Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Standalone. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (May 2014) Library

A 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.

                                                  

So I read Peter Pan and I hated it. Peter is a selfish little boy and Wendy just felt like she was being used. But, I still have always enjoyed the story whenever I've seen retellings or sequels of it in a movie version. Second Star is what I wish the story of Peter Pan was like. I wish there was more depth to the characters and there was in Second Star. I wish there was an actual connection between the characters and there was with Second Star. And I wish that Wendy not only learned from her experience, but also got something out of her experience which she did in Second Star. I never liked that Peter Pan would take away Wendy's daughter to visit Neverland at the end of the story. I understood the message of how children can be selfish when they are young. However, there's nothing to learn or care about with the story of Peter Pan. Second Star completely changed the way I saw the main characters from Peter Pan.

I actually like Wendy. I've never liked her before. Wendy is driven to find her brothers. She can't accept their deaths because she isn't provided any real proof of their deaths. She is just meant to move on and accept people's sympathies. Wendy is an intelligent student who is going on to Standford in the fall. She has never felt passion for surfing like her brothers did. Her brothers always used to skip school. They always left in the morning to find the perfect waves to ride. They were always carefree and magical when they surfed. That's why Wendy can't accept that they died because they were too good to have died that way. I really saw the maternal Wendy in this story but in a way that Wendy was more than a maternal figure. She cared deeply about her brothers but also she had so much depth to her.

Wendy finds Pete in a hidden cove where the waves are practically perfect. She knows her brothers would have gone there so she goes to do some investigating. Pete is a lot more likable than he was in his original story. Although, he still has the same major flaw he had in Peter Pan which is his selfishness.

It was so crazy finding all the characters from Peter Pan in Second Star. I was so excited to see Tinkerbell as Belle even though she's such a pain to Wendy. I really love the version of Tinkerbell in the kids movie versions. Not so much when she is her jealous self but, I still enjoyed her character. I really liked seeing Captain Hook as Jas. He's a drug dealer so he fits the whole villain role. So since I don't like Peter Pan, I liked the relationship between Wendy and Jas although their relationship seemed to be very fast. Pete's relationship with her also didn't make that much sense to me just because I didn't understand why she felt so much for him right away too. So the romance wasn't the greatest but, it wasn't like it was horrible. Also, the ending was like what? I didn't understand what was going on. I don't know why it went the way it did. It was a weird ending to say the least. I really wish there was a sequel. I really want to know some reactions to things and how everybody's life turns out. Everything has a sequel. Why can't you!?

There was one thing that Second Star did that I love above else. It made me want to learn to surf. If you can make me want to do something if in a million years I would never want to do then that author really knows how to write a descriptive, compelling story.