Thomas's debut novel was striking not only for the unique world of magic that they created, but also because it was obvious that it dealt with topics that were important to them. Lost in the Never Woods is a solid retelling of Peter Pan with a modern twist. The characters were well developed and the story had excellent writing and created a wonderful atmosphere of interest. The romance felt forced, though, and since it was a pivotal point in the story, it detracted from the overall feeling at an important part of the story.

This book was reviewed as agreed upon on the "Reviews" page of Glass Mountain Literary Magazine at the time requested. The review is linked below, and the rating was a 3.5/5 which has been rounded here to a 4.

The cover is stunning and the summary was interesting so I wanted to read it immediately but this story just was not good. I was wanting to love it but I couldn't.

"Lost in the Never Woods" is a haunting and well-crafted young adult novel that explores themes of grief, trauma, and growing up. The story follows Wendy Darling, who disappeared for six months in the woods near her hometown of Astoria, Oregon as a child, only to return with no memory of what happened to her brothers. Years later, Wendy is still haunted by the events of her past and is forced to confront them when children start disappearing from the town again. Thomas' writing is evocative and atmospheric, with well-drawn characters and a compelling mystery that weaves together to create a satisfying conclusion. Overall, "Lost in the Never Woods" is a poignant and thought-provoking read that is sure to captivate fans of young adult fiction.

This was the first book I read by Thomas, and it certainly won't be my last. To be honest, I wish I would have read it sooner instead of letting the arc collect dust. A modern day Peter Pan retelling? Right up my alley.

I found this version of the classic fairytale to be touching in many different ways, and I loved some of the unexpected ideas/twists that Thomas added to the lore. The atmosphere was unsettling in the best way, and I found the romance to be really sweet. By the end, I was actually tearing up. I had a great time reading this book, and while the ending was emotional it was also satisfying in a lot of ways. Overall, it was a great read I would certainly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Aiden Thomas's Cemetery Boys was one of my favorite books of the year in 2021, so I'm not sure why it took me so long to pick up Lost in the Never Woods, his gorgoous, YA, modern retelling of Peter Pan.

Wendy has basically been surviving since she and her brothers disappeared five years before. She returned after a few months, dressed in strange clothing, with no memories of where she'd been, but there's been no sign of her brothers. She and her parents have avoided talking about the tragedy, and Wendy has come to exist in solitude except for her best friend, just waiting for the day they can go to college and escape the absence her brothers have left. Recently, though, kids have started disappearing, and Wendy has to work harder not to think about those missing months.

One night, Wendy is on her way home from work and decides to take a short cut through the woods, despite her parents' warnings against them, and she nearly hits a boy who looks just like the face she's been compulsively drawing for months.

Thomas's decision to shift this retelling to Wendy's point of view works beautifully, allowing the author to consider grief and recovery as well as the inevitable transition into adulthood. His curation of that original story, the details he included and those he transformed, are just delightful.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. I enjoyed this book and the authors writing style. It keeps your attention from the first page. You are not just reading the book, you are the characters. I enjoyed Wendy, Jordan and Peter Pan's characters in this book. I would highly highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. This book is in stores for $18.99 (USD).

It's hard to rate this book because I feel like it goes through its ups and downs where one minute I was really into the story, and the next minute...not. So, I feel like a 3-star rating is the best I can do.

The thing is, I LOVE Peter Pan stories and retellings, but that means I have set expectations of what I like and don't like? For instance, some of my favorites are Peter Darling by Austin Chant, the comedic play Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and even the musical about the creator for Peter Pan called Finding Neverland (although I would argue I enjoy every production of this musical EXCEPT the Broadway production but that's a whole conversation for another day).

I just feel like this book falls a bit flat with what the story seems to be trying to do, and winds up leaving us with a more depressing note that a hopeful one at the end. It just leaves me feeling sad.

I have not read Aiden Thomas's debut book (and arguably more well-known book) Cemetery Boys, so I can't really compare how this book is compared to his debut except to say that this book has primarily white main characters. I remember him mentioning that he wrote this book before Cemetery Boys, so I get it. It is what it is.

Content Notes include dealing with grief, alcoholism, kidnapping, murder, and deaths.

This book's protagonist is Wendy Darling. She is 18 and her younger brothers, John and Michael have been missing for five years. This book is set in Astoria, Oregon and Wendy volunteers with her best friend Jordan at the hospital her mom works as a nurse. Kids are beginning to disappear around town and one night, she stumbles (as it were) across Peter Pan in the middle of the road. Like how Wendy here is no longer a child like in the original story, Peter too is no longer a child either, but a teenager. Except, it's for all the wrong reasons because he shouldn’t be aging at all.

While Peter seems to know Wendy somehow from a time she's forgotten, Peter SHOULD have been a child, but he's aging in this story and keeps growing older. Which is concerning. This book is ultimately a mystery about the missing kids, Peter's sudden appearance, and what really happened to Wendy's brothers. I do LOVE a mystery book, and I think that aspect of the story worked really well for me. But it does start to get frustrating at times because the plot stalls for Wendy to figure out what she's doing (let's be honest, Wendy does not have the calling to go into detective or private investigative work in her future) and the way the fantastical and realism are at odds in this story kind of drags in the middle (the ice cream chapter was silly).

I would say the first 40% or so of this story had me hooked, but it wasn't until maybe at the 80% mark before I got interested again. The thing about what makes the Peter Pan stories great and a common theme in YA fantasy-ish books is that there aren't adults around, right? For Peter Pan especially, that’s kind of the point. I wouldn't have minded seeing less Mr. and Mrs. Darling to be honest. It just seemed like they were always in the way and getting into Wendy's business and YES while it makes sense why they would be concerned about the whereabouts of their only remaining child, it is unbelievably annoying to have them show up and questioning Wendy at every turn. I didn't mind Wendy's best friend showing up and questioning Wendy but it was EVERYONE in this story trying to put a halt to Wendy's progress helping Peter that I found cumbersome.

Minor complaint in the grand scheme of things but major for me personally, I found it so weird this book takes place in Oregon. The way the original story of Peter Pan is weaved into this storyline is odd. The premise here is that Wendy makes up stories about Peter Pan and Neverland to tell to the kids she looks after at the hospital. She knows Peter Pan as only a story passed down from tales her mother used to tell her and her brothers. But he is an actual person here and not JUST a story, but he's also...American? I just can't get over that. I was listening to the audiobook and Peter Pan has an American accent, and even as an American, making Peter Pan American while keeping to the story that Peter and Neverland and Captain Hook are all "real" is something I just could not get over. If the story of Peter was set more ~realistically~ and set only in the real world without Neverland being the same mystical, far-off place like the original tale, I could get with the story better. But how this is executed here in this book did not work for me at all.

Another thing...I get why cops are involved because children are disappearing, but they do nothing and the one scene we see them doing SOMETHING productive is when they call in Wendy for questioning. And she talks with them WITHOUT a lawyer??? Just because she's 18 and technically her dad doesn't have to be with her in the interrogation room, I find this unbelievable that there's no attempt or even a passing mention to get her a lawyer. Is this because Wendy is white so nobody would ever consider her for arrest? I don't know, but I’ve read too many mystery books and watched too many episodes of Law and Order back in the day to not mention this. I just found it very odd.

So, this book IS dark, but I thought it would be much darker than it turned out to be because I kept wanting the mystery to turn out that Peter Pan was kidnapping and stealing souls of children or something. Alas. He's a good guy. And I do like romance in books even if it's a subplot, but I HATED it here. You do get the feeling that it's not going to go anywhere, but it would've been better to keep it a one-sided infatuation with Peter liking Wendy, then Wendy actually growing more and more attracted to Peter. It low-key felt creepy because while Peter is OLD old in spirit, he inhabits a child-but-rapidly-growing-into-a-teenager body throughout the book and I'm not loving the way 18-year-old Wendy keeps eyeing him. He also regresses and acts very child-like throughout this book (much to Wendy's frustration), so the dynamics between them was super weird to me all the way through. Not every YA book needs romance, and this was certainly one of those times where it felt needlessly shoved in. There's bigger things to deal with in this book anyways.

Important things to note that this story does not have is Tinker Bell. Like, Tinker Bell does not exist at all. The only fairies mentioned in this book are really just the fairy lights Wendy keeps hung up in her room. Pixie dust exists in this book, but has nothing to do with fairies. Nana the dog is mentioned in this book, but only in memories and is no longer alive, which is another layer of depressing. Peter also gets a fake name in this book, and is called Barry from time to time. I'm assuming this is an Easter egg to the writer J.M. Barrie who created Peter Pan, but it is the worst name to pass off as a fake name for a teenager because BARRY? No one should be falling for that. Realistically, I know there can be teenagers nowadays called Barry, but in a YA book? Eh. The writer J.M. stands for James Matthew, where either (or both?) would've been a better choice even if a bit more of an obscure Easter egg.

The ending with the missing children is kind of confusing but wraps up pretty easily. I don't know if I particularly care for how everything works out. The final showdown with Captain Hook in the original story has epicness (and pirates), and here we don't have any of that. And the true villain of the story and the answer to what happened with John and Michael Darling gets wrapped up SO cleanly? Like the end of a Scooby-Doo episode. It feels too simple and rushed to me. And then we get an epilogue where Wendy just moves on with life and, I don't know. I can see why this ending might work for some people, but it seems lackluster to an already lackluster book. I don't think the book COULD end in any other direction considering how the story was progressing, but it also seems disappointing in a way. At the heart of it all, this story is about grief and moving on but it feels a little two-dimensional for me to be fully immersed into the storyline and FEEL all the feels I think I was supposed to get from this story.

The audiobook for this was okay. Avi Roque does a good job with what they had. I winded up listening to the audiobook at 3x speed to get through the story and their narration was still understandable at 1.5x and 3x. Only Peter Pan sounding American (which is probably more a choice for the character by the author more than the narrator) is really the only issue I had with listening to the audiobook.

I would generously call this book average at best. It's not BAD, but it's not amazing either. I'll still give the author's much more beloved Cemetery Boys or even The Sunbearer Trials a try one day, but I don't think this book is something I would consider re-reading in the future.

I thought I would really enjoy this, I do love a good retelling, however, the end just annoyed me. Without any spoilers the end didn't feel true, true to the story itself or true to the Peter Pan tale. The middle of the story really dragged with Wendy trying to see Peter on the sly through most of the book.

The premise of this book is interesting, but the execution failed for me. In my opinion, it’s far too long and could’ve used another pass from an editor.

I understand authors can be required to have certain word counts from their publishers, so some of the issues I have with this book may stem from that stipulation. Unfortunately, certain scenes made this book feel as if it were trying to meet an obligation instead of flesh out a story.

SPOILER WARNING

My two cents about story changes that don’t mean anything because I’m not out here writing books…

Begin the story by introducing us to the boys and Wendy before they disappear. Even if it’s a short amount of time, craft these three in a way that makes us invested in them. Then have us follow Wendy and the boys into the woods. Show them playing, the boys getting lost, and then Wendy’s terror when she can’t find them. Stress us out here. End with Wendy frantically searching for the boys or blacking out. Use the next bit of the story to show the aftermath of the boys going missing. Wendy’s parents retreating into their grief and neglecting her. Wendy devasted, guilt-ridden, isolated, and crumbling under the pressure to remember what happened to the boys. Go in here and make us cry. Don’t villainize the parents though; them withdrawing from being able to care for their daughter is awful, but understandable given the circumstances. Not right, but understandable. Then move on with introducing the other missing kids and Peter. Steadily increase the tension until we get to the climax of the story. Then make us rage at the big boss fight. At some point here drop what happened to the boys and utterly devastate us. I mean straight up wreck us. If the connections to these characters were built in the beginning it should pay off here. Afterwards, the book ending still works. Peter and Wendy are changed, but victorious. Wendy has some semblance of closure for the boys with Peter’s help. I don’t know if I particularly cared for the guy accidentally murdering the boys; maybe the shadow did some creepy demon stuff and took them on its own. Or there was some awful accident (landslide, avalanche, wildebeest stampede) that killed them. Or give murder guy more time in the beginning so we care about him as an integral part of the family. Maybe he’s a longtime friend of the family and has become like an uncle to the kids. Show him helping the parents and making food for Wendy. Maybe he’s not an emotional guy so while he’s doing what he can for Wendy, he’s failing because he doesn’t have the right tools to deal with the situation. He’s also carrying around the guilt of murdering two small people that he loved and every moment he doesn’t confess is even more of a betrayal. Then his reveal really punches us in the gut.

Or just cut everything that doesn’t move the story forward once Wendy and Peter start looking for the missing children. For me it felt like there was so much that unnecessarily distracted Peter and Wendy from their mission when there was a serious time constraint. Additionally, some of the dialog was repetitive so that could be tightened up.

This is all personal opinion. Obviously loads of people have connected with this story and I honestly think that’s great. People make themselves vulnerable when they put their work into the world and it’s a beautiful thing when it resonates with others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an unexpected and dark twist on the Peter Pan story. I enjoyed the turns and the fact that I didn't realize it was a Peter Pan retelling until we finally meet Peter. But I did struggle with how ages felt in this book. The missing children is very dark, but then Peter, while he now appears to be older, still acts like a very young child - which causes Wendy to act younger than she is at certain points too. As we see Wendy and Peter grow to know each other again as older teens. I struggled with their relationship. The story also drags in the middle, but I pushed through and was glad I did. The climax and ending had me gasping out loud. This was a good story in the end, but it did hiccup along the way.

After loving Aiden Thomas's previous novel Cemetery Boys, I was very excited to read Lost in the Never Woods. Unfortunately, I did not love this book as much as I was hoping to and struggled to get into it as the pacing felt very slow to me. This was a dark retelling of Peter Pan, and while it was not my favorite I always have a soft spot for a retelling. The beginning and middle of the book were rather slow, but the ending was more enjoyable. It seemed like there were frequent discussions about time running out, but many side journeys where the characters went off to do every day things that kind of didn't fit with the flow being established.

Overall it was okay, and for readers who enjoy a slower paced book I recommend it. I will still read anything that Aiden Thomas puts out, and look forward to his next novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 stars

Aiden Thomas's debut, Cemetery Boys, was one of my favorite reads of 2020, so I was super excited for his latest release. But, sadly, I was let down.

Lost in the Never Woods follows the story of Wendy. Five years ago, Wendy and her brothers went missing in the woods. She came back without any of her memories a short time later, but her brothers are still missing. When more of the town's children start to disappear, the questions surrounding Wendy and her brothers' disappearance come back to light. Then, she meets Peter - a boy she though lived only in her stories. He and Wendy team up to find and rescue the missing kids, and uncover the mystery of what's haunting Wendy's town.

I originally tried reading this book right after its release in 2021, but I ended up putting it down because it was very slow. I restarted it this year on audio to help get through it, and I still didn't have a much better experience.

While I did appreciate the dark/mystery twist to the retelling, the story was ultimately slow and slightly confusing. I never managed to connect to the story or any of the characters. Peter Pan is one of my very favorite Disney stories, but I struggle so much with any retelling I've ever read. I just think it's too difficult for retellings to do the original justice.

This story wasn't bad by any means. It just wasn't the story for me.

A cute and unique story based on Peter Pan. The main character seemed a little too immature for me. The pacing felt super slow.

Children are going missing. Is this related to Wendy, John, and Michael’s disappearance in the woods five years earlier? Although Wendy returned six months later, with no memory of what happened, John and Michael are still missing. And now, Wendy finds a boy in the woods – a boy who’s hurt, wants Wendy’s help, and says his name is Peter Pan. Can Wendy and Peter save the children? This modern retelling puts an interesting spin on the idea of Peter Pan and Neverland. The first third of the story drags, repeating everything too often. After that it picks up and runs with it. Family, suspense, literary characters, and a bit of romance.

After loving Cemetery Boys, I was excited to see another book from Thomas and I even got a chance to grab a free copy for an honest review!

What I Liked
--The twist of what Neverland is was a real shock! It’s an interesting change to the classic tale.
--Very atmospheric; Thomas captures the creepiness and beauty of the woods so perfectly. The villain was quite spooky, too!

What I Didn’t Like
--This is a very slow book; the plot barely moves along and keeps getting derailed with inane scenes and dialogue. We spend so long with Wendy, doing basic chores and seeing Jordan and Peter, and sometimes in the woods, but the actual story doesn’t start until much later. I was so bored, and remained bored throughout.
--The dialogue felt so stilted and uninteresting. I legit think there are chunks of scenes that could have been removed all-together as they added nothing to the plot or characters.
--Wendy was boring; like, really boring. She was a static character getting dragged along by the story without making choices for herself, and when serious stuff was happening, her mind was still on her feelings for Peter–there’s more pressing issues! She also tried to pull the “I’m plain looking” card when she really looks like every white YA protagonist that has ever existed.
--Plus, the romance itself was boring….I just feel like I keep using this word, but it’s true. It wasn’t engaging; neither Peter nor Wendy are particularly interesting characters. Peter says he wants to find the missing kids but has no problem wasting time doing anything else.

Conclusion
Because I was asked to be a part of the blog tour for this book, I felt like I really had to finish it and I hate that feeling. This was such a slog to get through; don’t recommend this one.

My Rating: 2/5

I did not find this title gripping in any way. I found Peter annoying, and I did not sympathize with many of the characters.

This read like a debut novel to me. The writing was good, but not compelling.

The cover for this book is absolutely gorgeous, and having seen where it's a Peter Pan retelling I was a little excited to get into it. However, it just didn't really do it for me. I lost interest and found myself putting the book down more frequently and just avoiding it altogether.

This was an interesting take on the Peter Pan story. There were shocking moments especially when the truth came out. I want to issue a trigger warning about the ending. It mentions major violence.