Darling Girl
Ratings17
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings17
Average rating3.4
In this beautiful, grounded, and darkly magical modern-day reimagining of J. M. Barrie’s classic, to save her daughter's life one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan—who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be . . . Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy—yes, that Wendy. She's running a successful skincare company; her son, Jack, is happy and healthy; and the tragedy of her past is well behind her . . . until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she's been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real, but more dangerous than anyone could imagine. Eden's disappearance is a disaster for more reasons than one. She has a rare condition that causes her to age rapidly—ironic, considering her father is the boy who will never grow up—which also makes her blood incredibly valuable. It’s a secret that Holly is desperate to protect, especially from Eden's half-brother, Jack, who knows nothing about his sister or the crucial role she plays in his life. Holly has no one to turn to—her mother is the only other person in the world who knows that Peter is more than a story, but she refuses to accept that he is not the hero she’s always imagined. Desperate, Holly enlists the help of Christopher Cooke, a notorious ex-soldier, in the hopes of rescuing Eden before it's too late . . . or she may lose both her children. Darling Girl brings all the magic of the classic Peter Pan story to the present, while also exploring the dark underpinnings of fairy tales, grief, aging, sacrifice, motherhood, and just how far we will go to protect those we love.
Reviews with the most likes.
I enjoyed reading this and its take on Peter Pan. I was disappointed in the way the ending was presented and felt that the stakes could have been higher with better payoffs. It was almost there.
I went in blind. Two or three chapters in, I was hooked on the dark fairy tale vibes but by chapter 10, I was bored. This is an incredibly average book and even the trigger warning scenes (that if I had known about prior would have made me skip the book all together) were shockingly boring. It's like the author thought throwing in some trauma would make up for the poorly written characters.
A lot of the plot wasn't even resolved. The ending was lazy as hell (the main character gets drugged while her mom does all the hard work) and then her company gets sold for enough money that she never has to work again, her son is magically healed and she falls in love. This feels like an unfinished project and it's seriously made me consider cancelling my BOTM subscription all together since they thought this was good enough to promote.
I swear this was a rape fantasy draft that got picked up by someone who knew someone. Don't waste your time ☺️
I've always loved the story of Peter Pan. The idea of being whisked away to another world? Even as someone who doesn't often care for fantasy, I'm enchanted by every production and adaption I've seen. As far as retellings go, I didn't think anything would top the movie ‘Hook'. How wrong I was!
I read every word of this book meticulously I was so absorbed. I took my time trying to savor every second while simultaneously having trouble putting it down. The new dynamics presented here have assured that I will never look at this tale the same way again. I'm oddly okay with it. Hearing that Peter Pan was the villain was what made me pick up this book in the first place.
I wasn't sure how I would like Holly at first. While she does so much for her kids, there is a selfish air about her. That bothered me less as the story went on and the character growth feels authentic and genuine. I loved the involvement of Jane as well. Jack and Eden are lovely additions to the Darling family. And Christopher? Oh, I do hope we will get a sequel/prequel with him in the future.
I could gush about so much but for fear of spoilers, I'll end by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this story. There are some loose ends that I would have liked to have been tied up, but perhaps that was intentional...
Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with a free ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.
This book was slow. It stunted my reading plans for this month. It's definitely more mystery than fantasy. So many bad things just kept happening in a row that I didn't want to keep reading. The resolution was good enough, but I hated how at some point during the story, you don't trust any of the characters. Yes, they all end up being good except for Peter, but still. If it were a morally gray moment, it would have been good. If I lose trust in a character, it's hard to bring it back. It was just okay.
