Goodreads SynopsisBefore 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.
By Jodi Lynn Anderson
Hardcover, 292 pages
Published July 3rd 2012 by HarperTeen
4 out of 5 stars
Genre: YA Fantasy
Wow...so many things to say!
I admit, I don't recall her character when I had watched Peter Pan. I had been so focused on Peter and Wendy's relationship that I didn't realize Peter might have actually had a life before Wendy ever came along. This book explores what happened to him and Tiger Lily, and their story was a heartbreaking, bittersweet love story, an adventure that changed them both in good ways, and in bad ways. Tiger Lily is narrated by the famous Tinker Bell--jealous, pestering, ubiquitous, but wholeheartedly good in her own way. Tinker has her usual antics up her sleeve, but we also get to see another side to her, the side that explains why she gets jealous, why she seems to love Tiger Lily so much, why she is attracted to Peter, and why she harbors distasteful feelings for Wendy.
This book follows the story of Tiger Lily, of course. Tiger Lily, dwelling with the tribe, the Sky Eaters, is being forced to marry Giant, a repulsive and hateful man. Because she is different from the rest of her tribe, her tribe members fear her and keep away from her. What they don't realize is that while Tiger Lily might seem fierce, confident, and stoic all the time, she is a lonely girl within herself. Tiger Lily doesn't speak much, and it's hard to connect emotionally with her. Sometimes, I found myself wondering if Tiger even cared at all about anything....but that was one of her beautiful flaws. She is a girl trying to appear brave, instead of admitting that she is just as afraid as everyone else.
When she meets Peter Pan in the forbidden woods, she opens up and explores a world she didn't think existed. She feels free, feels there is a place she might yet belong to. I felt for her. I was there with Tinker Bell, wanting to console Tiger, simply hope that she was as happy as possible. Sometimes Tiger Lily's sadness is so overwhelming, even Tink's amusing antics can't cover it up. Peter Pan was everything Tiger needed, and yet everything she needed to avoid. He offered a life away from her tribe, away from a marriage she didn't want, freedom she couldn't imagine. She liked hanging out with the Lost Boys, and during her time with them, she would laugh and smile, and have fun. Tiger Lily has responsibilities back with her tribe, though, and she isn't ready to simply give it all up for Peter just yet.
I don't know how to explain Peter. There's something innocent about him, but something mischievious. He is as playful as expected, but he is also restless and wounded emotionally. I came to realize that what Peter was missing was someone who would look after him, tell him that everything was going to be all right. I fell in love with him, and felt his pain. He was a confusing, and frustrating character because of his hot-and-cold actions. I suppose there were reasons for that, though... His and Tiger Lily's relationship was heartbreaking, to say the least. They each expected something from the other, trying to live up to those expectations. They loved each other, but each believed they weren't good enough. I wanted to shake them both, make them realize that there was no need to be the best. And when Wendy came along---well, I never thought I'd say this, but I really don't like Wendy. I guess I resent her like Tiger Lily and Tinker Bell both did, but Wendy was everything Tiger Lily wasn't, and she offered Peter something completely different from what Tiger Lily offered.
I did love this story, but I felt too saddened while reading it. I always thought of Neverland as a cheerful place where children lived and never grew up, but this book definitely ruined that image. The villain, Captain Hook, came to Neverland in hopes of finding a "greener" world, where he would stay young. But even he could see the despair in it. Neverland was a frightening world, and maybe that's where Tiger Lily belonged--to roam in this world forever, a fierce girl who didn't need to live by anyone's rules but her own. She's a strong heroine, and I admired her unfailing courage throughout the book. The ending made me cry, but I'm glad she found happiness in some way, some form. She deserved that, at least. Peter Pan is a boy I can't forget about, and just thinking about him makes me want to cry some more...
Tiger Lily did start out a little slow, but it picks up when we are introduced to the lost boys and the foreign English man. Emotions and action take over. Read it, and get compelled by a courageous, quiet, yet wonderfully fierce girl who tries to find her freedom in the complicated world of Neverland. I'll be thinking of Tiger Lily's story for a while.
From Tiger Lily:
I am only a faerie. I don't have grand ideas, or grand dreams, or long for grand freedoms like people do. But I wanted to be a part of their dream too, even if I was only a flea riding on their tails. To run and run and never worry -- that was what they wanted, and I wanted to go with them.
I could hear the quiet in Tiger Lily's heart. I had never heard it so soft, so at peace, as I did that evening, as she sat with Peter and watched those horses, and dreamed for a moment that she would never have to lose him, or herself.
Such a scene like this never happened in the book, but I thought it was an interesting scene from the movie..
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