Book written by Liz Michalski, Published 2022.
Holly Darling (granddaughter of Wendy) runs a very successful skincare company in NYC, having left the tragedy of her old life behind in London. Her secrets can't stay hidden for long though, as she gets a call that her daughter Eden is missing, made stranger by the fact that Eden has been in a coma for nearly 11 years. Holly suspects Peter, who isn't how the story makes him out to be, is behind the disappearance and enlists the help of her mother Jane and a private investigator who seems eerily familiar.
This book was...bad. A terrible "adaptation" as well as a lackluster story. I use quotes over adaptation, because is it really a story following the fairy tale, or is it some wacky family-issue tale with conveniently familiar names? It is the result of asking the question "What if it was modern-day and Peter was the villain, not Hook?" and it didn't turn out well. I can't think of one thing I liked about it. The P.I. didn't have any connection to Captain Hook other than a hook for a hand, and in modern times, where could one even find a hook for a prosthesis? There wasn't a reason for the "fairy-tale Peter" to be there other than mayyyybe the magic lending itself to Eden's strange abilities. The "adaptation Peter" is a total scumbag and not even Holly is not a likable character, but the story doesn't really have any real purpose for our dislike of her. You know how sometimes bad books are redeemed by the ending? This one didn't even have that going for it. It is probably needless for me to say, but you won't be missing anything if you skip this one. Actually, you'll be saving yourself.
This book contains mild language and descriptions of sex and rape, drugs, and other abuse. Definitely not for a young audience, though I doubt they'd get far enough into the book for these to be an issue.
You can't return from the growing up these spoilers will force you to do, but is it a spoiler if you won't read the book anyway?
"Time stopped for Holly the day of the car crash. She's been defying death, defying time, for all these years, and she's not going to stop now."
All I will say here is that there is a lot of unpacking in this book. Even the publisher summary was confusing. It has the air of mystery in a book that has purpose behind when to reveal information, with none of the purpose behind it, so you are sitting there knowing that you will be told eventually, but wondering why not now. It drove me absolutely crazy, and because of that, I will give you the whole, ironed-out story: Holly's family is well known in connection to the Peter Pan tale. Her husband and son (Jack's twin) died in a car crash that left Jack completely disabled. After the accident, Holly was comforted and later raped by Peter Pan, resulting in a daughter Eden who ages incredibly quickly for some unknown reason. Eden was flying with Jack one day (another hidden ability) when Holly panicked and caused Eden to fall out of a tree. When Jack got her blood on him, his old injuries miraculously disappeared, but Eden was left in a coma for a long time. All the while, biologist Holly moved with Jack (who doesn't remember Eden, nor will Holly tell him) to NYC and has been researching samples of Eden's blood behind the scenes of her company and giving them as transfusions to Jack every month to keep him healthy and fully-abled. One day, coma-ridden Eden goes missing from her London cottage, and not only does Holly worry about Eden being in danger from Peter, she also has to consider what will happen to Jack without the transfusions. Holly travels back to London to investigate, reluctantly bringing Jack along too. She tries desperately to conceal Eden's existence and her history with Peter, which only ends up delaying things and losing the trust of her son. Holly's mother, Jane, has been obsessed with Peter and fantasizing about him coming for her like he did with Wendy, so she is shocked to learn of his true identity but helps with this latest crisis without question. Peter is a horrible person, cursed to grow older, but never grow up, who drugs up teen boys with his experiments to reverse his aging in order to return to Neverland. There. I lied; giving you the whole story is exhausting, but I think giving you the chronological first half should be enough to illustrate without completely ruining the ending. Peter dies. Whoops, who did that?
Have you ever gotten lost in the descriptions and imagery while reading? This one rather frustrated me in the lack thereof. For example: "At her stop, her map app shows the pub is only two blocks away. Luckily she's brought her umbrella, as it's pouring." If I had to describe Michalski as an author based on this book, it would have to be "Opposite of Tolkien". If you know, you know.
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