Review - Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Tiger Lily

By Jodi Lynn Anderson

Published July 3rd, 2012 by Harper Teen

292 pages

4.5 stars - Awesome Retelling!

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.

Review:

I have always loved reading Peter Pan or watching any of the movies, especially the animated Disney version. But while watching/reading those stories of Peter Pan, I never thought that there could be anyone besides Wendy. This retelling isn't solely about Wendy or Peter Pan, it's about Tiger Lily.

I'll admit that at the beginning I had a difficult time getting into the story. Tinkerbell is the narrator in this novel so I had difficulty connecting with Tiger Lily in the first few chapters. I didn't immediately connect with Tiger Lily because I wasn't exactly hearing her thoughts. Tinkerbell was the one telling the audience what the characters were feeling, she can read a person's feelings. But at the same time, the reader gets to read about events or people that you wouldn't get to if the narrator was just Tiger Lily. So what I'm trying to say is that, yes, this did kind of bother me at the beginning, but, as the story went on it helped with developing feelings. I hope that makes sense... If it doesn't, ignore what I said because that is the only problem I had with the book :).

So, yes, I did find this book to be enjoyable, especially the end! I grew to love some of the characters and hate some of the others. But I really felt for Tiger Lily. She goes through so much and she grows throughout the whole book. We watch her go through difficult times and finding her first love. She makes friendships and starts to really look at people around her. I felt like Anderson did a great job at showing who Tiger Lily was. She was flawed and at times rude but she was also young and still growing. Tinkerbell was the narrator and we learned some more information about her. We got to see how great of a friend she was to Tiger Lily and the reason she didn't like Wendy. There was more depth to Tinkerbell and I loved it. Peter Pan was, of course, Peter Pan. Even though this book was really about Tiger Lily's story, it also showed who Peter Pan was. It was definitely entertaining and heartwarming to see a Peter Pan that is, like, 16 years old. I've read the original version of Peter Pan and Anderson did a great job at keeping some elements of other Peter Pans and mixing them with her own. The lost boys made many appearances as well as some amazing friends of Tiger Lily's. And of course there was Captain Hook. Wendy was introduced and all I'll say is that I saw her in a different light in this book. 

Tiger Lily is an amazing novel and I'm glad that I got through that little beginning part. The end is full of emotions and it definitely touched me. Anderson did a fantastic job with this retelling and really let us get to know a character that had an intriguing story. My word of advice is to keep reading if you find yourself in a rut in the beginning because you won't be disappointed.  If you love Peter Pan and the mysterious world of NeverLand then this is the book for you. Check it out!

Vanessa