Saturday, December 29, 2012

Review: Tiger Lily



Tiger Lily

Author: 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.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.


Published July 3rd 2012.

*



In this strange, sad yet hopeful tale, the real and the mythical; fact and fiction; wilderness and civilisation; first loves and new loves all collide with a resounding boom. The story is stirring and spellbinding simply because it is, at its core, Tiger Lily's story. And her story is one as unique as her name.

Set against the backdrop of Neverland-- where insect-sized fairies who can't speak English, blood-thirsty pirates, tribes and the infamous Lost Boys reside-- Tiger Lily's coming-of-age tale unfolds, starting first in the tribe called Skyeaters. There, she lives under the care of her adoptive father, Tik Tok, the tribe's shaman. 

Slowly, the story blossoms into a love story, albeit a very awkward, sweet and fragile one. Tiger Lily-- whom the tribe finds difficult to accept with her angular frame, sharp eyes and stoic reticence-- finds a home amongst the Lost Boys. From fearing the Lost Boys initially to loving them eventually, Tiger Lily melts their hearts while they too melt hers in return. 


Here's when Peter Pan appears. 


Jodi Lynn Anderson's characterization is outstanding, especially in the case of Peter and Tiger Lily. Peter is the attractive (even the fierce mermaids with shark's teeth are in love with him), proud and gangly teenager, who desperately craves for love and affirmation. And while it seems at first that Tiger Lily and him are a perfect match, there was this steady, throbbing fear in me with every page I flipped.


How their proud natures crashed, how they both tried to be stronger than the other, how Peter wanted Tiger Lily to praise him and to love him openly and passionately... But, it was in Tiger Lily's nature to be brave and strong and quiet in her love, so much that sometimes, I felt like shaking the book just for her to tell Peter that she loved him. 


Perhaps, they might have been able to work it out. But, who knows? Because there was another shadow lurking in the background, a pretty blonde shadow, demure and lovely, weak and full of praises, showering Peter with attention and working on him with her feminine wiles-- Wendy Bird.


She was everything that Tiger Lily was not. And I hated her. 


Because even though I knew of the original tale, even though I started on this book whilst knowing that there was going to be heartache, even though I knew that Peter and Wendy's fate together has been set in stone years ago in J. M. Barrie's timeless classic, this novel worked its magic on me unknowingly when I was reading it.

I was completely whirled up into the new lives of these characters, and in the end, it seemed wrong to even think about Tiger Lily never having to fall in love and experience all this with Peter.


This is a rich story, one that is deeply moving, bittersweet and will leave you wanting to re-watch the Disney movie just to take another look at the Peter, Tink and the girl with the crow feather in her hair.



Source: The library shelves







xoxo,
Sel



16 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read this one! Great review :D I'm so glad someone wrote Tiger Lily's story and that it turned out so well :)
    -Kimberly @ Turning the Pages

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    1. Thanks :D I never really noticed Tiger Lily back when I first read Peter Pan. So glad that the author decided to take her story and spin it into a really really really good novel!

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  2. Wow great review! This book sounds amazing! I've had a copy sitting on my shelf for months and months but I haven't gotten around to it. But you make the book sound really good. :) Thanks!

    Ashley @ BookNook

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    1. If I wasn't waiting for the rain to stop, I might have never spent a few hours in the library to read this book :D Once you get down to it, you won't regret it :) You're welcome!

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  3. Amazing Review!
    I loved how you described the book. It just makes me want to buy it.
    I want to watch the disney movie again too. :)

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  4. I know that I can't never look at Peter Pan the same way now.. This book shattered my heart! It was so beautiful and painful. I'm happy you liked it as much as I did. Your review is gorgeous!

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    1. Thanks, Mel! Yay :D I'm happy that you liked it so much too :) This novel is achingly sad, but also refreshing in its sadness. That's why I love it although it broke my heart!

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  5. Great review! I have heard so many good things about this book, and I really hope I'll read it soon.

    Anatea @ Anatea's Bookshelf

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    1. I hope you do too ;) The book is as good as we all say!

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  6. Fairytale romance, YA style! I think I'm going to love it as much as you did! Funny I never heard of tiger lily before :(

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    1. Same!! Uhh I knew Peter Pan and the Twinkle Elf but never Tiger Lily. Or even Wendy Darling hehe :P

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    2. Ahhh, Shi Le! Do you live in a cave or something ._. She's the cute Indian girl with the orange feather in the Disney movie & the angsty teenager in this book. Both are versions worth exploring :D

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  7. Well, you make this sound so good. I have not read the novel,but I have watched the movies. And it does look like this book talks about the heartache in the middle of a classic fairy tale.
    I am so reading this!
    GREAT review
    Your reader,
    Soma
    http://insomnia-of-books.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thanks! It's as good as it sounds :) The book will completely overturn your impression of Tiger Lily in the movie. And even the heartache is worth for the magic it brings!

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