hopefully the world will never end up repeating.

Slow Burn Romances (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on February 22, 2019February 11, 20194 Comments

It’s Friday again, so it’s time to do a little fangirling. On today’s edition of Fangirling on Friday (hosted by Books in the Skye) we’re talking about slow burn romances. It’s still February, after all!

An Ember in the Ashes was one of the first books that came to my mind when I thought about this topic. Elias and Laia have been interested in each other for what… nearly three books now? Something always seems to keep them apart. I don’t want to give spoilers away though.

Ms. Tahir better allow them to at least stay together at the end, but I’m pretty nervous. She’s always talking about all the characters she’s killing in Ember 4. Once she posted a list of all the people who were dead or hurt, with just the last fraction of a letter showing. I have a guess about who one of the dead people will be, but I’m not saying. She could have change it by now anyway.

The Rose Society and The Midnight Star feature a slow burn romance between Adelina Amouteru and Magiano. I was surprised (and a little sad) at the end of The Young Elites at what happened at the end of that book, but the surprise turned out to be a happy one after all.

However, Magiano and Adelina are friends for over a year between the end of The Rose Society and the beginning of The Midnight Star. Magiano is a very patient boy, I tell you. Anyway, I just love those two together… I love them so much, I’m writing a fanfic from Magiano’s perspective and another AU fanfic where they meet over World of Warcraft.

How appropriate that I get to fangirl about Fangirl today. This is an adorable story and I loved how Cath and _____ grew to be a couple. No spoilers though, because there’s more than one option if you haven’t read the book yet.

“Midnights,” a short story by Rainbow Rowell, is also a kind of slow burn romance, as it takes the place over several years (even though it’s a short story). It’s absolutely adorable.

The final book I want to fangirl over today is Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth. I’m excited that The End and Other Beginnings is going to have two Carve the Mark short stories in it! Akos and Cyra are a great couple, but since they start out as enemies it’s understandable that it takes a while for them to warm up to each other. Lately I’ve really wanted to read this duology again, since I’ve only read The Fates Divide once (on release day last year) and I’d love to read their story again before Ms. Roth’s new book comes out. October first! Yay! That’s going to be an amazing publishing day.

So there are some books that I really loved with some couples that it seems like ages before they become a couple. What are your favorite couples? I’ll see you again next week with my favorite book I read in February!

Queen of Air and Darkness Changes Everything

By Brookelorren on February 22, 2019January 27, 2019Leave a Comment

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare is the last book of The Dark Artifices series. At 880 pages, this is a monster book. To be honest, it could have probably been two books instead of one. Other than the fact that it was really long and a little exhausting to read (of course, it didn’t help that I read three very long Shadowhunters books in the 9 days prior to starting this book), I loved it.

Thar be spoilers in this book review! Don’t proceed any farther if you don’t want some major spoilers for The Dark Artifices, and perhaps some spoilers for The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices.

When we last left the Shadowhunters, they were in the Clave meeting where Livvy was stabbed. This probably was really frustrating to people reading Lord of Shadows right after it came out, but for those of us who don’t have to wait, we can find out what happens right away. At any rate, Ty is devastated. He doesn’t want to accept her death, and tries to raise her back from the dead. Kit, his best friend, doesn’t want him to do this, but he goes along with his plans, hoping that Ty is going to come to his senses.

The corrupted Nazi-esque Clave is on a rampage, trying to silence anybody that disagrees with them. The people that know the truth are trying to stop them, but for a lot of Queen of Air and Darkness, I had to wonder how they were going to be stopped.

I love the ships in this book. Emma and Julian know that being in love as parabatai is dangerous, but there really isn’t anything they can do about it. They try to stay away from each other, but good luck with that. Christina realizes that she has a thing for both Mark and Kieran, in probably the most interesting love triangle I’ve seen. Both of these storylines will resolve in this book, and we have to wait until The Wicked Powers books come out to see more of them together.

You would think that you’ve seen everything in the world, but you haven’t. Clare continues to add to her world, and we are introduced to the land of Thule in this story: an alternate world where Clary died during the Dark War and the land turns very… dark. Here we are introduced to some alternate versions of characters we already know, like Thule Jace and Thule Sebastian, and another character I won’t mention because spoilers.

There’s a lot to Queen of Air and Darkness and the end of this book changes everything. It doesn’t leave you with a completely massive cliffhanger where you’re going to be upset for the next three years until you can read The Wicked Powers, but after reading this, you’ll know that nothing in the Shadowhunter world you’ve known about so far is going to stay the same.

There’s a lot more to look forward to in The Wicked Powers, whenever it comes out, but until then, there will be plenty of new titles coming out first. These books are so densely packed that I might want to do a reread between now and then. With the size of these massive books, that could take a while.

Lord of Shadows Rules

By Brookelorren on February 21, 2019January 25, 2019Leave a Comment

Right before Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness came out, I had a marathon read of her last books, including Lord of Shadows. It’s the second book in The Dark Artifices series, and I highly recommend it.

Because this book is the second book in the series, there may be spoilers. Also, since the Shadowhunters books tend to build on one another, I also recommend that you start these books with City of Bones (although not my favorite).

There’s a lot going on in this book (which is probably why it’s a whopping 699 pages). But there are certain things that stand out.

The Clave has gone rogue again. Is that any surprise? Some of the people in charge truly remind me of Nazis. They are also quite crafty. If you oppose them, it can’t be good for you. Although a huge plot involves finding The Black Volume of the Dead, because it would be dangerous if it gets in the wrong hands, the Clave’s action keeps the plot driving in the background for the whole story.

The ships in this story are twisty and complicated. Emma and Julian are parabatai and aren’t supposed to be in love, of course, but you can’t really deny your feelings. They certainly try though. Emma decides to conjure a fake relationship with Mark that backfires, because he starts to fall for someone else. Emma and Julian know that something drastic has to be done, but there seem to be no good choices.

The platonic relationships in this story are fantastic as well. I love Kit and Ty together, and I’d love to see them become parabatai in The Wicked Powers series. Then of course Ty and Livvy are close. Dru is going through her own difficulties as being too old to feel like a child, yet not old enough to be thought of as an adult.

The characters spend a lot of time in Faerie in Lord of Shadows. The plot revolves heavily in this area. I love how, even after 10 books, there are always new places to explore in the Shadowhunter’s world.

And the ending! I don’t want to spoil it, but it ends in quite a cliffhanger. Fortunately, I finished this book the day Queen of Air and Darkness arrived, so I didn’t have to wait. After finishing Lord of Shadows, you’ll probably want to dive right into QOAAD, so get them both at the same time if you can.

Overall, this was a great book that I highly recommend. Just get QOAAD at the same time!

Lady Midnight Begins a New Day

By Brookelorren on February 20, 2019January 21, 2019Leave a Comment

I went on a Cassandra Clare marathon read right before Queen of Air and Darkness came out. Lady Midnight, of course, is the first book in the most recent of her series, The Dark Artifices.

It’s interesting to see how Young Adult books have changed over the last 18 years or so. You can do that over the course of the Shadowhunter’s Chronicles. Lady Midnight originally came out in 2016. Compare that with City of Bones and you’ll see a huge difference in how YA literature has changed. Not only has Cassandra Clare improved as an author, but what is permitted in a YA book has changed as well.

I could tell when I read the final books of The Mortal Instruments that Emma and Julian should not become parabatai. They did, however, because they didn’t want to be apart from each other. I love them as a couple. Maybe not as much as Clary and Jace or Will and Tessa, but they’re great together anyway. But they’re not supposed to be.

In this story, people are starting to show up dead, and Emma thinks that these deaths might have to do with her parents. The Shadowhunters have to figure out what’s going on — before it’s too late. Complications arise in this story (of course). The Cold Peace is still going on with the fairies, and they send Julian’s brother Mark back — temporarily. If they figure out who’s behind the murders, Mark will be able to choose whether he want’s to stay with his family, or return to the Wild Hunt.

There are so many things I loved about this book. One of the things I thought was well done was the setting, which was Los Angeles. I went to USC, so I know the place well. I loved how well the setting was done.

We have new characters in this book! Cristina is Emma’s new friend from Mexico, Kit is a boy with the sight that finds out he’s actually a shadowhunter, and Mark (although not new) returns from fairie a changed person. We’ve met the Blackthorns before, but it’s been a few years, and they’ve grown up since then.

Lady Midnight was an excellent start to The Dark Artifices and I highly recommend it.

Books I LOVED with Fewer Than 2000 Ratings on Goodreads

By Brookelorren on February 19, 2019October 5, 201936 Comments

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! Today’s topic is “Books I LOVED with Fewer than 2000 Ratings on Goodreads.” This is another of those “hidden gems” kind of weeks, which is a good thing. There are SO many amazing books out there that not as many people have heard of. So here are some of my favorites that are lesser known, defined this week as books with 2000 or fewer ratings on Goodreads.

I really enjoyed Crow Flight by Susan Cunningham. One of the things that drew me to the book was the whole computer thing: the characters bond over an artificial intelligence simulation that they do together. There was a lot more to the book that I enjoyed than just that though. There was a puzzle to be solved here that was fun.

I liked Frequency by Christopher Krovatin as well. I was drawn to the book by the whole music aspect. I liked the characters, and even the villain was somewhat sympathetic. As I write this, it only has 22 ratings on Goodreads, which is far too low.

Into the Hollow by Lynn Vroman is another book that I loved, but as of this writing it only has 34 ratings on Goodreads. I loved the setting, and I loved how the characters were from difficult home situations but overcame that and found each other. I’m sad that more people don’t know about it.

The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson got a few more ratings (currently at 627), but it should be a more well-known book. It has something of a Romeo and Juliet vibe, a great Irish setting, and Celtic magic. It’s unfortunate that I don’t hear more about this book.

When I started to figure out what books I was going to include in this week’s list, I was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be anything from Marie Lu on this list. Last year, Wildcard was one of the hottest ARCs out there, after all. However, Life After Legend only has 688 ratings on Goodreads, while Life After Legend II only has 47 ratings. I loved them both, so even though they’re short (22 and 5 pages, respectively), they belong on this list. The lack of reviews could be because they’re hard to find. Life After Legend was originally given as a Warcross pre-order gift (I’m still looking for an original if you have one you’re willing to sell), but now is available at the back of the paperback version of Warcross. Life After Legend II was a Wildcard pre-order gift; if I were to guess, it’ll probably be included at the end of the paperback version of Wildcard or with Rebel.

Echoes by Alice Reeds only has 265 ratings on Goodreads. Fortunately, there is a sequel planned for Echoes called Fissures, which should come out in winter 2020. It’s not on Goodreads yet, but Ms. Reeds has announced that there will be one.

I loved Erin Summerill’s books Ever the Hunted and Ever the Brave. Ever the Hunted has over 7000 ratings, but Ever the Brave has only 1773 ratings. The third book, Once a King, has less, but I haven’t read it yet.

My favorite book that I read last year was Enchantée by Gita Trelease. I was pretty much hooked from the first page. I was very surprised to see it only had 319 ratings (as of this writing). Newer books are on average going to have fewer ratings, but this one should have more.

Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok was another five-star book for me that I read this year. I absolutely loved it! It currently has only 71 ratings. It definitely needs some more hype!

I really liked Mike Chen’s Here and Now and Then, but it only has 184 ratings on Goodreads. This time-travel story was beautiful and left me in tears at the end. I hope that it gets to see a lot more love.

So there you have it! Ten books that need more ratings on Goodreads. What stories did you love that need more love on Goodreads? I can’t wait to see what you have to say.

Next week is supposed to be Places Mentioned in Books That I’d Like to Visit. I did a post like this last October, so I’m going to go in the exact opposite direction and mention places I definitely don’t want to visit.

The Iliad Graphic Novel

By Brookelorren on February 18, 2019February 18, 2019Leave a Comment

Let’s face it. The classics can be difficult to read. When I saw The Iliad in graphic novel form available on Netgalley, I decided to read it. It’s been a book I’ve been meaning to read for years, but have never gotten around to it.

This book makes it easier to read The Iliad, but I have to be honest with you: this book was still difficult for me. The book has a huge cast of characters, some of whom only show up on one page. This person dies, that god helps this hero out… it’s a little difficult to keep track of. In addition, there are a lot of place names to try to keep track of. After reading this book one time, I still don’t feel like I have a good grasp of this part of the Trojan War.

The pictures are pretty good, but they happen to be on a grand scale, which makes it more difficult to convey well through art on a book-sized sheet of paper. In the places where there are a lot of soldiers or ships, the pictures seem a little busy. I’m not sure what could be done about that though.

The book seems to be true to the original story, although I never managed to read it, I do know a decent amount of Greek mythology. I was surprised to discover that the story of the Trojan Horse is not part of The Iliad though. I would have liked to have seen that.

If you’re curious about this classic, The Iliad graphic novel is an easier way to understand the story. With the huge cast of characters and all the customs that are completely different than ours, it still isn’t the easiest book to read, but it’s certainly easier than the original Homer.

Favorite Couples in Books

By Brookelorren on February 12, 2019February 11, 201933 Comments

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday! Valentine’s Day is coming up, so this week we’re talking about favorite couples in books! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Fangirling on Friday’s topic is also about couples in relationships, so I’m combining topics, so consider this my Fangirling on Friday post too (a few days early)!

Dune (Day/June) – Legend

Day and June are absolutely my most favorite couple! They’re so cute together. They both go through so much, and they both are willing to sacrifice for each other. I just love them. After Champion, I was heartbroken because of what happened. I love them so much, I’ve written a lot of fanfiction about the two of them.

I loved Life After Legend and Life After Legend II. I’m eagerly anticipating Rebel, the fourth Legend book, this fall!

FourTris – Divergent

Four and Tris were probably the very first Young Adult couple that I fell in love with. I absolutely loved them together, and for me, they belong together forever.

Of course, the ending of Allegiant was heartbreaking to me. I wasn’t about to accept it. That’s what got me into fanfiction. Divergent fanfiction is fun to read, and I’ve written some Divergent fanfiction myself.

Adelina/Magiano – The Young Elites

Another couple that I’m absolutely in love with is Adelina and Magiano from The Young Elites. Even though Adelina is evil, Magiano is a good influence on her. It seems like I have a thing for cinnamon roll boys and the girls that love them… anyway, this is another story that broke my heart, but I’ve also written fanfiction to heal my heart. I haven’t published it yet, but I’m working on it.

Clace (Jace/Clary) – Mortal Instruments

Clary and Jace are a couple that I love as well. I ship them so much. Even though there’s other couples in The Mortal Instruments, they’re my favorites. Over the course of this six-book series, they go through so many trials, but they are always there for each other.

One of my favorite lines from Jace is “Break up with Clary? Are you insane?”

Akos/Cyra – Carve the Mark

I love Akos and Cyra together as well. They’re perfect for each other. Cyra causes pain to anybody that touches her because of her currentgift, and Akos disrupts the currentstream, which helps take away her pain. It’s a good thing that they end up liking each other!

I’ve written fanfiction for all five of the above couples. I guess that’s just a thing I have… if I don’t have enough of them, I write more!

Mariko/Ōkami – Flame in the Mist

Do I really need a reason to like them together? I just think they’re kinda hot as a couple. They had sparks flying even before Ōkami realized that Mariko was not a boy — which he found disturbing.

Will/Tessa – The Infernal Devices

I loved Will and Tessa together, and it was one of the reasons why I ugly-cried through the last two chapters of Clockwork Princess. Cassandra Clare masterfully dealt with the whole mess of how Tessa loved both him and Jem. I can’t wait to read more of their family’s story in Chain of Gold later this year.

Elias/Laia – An Ember in the Ashes

I feel for this couple so much. They just can’t seem to get a break. And now we have to wait until 2020 to find out what happens to them! Ms. Tahir, you have to put them together! If she doesn’t, there’s always fanfiction. Because they need each other. I need them to be together, finally.

Lazlo/Sarah – Strange the Dreamer

I love Lazlo and Sarah together. It’s so sweet how they meet in dreams and have their first kisses together and all that. And then they have to be broken apart…

But this story ends on a hopeful note. And there’s always fanfiction?

Free/Cole – Into the Hollow

There wasn’t a tenth couple that really jumped out at me when I thought of couples in books. I didn’t want to say Jude/Cardan because although I like them together, they’re a fairly toxic couple. But I really liked Free and Cole in Into the Hollow. This is a book that I didn’t think got enough love when it came out.

Free and Cole are such a wonderful couple together. They both come from dysfunctional homes that they’re embarrassed about, but they want to make a better life for themselves. And they’re good for each other as a couple. They might not be the first couple that I think about when I think of book couples on Valentine’s Day, but I loved this book, and I loved them together.

So what about you? What OTPs do you dream about or love? Yes, I’ve literally dreamed about some of these (and one dream became the basis for my book, The Brightness of Shadow). I can’t wait to see what everybody says this week.

On next week’s edition of Top Ten Tuesday, we’re going to talk about books that I loved that have less than 2000 ratings on Goodreads. Most of these books aren’t eligible for that (although I was surprised about one book). For Fangirling on Friday, we’ll be talking about slow-burn romances. A couple of these might show up again there. Be back then!

Second Star: Calling Peter Pan!

By Brookelorren on February 11, 2019February 11, 20196 Comments

I was recently scanning Netgalley for something soon-to-be released, and I saw Second Star by J.M. Sullivan. Ooh, I know J.M. Sullivan! She’s one of the hosts of #AuthorConfession on Twitter! I always love to read books fantastic people (although I have to confess, it can make writing a review more difficult sometimes).

Second Star by J.M. Sullivan is a Peter Pan retelling. So if you love Peter Pan, then you already have a reason to read this book. I think the story is okay, although I haven’t seen it in years (the Disney cartoon, that is). I’ve seen some of the Peter Pan movies over the years, like Hook, and I’ve never read the original book. Like Heartless, I think you’ll get more out of this retelling if you’re more familiar with the original story.

Our story follows Peter and Wendy. Peter is a mechanic on the Jolly Roger, a star ship out on a mission. Wendy is an intelligent girl whose parents push her to be an overachiever. At the military academy, Wendy seems to develop a crush on the historical James Hooke, a captain who was lost years ago. Eventually, the paths of Hooke, Peter, and Wendy cross on a star far away from Earth.

The Good

Ms. Sullivan does a great job combining the classic Peter Pan tale with a futuristic starship story. There’s Tinc, a nanobot that Peter put together that behaves eerily like Tinkerbell from the classic story, SMEE, who is Captain Hooke’s assistant, the Lost Boys, and even mermaids. The book speaks of themes like immortality (which Hooke is searching after) and there’s even a thimble in there. I probably miss a great deal since I haven’t seen the classic cartoon in eons, but there’s a lot of cleverness in there.

The friendships are great in this book. Wendy seems to be a little difficult to warm up to, but her friends are loyal and she loves them back. I’m glad the kids she became friends with at the academy get to be with her on all of her adventures.

What Could Be Better

While Second Star was very entertaining, it seemed like it could use a little more polish. It’s difficult to describe why I felt this way, although it’s a very subjective measure rather than anything concrete I can point out.

One other thing that I thought could be better is the relationship aspect of this story. The friendships in this book are great, but Wendy and Peter have something of an insta-love that would probably be better if they slowed down a bit. While I could understand if they felt insta-attraction, they were emotionally invested in each other a little too quickly for my taste. There’s the possibility of a love triangle in the second book (I kinda hope not though).

Overall

Second Star was overall entertaining, even though it’s not likely to make any of my best-of lists. I do plan on reading the second book in this series, and not just because J.M. Sullivan wrote it. I want to find out what happens to Peter and Wendy. If you’re only going to read one book this year, I probably wouldn’t choose this one, but if you like Peter Pan or retellings, you might want to consider adding this to your TBR.