Peter Darling

But a chance of getting lost, he decided, was better than the certainty of losing James.

trigger warnings: transphobia, misgendering

A fantasy m/m romance with my favourite enemies to lovers trope, between Hook and Peter Pan? NICE.

Peter Darling is both a combination of a sequel, a prequel, and a retelling of the Peter Pan story.
Our beloved Peter is a transman in this version, and escapes once more to Neverland in an effort to be the person he really is, and not who his family think he should be (they really don't seem to be a nice bunch). There he reunites with the Lost Boys, and the adventures start all over. But, it's all a little bit stale for him. Things have changed. There's a truce between the Lost Boys and the pirates, and it's just not as fun as it was the first time around, so he decides to go and make his own fun.

He meets Hook again, and nothing makes him feel more alive, less bored, than every meeting he has with him. That's just because they're enemies and he loves the thrill of the fight, right?
As Peter comes to realise, and as Hook realises before him, Peter just loves the thrill of Hook himself.

The adventure never stopped in this book and it was honestly really fun to read. There was danger at every turn for Hook and Peter, especially between them, beautifully demonstrated by Peter pulling a knife on him when they first kiss. It's scary and new and overwhelming, but it's the most real thing either of them have felt in years.
A little bit too real.

This book was a little too short for my liking, so the jump between them wanting to kill/hate each other, and the exact opposite was just a little too quick for me. It did feel realistic though, and I could see how they would develop feelings for each other. I liked that after they left Neverland, they tried to make a relationship work between them. It was a really sweet read and I love the slight differences Austin Chant made between this and the Pan story everyone knows.

I wish we could have seen more of Ernest and his relationship with Peter, and of the rest of the Lost Boys in general. Despite that, this is a wonderful story.