7/5/14

Book Review: Neverland - Anna Katmore

Title:  Neverland (Adventures in Neverland, 1)
Author:  Anna Katmore
Genre:  Young Adult - Fairytale Retelling, Romance
Amazon Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Neverland-Adventures-1-Anna-Katmore-ebook/dp/B00JLA8C50/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404564610&sr=8-1&keywords=Neverland

Synopsis (From Goodreads.com):  Why is there a boy who doesn't want to grow up?  How can an apple start the sweetest romance in fairytale history?
And what does a ruthless pirate have to do with it all?

Angelina McFarland loves reading fairytales. But she never dreamed of falling right into one herself. That’s exactly what happens when she slips on her balcony and a flying Peter Pan catches her mid-fall.

Ending up in Neverland where no one seems to age and laws of nature are out of control, Angel has no idea how to get home. Worse, the ruthless Captain Hook captures her and keeps her trapped on his ship, the Jolly Roger, where she gets caught between the lines of a timeless battle. But the more time Angel spends with the captain, the more she sees beneath his ruthless façade.

As Angel desperately tries to find a way to return to her real life, she discovers a train ticket to London in her pocket. It won’t be any help in getting off the island, but as her memory fades away the longer she stays, this is all she has left to remind her of her former life and why she can’t give up trying.

Or is staying in Neverland forever the better choice after all?

Grab a happy thought and follow Angel on an adventure that will keep you breathless and smiling long after you read the last page…


Review:  I have been nosing around this book for a few weeks.  I'd look it up on Amazon.com, then move on, only to later come back to it.  Yesterday morning I finally bit the bullet and "One-Clicked" the book.  The fact that the book was on sale for the $.99 in celebration of the release of book 2 didn't hurt any.  I devoured the book.  I feel like I just consumed each word and am going to hold each and every one of them within me forever.  Peter Pan is one of my kid's favorite stories.  We've been reading the Peter and the Starcatchers Series, by Dave Barry with my kids, thus my hesitancy to actually buy this book; I was kind of "Peter'd out."   In truth, Peter, while a driving figure in the story, is present very little...

What's the Drama?  Angelina "Angel" McFarland was having an absolutely typical weekend, babysitting her twin sisters - playing games, reading stories, giggling; all things that don't normally happen when Mom and Dad are around, but then trying to get to a sweater her sister accidently threw into the tree outside her balconey, Angel slips and falls...into a whole new world.  Fighting against time and sleep, Angel wants desperately to return home to her sisters and home; all the while falling for the ruthless pirate, James Hook.

What I Loved:  I love fairytale - retellings.  Lately they are my vice, and while I'll drift away and read something new, I always come back to these retellings.  But this story is wonderful, and complete; the book didn't really end with me having any questions, which I love!  You know the character, who they are and why they are there before the book ends (a rare occurance in a series!)  Better than all of that, the "bad guy" is actually the hero of this story, and I always love that twist.  Jamie (Hook) starts off as the typical rutheless pirate, but his smirks and gleeming eyes make him just amusing and sexy enough even from the beginning, but as he starts letting his guard down and falling for Angel, he's even more appealing as "just Jamie."  This story is just - it's just amazing, and even as Angel fights to get home, you can also understand the desire to allow herself to just forget and stay forever.

Not So Much:  I don't have much I didn't like.  I'm sitting here racking my brain....and I can only think of the ending, which is a big obvious "duh!"  I mean, she has to leave - and leave Jamie. 

But there is book 2.  And lucky me, it came out yesterday!!

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