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.
Title of Book: Tiger Lily
Author of book: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Date of Publication: July 3, 2012
Number of Pages: 292
Publisher: HarperCollins
My Rating: More than 5 stars
Who Recommended it to Me: Erika
Who I Would Recommend it to: Every girl in the world.
My review:
I am crying right now. This was an amazing story. I'm in love.
I've always found it incredibly difficult to choose a favorite book. I have read so many awesome books in my lifetime that it is impossible to pick just one that was my absolute favorite. But here, I have a winner. The story of Tiger Lily takes the top slot on my favorite books.
I loved everything about it. I have not one complaint. I warn you, if you read this book, you will cry loudly. It is heartbreaking and beautiful, and definitely one of the most thought-provoking, beautifully written things I have ever touched. My life will never ever be the same after reading this book. I'm more impressed than I could ever tell you in plain words. This book, in short, has touched my heart in a way that a book has never had before.
I don't know if my love for this book has anything to do with my unconditional love for faeries for many years, but I loved Tinker Bell. I'd never thought of Tinker Bell in such ways before. She was a generous narrator, talking little about herself and more about Tiger Lily. I loved the snippets of Tinker Bell's personality, and something about her made me feel like crying every time she talked about herself. She was so lonely, so selfless, and something about that made me sad.
From the age of six all the way to the age of nine or ten, I would go into the woods right behind my house and search for faeries and faerie houses. I'd make them out of branches, weeds, sticks, grass, leaves, and anything I could find. I used to sing for the faeries to come, and sprinkle cinnamon along the path, because I'd heard faeries were attracted to the smell of cinnamon. All day long, I'd sit there in the woods until my fingers got near frostbitten, singing for the faeries and sprinkling a path of cinnamon along the gravelly road. Needless to say, the faeries never came, but I truly believed that one day they would come. This book brought back nostalgic memories of those days, and for a few seconds in the book, I felt like I wanted to be right there, I wanted to be Tiger Lily, sitting there peacefully with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell fluttering around us.
For a while, it seemed as though everything was damn near perfect (minus, of course, Tiger Lily's unavoidable upcoming marriage to a grotesque creature Giant). But then, of course, there is pain, like there is pain in every well written story. Wendy Darling, a beautiful, sweet girl from England threatens to take away all Tiger Lily's love for Peter, and soon everything falls downhill after she arrives. Tiger Lily loses herself and never really gets brought back to normal. She marries Pine Sap after the mysterious death of the Giant, who though she is happy with, brings sadness every time she thinks of Peter.
About three fourths of the way through the book, I realized I was truly on the verge of tears. I could place myself right there in Tiger Lily's shoes, imagining what it would be like if my true love abandoned me for a girl who is everything that I am not, if I had to marry someone I didn't love, if my life suddenly seemed to burn around the edges like Tiger Lily's did.
Though the ending of this book wasn't exactly happy, it had the sad-smile kind of thing that you get in good books. You're crying, but you're happy at the same time. You feel unbelievably sad, but happy at the same time. Happy at the same time. This was what this book was about for me.
This is a book of pain, love, loss, but most of all, genius and perfection. My life will truly never be the same after reading this book. It was an amazing, amazing story. My new favorite book
Wow, wow, wow. Superb book review. And by the look of it, a superb book. You have convinced me to go to the bookstore and buy this book (although, most likely won't be happening since my mom doesn't like buying books). But seriously, I'll probably beg my mom to let me buy this book.
ReplyDeleteAgain, incredible book review. I loved that part where you included a little of your childhood when you used to search for faeries.
-Grace :)
thanks for the sweet comment! It truly was an amazing book. :) I know the feeling of moms being stingy about buying books-- my dad's the one I go after when I want to buy a book. :)
Delete-Annie