Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Review: Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Second Star
By: Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Release Date: May 13, 2014

Description:
A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward his nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of J. M. Barrie's classic tale, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up—and the troubled beauty trapped between them.


Review:

Let me just say how much I adore fairy tales and the different variations there may be out there.  I am not one to shy away of a retelling of another story.  Yes this definitely had similarities, character names but this was so different, very modern and very surftastic.  I really don’t know much about surfing, other than what I’ve seen on TV but this world definitely fascinates me.  The world invented by Alyssa B. Sheinmel definitely fascinated me completely, kept me wondering.  I was engrossed in this world of good and dark, searching for what really happened to her brothers John and Michael. 

We meet Wendy Darling as she’s just finished high school and during her summer vacation is going in search of her missing brothers.  She starts off by meeting this surfer who she can’t seem to get out of her mind and with too many chance meetings she finally decides to find and follow him, his name is Pete.  In comes the world of Never land, or we shall call it Kensington in this book.  Of course you have the usual characters, some lost boys and of course Belle.  She was very pixie like but full of spunk and still so very possessive of Pete.  This book had all the classic characters and even a special form of pixie dust – or in this book it was dust – a drug that kept people coming back.  Even the Jolly Roger made an appearance as the bar. It was a very interesting perspective on a really great classic book.

I can’t really tell you too much about it without giving too much away but it kept me going, the story line, the characters and if she would find her missing brothers.  I had hope for her and her adventure.  I did feel a little for Jas’s character I guess he was like the captain hook in the story I think I empathized more with him then I did Pete.  He didn’t seem as endearing as I wanted him to be, very much the selfish character he was born to be I guess.  I can’t help but think about these characters not as the Peter Pan Disney version but of the Once Upon a Time version, you know what I mean.  But these characters were much younger, teenagers, fresh out of high school or dropouts at the very least.  Bought an extra twist to the story line, after all, Wendy never knew how long any of them had ever been there.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone, especially those who like retelling of classic fairytales.  That was just a bonus in my eyes, because this book had you thinking is this for real or not, and will you ever know.  There’s only one way to find out and that’s to read it!

Disclaimer:
I received this book from NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!

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