Tiger Lily by Jodi Lyn Anderson

Title: Tiger Lily
Author: Jodi Lyn Anderson
Published: July 3, 2012 by Harper Collins
Rating: 

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.

A Copy of this Book was Provided by the Publisher for Review

My Review:

If you never wanted to be a lost boy after watching Peter Pan you're childhood was definitely lacking. Peter Pan is one of the most imaginative and creative fairy tales and Tiger Lily has just brought a new and captivating twist to this beloved classic. The reader is introduced to Neverland in a way like never before with clever back stories for all the popular characters- Hook, Schmee Peter, the Lost Boys, Tinkerbell, and most importantly Tiger Lily.

Not only does this version of Peter Pan focus on the 'pre-Wendy' days of Neverland, it showcases the relationship between Peter and Tiger Lily told in Tinkerbell's perspective. How insanely genius is that?! Anderson definitely gets major bonus points for originality with this retelling! Tinkerbell provides a fun and pure narrative of Tiger Lily and Peter's friendship turned romance. It's clearly fascinating to read a romance without the fluff of the girl's overactive imagination or the boy's hormonal sex drive. Instead, Think 'tells it as it is' which makes the story all the more enjoyable in my opinion. 

What I love most about this book is Tiger Lily though. Her story is heart-wrenchingly sad, but her character is vivacious and strong which makes it impossible not to love her. After years of watching Peter Pan, never had I honestly been interested in Tiger Lily because she was developed as such a background character. However, after reading Tiger Lily, I'm instantly a fan and want to kick Wendy out of the picture! For an author to successfully make me 'change sides' is amazingly talented!

Most of you know the story of Peter Pan though, and that Tiger Lily doesn't get the staring role in the end. I'm happy that Anderson stuck with the integrity of the story and didn't try to warp the ending just to make it a happily ever after.