Review: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Summary

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.

My thoughts

After I read The Vanishing Season by Jodi I had to get Tiger Lily right away. I loved her writing style and the atmosphere she created in that book so much and I am glad that I can say that I loved Tiger Lily even more.
I only knew Peter Pan from the Disney movie which I haven’t seen in a really long time. Thus I had forgotten that there was a girl named Tiger Lily. I was excited to read this story told from a character you don’t get to see a lot of in the original story.

A tragic, sad story that’s so much more than just a love story

I already heard from reviews that this was going to be a sad story but I didn’t expect it to be THAT sad. What I wasn’t prepared for where all these feels related to characters and events that didn’t include Peter. This story is not only about Wendy “stealing” Peter from Tiger Lily. I was surprise about what else was going on in this story. All these things about Tiger Lily’s tribe. There are so many other characters I cared about a lot. And not one of them seemed to live a happy life. This story hit me hard. I loved every character and it was painful to see them suffer.

Interesting POV

Once I realized that this story is told from Tinkerbell’s POV I was skeptic if I would like the story. I remembered how much I disliked her in the Disney movie. After reading Tiger Lily I realized how wrong that was though, that she had the best reasons to be the way she is in the movie. Suddenly I started to like her a whole lot and was amazed about what a good friend she is. Due to Tinkerbell telling the story, who is not always present, a lot is happening between the lines.
It’s not only that we get to read Tiger Lily’s story from someone else’s POV that fascinated me, it’s also the writing style in general that I liked a lot. It felt like a bedtime story she is telling me.

An interesting love story

It was interesting to read this and already knowing that the relationship between Tiger Lily and Peter was condemned to fail. It made it so much harder to bear. I always wanted to give them both directions on where to go and what to do so that it all turns out okay. I didn’t want to give up hope that there is still a happy ending for them even though I knew there wouldn’t be one.

Characters that broke my heart

I was surprised about how many different characters were a big part of this book, who all get to tell their own story and thereby break my heart. Peter Pan and the wild boys, Tiger Lily and Tinkerbell, these are the characters I expected to read about. Instead I got to know a lot more and loved reading about each of them.

Overall

Jodi Lynn Anderson was able to make me love a story and its character for a second time and I can’t wait to read more books by her. She has a wonderful way of telling her stories and creates heartbreaking tales for her lovely characters. If you like these rather quiet, melancholic stories which cause all the feels than you should read this book.