Blog Tour Review: Wendy Darling Volume #3 - Shadow by Colleen Oakes

Book info:

Title:  Shadow
Author:  Colleen Oakes
Series:  Wendy Darling #3
Genre:  YA Fairy Tale retelling/fantasy
Release Date:  July 18th, 2017
Publisher:  Sparkpress, SparkPoint Studio
Source:  ARC from publisher for review
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:

Wendy Darling has found herself once again in the arms of charming Peter Pan, the god-child who desires power above all things. This time, though, Wendy burns not with passion but with a secret: with Hook as her ally, she is there to defeat the evil that lies inside of Peter, the evil that holds all Neverland hostage—the Shadow.

To do this, Wendy must quietly undo Peter from inside his heart while at the same time convincing Tink to betray the twisted love that binds them together. This is a task made nearly impossible by the arrival of Booth, her sweetheart from London and a new pawn in Peter’s manipulative game—a boy whose heart she must break in order to save his life. 

As all of Neverland prepares to fight, Wendy races to untangle Peter’s connection to the Shadow, a secret long buried in the Forsaken Garden. When the time comes, pirates, mermaids, Lost Boys, and the Darling family will all rise—but if Wendy can’t call the Shadow, they will all be destroyed by Peter’s dark soul. War has come to paradise, and Neverland will never be the same.

My Review:
If you've followed me for a while, you know that I am a big fan of fairy tale retellings.  This series is one that I got the chance to read about a year ago, starting with the second book.  While I haven't gone back and picked up the first, even though I do have a copy, I was able to get right in with book two, Seas.    If you go click that link and check out my review, you'll see that I really enjoyed it.  So when I heard from the publisher about the chance to read the final book in the series, I jumped on the offer.  What is really fun about reading it right now, is that I actually was on a family vacation to Disneyworld when I started it this past weekend.  Even more funny is that the first ride I rode at the Magic Kingdom was the Peter Pan ride.  

In this final book in the trilogy, Colleen Oakes has taken the well-loved story of Peter Pan, and turned it around, while completely staying true to the original ideas and characters in such a way that you still feel you are in that original Neverland written about by JM Barrie.  If you haven't finished the first two books, you might want to quit reading for my final paragraphs of the review, just know that I highly recommend this whole series.

While we have come to root against both Peter Pan and Tinkerbell in this story, Wendy is able to still see the good in Peter, as well as Tink,  and be able to hope that not only will Wendy be able to defeat the Shadow that is destroying Neverland, but that somehow she can also redeem both Peter and Tink, and help them to be the characters that everyone can love once again.  I rooted for Wendy's love from back home, Booth, to understand when she had to play up to Peter, to make him believe she loved him instead of Booth, in order to save his life.  I love that what I feel is more realistic, for her explanation to convince Booth without a ton of distrust like you so often find in these situations.  While there were those who sacrificed in the end to defeat the shadow, it wasn't in a way that everyone just gave up and became good, no, it worked the way that it needed to.  Many beloved characters may have lost their lives in this story, but they did it in ways that pulled at my heart, and kept the story as rich as could be.  There were no easy out solutions for this, and there were still surprises at each and every turn of the tale.  

If you like a good retelling, or are a fan of Peter Pan, this is the book you need to pick up and read next! 

Review: Seas (Wendy Darling #2) by Colleen Oakes

Book info:
Title:  Seas  
Author:  Colleen Oakes
Series:  Wendy Darling #2  
Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Retelling
Published:  September 20th, 2016
Source: Finished copy received for review from SparkPoint Studio

Just like with Three Dark Crowns I was contacted back in August to be a part of a Fall YA Tour.  Now the books came a little later than planned, so I didn't get to this one before the publishing date unfortunately.  I also had asked for the first book in the series, but due to the mix up and late mailing, I didn't get it.  Fortunately, the author does a great job of catching you up on what happened in the last book.  It's not done in a big info dump at the beginning, although you do get the necessary details right away.  A lot of what happened is spread throughout the story in appropriate conversations and memories in the right spot. Obviously there will be a few spoilers in my review below, sorry about that.  But you can pick this one up and read it without reading the first one if you want.  

As you can guess, this is a retelling of the story about Peter Pan.  Only in this version, Peter is not the good guy.  Captain Hook is still a pirate, and so still not really a nice guy, but in this story he is going to be really all that Wendy has to help her get her brother back from Peter, as well as to keep her safe from Peter's obsession with her.  You see Peter Pan is very charming.  Not only does he have Tinkerbelle in love with him, but at first, he makes Wendy feel like she is in love as well. But soon she sees him for what kind of a person he really is, when he takes her up flying, and drops her from very high above the ground.  He catches her, at the last minute, but uses this as a way to try to make her stay with him.  But Wendy now just wants to get her brothers and get back home. Even though according to everyone in Neverland, there is no way back.  Wendy and her youngest brother Michael must learn to live on the pirate ship, while Hook tells Wendy his story and his reasons for being after Peter.  Wendy will work in the kitchen, and get to know the pirates well enough to call some of them friends, in their own way.  As long as she is on the ship, she is pretty well protected from Peter.  

Eventually Hook and Wendy will go to find out how to really kill Peter, which will require a dangerous trip alone for Wendy, so that she can ask help from the mermaids.  The mermaids who will trade the information for virgin blood.  Wendy's blood.  Along their travels Wendy will not only have to worry about Peter finding her, but also some of the pirates on the very ship she is on may not be able to be trusted.  Along with a big pirate summit where there is mutiny among Hook and the other ships.  The mermaids cannot be trusted, and even just to get to them Wendy will travel a path where Peter will almost be able to capture her and stop her.  

Wendy's thoughts are just to save her brothers and get back to her home where her family is, as well as the man that she really feels she could be in love with.  In the end we will lose some of the characters we grow to love, and things will not come out quite the way as planned.  There is a big surprise at the end, making me very anxious for the next book, so that I can see what Wendy will do to solve this next obstacle.

This was my first book by the author, even though I have a copy of the ARC of Queen of Hearts sitting on my TBR shelf.  I am definitely very excited to read that one now, and I have also ordered my own copy of the first book in this series so that I can read about the whole relationship between Peter and Wendy, and how this version of the fairy tale all began.  If you haven't started this author, or this series, I definitely recommend it.

Author Interview Promo and Giveaway: Nora and Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Book Details:

Nora and Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: February 29th, 2016
Genres: Historical, Young Adult

Synopsis:
What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason?

Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to—the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having “one drop of Japanese blood in them”—things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys.

Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naïve, eighteen-year-old Nora—the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change.

For months, they’ve lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window.

In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away.

Set in 1953, NORA AND KETTLE explores the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world.


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26489591-nora-kettle

Purchase:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Nora-Kettle-Lauren-Nicolle-Taylor/dp/1634221354
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nora-kettle-lauren-nicolle-taylor/1122157779?ean=9781634221351&cm_mmc=AFFILIATES-_-Linkshare-_-GwEz7vxblVU-_-10:1
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/nora-kettle
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/nora-kettle/id1008283921?mt=11

Author Interview:
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1.     What does your writing process look like?  Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, note cards, post-it notes, etc.?

My writing process looks like the inside of my brain: A total mess. I usually just start writing and then maybe write a very rough outline about halfway through once I’ve got a good sense of who my characters are. I usually write little quotes in my notebook as I go along and they guide my scenes.

2.     I love retellings of fairy tales or other classic stories.  How did you come up with this reimagining of Peter Pan?

The Peter Pan theme really just fit my characters. I’d say about a third of the way through writing Nora & Kettle I realized that I was taking inspiration from Peter Pan and then I just ran with it. To me, it was important to have a fantastical element to the story to help the reader gain some relief from the confronting situations the characters face.

3.     How long have you been writing?

I have been writing for about three years now. Before I wrote my first book, The Woodlands, I’d never written more than a few pages of anything.

4.     What tips do you have for aspiring writers?

I’m sure everyone says it, but be persistent and just keep writing. The more you write the better you’ll get at it.

5.     How important are names in your books?  Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds, or the meaning?  Do you have any name choosing resources you recommend?

Names usually just come to me because I like the way they sound and then I have to look them up to see of they fit the era. Nora was always Nora and Kettle was always Kettle. Frankie was actually Eleanor or Ells for short to start with but I just didn’t like it after I’d written her character some more.

Some fun questions

Favorites:  

Books/authors/genres

I have many favourite books. Pinocchio was my favourite childhood novel. I also loved the Shiver series, The Sea of Tranquility, Me Before You… I could go on and on.

Movies/TV Shows

I’ll watch just about anything but I tend to like comedies more at the moment. Loving The Mindy Project, Brooklyn Nine Nine and Undateable at the moment. Old faves include, Scrubs, The X Files and The O.C.

Music

I’m a Hip Hop fan. Some of my favourite artists are Common, Jurassic Five, Hilltop Hoods and Lupe Fiasco. But I also love the folky stuff like Jose Gonzalez and Paul Simon. Plus I have a soft spot for musical soundtracks like Wicked and Les Mis.

Food/writing snack

Chips!

Social Media Site

Instagram  

Author Bio:

Lauren Nicolle Taylor lives in the lush Adelaide Hills. The daughter of a Malaysian nuclear physicist and an Australian scientist, she was expected to follow a science career path, attending Adelaide University and completing a Health Science degree with Honours in obstetrics and gynaecology.
She then worked in health research for a short time before having her first child. Due to their extensive health issues, Lauren spent her twenties as a full-time mother/carer to her three children. When her family life settled down, she turned to writing.

She is a 2014 Kindle Book Awards Semi-finalist and a USA Best Book Awards Finalist.

 

Author links:
http://www.laurennicolletaylor.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7201181.Lauren_Nicolle_Taylor
https://www.facebook.com/TheWoodlandSeries
https://twitter.com/LaurenNicolleT 

Giveaway:
Tour-wide giveaway (INTL) - Ends March 10th

• Clean Teen Publishing Mystery Box
  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Another Pan by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

Wow! I haven't gotten to blog in forever! Hate being so busy.

Finally got to finish this book when we got it into the store and I was able to check it out. When I first started reading it, I wasn't sure if I would like it, it didn't sound like as good of a story as Another Faust was. But once I got into it, I actually liked it even better!

The Pan they're talking about is Peter Pan. Our main characters are Wendy and John Darling. Sound familiar? And their father is an Egyptologist who is currently teaching at Marlowe, the private school we learned about in Another Faust. He has a theory that he was basically laughed out of the Egyptology community for. He said the god of death was actually a woman, and that there were 5 myths/stories that were true. And there was a book of them that he studied. Turns out that this "Peter" is almost immortal, he is looking for the mummy/bone dust from these stories, and has already partaken of some of it. Our lady death is Madame Villeroy from the first book, or her true self. Only now she is back as the sickly, plain looking school nurse.

The Egyptology and myths really sucked me in. I loved the stories. Probably because I have always been such a huge fan of Egyptology. One of my dream careers would be to be an Egyptologist. Right behind being a Paleontologist and a Librarian.

Another thing that I loved was the scene that is so recognizable for anyone who knows the Peter Pan story, where Peter takes Wendy and John Darling out their bedroom window. That occurs in this book, and I love that it was a part of the modern story.

It says this is the 2nd in the Another Series, so surely if it is a series, that means there will be more. I just wonder what the next story they will re-do is. I will have to do some internet research.