Rachel Rambles About Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
From Goodreads:

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

This book is a retelling of Peter Pan from Tinker Bell's point of view, and the main character is Tiger Lily. To be honest, I've never been a big fan of Peter Pan, but this book really made me appreciate the story and the characters.

What's interesting about this book is that it is not a happy story. It's not fun or light in any way. This book is quite dark and at times, super depressing. It's a very different kind of love story than the ones that are usually told in YA, and I think it's kind of amazing.

This story is emotional and beautiful and fascinating. There's not a lot of action or romance or anything; it's more of a simple story focused on characters. All the characters you know and love (and love to hate) from the story of Peter Pan are in this retelling, and each and every one of them has an interesting back story.

Tinker Bell is the perfect protagonist for this story. As a faerie, she spends a lot of time observing the other characters, especially Tiger Lily. She's kind of like a fly on the wall. She can't really interact with anyone, but she can fly around and observe all the characters without them noticing. The reader gets to know what Captain Hook and Peter Pan and Tiger Lily are all doing, instead of being limited to just what Tiger Lily is doing. I really liked that we got to read it from Tink's point of view. She's always been such a fascinating character to me, so I'm glad this book shows the reader what it's like to be in her head.

This book is heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. The story takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns, and it shows that not everyone gets a happy ending. I really enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it, whether you're a fan of the story of Peter Pan or not.

-Rachel