Second Star Hardcover – May 13, 2014

I loved the book I could read it a million times because it was so good I love the plot and just over all was a great book I totally recommend I would give it a 100/10

Pretty good. Love the Peter pan references Wendy Darling trying to find her brothers John and Michael, while Pete wants her to stay. However I wanted an ending where she found some part of her brothers, if not themselves, and we got nothing. There's no resolution besides she knows they're dead and I guess that's supposed to be it, but after everything she's been through I wanted- needed- more. Everyone know they were dead at home anyway it wasn't like it was new. Wanted at least a relationship or a friendship out of it. Instead you get Wendy being convinced the whole thing was a hallucination from drugs. Also I really liked Pete and I also really liked Jas, Wendy's two main love interests. However, I didn't seem to favor one over the other. Which is strange since I'm usually so one sides on these things. The author failed to really give a good representation of the characters and I found myself indifferent to whomever she picked(she never really does). The book has a different from most books plot that draws readers in, but the book is average at best.

I love the book till the end- the end was aweful

A wonderful modern reselling of a classic. Written beautifully. Magical and captivating. Perfect for any lost boy or girl looking for neverland.

I read this book as part of a Classics Remixed Reading Challenge at our local Library. What a great read and twist on Peter Pan.

I liked this book! I have had a copy of this book for more years than I really want to admit and I am glad I finally got around to giving it a try. I was rather intrigued by the fact that this book is a Peter Pan retelling despite the fact that my knowledge on this topic is limited to what I remember from the Disney movie so I can’t really say how closely tied to the original content this book is. Since the focus is mainly on surfing, I would guess the connection is loose. I found it to be a rather entertaining story.Wendy’s brothers John and Michael disappeared and are presumed to be dead. Everyone believes that they are gone but Wendy thinks that they are still out there and is determined to find them. John and Michael were surfers and Wendy soon finds herself hanging out with a group of surfers led by a man named Pete in her quest to find them. The surfer group lives in an abandoned house on the water. A drug dealer named Jaz (think Hook) lives on the other side of the cove.I liked the characters in this book quite a bit and I hate to admit that my favorite was Jaz. Jaz might be a drug dealer, which I didn’t like, but he never did anything to Wendy besides try to help her. I never completely trusted Pete since he always seemed to be hiding things from Wendy. I liked Wendy and was impressed by her determination to find her brothers. I was rather drawn into the story by the writing and found it hard to put down.The ending is wide open and I must say that I wanted a bit more closure than we get in the story but that didn’t ruin the experience for me. This was an interesting retelling that was sometimes darker in nature. I wouldn’t hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.I received a digital review copy of this book from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Second star was a unique and imaginative contemporary retelling of Peter Pan told from the perspective of Wendy Darling. She has just graduated high school and her twin brothers John and Michael have been missing, presumed dead from a surfing accident six months ago.California dreamingAs the story takes place on the California coast and not too far from where I live, I really felt drawn to this story even though I don’t normally read contemporary books. Am I a surf girl, beach bunny? Oh heck no! – far from it. It’s just that reading this reminded me of summer trips during my teens as well as early twenties spent with friends in rented beach-houses on cliff-sides overlooking the water. Those hot summers always felt like stolen time and never did last long enough. With those times in mind Second Star felt exactly like those whirlwind romance filled summers as a teen, liking the bad boy I shouldn’t have. I related to Wendy, myself having been one of those straight A students that always did the right thing, but when I had a mind to do what I wanted, to hell with anyone if they were going to stop me!Wendy takes off after graduation determined to search for her brothers now that no one else will. As all the twins ever cared about was surfing she heads straight to the beaches and there finds a group of runaway teens she instantly falls in with. Indeed she packs her bag and spends the rest of the summer with them. These are an intense bunch of kids and no strangers to trouble. Who does any young girl end up falling for when she shouldn’t? That’s right the boy that exudes trouble. There just so happens to be two of them this time. For me this was real, intense, heartbreaking and nostalgic. I never did learn to surf but now that I’m all grown up I regret not taking the chance.The maybe not so shinyIf you’ve read a lot of young adult books you’ll notice that Second Star does have some of the commonly used tropes and foibles many of them seem to suffer these days. Let me just tick a few of these off like so:- lack of adult presence or adults doing or allowing things that I have to suspend my disbelief over: Would parents really let their daughter run off for the summer with little to no contact from her especially considering they’d just lost two of their children not less than a year ago? I highly doubt that. BUT even saying this – this girl is 18 so she can do whatever the heck she gosh darn pleases in my mind. Goodness knows I did. So for that reason I can still see this happening because I for one did whatever the heck I pleased as a teen and I did have one of those parents that didn’t say squat about it. Why? Because I was the good girl with the flawless grades, and I can only assume my Dad must have thought why attempt to fix what ain’t broken. Did I disappear for days at a time…yeah *shame-faced* I really did. Haha. My point – Essentially this will either work for the reader or it won’t.- the love triangle: oh zowwy do we have it in the extreme here – but to the book’s credit, it does let you know right up front in the marketing materials that this is going to be a love triangle. So if you don’t like that sort of thing, or aren’t ok with rolling with it right up front then don’t pick it up because the love triangle is a main plot device here.- the falling for the bad boy: ok, ok – alright I can’t say this trope is always bad because I do like my bad boys and honestly in my youth did fall for plenty of them – but it most definitely is one of the most common elements.And all the wishing in the worldNo matter the things we hope for in life, we definitely don’t always get what we want. Second Star definitely delivers that message in a sad and poignant way with Wendy’s story while still managing to capture some of the adventurous times of our youth. For me it was especially nostalgic and I know that’s the reason I enjoyed it as much as I did. When we do the things we know we shouldn’t because sometimes, just sometimes you really need to. While we might not always get what we want, often enough we learn the things we need. This was a fabulously done re-imaginging of Peter Pan and one that I will definitely keep on my shelf. Heck, if I ever had a rebellious teenage daughter one day I’d even pass it on to her.

I generally hate these 'reimagining' of classic novels - but I didn't mind this aspect of 'Second Star'. Possibly because I didn't really warm to the original book. Having finished the book I'm not sure what to make of it. Some parts were enchanting but overall I didn't find it satisfactory. It has one of those endings where you know the end of the narrative is approaching and hope desperately the author has some revelation that will make it all worthwhile and sadly it doesn't. The ending doesn't offer catharsis for the reader and I found some aspects of the plot troubling - especially as it is aimed at young adult readers. Both the male leads are handsome and charming - but was I really supposed to root for Wendy to end up with a guy who burgles houses and already has a girlfriend or a guy who deals drugs (who also played a sinister part in her brothers' fate).? I also was puzzled as to why her friends/family dismiss her adventures as pure fantasy - after all t's hardly surprising that an attractive young woman in search of her missing surfing mad brothers would end up mixing with a group of itinerant surfers or that she would pick up a couple of male admirers. If they don't believe that what do they think she has actually been doing all the time she was away and why aren't they remotely interested?So overall I can't really recommend this at the 4.99 price but with a little work and a different ending it could have been a stunning novel.

The 12yr girl I bought this for read it in a week she loved it

J'adore Peter Pan depuis toujours et de ce fait j'étais intéressée par cette lecture que j'ai trouvé sympa, mais auquelle il manquait quelque chose. Je pense que ça aurait pu être plus abouti. Ceci dit on passe un bon moment, et le niveau d'anglais est très abordable.