A brutal thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Forget what you know about Peter Pan and get hooked on this realistic, if disturbing version. I loved Wendy, Tink, and the lost boys and how they fought to protect each other. An intriguing take on a beloved story.

You had me at the concept of a Dark Peter Pan and Ancrum's book delivered! Thrilling, intriguing, and satisfyingly philosophical, I enjoyed this read from start to finish.

Unfortunately, this less than 300 pages book took me too long to finish because I couldn't find myself to come by anything entertaining, and that might have to do with the author's style of writing that is not up to my preferences.

I read the audiobook and I loved it!
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Wendy is a spunky, likable FMC who is dealing with all the teenage angst that I personally never got when I was in high school.
The Darlings have moved into a new house in a nice area of Chicago after Mr. Darling got a new job & Mrs. is wanting to adopt a couple kiddos. A strange boy sneaks into the backyard, to be scared off by the family dog, Nana. He returns the next night for revenge and ends up meeting the beautiful Wendy.
A wild night of train hopping, running from cops, and uncovering secrets.
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Thank you to NG for the ARC, and the public library for the audiobook!

Wendy Darling has just moved to a new city (Chicago) with her parents. Her only friend in town is one she made online. Her parents refuse to let her meet said friend until they have had a chance to meet this friends parents and confirm she is genuine. Her parents are also hoping to adopt a teenager in order to help them have a better life. One evening, while home alone, Wendy is confronted with a young man coming through her window looking for the sleeve of the coat her dog had ripped off his arm earlier in the day. Against her better judgement, Wendy offers to sew the sleeve of the jacket back on for the boy, who she learns is Peter. In return, Peter promises to take her on the town and to a party full of young people she can befriend. But, as the night unfolds, Wendy begins to question whether she should trust this dynamic, charming young man.

This is a very different and dark take on the Peter Pan story. I enjoyed the changes made and the narrative twists that the author took. However, after reading two Peter Pan retellings so close together, I find that I am not so interested in the Peter Pan mythology anymore. It is just not for me. Which is too bad, as I used to love the story, but as we grow we change. I do, however, love the diversity of characters within this book.

Wendy is unsure in her new environment, but she is also curious and easily swayed. Peter is as bombastic as ever, just as devious, just as daring, just as terrifying. Because, that is what he is in all iterations of his story, terrifying. A young boy who takes lost children to Neverland for adventure, but also acquainting them with a land full of danger and possible death.

This story highlights the actual darkness at the heart of the Pan story. The children blindly follow, the loyalty that is given out of fear, the lack of ability for these children to find a way out of this horrible situation. Peter is a master manipulator and the truth about him will leave you shocked and disgusted.

The lost boys are such a ragtag, but loving, group. You feel bad for what all these young children are put through, after a life already marred by hardship. Peter preys on the weak, the lonely, the vulnerable and desperate. He feeds them the idea of home and safety, only to rip all that away from them without hesitation or remorse.

Hook, in this narrative, is a police officer, which suits the story very well. He is Peter's nemesis, and with how Peter is you would think that Hook would be the one you actually root for. But, he is out there doing everything for his career and less for the children that Peter is endangering. He is slick, conniving, and just as dangerous as Peter.

Thinkerbelle is a street punk who lives with Peter, and she is rude to Wendy at first, but you realize as Wendy gets to know the group better that maybe Tink was acting that way for a reason, trying to warn Wendy off. They also meet up with a football team from another school, who act as the stand ins for the Indigenous group from Neverland. This group is strong, is devoted to helping, but is also made up of teenagers who are scared. Wendy befriends the Lost Boys after a rough start and hopes to truly help them as the night continues on and she realizes the reality of their homelife.

This book is set up in the span of one night, which makes the action fast and intense. You do not have long with each character as the flow of the novel progresses, but you have a clear understanding of who they are and their place within the book. I loved that the mermaids lagoon became a drag bar, this to me was a perfect fit and one of my favourite moments.

If you love Peter Pan, then I encourage you to read this book. It is not long and the pace is fast, and you will find yourself falling into a similar but all together different story. There is no magic, but there is a found family element that draws you in just like the original tale.

I honestly couldn't connect with this. Although I did enjoy seeing a variety of characters that were diverse, the overall execution felt like a chaotic mess. It seemed like the author tried too hard to incorporate elements from the original Peter Pan story, but didn't pay enough attention to creating a coherent plot or developing the numerous characters in a meaningful way.

I am generally hesitant to read Peter Pan adaptations, because of the often harmful Native representation and erasure from the original tale and retellings. But I’m always willing to read these works when they’re written by BIPOC. One of my favorites being Sisters of the Neversea, and now I can add Darling by K. Ancrum to that list. I was expecting an urban fantasy, but ended up with something more along the lines of a thriller. I appreciate the contemporary setting and how the original characters were adapted for this world. I loved the lost boys and was so charmed by them… begging K. Ancrum to write a spin off about them. I was definitely hooked into this story, and I think a big part of it was how much we care about these characters. Without them, this story would have been much less memorable and interesting. I definitely recommend it.

This Peter Pan story worked too hard to take a fantasy story and make it “real”. I will give the author credit for some creative reimaginings, but the “big reveal” just felt overworked and under thought out.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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

Sadly I didn’t connect with this one as therefore I didn’t finish it. I really wanted to like it but it missed the mark for me.

This was a short and thrilling book. This is probably one of the better retellings I have read, it stays true to the original text. When I read this I had just read Peter Pan and as you read Darling you can see how much the author had studied the original. Staying close to the original text isn’t something that I am particular about when it comes to retellings, but the author’s work was not lost on me. We follow Wendy who has just moved to Chicago with her parents, who are about to welcome two new members into their family. I liked how it was more Wendy-focused because despite the titular character in the original being Peter Pan we see the world through Wendy’s eyes. As soon as Wendy meets Peter I was on edge. Every time we moved to a new scene in the book I expected the worst. The atmosphere of the book is fantastic! This one will keep you on your toes. I was able to guess the twist, but I believe it was executed wonderfully and provides a powerful critique of the original. This was my first K. Ancrum book and I will definitely pick up more!

DARLING is a dark & twisted peter pan retelling that takes place over the span of one night. the cast is incredibly diverse, featuring poc, disabled, and queer characters. this book also featured a subtle romance, found family, and a haunting twist. it perfectly brings out the sinister side of the source material & places the characters in a modern, urban setting which makes it even more compelling.

admittedly i don't know much about peter pan, so i probably missed some of the references to it in this retelling, but from what little i know of peter pan i know this was an incredibly fateful retelling. i loved how the author transcribed the story of peter and wendy into a modern thriller with a really chilling twist. i absolutely loved her interpretation of peter's character.

as to be expected from a k ancrum book the cast was casually diverse and the found family trope was so well done. i loved the subtle romance and i'm so glad it was kept subtle becuase i hate nothing more than forced and rushed romances.

Things I love:
- Diverse or dark retellings
- Peter Pan
- K. Ancrum's other books.

This book lived up to all of my expectations and then some. This thriller is a dark modern chapter by chapter retelling of the original Peter Pan.

K. Ancrum never fails to amaze me. I’ll admit I’ve never picked up the Peter Pan classic, but I’ve watched its adaptations (cartoon and life-action) enough to appreciate its allure and magic. I adored what Ancrum did with this story. The originality and the freshness of this story blew me away. I love, love, LOVE a story with a good found family trope.

Highly recommend.

5 out of 5 stars

Darling was definitely a fresh take on a Peter Pan retelling.
We follow Wendy, through the course of a night, as she gets swept up in an adventure after finding Peter in her room. She thinks they’re just headed to a party, but there is so much more that accompanies that.
I hadn't read anything by K. Ancrum up until this point, but I know she's an author that gets high praise for the darker topics she tackles in her books. I definitely appreciated the found family aspect and loved the representation of so many different groups. My only qualm with this story is that by the end I didn’t feel fully connected to the characters.
All in all, Darling was a wild ride, at times saddening and angering.

“What he wants is a family. A timeless, perfect family where no one can tell him what to do.”

Ancrum went hard in this book and it’s a direct hit. DARLING is a dark, twisty retelling of Peter Pan, in the form of a young adult thriller. In this version, Wendy is a Black girl who’s just moved to the city of Chicago from the suburbs. She meets Peter, a charming and charismatic figure playing dad to a ragtag group of foster boys, and he talks Wendy into a night out - a night that becomes a defining one for them both.

Told over the course of this one long evening, it’s a tight retelling of the original where the pirates are cops, the mermaids are drag queens, and the kids are still kids, with a sinister spin that had me reeling. It’s hard to say too much more about the plot without spoiling it, but it’s ultimately a story about creating your own found family, freeing yourself from abuse, and, of course, the difficulties of growing up (especially when you are forced to do so too soon).

Some of adapting this into a contemporary setting is a bit of a stretch, but thinking of it a bit like a modern-day fairytale helps, and I love the way that Ancrum uses this setting to pull new implications from a well-worn story. There’s multiple queer characters (including an ace love interest) and BIPOC characters, and their multifaceted identities really bring this story to our world, as queer and BIPOC kids are more likely, for various fucked-up reasons, to be in foster care or on their own at a young age.

It’s a grim and fantastical story, different from what I expected but utterly captivating and, despite its intense content, comforting. I’m really looking forward to reading more of Ancrum’s work. Thanks to Imprint/Fierce Reads for the eARC!

Content warnings: abuse, violence, murder, police raids, trauma responses, acephobia

What a amazing book! I feel in love with this one. The story is spectacular, all the characters are super vivid. I recommend with my heart.

This was a very interesting spin/re-imagining on Peter Pan and Wendy in this book. It felt like it went by super quickly as I read and felt like it would make for a really good movie adaption should that happen. I enjoyed trying to figure out the mystery of Peter and who he can actually be.