e-ARC, 193 pages
Release Date: May 13, 2014Published by: Farrar, Straus, and GirouxStand-aloneSource: NetgalleyFor fans of: YA, Contemporary, Romance, RetellingsA 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 Pete’s 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 a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up–and the troubled beauty trapped between them.
*MY THOUGHTS*
As a huge fan of re-tellings, it’s no surprise that I was very eager to get my hands on this one! And once I did, I “dived” into it ready to see how it tied into the fairy tale. There were some things I really liked, but there were also somethings I wasn’t really impressed with.
“They can’t have gone far. They would never leave the ocean.“
7%
I actually really liked the writing in this one. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. I thought it would be more YA-ish. That may sound like non-sense, but I don’t know what else to say. But unfortunately, it stopped being pretty as the story went on. It was no where near the same level when I finished the book as when I started it.
“Asleep I can still feel the waves lapping against my body. In the morning, my sheets are heavy with the scent of the sea.“7%
Sheinmel had almost every aspect of the Peter Pan story completely mapped out. The flying, the Lost Boys, the fairy dust (that I’m a little upset about…), and Wendy, Belle, Pete, John, and Michael. I just thought it was a really cute story. Besides the fairy dust. I get it kids are kids, but to have that person be a major character in the end, and have no sign of change? I didn’t like that. (Btw, does anyone know if Jas is supposed to be Hook? lol) And knowing the ending to Peter Pan made me figure out how this would end, but I still liked it. I was expecting it to happen, but not in the way it did.
“Reality has never been so crystal clear. “
60%
In the middle of the story, I was a little bored though. It was basically a lot of repetition in the story and after a while I just got tired of reading the same thing over and over. I just feel like it was short, but it still could have been a little shorter.Which made the characters get on my nerves. They kept doing the same things over and over. I completely understand the drive behind Wendy’s actions, but that doesn’t change the fact that it got annoying after awhile. As for Pete I applaud him on his stand against the “fairy dust,” but his story was the same too. He kept taking them in and kicking them out. And their romance? Yeahhh, they had barely met so there wasn’t really a romance. They just started kissing. And then almost right after that she started kissing someone else. Romance was non-existent lol
“Who knew surfers were such meteorologists.“
67%
All in all, I liked the story and the writing, but the actually story line wasn’t for me. I did like the writing style, but it wasn’t consistent and I didn’t like that. The only thing that really worked for me was the re-telling aspect.
Overall, I give this