You know how every parent as a story of that one movie/show they could put on the tv when you were a toddler and it gave them 5 minutes peace? Peter Pan was that movie for me. Every time that VHS was on I was entirely captivated for 90 minutes by cartoon pirates and pixies. As I’ve (unfortunately) grown up, I’ve never lost my love for the story of the boy who could fly.
I’ve also had to confront the fact that my favorite cartoon was pretty racist.
Shit.
So when I read the description for Alyssa B. Sheinmel’s “Second Star” I was all in. A Peter Pan retelling set in sunny SoCal? Yes please. The lost boys are a surf gang, Neverland is a dilapidated beach house, and Captain Hook is a motorcycle riding love interest.
That pretty much sums it up.
My feelings toward this book are very, very mixed. The beginning of the story is enchanting. The picture Sheinmel paints of Southern California is so vivid you could almost smell the saltwater. In fact I bought a candle at Bath and Body Works solely because I sniffed it and it “smelled like exactly what Pete’s beach house smells like but like if it was a candle” (an exact quote) But unfortunately the story loses its grip for me just when it should be grabbing me tighter. I found the relationship between Jas and Wendy very out-of-left-field and everything after that starts to feel like a bad fanfiction.
Also sidenote, I’ve never seen that candle again.
Summary:
Seventeen year-old Wendy Darling’s brothers have been missing since they went out surfing months ago. Everyone around her has moved on and encourages her to do the same, but she just can’t. On (another) drive up and down the coast to ask any surfer she can if they’ve seen her brothers, she discovers a hidden cove home to a surfer gang. The boys live in a crumbling beach house on the hillside and Wendy is instantly attracted to their mysterious leader Pete, but trouble brews when she also has a run in with Pete’s rival Jas. And this is about all of a summary I can write without rolling my eyes
Loved:
- Setting: I could practically feel the sand between my toes in the first half of the story as Sheinmel paints a remarkably vivid and mesmerizing Neverland
- Plot: Peter Pan is the leader of a surf gang. The lost boys are surfers. Captain Hook is a drug dealer. YES
Hated:
- Romance: The characters were all charming as shit…..until we entered the ~romantic~ part of the story. Any redeemable qualities quickly drained away to be replaced by an immense lack of chemistry (and this is supposed to be a love triangle. I’m supposed to CARE SO MANY)
- Climax: The story ends with Wendy going up to Big Sur with Jas on a last ditch attempt to find her brothers, almost killing herself trying to surf, and then accepting her brothers are gone. The main conflict of the book was her missing brothers, and to have that treated like a plot point second to the relationship between Jas and Wendy felt cheap. Nothing feels resolved and I put down the book feeling empty and upset
Bottom line, Sheinmel wanted the romance to replace the brothers as the main driver of the story, but didn’t succeed in making the romantic aspect engaging enough to do so.
Also, I never saw that candle again
2/5 crowns
