(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain.
With Stella’s knowledge of folk and fairy tales, she might be Hook’s last chance for redemption and release if they can break his curse before Pan and his warrior boys hunt her down and drag Hook back to their neverending game.

Less a "re-telling" of Peter Pan than a story that can quite happily live side-by-side with the original story. It is told from Hook's point of view - an intelligent privateer, he is cursed to forever play the role of villain in the never-ending world of Peter Pan. Then, an opportunity arises for him to escape...if he can only work out how to take advantage of the chance.

The first thing I need to say about this is: what fun! It was so nice to see some popular culture turned on its' head and we got to see a different side to a popular figure (Peter Pan, that is - not the nicest chap from all accounts here!) The characteristics given to the major players in this story were just about on-point for me. I loved the idea of Peter not being quite the lovely boy we were all lead to believe...add to that the snarky Stella who dreams her way to Neverland (for some pretty cool reasons) and we have the makings of the ideal cast.

The other important thing, for me, was the messages invoked in this story: the dangers of not growing up, the importance of adventure in childhood, the possibility of redemption, and a bunch of other symbology that really brings the narrative to a point past just simple story-telling (although it does an amazing job of that!) It opens discussions about those topics and lets the reader immerse themselves even more fully into the story.

Why not 5 stars? The "romance" - I am not sure why this was included. Felt out of place from the rest of the story. It may have been written well, but it just didn't do anything for me.
Also, there are parts that move very slowly in this story...but not enough to dampen a solid 4 stars!
Well recommended!


Paul
ARH

I really like the idea of this book. I like many readers can remember growing up reading the story of Peter Pan and watching the movies. Of course Peter was the hero and Hook the evil villain. So again this is why this book sounded appealing that the idea that Hook is not the evil villain but maybe the hero.

I liked the beginning of the story. Neverland is not the same place I remember. It is darker. Even Peter and the Lost Boys are tougher. However I agree with other readers that the pacing of the story and how it progresses is slow. So it does make reading the book a little harder to want to stick with it but the characters are good and help to tell the story. While this is more of an adult twist on the story, it felt more like that then the fun upbeat story that I remember. Not that I am say this story needed to be light as the darker side was cool. I just wished that the darker side was just as memorizing to me as I had built it up to be in my head. The author can write a good story though.

I really enjoyed reading this retelling of the Peter Pan story. I have always had a soft spot for Captain Hook.

*I never got around to reading and reviewing this book. I may do so in the future*