This was an incredible take on the traditional tales of Peter Pan.

Five years ago, Wendy’s younger brothers disappeared and they have never been found... and Wendy remembers nothing of that night in the woods. Now, when children are going missing again police are on her doorstep to find answers. Aside from the police presence, Wendy almost runs over a boy in the woods in her 18th birthday... a boy who claims to know her... a boy who claims to be Peter Pan, the boy whom her mother told her stories about and whom she, in turn, told her brothers stories about. But there is no way he could possibly be real.

This was exquisite! This was a masterfully told rendition of the traditional take on Peter Pan. This is darker and more twisted and with much, much more at stake. There is an entity that is taking the young children in their quiet town... and the reason is a total twist on the original story.

I absolutely loved this book! The idea behind the magic of Peter Pan and what it takes for him to lose his magic... what he must give up - is tragic and beautiful. I have come to the conclusion that there is NOTHING that Aiden Thomas writes that I will not completely devour!

I loved this more grown up version of Wendy and Peter. It took me a bit to get into the story but once I got in I was sucked in. I could really picture this as a movie. The shadow was perfect and not overly scary.
I give this book 4 stars. A seriously enjoyed story.

A Peter Pan retelling you say?
I'm intrigued!

Wendy Darling and her brothers disappeared, 6 months later only Wendy came home but with no memories and got on with her life. But what happens when where she's been comes looking for her 5 years later and needs her help?

I'm not going to say much more about the plot because you need to experience this. So good.

I will say that I'm loving this authors writing style and he has written the story and Wendy and Peter perfectly. They were completely adorable together. Also this book contained some sensitive issues, all respectively written.

Not going to lie, the ending had me in bits.

Best part of the book: the cover. Second best: the author's dedication to "every heavy heart that had to grow up to fast." Thomas' YA fascinating take on the legendary Peter Pan fairy tale consists of a strong albeit PTSD- ridden 18 yo Wendy Darling, and her search for the truth about her past.

Thank you Macmillan Children's, Swoon Reads and NetGalley for the delighful e-ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Swoon Reads for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I have read a lot of retellings and twisted fairytales and it is a rare treat to come across a story as original and as vibrant as Lost in the Neverwoods.

Wendy Darling is an 18 year old hospital volunteer who went missing five years earlier with her two brothers. Wendy was found alone in the woods, but her brothers still remain missing and Wendy has no recollection of what happened. Regaled with stories about Peter Pan by her mother, Wendy starts to realize that they might not just be stories when children start to go missing and Wendy hits a boy claiming to be the infamous Peter with her car. Together, the two of them seek out Peter’s shadow and the truth behind what happened to the Darling children.

This book was unputdownable and I recommend for any fans of retellings or Peter Pan in general. Excellent read and Aiden Thomas has quickly become a new favorite author.

Let me preface this with saying this is not my typical read. I know there’s a swath of fairytales reimagined and twisted versions of Disney stories, but I’ve never been able to get into them. However, when I saw that Aiden Thomas was coming out with a new book, you bet I requested that ASAP! Cemetery Boys was one of my first reads of 2020 and made me a devoted fan of Aiden Thomas’s writing. Lost in the Never Woods is a dark retelling of Peter Pan set in modern day Oregon. In this spooky and mystical retelling, Wendy finds herself working along the Peter Pan she’s been telling stories about for years in order to solve a mystery of missing children. Wendy has her own stake in this mystery, having lost her brothers a few years prior. Aiden Thomas weaves this story of friendship, romance, and the struggles of a family dealing with loss, with such talent that can’t be denied. This will definitely be an immediate buy for me when it’s released!

Lost In The Never Woods is a fresh take on what could have been an empty re-telling of a very beloved classic take. Aiden Thomas plays on the audience’s previous knowledge of Peter Pan to skip a lot of the conventional ways to introduce characters and instead focuses on this specific story of Wendy and Peter. I think they’ve done such an incredible job of layering Peter Pan and Hook tid-bits and nods throughout, without making it mundane or tiresome. I can see this novel become an instant favorite with younger and older fans of Peter Pan. It touches on mental health and the ways families can hurt after shared tragedies, in such a tender way. It’s impossible to not love Wendy and Peter, but Jordan also deserves a big shout out! Good friendships deserve Big Love and it was so meaningful to see how Jordan takes care of Wendy. I’m so excited for others to read this smoky tale of a grown up Wendy, navigating a time where she feels both lost and ready for the next step of life.

Really well written, creepier than I had thought. I had to stop part way and put it on pause for several weeks and then continue again in the daylight. Having grown up in the countryside, I know first-hand how creepy the woods can get.

This book is very different from Aiden Thomas' first book Cemetery Boys. In it he takes on a new and different approach to you typical Peter Pan story. It was thoughtful and interesting.

Five years ago, Wendy and her little brothers vanished. She returned after six months, traumatized and amnesiac. Her family never recovered. Now, more children are disappearing into thin air, and one has just as mysteriously appeared: Peter Pan, the character from the stories Wendy used to tell her brothers. Though she has her doubts about this impossible boy, she can't deny that they need each other: he has the answers she craves, and he needs her help to recapture his shadow before its evil grows too great. The retelling is about equal parts slow-blooming relationship, tense fight against the power of darkness, and unpacking of her trauma.

Aiden Thomas will surely be a household name in classroom libraries. Students craving non binary representation will love this novel. Beautifully written with magical elements, this reimagined fairytale will be a hit.

A part of me thinks that I could summarize everything I’ve felt about this book in a few short sentences…. That part of me is very naive, because I can’t…. Not entirely.

I guess if I had to summarize my feelings about Lost In The Never Woods, I would say this is the best retelling of Peter Pan I’ve ever read. One of my top favourite reads of the year, and even an all-time favourite of mine!

Aiden Thomas has managed to bring a new light to J.M. Barrie’s original story and they have created a complex world where characters like Wendy Darling and Peter Pan feel alive. This book tackles hard themes like grief or lost, but it does it in a superb way.

In Lost In The Never Woods, there’s room for all types of emotions. It’s really well-written, a story that catches you from the first page and it never leaves you… Or at least... I have the feeling that it will never leave me.

Lost in the Never Woods is Aiden Thomas' sophomore novel, but shares dark and spooky vibes which were apparent in his debut, Cemetery Boys. Other than that parallel, Lost in the Never Woods is incredibly different than its predecessor and deserves to be viewed as its own independent piece. Lost in the Never Woods is at its heart, a story about mourning and grief. Wendy Darling, despite nearly an adult, is traumatized by an incident she can't fully remember which resulted in becoming separated from her two younger brothers. As she volunteers at the hospital her mother works in, she tells the children there stories of the boyish and adventurous Peter Pan. Her memories begin to resurface in strange ways, which leads her to wonder if there's more to Peter than a figment of her imagination.

The strength of this novel is certainly its characterization of its secondary main character, Peter Pan. Peter is a growing boy who should not be tumbling towards adulthood, which is clear by his charismatic and boisterous actions and behaviors. Despite most Peter Pan retellings focusing on Peter being a static character, Thomas makes their story rooted in character development. As Wendy is trying to find answers to bury her own grief and find the other children who have gone missing in her small Oregon town, Peter has a secret which he needs to share in order to keep the missing children safe. What results is a clever twist in an age-old story which is satisfying despite its slow build up.

Lost in the Never Woods has a main female lead, but does not have much diversity outside of the narrative. Many of Wendy's conversations with her best friend Jordan are full of strife or "boy talk," which leaves their relationship feeling two dimensional throughout the story. Wendy's parents are an interesting study on grieving parents--with a mother consumed in work and a father who is overprotective--but they play a minor role in the story. The story is overwhelmed by Wendy and Peter's issues, meaning they are by far the characters readers learn about and emphasize with the most. Unlike Thomas' earlier work, there is also no clear LGBTQIA+ or BIPOC representation in the novel. Peter is described as a boy with "auburn hair and blue eyes," while Wendy's race is left ambiguous. While this is not necessarily a deficit to Thomas' story-telling capabilities, readers of Cemetery Boys may be surprised by the lack of representation throughout this novel.

Lost in the Never Woods was originally written as a thesis for Thomas' MFA in Creative Writing. When reading the novel, readers may be reminded of its more academic origins by the frequent use of motifs (such as the acorn introduced early in the story) and its over-arching theme (grief and mourning). In many ways, this story also feels less polished despite more editing time compared to Thomas' other works. The humor, while present, doesn't linger. Most of the relationships in the story are surface level, excluding the relationship Wendy shares with Peter. Despite this, the story is strong, easy to follow, and leaves the reader thinking about its ending long after the pages run out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Children's Publishing Group for an advanced copy of Lost in the Never Woods in exchange for an honest review. This book has a beautiful cover and will make a great addition to any bookshelf--young and old alike! Make sure to preorder the book or pick it up from your local bookstore on March 23rd, 2021!

LOST IN THE NEVER WOODS is a great mystery adaptation of the Peter Pan canon. Close enough to the Disney classic that you don't feel alienated, but original enough that you are constantly thinking about it when you are not reading it, I would heartily recommend this novel to any fan of Peter Pan and/or Aiden Thomas.

I knew I was going to love this book even before I read the first page because the previous book I read by Aiden Thomas was one of the best books I read in 2020 and I knew he wouldn't disappoint me. I absolutely love retellings of classic fairy tales and folklore so when I saw that this book was a retelling or more a continuation of Peter Pan, I got very excited. Set in Astoria, Oregon, we follow Wendy who disappeared into the dark woods and was kidnapped with her two younger boys years ago but somehow she reappeared months later but unfortunately her brothers never did. Now years later, Wendy is just trying to live a normal life but children are going missing again. Memories of her brothers and the events from years ago start coming back and they all seem centered around Peter Pan. But he is not real. Or is he? If you read Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, you will love this book. The story is very different but Thomas brings us characters that you can easily root for, a mysterious environment, and amazing writing in this new book.

I love a retelling of a well known story and this was just so well thought out and such a great concept. There are some really nice portrayals of friendship and the way grief is explored is nicely done.
I did feel that perhaps this was a little long-winded and I felt like the majority of the action was packed into the final 10% of the book. Despite this, the intrigue and familiarity of the characters kept me interested and wanting to read on.

Firstly, I would like to thank MacMillan Children's Publishing group for providing a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley as part of the Fierce Reads Recommends: W21 Sneak Peek sweepstakes from the Latinx KidLit Book Festival. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Aiden Thomas' first novel, Cemetery Boys, I was looking forward to this. Lost in the Never Woods takes the story of Peter Pan into the modern day. Like Cetemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas sets up a central mystery around missing children and explores the theme of dealing with death. Wendy Darling is 18, volunteering at a hospital, yet still not completely sure of what specific career she wants. At the hospital, Wendy loves to tell stories of Peter Pan to patients. These stories were told to her by her mom when Wendy was a child. Five years prior, Wendy and her two brothers went missing after going exploring deep into the woods. Although her brothers were not found, Wendy was discovered several months after disappearing, without being able to remember anything. This loss of memory works well in the story as Wendy experiences flashes of memory that allow her to make connections in order to solve the central mystery of the novel. In the present day, several children she knows go missing. When Wendy meets the Peter Pan of her stories, this sets off a series of events that will lead her to uncover what happened to her siblings as well as to the missing children. I really enjoyed how the author used the tale of Peter Pan, exploring many of the ideas, people, places, and themes from it in new ways. I particularly enjoyed the author's take on NeverLand and the Lost Boys. Aiden Thomas did an excellent job of grabbing the reader's interest throughout. I found the villain at the center of the story interesting and I found the unraveling of the mystery well executed. The exploration of death in the book was also very well done. Lost in the Never Woods is a unique take on the tale of Peter Pan that will thrill readers of Cemetery Boys as well as readers who may be new to Aiden Thomas' work.

I've read both of Aiden Thomas' books and they're great! I love fairytale retellings but in recent years so many of them have painted Peter Pan to be the villain. I love that we were able to see Peter as almost as "angel" who only wanted to bring joy and calm to those around him and how we battled with his putting that responsibility over his own wants and desires. This was a great read and I highly recommend it.

This retelling is like one I've never read for Peter Pan! We get to see Wendy at 18 encounter our favorite lost boy except it's not under our fairytale bliss. Children are missing in Wendy's town again like when her and her brothers went missing except now Peter needs her help. I loved seeing a not so perfect wendy who had fear and doubts. the villian behind this one was so good you guys and the full circle of emotions blew me away. seriously the last 20% i couldn't put it down, my dinner got cold, i sobbed. but the ending was absolutely what the story needed. it was such a beautiful tale on our classic peter and I cannot wait to see what Aiden writes next!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

This Peter Pan retelling really impressed me. I think retelling of classic children tales are always a little difficult to read, because we know the story so it takes a lot of creativity to make and old story feel new again. Aiden Thomas managed to do that and more. He took something familiar and did something new that told a story far deeper than most retellings. The way grief was captured in this book really hit home. The broken family that the grief for two lost boys seemed realistic. But it also captured the original charm of Peter Pan. There was a mix of adventure and an urge to not grow up and stay with Peter Pan forever. I wouldn't call this a "dark" retelling of Peter Pan, because Aiden Thomas managed to do more than that and calling it that wouldn't do this story justice. I think this started as an interpretation of Peter Pan, but the story has a life of its own.

The atmosphere of Lost in the Never Woods was really well built. It was a mixture of sadness, horror, and coming of age. Nothing was overdone, it really was perfect. I actually had to read this book in small amounts so I could enjoy every part of it.

In terms of audience I can see this being a hit for older middle grade readers to teens. I think it can fit middle school libraries just as well as high school ones. It has a lot of important lessons on growing up and confronting grief that can be useful to many readers.

I really enjoyed this and I will be buying Cemetery Boys next time I'm at a bookstore, I was that impressed with Aiden Thomas's writing style.