Second Star Review

4 stars (or, for those who follow my ranking system, brown belt. The ending kept it from being a knock-out black belt.)

**I received a copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an unbiased review.

To be honest, I never really liked Peter Pan. I liked the concept, but it wasn't one of my favorite movies as a kid. That being said, I loved this contemporary retelling. Second Star is a well-paced, beautifully written novel, one that I'd recommend to anyone looking for a delightful YA read.

What I liked:
*the concept--Wendy's surfer brothers have been missing for 9 months and are believed to be dead. Wendy goes off looking for them and meets Pete, Belle, Hughie, etc. in the process.

*the narrative voice--it drew me in right away. I loved the author's attention to detail and the surfing knowledge. There were moments when the prose absolutely sang, and the writer in me was like "I wish I could write like this too."

*Wendy's character--I really felt for her the entire way through. Her reactions felt believable, and I felt I could relate to her.

*Wendy's relationship with Fiona. I really liked how carefully constructed both characters were.

*Wendy's memories of her brothers and her reflections on their disappearance.



What I didn't like:

*There were a few slow spots where I found myself wanting to skip ahead.

* The ending. It was okay, but I was a little disappointed in how things turned out. Can't say more without giving away spoilers, but it seemed predictable/done before. The concept itself, though a retelling, felt nuanced to me, but the ending didn't surprise me, and I wanted to be surprised.