Unhooked

I first stumbled across this book on Amazon's front page when they were advertising its release. I heard some where that if you loved Once Upon A Time's version of Peter Pan then you would love this book and so I knew I had to give it a try. The third season of Once Upon A Time which featured Peter Pan was my absolute favorite season so far and I LOVED their take on Peter Pan. I requested this book from my local library and they ordered it and I am so glad they did because HOLY COW I LOVED THIS BOOK! I have to say that I loved it so much, as soon as I read the last page I grabbed my phone and ordered this book off of Amazon because I want to read it over and over and over again! And I don't find books I love this much very often.So this review is basically just me fangirling over how much I am in love with this story.First of all the writing was breathtakingly beautiful in my opinion and I believe that the author did a stunning job at picking out every word she used. From the very beginning I was pulled into this world by the descriptive writing and the whole time I was just swooning over her words.I felt so excited the whole time I was reading this, I kept wanting to know what would happen next. I enjoyed meeting "Captain Hook" and Peter Pan and the lost boys and every single one of the characters. What an exciting adventure this was!Captain Rowan is so swoon worthy and gosh so was Peter pan! Gwen was such a great character to follow along with and I enjoyed hearing the story from her perspective. I felt like I was really in the story with her!As the cover says, this is most definitely not the Neverland we know, and I'm so excited because of this! (Don't get me wrong though I love the original Neverland too) Even though this story is a retelling, it is still so original and I love that so much! It may be sort of like Once Upon A Time's Peter Pan but there are so many differences that it still makes it original. I also noticed one little thing in it that reminded me of The Lunar Chronicles, which is a story I've been falling in love with as well.There was a tiny bit of romance in the book and I thought it was so incredibly perfect and I loved it so much! More swooning. I don't even know what to say except that I loved it!I loved every single minute of this book and I of course highly recommend it! Go read it. It was amazing! If you love Once Upon A Time's Peter Pan and you love adventure, and retellings then you will love this book!Lisa Maxwell, I love you for writing this book! It is everything I want in a Peter Pan story and more!

I am being spoiled by these fairytale re-tellings. I'm afraid to start them, because I've been disappointed by many. Thankfully, Unhooked was a story for the good list.To be clear, the story of Peter Pan has never been a favorite of mine. Sure I enjoyed it as a kid, but as an adult, there's nothing really exciting about it. Yes, it has magic and flying and fairies. But really there's no romance. And I'm adult enough to admit I enjoy that in the books I read.And in this version of Peter Pan --- I finally got it!Basically, this story centers on Gwen and her life constantly being uprooted by her mother, who is running from "monsters" no one else can see. She's probably crazy. And so, when Unhooked begins, we see Gwen, her mother, and her best friend, Olivia, moving into a new home in a new city - London. The house leaves much to be desired, and contains a creepy mural depicting fairies. Gwen's mother, of course, refuses to sleep there, and the girls are left for the night. They'd been warned not to turn down the lanterns, but thanks to a restless night, Gwen gives in. Except a mistake causes them to go out completely. It is then she is kidnapped by some mysterious dark beings she cannot see... and brought to a place she didn't think existed. She is rescued from the creatures by the alluring Captain.And thus our story begins...I admit the beginning starts out a bit slow. The first five chapters almost had me rethinking my decision to read it. It's oddly repetitive and Gwen constantly thinks that Olivia is going to reconsider her move and go back to her parents. It's somewhat distracting from the story, and with all the times it's mentioned, I had to ask myself why. This is clear towards the end of the book, so don't worry.Anyway, once Gwen gets kidnapped, things really pick up. The second she met the Captain, I was SOLD. Suh-woon! He's dark, handsome as sin, and damaged - both mentally and physically. These things alone draw you to him, but there is also the hint of him withholding something that makes you crave him more.The world-building is fantastic, especially for a standalone. But don't be fooled. This isn't your Disney NeverLand. This version is darker and I loved it. The mermaids aren't friendly. Peter Pan isn't the happy-go-lucky boy hero we all know and love. There's a Queen. Dark, shadowy creatures that smell of rotting earth. Essentially, not a place you want to be stuck in for the rest of your life. And not at the price you'd have to pay, either.I really enjoyed Maxwell's writing style for the most part. I could actually envision the places, creatures, and characters, and oftentimes in fantasy, that's the hardest thing to capture. Plus, the added bonus of two stories in one (the flashbacks at the beginning of each chapter) made me connect even deeper with the story.The one thing I struggled with, though, was Gwen's unyielding devotion to saving Olivia. We were told rather than shown how Olivia had accepted her and been such a great friend. And perhaps it wasn't possible to delve very deep due to the book's limit, but still... I wasn't all that convinced. It didn't help that once we discovered Olivia had been taken to NeverLand also, she was already mostly lost to Pan. I tried to force myself to understand the magic and how she'd been essentially brainwashed, and it wasn't her fault, but, it's hard. Her few moments of clarity weren't enough. As terrible as it may sound, I'd have left her behind early on. It may just be me, but I also think it's a lack of character development, too. I never saw her (Olivia) as strong-willed, someone who'd do anything to save herself AND her best friend.But overall, I really liked Unhooked. Towards the end I started to question how it would all get wrapped up. Things were definitely resolved a bit too easily considering the intensity of the first three-quarters of the book. It was overly simplified. I was happy with how it all ended, however. If I had a choice, I'd have liked to extend the characters' histories - Olivia and Gwen's past, Pan and Rowan's past, the history of NeverLand, Gwen's parents' story - and add a second book to get a bit MORE . I think this is one of those cases where it would be okay to be a bit more wordy. It was a lot to fit in to 342 pages.I definitely recommend it for fairytale junkies! It's unique enough to keep your interest the whole way through.

This was a dark retelling of Peter Pan, which was the first of its kind for me.I enjoyed it.The epoligue lives rent free in my head and I'd love a second story picking up where that left off because wow is there ever potential there!I am not fond of the Disney film for various reasons and as such, I was hesitant about picking up this book.I had actually had another title in mind but I'd heard lots of negative reviews so I browsed until I came across the synopsis for this one and I was hooked.*snort*I had watched Once Upon A Time, ages ago, and the show actually helped me visualize some of the characters which was fun.I will say that for most of the book the main character seemed like the damsel in distress type, but in fairness, she gets plopped into Neverland out of nowhere so there isn't much she can do on her own.It's obvious, fairly quickly, who the "bad" and "good" guys are, even though everyone is rather morally gray in some way shape or form and I was rooting for one side right away. I also liked that the author didn't spell things out but I figured out the twist pretty easily.Overall a fun easy read.

bellissima storia, la consiglio

Ich lese eigentlich keine Peter Pan Geschichten, aber ich fand die Zusammenfassung so interessant, das ich es gekauft habe! Und ich dachte, Piraten, Meer und Märchen Geschichte - perfekt im Strand zu lesen!Wer once upon a Time Serie angeschaut und ein Captain hooked Fan ist, würde ich jeden hier empfehlen!! 👍👍👍

Interesting switch of childrens Peter Pan children's story to more adult gruesome version

Die Geschichte war okay, nicht überragend, aber auch nicht unterirdisch. Der head-canon der Autorin ist etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig für mich gewesen, ihre Vorstellung vom Nimmerland und den Feen war nicht so ganz das, was mir persönlich vorgeschwebt ist. Der Schreibstil ist sehr einfach gehalten, für jemanden mit Sprachkenntnisse B1 oder B2 auf jeden Fall lesbar.Die Charaktere sind größten Teils sehr stereotypisch und vorhersehbar. Gerade der romantische Anteil war überhaupt nicht meins, wer aber Schnulz mag, wird sich sicher darüber freuen - es wird schon tief in die Klischeekiste vom schmachtenden Mädchen und dem großartigen Käpt'n gegriffen.Für Teenager sicherlich nicht verkehrt, für Erwachsene eher mit einem Schmunzeln zu lesen.