Review of Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson.  Released July 3, 2012 by HarperCollins Children’s Books.  

From Goodreads:

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.

My thoughts:

Lots of emotions in this book.  It’s actually a pretty sad read, but it was really good.  Tiger Lily is kind of a badass and I loved her.  I knew going in that she would get her heartbroken, but I was still hoping for good things to happen to her.

“Let me tell you something straight off.  This is a love story, but not like any you’ve heard. The boy and girl are far from innocent.  Dear lives are lost.  And good doesn’t win.  In some places, there is something ultimately good about endings.  In Neverland, that is not the case.”

The book is told by Tinkerbell who has been following Tiger Lily since she was young. She has this great love for Tiger Lily and always wants to be around her.  Tiger Lily is a Sky Eater who was basically adopted by Tik Tok, their Shaman.  The Sky Eaters never grow old, but they do age to a certain point.  Each one varies.   Some age until their teen years and others until middle age. Tiger Lily is different to the extent that she’s teased by kids and almost feared by adults.  Tik Tok is also different, but the village respects him for the most part, at least for the first half of the book.  Tik Tok is a male, but he doesn’t really relate as one.  He grows his hair long and wears dresses every day.  He is more feminine than Tiger Lily is.

The Sky Eaters have been warned about Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.  They were told that they would kill them.  The pirates are dangerous, but they have a truce with the Sky Eaters.  They pretty much leave them alone, but Captain Hook is obsessed with finding and killing Peter.

Things are going well at home at first.  Tiger Lily has a couple close friends, Pine Sap and Moon Eye.  But everything changes when Tiger Lily helps rescue an Englander.  She is being forced into a marriage she doesn’t want and treated like a slave.  Her fiance, Giant, is a vile person.  (There is a brief mention of sexual assault.)

One day Tiger Lily happens upon Peter and the boys.  Tinkerbell falls for Peter right away, but it takes Tiger Lily a lot longer.  She keeps visiting and eventually falls in love with Peter.  She has to make a choice between being with Peter or being in her home with Tik Tok and Pine Sap.  And then that B Wendy shows up and ruins everything.

I won’t go into too much because even though we know how the story ends, there are still major events that happen along the way. I gave this book 4 stars, maybe 4 1/2.  It’s a pretty quick read with a lot of emotion packed into a small book.