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Never #1
Never
THE BRAND NEW FANTASY ROMANCE FROM THE AUTHOR OF TIKTOK SENSATION MAGNOLIA PARKS
There is a boy of legend in the tales passed down in my family. He glides on the coat-tails of the sun, rides the wind, and freedom runs through his veins. His heart - so the legend goes - is wild.
The boy lived in a faraway land tucked behind a star, where pirates were still true, mermaids didn't hide, and fairies flew through the air like autumn leaves on a windy day. He took my mother there, just like he took my grandmother, and my great-grandmother.
Just as he would come for me.
*
Swept away from her life in London to a place beyond the stars, Wendy's granddaughter Daphne is torn between the boy of legend - Peter Pan, whose fate is irrevocably intertwined with her family's - and Jem Hook, the pirate who has captured her heart against all her better judgement.
Filled with hope and heartbreak, beauty and betrayal, dreams and devastating reality, Never Can we ever be free while we're holding on to the past? And what would happen if - just once - we truly let go?
377 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 5, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 2,228 reviews
March 10, 2024
as someone who has enjoyed the MPU series, this book and these characters SUCK. i hate every single character in this book. a character is literally counting down the days until the fmc turns 18 so he can have sex with her. it was also so hard to root for daphne when she was so fkn stupid. she has 0 self-respect and idk why girly was torn on both of these men when they treat her like shit. i can’t believe a pretty cover was wasted on this absolute fuckery.
December 7, 2023
free me from this hell and take me back to planet earth tyvm 🙏
this was literally my most anticipated release
gna get a rubberhand to slap my wrists w every time i find myself excited for a new release 👍
this was literally my most anticipated release
gna get a rubberhand to slap my wrists w every time i find myself excited for a new release 👍
December 20, 2023
Four words to describe this book: (initially) enjoyable, infuriating, disappointing and unsettling.
There’s no denying Jessas ability to convey true meaning and emotion through her beautiful writing besides creating flawed & messy characters who some of us love but what happened here?! I love and will forever support the MPU series with everything in me and I’m sad to say I didn’t feel that way here and was beyond excited
What I liked about the book: the dedication, the beautiful cover, the enchanting essence when it was first felt & when one of the characters called the others out lol but that’s it. so practically nothing which explains my rating being 2 stars which I think is too generous so we’ll see if that changes (update: the more I think about it the more I’m convinced this deserves 1 star
the many issues I had: much of this felt so problematic and I don’t want to make this too long but the plot was all over the place, some of the writing felt forced and repetitive at times, the inclusion of racist connotations to describe or refer to some of the characters, I have more questions than answers when it comes to the underlying issue that lies in Neverland and this book just felt like something else entirely than what it was intended to be. Almost felt like a dark romance without being one. I was either screaming or laughing or both given the ridiculousness in this. I swear I was gaslit in the beginning 🤡 but then again this whole book felt that way with how both Peter Pan and jem/hook treated Daphne like shit and she just let them with the toxic circles they were all going in. Both of them are almost grown men (if we’ll even call one of them that) and some of the focus was placed on sexual desire and them wanting to have sex with her when she’s only 17.
It angered me how Peter Pan pressured and reacted when she said no to having sex with him and when I tell you I only saw red at that point omg. there was another instance where he did something without her consent as it would’ve angered him had she said no like are you serious?? I was literally fuming here and just with every scene with him. I honestly felt fed up with every single word that came out of his stupid ass mouth. Idk how I swooned over the banter we get in the beginning but thankfully clarity hit and soon enough you start to see him for the narcissistic, manipulative, possessive, misogynistic, and childish self serving psycho that he is. not to mention serial cheater that it was laughable and sickening each time it happened and I hated him and have never known a more insufferable character I think. I know jessa purposefully wrote him this way given his original arc of being “the boy who never grew up” but it just didn’t sit right with me the way he was here and idk what’s ultimately the endgame with his character but i am curious
Hook/jem had me at first too and while the age gap wasn’t horrific the predatory sexual jokes were which weren’t cute and just disgusting as we’re constantly reminded that he’s keeping count of the days until she turns 18 like why is this narrative always pushed?? It rubbed me the wrong way and he was also manipulative when he didn’t have some good moments and extremely early on he had potential but it didn’t last long. He was also such a hypocrite for telling Daphne some truthful commentary but kinda doing the same himself and said some shitty things.
My question is, did she intentionally make it so that we wouldn’t root for either? because I felt like I could with one of them at first until I couldn’t and she did an amazing job ensuring that lol I wish she had given them both a different arc as I know she wrote them according to the J.M Barrie version of Peter Pan besides her own but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me
daphne.. i became incredibly frustrated with her because she lacked so much self respect, self worth and much needed depth. No spine to be found actually. she’s described to be “lost” as she was living off a dream that was fed to her her whole life, didn’t know what or who she wanted, was completely love struck almost immediately, blinded by the idea of fate but she was overall just utterly oblivious & dumb with her decision making. part of me felt bad given her circumstances and the fact that she’s so young. it’s obvious jessa set up her character arc to be this way so I’m curious about how she deals with her character development. But It was almost impossible to defend her with the way she lies to herself in what she chooses to believe and the way she would excuse both mmcs but primarily one of them.. I definitely felt the only second hand embarrassment from it. The back and forth felt like a slow death and I wanted to slap her through my kindle
And saying there’s a character in this that makes pre therapy bj look like child’s play.. YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT because at least when he wasn’t stupid he was likable and these characters were ultimately not.
Overall, these characters were completely insufferable and lacked so much depth to them (except for rune and rye when they were present) and idk how jessa plans to redeem them all—im genuinely so curious. I’m saying all this as someone who can’t help but sympathize & root for complex characters but it was different here. All of it just left me absolutely puzzled & uncomfortable. It was a mess to deal with the inner conflict I felt from it all
Without context.. fuck those mermaids and the fairies?? I have so many questions. Also, this wasn’t even emotionally taxing as mpu was so this was poor marketing on her end
Don’t even get me started on the last 30% as it felt like such a joke. It was stupidly underwhelming and anticlimactic. it pains me to give this under 5 stars because of my love for MP but this wasn’t the retelling I would’ve wanted. the potential to have been fascinating was there but it undeniably failed for me and I wish I loved it.
—-
I’ll read anything this woman writes even if it breaks me in the best and worst way but damn jessa I already got emotional with this dedication 🥲
“To that very first lost boy who I loved so much when I was so little. You went to a faraway place that none of us could follow, and you are probably the reason I first fell in love with the story about the forever young, forever free boy.”
There’s no denying Jessas ability to convey true meaning and emotion through her beautiful writing besides creating flawed & messy characters who some of us love but what happened here?! I love and will forever support the MPU series with everything in me and I’m sad to say I didn’t feel that way here and was beyond excited
What I liked about the book: the dedication, the beautiful cover, the enchanting essence when it was first felt & when one of the characters called the others out lol but that’s it. so practically nothing which explains my rating being 2 stars which I think is too generous so we’ll see if that changes (update: the more I think about it the more I’m convinced this deserves 1 star
the many issues I had: much of this felt so problematic and I don’t want to make this too long but the plot was all over the place, some of the writing felt forced and repetitive at times, the inclusion of racist connotations to describe or refer to some of the characters, I have more questions than answers when it comes to the underlying issue that lies in Neverland and this book just felt like something else entirely than what it was intended to be. Almost felt like a dark romance without being one. I was either screaming or laughing or both given the ridiculousness in this. I swear I was gaslit in the beginning 🤡 but then again this whole book felt that way with how both Peter Pan and jem/hook treated Daphne like shit and she just let them with the toxic circles they were all going in. Both of them are almost grown men (if we’ll even call one of them that) and some of the focus was placed on sexual desire and them wanting to have sex with her when she’s only 17.
It angered me how Peter Pan pressured and reacted when she said no to having sex with him and when I tell you I only saw red at that point omg. there was another instance where he did something without her consent as it would’ve angered him had she said no like are you serious?? I was literally fuming here and just with every scene with him. I honestly felt fed up with every single word that came out of his stupid ass mouth. Idk how I swooned over the banter we get in the beginning but thankfully clarity hit and soon enough you start to see him for the narcissistic, manipulative, possessive, misogynistic, and childish self serving psycho that he is. not to mention serial cheater that it was laughable and sickening each time it happened and I hated him and have never known a more insufferable character I think. I know jessa purposefully wrote him this way given his original arc of being “the boy who never grew up” but it just didn’t sit right with me the way he was here and idk what’s ultimately the endgame with his character but i am curious
Hook/jem had me at first too and while the age gap wasn’t horrific the predatory sexual jokes were which weren’t cute and just disgusting as we’re constantly reminded that he’s keeping count of the days until she turns 18 like why is this narrative always pushed?? It rubbed me the wrong way and he was also manipulative when he didn’t have some good moments and extremely early on he had potential but it didn’t last long. He was also such a hypocrite for telling Daphne some truthful commentary but kinda doing the same himself and said some shitty things.
My question is, did she intentionally make it so that we wouldn’t root for either? because I felt like I could with one of them at first until I couldn’t and she did an amazing job ensuring that lol I wish she had given them both a different arc as I know she wrote them according to the J.M Barrie version of Peter Pan besides her own but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me
daphne.. i became incredibly frustrated with her because she lacked so much self respect, self worth and much needed depth. No spine to be found actually. she’s described to be “lost” as she was living off a dream that was fed to her her whole life, didn’t know what or who she wanted, was completely love struck almost immediately, blinded by the idea of fate but she was overall just utterly oblivious & dumb with her decision making. part of me felt bad given her circumstances and the fact that she’s so young. it’s obvious jessa set up her character arc to be this way so I’m curious about how she deals with her character development. But It was almost impossible to defend her with the way she lies to herself in what she chooses to believe and the way she would excuse both mmcs but primarily one of them.. I definitely felt the only second hand embarrassment from it. The back and forth felt like a slow death and I wanted to slap her through my kindle
And saying there’s a character in this that makes pre therapy bj look like child’s play.. YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT because at least when he wasn’t stupid he was likable and these characters were ultimately not.
Overall, these characters were completely insufferable and lacked so much depth to them (except for rune and rye when they were present) and idk how jessa plans to redeem them all—im genuinely so curious. I’m saying all this as someone who can’t help but sympathize & root for complex characters but it was different here. All of it just left me absolutely puzzled & uncomfortable. It was a mess to deal with the inner conflict I felt from it all
Without context.. fuck those mermaids and the fairies?? I have so many questions. Also, this wasn’t even emotionally taxing as mpu was so this was poor marketing on her end
Don’t even get me started on the last 30% as it felt like such a joke. It was stupidly underwhelming and anticlimactic. it pains me to give this under 5 stars because of my love for MP but this wasn’t the retelling I would’ve wanted. the potential to have been fascinating was there but it undeniably failed for me and I wish I loved it.
—-
I’ll read anything this woman writes even if it breaks me in the best and worst way but damn jessa I already got emotional with this dedication 🥲
“To that very first lost boy who I loved so much when I was so little. You went to a faraway place that none of us could follow, and you are probably the reason I first fell in love with the story about the forever young, forever free boy.”
December 16, 2023
★ 1 star
I’m so sorry Jessa but this book was a train wreck. I really wanted to love this and you can tell from my update below I was so excited for it. I tried my best to love it and I pushed through to the end (even if I had to skim the last 30% because it was so painful to read).
The Plot
Very briefly, Never is a Peter Pan retelling and follows Daphne, Peter and Jamison (Hook's son - the antagonist). Essentially, Peter *grew up* from 14 to 19 to so that he could come up against Jamison (22/23 years old). Peter had been young for hundreds of years and still acted like a child despite his character being aged up.
My issues with this book
I want to preface this by acknowledging that the original Peter Pan has problematic undertones and I understand that this is a retelling so I can see what Jessa was trying to do here. My issue is, as a retelling, this story could have been told in a way that made you not hate every single main character in this book. There are also some concerning themes in this book which ruined it for me.
Firstly, I know the original was very problematic with racist undertones.I just didn't feel like the retelling needed to re-portray the racist connotations (Jessa has addressed this and will be removing some of the descriptions used from the ebooks and future re-prints). Some terminology used did stem from old folklore but whether it meant to come across that way it did or not, it should have been obvious how this would be received.
My second issue was the predatory comments and constant references to the FMC’s age. Essentially, Peter never wanted Daphne to grow older like the original Peter Pan, but Peter didn't visit her and take her to Neverland until she was 17 years old. I know she had to age up the characters to make this work but, a lot of these problems could have been solved if they made Daphne slightly older to begin with. I understand that this would mean that she'd be an adult entering Neverland but both Peter and Jamison were adults?? If she took out the sexual references this might have been able to be pulled off with the current ages.
Essentially, Peter made Daphne his girlfriend (in a sense) but Daphne had to explain to him and the lost boys how relationships work and what sex/kissing is. Peter became infatuated with this (shock horror) and was constantly kissing other girls/mermaids as well as Daphne. He also begun to put pressure on her to have sex with him.
There was a love triangle between Jamison, Peter and Daphne. I actually did like Jamison in the first 25% and I was rooting for him. That is until he basically said they needed to wait until she turned 18 to have sex/kiss etc because he was older (22/23). I tried to ignore this as much as I could but her age was brought up multiple times whenever they got closer as a type of tension building technic (if you can call it that??!). It just made me feel uncomfortable and I never recovered from this.
Thirdly, Peter had past relationships with each one of Daphne's female lineage which really grossed me out. Again, I understand it's based of the original but did we really need to mention MULTIPLE times how her mother, grandmother, great grandmother etc. had all kissed and loved Peter. Her family (Except her mother) also all but shoved her in Peter's arms to find her womanhood...
Peter
Peter Pan is an adult in this version (if you can call him that) and was completely unbearable. He's arogant, sexist, narcissistic, egotistical, possessive, a gaslighter, petulant, toxic etc. I could go on and on and not run out of words. Not a single positive thing to say about him. Man child would be considered a compliment for what he is.
In the original Peter Pan, he is portrayed as a child and lacked a sufficiently developed moral compass to be either be considered good or evil. I understand why he was portrayed this way in Never but the choice to age him up made this irredeemable. It felt like the author didn't want you to like either of the male characters because they were horrible and every time you tried to skip over something problematic, it was re-brought up several times or something else even worse would be said.
Daphne
"I don’t think I much like him, if I’m honest. He’s not making me feel good inside myself, yet I so desperately want his approval, and I’ve never wanted the approval of a man before."
Peter constantly put Daphne down and called her stupid and while this did infuriate me I honestly begun to think, well he's not wrong... Her inner monologues were overzealous towards Peter and her rationale was completely ridiculous. She constantly swooned over Peter no matter how he treated her and it was insta love. She constantly made excuses for MMC's bad actions and fooled herself into accepting it. So many horrid things were said and done in front of her and I just wanted to shake her because she said nothing and this was skipped over like it was nothing?! It was unnerving to read. She had no self respect and it made me, as a reader, have no sympathy her for. The only character with a backbone was Rune (her fairy).
╰⪼ Final Thoughts:
There’s no doubting Jessa can write beautifully but the depiction of these characters was not for me. I appreciate her choice to closely follow the original work, but this had the potential to be so good if it was executed differently. I loved the beautiful cover and there were some quotes (including the dedication) that I did resonate with.
I just didn't like the FMC or either of the two MMC's which made this book an instant 1 star for me. I'm not really sure what this book was trying to achieve, it was a bit all over the place. I think it was meant to be a YA fantasy but then it started to feel more adult and dark at points. The characters felt surface level and the plot and world building was hardly present. This book just made me feel icky and uncomfortable, maybe that was her intention? I don't know.
I still plan to read other books Jessa puts out and I hope I have a different reading experience with those.
___________________________
Update: 7/12/203: Well that was disappointing
Update 4/12/23: GUYS look what has arrived early on my kindle 😍 Peter Pan retelling? sign me up 🏃♀️
*abandoning current reads yet again*
I’m so sorry Jessa but this book was a train wreck. I really wanted to love this and you can tell from my update below I was so excited for it. I tried my best to love it and I pushed through to the end (even if I had to skim the last 30% because it was so painful to read).
The Plot
Very briefly, Never is a Peter Pan retelling and follows Daphne, Peter and Jamison (Hook's son - the antagonist). Essentially, Peter *grew up* from 14 to 19 to so that he could come up against Jamison (22/23 years old). Peter had been young for hundreds of years and still acted like a child despite his character being aged up.
My issues with this book
I want to preface this by acknowledging that the original Peter Pan has problematic undertones and I understand that this is a retelling so I can see what Jessa was trying to do here. My issue is, as a retelling, this story could have been told in a way that made you not hate every single main character in this book. There are also some concerning themes in this book which ruined it for me.
Firstly, I know the original was very problematic with racist undertones.
My second issue was the predatory comments and constant references to the FMC’s age. Essentially, Peter never wanted Daphne to grow older like the original Peter Pan, but Peter didn't visit her and take her to Neverland until she was 17 years old. I know she had to age up the characters to make this work but, a lot of these problems could have been solved if they made Daphne slightly older to begin with. I understand that this would mean that she'd be an adult entering Neverland but both Peter and Jamison were adults?? If she took out the sexual references this might have been able to be pulled off with the current ages.
Essentially, Peter made Daphne his girlfriend (in a sense) but Daphne had to explain to him and the lost boys how relationships work and what sex/kissing is. Peter became infatuated with this (shock horror) and was constantly kissing other girls/mermaids as well as Daphne. He also begun to put pressure on her to have sex with him.
There was a love triangle between Jamison, Peter and Daphne. I actually did like Jamison in the first 25% and I was rooting for him. That is until he basically said they needed to wait until she turned 18 to have sex/kiss etc because he was older (22/23). I tried to ignore this as much as I could but her age was brought up multiple times whenever they got closer as a type of tension building technic (if you can call it that??!). It just made me feel uncomfortable and I never recovered from this.
Thirdly, Peter had past relationships with each one of Daphne's female lineage which really grossed me out. Again, I understand it's based of the original but did we really need to mention MULTIPLE times how her mother, grandmother, great grandmother etc. had all kissed and loved Peter. Her family (Except her mother) also all but shoved her in Peter's arms to find her womanhood...
That bothers me in a handful of ways. That he thinks he knows about sex when clearly he doesn’t, that he’s apparently kissed lots of girls who aren’t me, and also that at least three of them are from my maternal bloodline.
Peter
Peter Pan is an adult in this version (if you can call him that) and was completely unbearable. He's arogant, sexist, narcissistic, egotistical, possessive, a gaslighter, petulant, toxic etc. I could go on and on and not run out of words. Not a single positive thing to say about him. Man child would be considered a compliment for what he is.
In the original Peter Pan, he is portrayed as a child and lacked a sufficiently developed moral compass to be either be considered good or evil. I understand why he was portrayed this way in Never but the choice to age him up made this irredeemable. It felt like the author didn't want you to like either of the male characters because they were horrible and every time you tried to skip over something problematic, it was re-brought up several times or something else even worse would be said.
Daphne
"I don’t think I much like him, if I’m honest. He’s not making me feel good inside myself, yet I so desperately want his approval, and I’ve never wanted the approval of a man before."
Peter constantly put Daphne down and called her stupid and while this did infuriate me I honestly begun to think, well he's not wrong... Her inner monologues were overzealous towards Peter and her rationale was completely ridiculous. She constantly swooned over Peter no matter how he treated her and it was insta love. She constantly made excuses for MMC's bad actions and fooled herself into accepting it. So many horrid things were said and done in front of her and I just wanted to shake her because she said nothing and this was skipped over like it was nothing?! It was unnerving to read. She had no self respect and it made me, as a reader, have no sympathy her for. The only character with a backbone was Rune (her fairy).
╰⪼ Final Thoughts:
There’s no doubting Jessa can write beautifully but the depiction of these characters was not for me. I appreciate her choice to closely follow the original work, but this had the potential to be so good if it was executed differently. I loved the beautiful cover and there were some quotes (including the dedication) that I did resonate with.
I just didn't like the FMC or either of the two MMC's which made this book an instant 1 star for me. I'm not really sure what this book was trying to achieve, it was a bit all over the place. I think it was meant to be a YA fantasy but then it started to feel more adult and dark at points. The characters felt surface level and the plot and world building was hardly present. This book just made me feel icky and uncomfortable, maybe that was her intention? I don't know.
I still plan to read other books Jessa puts out and I hope I have a different reading experience with those.
___________________________
Update: 7/12/203: Well that was disappointing
Update 4/12/23: GUYS look what has arrived early on my kindle 😍 Peter Pan retelling? sign me up 🏃♀️
*abandoning current reads yet again*
Read
September 15, 2024I think it's time to accept my fate & dnf this (softly)
December 6, 2023
“His skin is so tan that he looks dirty.” and she named the slave elves “brownies”…….Who allowed this in 2023?
December 6, 2023
why were a 22 and 23 year old waiting for a 17 year old girl to turn 18 so they could have sex with her?? jessa hastings please never write a fantasy book or any other book again.
December 6, 2023
Piano. (Iykyk)
Read
December 7, 2023i’m so sad to inform i had to dnf this…
i’m not rating it since it’s a dnf but if i were to.. it would be a zero. i don’t even know what this book was trying to be. it was not only confusing but also.. just not interesting at all?
the characters were so off, i didn’t even know who to like (plot twist: it’s no one)
ill be waiting for the last magnolia book tho🧍🏻♀️
i’m not rating it since it’s a dnf but if i were to.. it would be a zero. i don’t even know what this book was trying to be. it was not only confusing but also.. just not interesting at all?
the characters were so off, i didn’t even know who to like (plot twist: it’s no one)
ill be waiting for the last magnolia book tho🧍🏻♀️
December 14, 2023
i'm so embarrassed to say i was excited for this. not a single redeeming thing except the cover and what a big waste of a beautiful cover smh
December 6, 2023
this might be the most bizarre book i’ve ever read. i honestly don’t know what this book was trying to be exactly, i feel like i’ve lost brain cells reading it.. i’m confusion
December 21, 2023
tell me you’re joking. what were those last chapters?? why did you have to go make me dislike hook for saying that?? it was all going so well.
daphne really needed to hear jem out before running to peter. pulling my hair cause i know jem did not meant that. that was not him. what did you gain from that jessa hastings? like why? what was the reason? the more i think about the ending the more i hate this book.
daphne truly got mommy and daddy issues cause girl open your eyes. she kept running back and forth and the amount of times she forgave peter?? please she needs to see a therapist asap. for a girl who claims she is so clever, it sure don’t look like it. why did she have to go drop all the baggage. im so upset. ”but i’d never put away a thought about you.”
i need peter to suffer. he’s so cocky, annoying, and is giving toxic middle school boy energy. he’s insufferable and it would’ve been way better if he just wasn’t in the book at all. just ugh peter pan needs to be removed, erased, deleted. hoping for a plot twist where all the lost boys team up against him thanks.
the writing in the beginning was lowkey badwhy was she writing a whole paragraph about the ocean?
didn’t do the cover justice.
✦ . pre review. ✦
jessa hasting this better be a happy ending. knowing her it's probably not 😪 . cover looking like a fairytale tho.
daphne really needed to hear jem out before running to peter. pulling my hair cause i know jem did not meant that. that was not him. what did you gain from that jessa hastings? like why? what was the reason? the more i think about the ending the more i hate this book.
daphne truly got mommy and daddy issues cause girl open your eyes. she kept running back and forth and the amount of times she forgave peter?? please she needs to see a therapist asap. for a girl who claims she is so clever, it sure don’t look like it. why did she have to go drop all the baggage. im so upset. ”but i’d never put away a thought about you.”
i need peter to suffer. he’s so cocky, annoying, and is giving toxic middle school boy energy. he’s insufferable and it would’ve been way better if he just wasn’t in the book at all. just ugh peter pan needs to be removed, erased, deleted. hoping for a plot twist where all the lost boys team up against him thanks.
the writing in the beginning was lowkey bad
didn’t do the cover justice.
✦ . pre review. ✦
jessa hasting this better be a happy ending.
December 13, 2023
jessa hastings shines when she writes about spoiled, rich, silver spooned 20 year olds that do drugs and cheat on eachother. we love the mess. we love the drama. but the fantasy genre? not for her. she needs to leave it to people that actually know how to write it.
when i read the words "peter pan retelling" i thought cute little fantasy book NOT PETER PAN SMUT???? HELP???
also, a 22 year old character "jokes" about waiting for the protagonist to turn 18 before he has sex with her. c'mon now. what editor approved this.
overall, it's a flop, and i'm not surprised. jessa's writing style just doesn't bode well with the fantasy genre. the book is set in 1967 but it reads like a 2013 wattpad story. sorry, it's a DEFINITE no from me.
(edit: the author herself said in a statement that the racially insensitive descriptions will be revised and updated in future reprints. still, what really bothered me was the 5 year age gap between a TEENAGE girl and a 22 year old man. not cool at all. i won't read the next books in the series because it just makes me uncomfortable - if you're fine with that go ahead, but you won't see me here again!)
when i read the words "peter pan retelling" i thought cute little fantasy book NOT PETER PAN SMUT???? HELP???
also, a 22 year old character "jokes" about waiting for the protagonist to turn 18 before he has sex with her. c'mon now. what editor approved this.
overall, it's a flop, and i'm not surprised. jessa's writing style just doesn't bode well with the fantasy genre. the book is set in 1967 but it reads like a 2013 wattpad story. sorry, it's a DEFINITE no from me.
(edit: the author herself said in a statement that the racially insensitive descriptions will be revised and updated in future reprints. still, what really bothered me was the 5 year age gap between a TEENAGE girl and a 22 year old man. not cool at all. i won't read the next books in the series because it just makes me uncomfortable - if you're fine with that go ahead, but you won't see me here again!)
December 18, 2023
this was fucking torture
December 7, 2023
────────
pre-view: pushing my cr aside for this😍 🫸🏽
June 29, 2024
I don’t think any innocent girl deserves to read anything related to 22 year olds (who talk saying “yer” instead of “you” to mimic pirates btw) waiting to have sex with a 17 year old.
It’s me I’m the innocent girl. If you also add the fact that this book (a children’s story retelling) is the one she chose to start writing her smut well you’re in for a cold shower.
Miss Hastings listen to me I’m gonna explain this one single time for your own sake: the biracial card isn’t working anymore. I dare to say no one was ever fooled by it actually.
If you’re so proud of this garbage here’s what you should do to save your ass:
1. Take it off the market now that you still can
2. Hire a real competent editor who’s not gonna kiss your ass
3. Have #those nasty freakish INSENSITIVE comments removed.
4. Start praying people are gonna forget about them.
5. If you really can’t help yourself and despise the idea of freeing us from this torture, publish it again.
It’s me I’m the innocent girl. If you also add the fact that this book (a children’s story retelling) is the one she chose to start writing her smut well you’re in for a cold shower.
Miss Hastings listen to me I’m gonna explain this one single time for your own sake: the biracial card isn’t working anymore. I dare to say no one was ever fooled by it actually.
If you’re so proud of this garbage here’s what you should do to save your ass:
1. Take it off the market now that you still can
2. Hire a real competent editor who’s not gonna kiss your ass
3. Have #those nasty freakish INSENSITIVE comments removed.
4. Start praying people are gonna forget about them.
5. If you really can’t help yourself and despise the idea of freeing us from this torture, publish it again.
December 17, 2023
You might think I’m foolish for jumping out my window in the dead of night with a boy whose hair is as messy as his heart, but then, if you don’t understand the lure and pull of the boy in question, I’m terribly sorry to inform you, but you’ve never met Peter Pan.
i don’t think you’re foolish daphne, i think you’re borderline stupid.
i will be spoiling this book so if you want to read this book for yourself
to say this was such an anticipated read for me is an understatement and this failed me so badly. i think we should keep childhood retellings YA, cause it seems that those are the only good versions of them. I’m honestly not sure what exactly jessa was attempting to convey cause it was honestly a big fat dumpster fire.
daphne is so fucking idiotic. to brag about how clever you are at the beginning and continue on with your “i’m not boy crazy like my grandma and great-grandma” speech every chance you get to do a complete 360 and act that way is baffling. this girl is the definition of living in delusion.
this is genuinely how this dumb girl acted when peter was doing shady shit?!?! and all for her to go up into the cloud and FORGET IT ALL?!?!
my entire reaction through this book. and the thing is i was somewhat enjoying it at first, i had a peter pan playlist going on and then i decided to read the second half with no music….and the clarity that hit? wow it might’ve bitch slapped me even.
i don’t even drink alcohol but i think i need a mega pint for all the frustration i had to endure. peter pan was so freaking annoying. and listen i get it he’s the boy that never wants to grow up but honestly he was a piece of shit.
He shakes his head, tired. “If I brought Calla here, she would wonder with me.”
ah yes let’s excuse peter trying to gaslight daphne into sex because he’s “the boy who never wants to grow up” you cannot convince me in anyway that he doesn’t know what he’s doing or saying. he isn’t some “clueless” lost boy. he’s a master manipulative gaslighting villain.
now onto the next gross pedophile.. at first i liked hook, i thought wow he is so much better until i learned of his age. 22? 22 turning 23 and she’s 17 turning 18? who in the right mind is okay with that? and for people saying she’s practically 18… like how do you not see the issue with that? one day being 18 = mature adult? ESPECIALLY with the way she acted? pls i’m asking for someone to run me over, i think i would enjoy that a million times more.
like i genuinely do not want to repeat what they said at times because it’s actually gross, sure this was supposed to have that “dark” undertone but dark ≠ awful.
this is personally my fave alternative ending…
overall, this was bad like i rather be trapped in an elevator with a certain gang lord for a year than have to read this book ever again. the biggest crime yet is how it’s such a beauty to look at. they really did mean it when they said what’s on the inside matters more than what’s on the outside.
December 13, 2023
To say I'm disappointed doesn't even cover half of what I feel about this book. I'm so heartbroken, sad, disgusted and angry. I can't understand how this book was written by the same person who wrote one of my favourite series. If it wasn't for the writing, which is so characteristic of Jessa, I would think it was written by someone else.
Before I get to the negative parts, I'll just say that I enjoyed the first few chapters, I honestly thought this was going to be a 5 star read because the beginning was quite exciting. Neverland seemed so enchanting, the banter between the characters was good and I could tell I was going to become obsessed with one character in particular (spoiler alert - I didn't). The other positives are the dedication and the writing.
I read the original Peter Pan before I read Never. I know that Neverland is not as magical as it seems and that Peter is not a perfect boy. There's a darkness that surrounds him and the land. Jessa's version of this story is based on Barrie's story, and while I can partially understand what she was trying to do with it (she definitely tried to dive deep into the dark side of the story), the execution is so poor and makes no sense.
I'm all for morally grey, deeply flawed characters. But the characters in this book are just awful and lack so much depth. They are the sum of all the worst qualities a person can have, and I can't find a single redeeming quality in them. I can't remember the last time I hated characters in a book so much, I couldn't relate to them at all.
[I don't want to make comparisons with the MPU series because there's no point in doing so, but even though the characters in that series are deeply flawed, they're still likeable, we can see the good in them even when all that comes to the surface is the bad shit.]
Our FMC, Daphne, is infuriating. At first I thought her naivety was endearing, she was in a new place and there's definitely something magical about Neverland. She was just lost, I told myself. But no, she's really stupid, she lacks self-respect and she's so blind to the truth, even when it's right in front of her. Daphne likes to say she's clever, but she's so stupid. The way she kept making excuses for all the shit that child said and did and just kept running around the two MMC's like a love sick puppy made me so angry. Girl, have some respect for yourself. If she had been presented as a very naive and innocent girl at the beginning, I would understand her behaviour, but she is introduced as a very intelligent and modern woman who doesn't want to be tied to a boy and instead wants to get her education and explore the world. Where has this girl gone? Does the magic in Neverland make everyone stupid?
One of the MMC's is a narcissistic, misogynistic, possessive, selfish and manipulative man-child. I hate him so much. The things he said and did made my blood boil, every time he opened his mouth I just wanted to kill him. He kept gaslighting Daphne, calling her stupid and telling her she was the reason he acted the way he did. As if she was to blame for him being a fuck-up?
The other MMC, who I thought was the better man, decided to ruin everything by acting like a predator. He was counting down the days until Daphne turned 18 so he could fuck her (for context, he's 22). This is disgusting. I don't care if they shared good moments, I don't care if he said nice things, I don't care if he called Daphne out on her bullshit and tried to open her eyes to the truth. This character had great potential and it was all ruined by the sexual jokes he kept making. I'm sick of books where all the men care about is having sex with the FMC.
I really can't get over the way both MMC's treated Daphne. They acted as if her virginity was a prize, as if she had no value other than a pretty face. They showed her no respect. I couldn't possibly root for any of the romances. In truth, I didn't feel the romance at all, there's no emotion and it just felt superficial. All I saw was lust.
The world building is so poor, I have many questions about how Neverland works and I find it all so confusing. There was a lot of foreshadowing about Neverland, things were mentioned about the land that made me think something very wrong was going on, but then nothing was addressed. The plot is a mess because it doesn't exist. Throughout the book we just read Daphne's thoughts and watch her get more and more stupid as she desperately tries to get two assholes to love her. If one of them hurt her, she would just run to the other one. There was never a moment when she thought "Oh, maybe I should be alone now, away from these men, and think about what's happening".
The writing, which I mentioned as a positive, is also a negative, simply because it felt forced at times. Some of the metaphors made no sense and where was the emotion behind the words?
The racist connotations(Jessa has addressed this in the best way and I’m glad she has listened to the readers), the sexual innuendos and everything about the man-child made me so uncomfortable. What was the point? I really don't get it? This book is a mix of children's, YA and adult. What was Jessa trying to do with this story, what is the message? Because all I see is a badly executed story.
And don't get me started on the ending. It was so anticlimactic and a total mess. And to think I saw ARC readers crying over it, that Jessa herself said it was more heartbreaking than the MPU books... please, that was all a lie.
I'm really confused by this book. Were the characters written this way on purpose? Were we supposed to hate them and not root for any of the romances? How is Jessa planning on redeeming these characters? I'm just so conflicted and having a hard time organising my thoughts. This review is a mess, I just can't put into words everything this book has made me feel.
This is the worst retelling I've ever read. I'm incredibly frustrated and upset.
Before I get to the negative parts, I'll just say that I enjoyed the first few chapters, I honestly thought this was going to be a 5 star read because the beginning was quite exciting. Neverland seemed so enchanting, the banter between the characters was good and I could tell I was going to become obsessed with one character in particular (spoiler alert - I didn't). The other positives are the dedication and the writing.
I read the original Peter Pan before I read Never. I know that Neverland is not as magical as it seems and that Peter is not a perfect boy. There's a darkness that surrounds him and the land. Jessa's version of this story is based on Barrie's story, and while I can partially understand what she was trying to do with it (she definitely tried to dive deep into the dark side of the story), the execution is so poor and makes no sense.
I'm all for morally grey, deeply flawed characters. But the characters in this book are just awful and lack so much depth. They are the sum of all the worst qualities a person can have, and I can't find a single redeeming quality in them. I can't remember the last time I hated characters in a book so much, I couldn't relate to them at all.
Our FMC, Daphne, is infuriating. At first I thought her naivety was endearing, she was in a new place and there's definitely something magical about Neverland. She was just lost, I told myself. But no, she's really stupid, she lacks self-respect and she's so blind to the truth, even when it's right in front of her. Daphne likes to say she's clever, but she's so stupid. The way she kept making excuses for all the shit that child said and did and just kept running around the two MMC's like a love sick puppy made me so angry. Girl, have some respect for yourself. If she had been presented as a very naive and innocent girl at the beginning, I would understand her behaviour, but she is introduced as a very intelligent and modern woman who doesn't want to be tied to a boy and instead wants to get her education and explore the world. Where has this girl gone? Does the magic in Neverland make everyone stupid?
One of the MMC's is a narcissistic, misogynistic, possessive, selfish and manipulative man-child. I hate him so much. The things he said and did made my blood boil, every time he opened his mouth I just wanted to kill him. He kept gaslighting Daphne, calling her stupid and telling her she was the reason he acted the way he did. As if she was to blame for him being a fuck-up?
The other MMC, who I thought was the better man, decided to ruin everything by acting like a predator. He was counting down the days until Daphne turned 18 so he could fuck her (for context, he's 22). This is disgusting. I don't care if they shared good moments, I don't care if he said nice things, I don't care if he called Daphne out on her bullshit and tried to open her eyes to the truth. This character had great potential and it was all ruined by the sexual jokes he kept making. I'm sick of books where all the men care about is having sex with the FMC.
I really can't get over the way both MMC's treated Daphne. They acted as if her virginity was a prize, as if she had no value other than a pretty face. They showed her no respect. I couldn't possibly root for any of the romances. In truth, I didn't feel the romance at all, there's no emotion and it just felt superficial. All I saw was lust.
The world building is so poor, I have many questions about how Neverland works and I find it all so confusing. There was a lot of foreshadowing about Neverland, things were mentioned about the land that made me think something very wrong was going on, but then nothing was addressed. The plot is a mess because it doesn't exist. Throughout the book we just read Daphne's thoughts and watch her get more and more stupid as she desperately tries to get two assholes to love her. If one of them hurt her, she would just run to the other one. There was never a moment when she thought "Oh, maybe I should be alone now, away from these men, and think about what's happening".
The writing, which I mentioned as a positive, is also a negative, simply because it felt forced at times. Some of the metaphors made no sense and where was the emotion behind the words?
The racist connotations
And don't get me started on the ending. It was so anticlimactic and a total mess. And to think I saw ARC readers crying over it, that Jessa herself said it was more heartbreaking than the MPU books... please, that was all a lie.
I'm really confused by this book. Were the characters written this way on purpose? Were we supposed to hate them and not root for any of the romances? How is Jessa planning on redeeming these characters? I'm just so conflicted and having a hard time organising my thoughts. This review is a mess, I just can't put into words everything this book has made me feel.
This is the worst retelling I've ever read. I'm incredibly frustrated and upset.
December 6, 2023
I’m going to give you what I call a “review from my head,” and a “review from my heart”. We’ll start with the review from my head:
Let’s talk characters:
I loved Daphne. I really really did. I’ve seen her being called naive but I think it’s helpful to take into consideration the context from the beginning of the story, and how the women of the Darling family have a fate - Peter comes and takes them all away to Neverland. It is the story that is passed down in the family. This is something that’s been engrained into Daphne’s “prophecy”. Nature vs. Nurture and this is nurture, this is the environment she grew up in. She was taught the language of Little Störj, the great stories of Peter Pan (I say “great” because this is the picture that was painted for Daphne and what heavily influenced her initial feelings), and everything about Neverland was something to look forward to in Daphne’s mind. This is her normality, with the exception of her mother who was quickly revealed as someone absent and distant emotionally for most of her life. Instead, Daphne had her grandmothers guiding her, who were very much charmed by Peter and Neverland. So when unfavourable things happen with Peter, Daphne is hesitant to go against them or see him in an entirely negative light because of it. “We are products of the folk who raise us” (P. 124 of Never). And if you say you would act completely different than Daphne if you were suddenly taken away to Neverland, then THAT is a different story. Because Hastings doesn’t write stories for us to insert ourselves into, she tells the stories of characters who are alive in her head. These are THEIR stories. Our backstories are different from theirs. I also like that Daphne has a lot of room to grow as this is a series. And it is something I look forward to. At 17, Daphne’s age when the story starts, I had a lot more growing up to do. Even now. We’re all full of flaws, some more relatable than others. But stories don’t always need to be relatable to be a good story. Some of the best kinds are when I don’t relate to them at all, and I am allowed to peer through the eyes of a person I couldn’t see myself in. I am offered a different perspective on life. This is not to say the characters and their behaviours were excusable. But Hastings’ stories have made me a more mindful reader. Now when I feel myself not liking a character of hers, and there was one in particular in this story that I wanted to hate, I find myself thinking, 'wait- do I know their whole story yet? And did I consider what they went through to act like this?' Circling back to Daphne’s choices, to her credit, she did think for herself, despite the heavy influence of her family in her life. She was clever and brave and stood up for herself when she could. But she was also in a new environment — alone, still figuring herself out, who she is, and what she wants to be while having her life thrown off course. But we also must not forget that Peter has this…sway. We know that almost EVERYONE on the island is charmed by him. If I was suddenly pulled through my window during the night, blasted through the galaxy, planets away from home, dropped from the sky, and having nearly drowned… well I hope I would have held myself together as well as she did.
When talking about Peter, the first thing I’ll mention is how brilliantly Jessa captured J.M. Barrie’s Peter. In my opinion, she did a remarkable job at keeping his version alive and her Peter makes a lot of sense if you have read J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy. If you don’t know, Hastings' story is rooted in his story. And this is almost essential to know going into it. You might be thrown off by Peter, and many other elements, otherwise. Peter is arrogant, a tad too proud, secretive, selfish, and gave me feelings of unease yet somehow has qualities that make you stick around (if you say you wouldn’t stick around a guy who treated you like that, that’s unfortunately not the reality for many in today‘s world, and this also isn’t the case in Daphne’s story. Again, not saying it’s right, but that is Daphne’s dilemma). The lost boys, the magical creatures, and the people of Neverland are captivated by him and look to him to lead (whether that’s in fear or admiration is to be questioned) EVEN when he is horrid to them. No one stands up to Peter, and as we’ve seen, when they do — well, you’re exiled. He acts like a child because childhood is what he has tried to hold on to for the 500-plus years he’s existed. He is undeniably childish but that is his character and somewhat a part of the mystery. I think Hastings did a good job at making me personally like Peter in some moments and dislike him in other moments. There were so many times where I felt “kicked” by Peter, as Daphne would say (this was meant to be a positive way of describing liking someone), and other times I wanted to actually kick him in the face. The characters are HEAVILY FLAWED and if you want to read about perfect characters who are model world citizens, her stories might not be for you. However, in my experience with Hastings’ stories, this isn’t a bad thing. Absolutely not. I do believe this is intentional. I do believe and hope that these characters still have the most growing to do.
Now let’s get into the genre:
Hastings has always said she doesn’t know what genres her books fit into, including Never. But for the sake of people talking about the genre let’s talk about it. I did find the story to be a fantasy romance. And if we classify this as a fantasy, the Cambridge Dictionary says the definition of fantasy fiction is: “a type of story or literature that is set in a magical world, often involving traditional myths and magical creatures and sometimes ideas or events from the real world, especially from the medieval period of history.” Is Never set in a magical world? Absolutely! To my dismay and knowledge, Neverland doesn’t really exist. Does Never include traditional myths? Yes! I don’t want to spoil what comes up in the book because it was fun to stumble upon for myself, but I think if you read it, you’ll find that it does include its own version of that. Were there magical creatures? LOADS. Fae/fairies, mermaids, the Minotaur, and more! Lastly, did Never take events/ideas from the real world and history? Well, we know history has records of Pirates existing, who were said to be quite active during the 1600s, also known as “The Golden Age of Piracy.” And to my great pleasure Never has pirates in its story! I feel like there isn’t really a debate when it comes to what genre this book fits into (edit: actually, that's unfair of me to declare, because discussion is always important whether we agree or not, sorry about that!) But I see where one might disagree if we simply compare it at surface level to other stories in Fantasy/Romantasy. However, when you look on sites like NetGalley, Never is classified as: “General Fiction (adult)” and “Romance”. But I have found that this varies depending on where you look. Regardless, as a lover of this genre, I think Hastings' first book with magical elements was executed very nicely.
Since some sites have classified this as just a romance, as I mentioned a second ago, and because I included the definition of fantasy here, I want to quickly go over Romance. Romance in literature is: “a love affair, or, again, a story about a love affair, generally one of a rather idyllic or idealized type, sometimes marked by strange or unexpected incidents and developments; and "to romance" has come to mean "to make up a story that has no connection with reality." Taken from a Britannica article https://www.britannica.com/art/romanc... . A key part of this definition is, “GENERALLY one of a rather idyllic or idealised type” and Hastings' stories tend to fall outside of that box. I think talking about what romance is and how it is shown in her books like Never is important because they shed light on the parts of relationships that are complicated and full of faults, but are and can be very real. We see these flaws when it comes to the characters and their relationships, and things that would be less than ideal to endure during one’s own. We know as readers the romance genre is vast, with sub-genres such as Dark Romance, Paranormal Romance, Contemporary Romance — you get it, the list goes on. Romance is a spectrum. One’s idea of it will not mirror everyone else’s. One thing that is considered to be romantic in one relationship might be considered completely distasteful in another.
Something quite central to the story is J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan as mentioned before:
There were many nods to J.M Barrie’s in Never. The most obvious were the existing characters and settings used. And there were some smaller things, but still largely important to the original, like the medicine the Lost Boys and Peter are known to take that was a nice reference to that. When it was brought up, I was glad it was included. It’s significant to the story for many reasons. The many ideas of what the medicine represents. In one sense, it can be seen as another one of Peter’s silly rules that seems to stem from nowhere. Like, here goes Peter again, just making them do things because he’s Peter Pan and wills it. Or… is it something more unsettling than that? Is it because Peter has other things up his sleeve? Is it part of his beliefs that this is what they MUST do never to grow up? In the original story of Peter Pan, the medicine has many meanings, and I think it was good of Hastings to include it in hers.
Things uniquely Hastings:
As a huge fan of them, I was extremely excited to see that she included her classic Daisy Haites footnotes in Never. I was sad at the idea of not seeing the footnotes again once Daisy Haites’ story ended. But to my extreme pleasure, it looks like they’ll be sticking around! It’s something I personally haven’t seen in books like these. I applaud Hastings for using them, as it seems to be what she enjoys and what she is good at. I admire how she stays true to herself and her writing. Throughout her journey as an author, I know she’s had her share of experiences with editors and publishers and trying to stay as authentic as possible to herself. But the things that she has managed to keep in her books have made her work stand out amongst the rest. I find the footnotes in Daisy Haites to be so clever and enjoyable. The act of my eyes flickering from the line I’m reading to the very bottom of the page to where the footnotes are located is like a ping-pong-ing effect in my brain. It is strangely satisfying. It feels separate from the inner thoughts/monologue the character already has. Like real thoughts, some come out of the blue, it's almost like the thoughts didn’t quite fit into the flow of the line, so it was added as an afterthought, and to me, that’s genius.
The world and its pacing:
I found the pacing to be in harmony with the storyline. The suddenness and how quickly it picked up at the beginning, to me, reflected Daphne’s life drastically changing all in one night. It translated so well. The repetition of tasks and places visited when they were on the island was clever because it distorted time in real life as I read, just as time is distorted on Neverland for some of the characters. The world itself was vivid in my mind due to her descriptions. I didn’t have the map while reading and I didn’t reference it when I did, but was able to imagine it well and it was a place I would have dreamed of visiting if I were Daphne too.
I may come back and add some more thoughts to this as there's a lot I’d love to explore and just didn't include in here right now. But as it’s release week and people may be unsure whether or not they should start this one, I did want to share some thoughts and maybe you will want to read it too! I just know that so many things in Never made me glad to live in a world where we have Hastings�� stories.
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If you’ve made it this far and are intrigued, or simply are a fan of Hastings’ work, here are the thoughts from my heart: (taken from my book Instagram, so if you saw it there, it’s the same one!) (also I feel like these thought kind of tell you nothing, but really I hope it just translates to you how much I loved the story and how it lived up to my expectations)
On the first of September, Jessa Hastings whispered into the wind, to readers everywhere, “Get Lost,” and I’ve followed that beckoning call, one of the most sought invitations of this year, all the way through to December, ready to do just that. Because when Hastings has a story to tell, you sit down and listen attentively, as it’s one that you’ll want to commit to memory and one that you’ll hope is passed down and continues to live on beyond the years that you’re here on this earth. So, take a seat, I want to tell you how Jessa Hastings has once again poured out her heart and soul into a new tale, a story called Never.
Hastings’ Never is transformative. Transforming you as a person, but also, the world around you. She has a special talent for bringing words on a page to life, and as I opened the book and began to read, my consciousness was no longer my own, I did not inhabit my own body, I was possessed by the main character, Daphne. Or perhaps I became one with her — whatever happened, I know Jessa Hastings performed her magic once more. The window I dutifully left unlocked for Peter, opened on its own, no doubt due to that magic. Suddenly I was not in my bedroom reading this book, no — I was being lifted into the air by happy thoughts and flown off to Neverland. I’m sure many of us readers with hearts forged by fairytales and fantasies have been waiting for a moment like this our entire lives. Also, it’s Jessa Hastings, who am I to argue with where sends me?
Reading Never, was as I expected and more. It was nostalgic, yet new. Indeed this story is rooted in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy, however, it has a life of its own. Hastings well and truly gave us a new kind of Neverland. And for her first published book in this genre, she did a brilliant job at immersing us in this world. I’m telling you, I was there! Two stops across the galaxy, on Little Störj! Because of the story’s roots, I found myself anticipating certain characters' appearances or possible settings coming into the story but was delighted and pleasantly surprised when Hastings put her spin on it or presented something completely original and unexpected. I do believe that if Barrie hadn’t written Peter Pan, Hastings herself would’ve imagined it on her own — Never would have come to her in one way or another. That much is evident through her unique storytelling, magical world-building, and just how alive this story and characters were.
Hastings claimed that her other series, the Magnolia Parks Universe, was one that she “could practically write in [her] sleep” and revealed that the process of writing Never wasn’t quite the same experience as that. However, with the way her writing flowed, in that smooth Jessa Hastings fashion, I wouldn’t have guessed. The characters, both main and side ones, had depth to them, and their backstories were set up in a way where I’m eager to know more. I felt desperate to both devour Never as quickly as possible and slowly soak it in. I marked up and annotated every single page of this book. Every single one. Perhaps in doing so, I thought there’d be a chance of the story leaving its mark on me. But that is a ridiculous thought because OF COURSE one of Hastings’ stories would leave a mark, a prominent one at that.
I mentioned before reading Never that I was excited to meet the person I became once I finished it. That’s because anytime I read a book by Hastings’, I feel as though she plants thoughts that weren’t in my head before, urging me to look at something from a different perspective, or she creates a new variant of emotions that I haven’t seen in writing. As I was reading Never, I met new versions of sadness, different sorts of funny, and wonderfully advanced kinds of joy. There is no way to accurately describe this unless you experience it for yourself. This isn’t enough to express the magical wonder that lies inside of Never, you must read it too.
I will let you know though, that there are so many lessons within Never, as I hoped there would be. Some were obvious but still impactful, but others were so subtle and simple but held the most weight. This place, I realised, was one I’d been looking for and needed, maybe all my life. Not just Neverland — but Jessa’s Neverland. It became a place where I discovered that I could go and momentarily drop off my baggage, leaving it with a man on a path in the clouds to care for, while I was away.
This review is meant to intrigue you, and hopefully put into words the delight I experienced whilst reading it. It’s impossible to explore all of the brilliant characters, settings, and storylines in this book in one sitting. But, as I wrap this up, I hope that you feel inclined to unlock your window too, to allow the magic to creep in, and to prepare to take Hastings’ hand as she guides us into the world of Never. I have not regretted following that whisper that said, “Get Lost”
Let’s talk characters:
I loved Daphne. I really really did. I’ve seen her being called naive but I think it’s helpful to take into consideration the context from the beginning of the story, and how the women of the Darling family have a fate - Peter comes and takes them all away to Neverland. It is the story that is passed down in the family. This is something that’s been engrained into Daphne’s “prophecy”. Nature vs. Nurture and this is nurture, this is the environment she grew up in. She was taught the language of Little Störj, the great stories of Peter Pan (I say “great” because this is the picture that was painted for Daphne and what heavily influenced her initial feelings), and everything about Neverland was something to look forward to in Daphne’s mind. This is her normality, with the exception of her mother who was quickly revealed as someone absent and distant emotionally for most of her life. Instead, Daphne had her grandmothers guiding her, who were very much charmed by Peter and Neverland. So when unfavourable things happen with Peter, Daphne is hesitant to go against them or see him in an entirely negative light because of it. “We are products of the folk who raise us” (P. 124 of Never). And if you say you would act completely different than Daphne if you were suddenly taken away to Neverland, then THAT is a different story. Because Hastings doesn’t write stories for us to insert ourselves into, she tells the stories of characters who are alive in her head. These are THEIR stories. Our backstories are different from theirs. I also like that Daphne has a lot of room to grow as this is a series. And it is something I look forward to. At 17, Daphne’s age when the story starts, I had a lot more growing up to do. Even now. We’re all full of flaws, some more relatable than others. But stories don’t always need to be relatable to be a good story. Some of the best kinds are when I don’t relate to them at all, and I am allowed to peer through the eyes of a person I couldn’t see myself in. I am offered a different perspective on life. This is not to say the characters and their behaviours were excusable. But Hastings’ stories have made me a more mindful reader. Now when I feel myself not liking a character of hers, and there was one in particular in this story that I wanted to hate, I find myself thinking, 'wait- do I know their whole story yet? And did I consider what they went through to act like this?' Circling back to Daphne’s choices, to her credit, she did think for herself, despite the heavy influence of her family in her life. She was clever and brave and stood up for herself when she could. But she was also in a new environment — alone, still figuring herself out, who she is, and what she wants to be while having her life thrown off course. But we also must not forget that Peter has this…sway. We know that almost EVERYONE on the island is charmed by him. If I was suddenly pulled through my window during the night, blasted through the galaxy, planets away from home, dropped from the sky, and having nearly drowned… well I hope I would have held myself together as well as she did.
When talking about Peter, the first thing I’ll mention is how brilliantly Jessa captured J.M. Barrie’s Peter. In my opinion, she did a remarkable job at keeping his version alive and her Peter makes a lot of sense if you have read J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy. If you don’t know, Hastings' story is rooted in his story. And this is almost essential to know going into it. You might be thrown off by Peter, and many other elements, otherwise. Peter is arrogant, a tad too proud, secretive, selfish, and gave me feelings of unease yet somehow has qualities that make you stick around (if you say you wouldn’t stick around a guy who treated you like that, that’s unfortunately not the reality for many in today‘s world, and this also isn’t the case in Daphne’s story. Again, not saying it’s right, but that is Daphne’s dilemma). The lost boys, the magical creatures, and the people of Neverland are captivated by him and look to him to lead (whether that’s in fear or admiration is to be questioned) EVEN when he is horrid to them. No one stands up to Peter, and as we’ve seen, when they do — well, you’re exiled. He acts like a child because childhood is what he has tried to hold on to for the 500-plus years he’s existed. He is undeniably childish but that is his character and somewhat a part of the mystery. I think Hastings did a good job at making me personally like Peter in some moments and dislike him in other moments. There were so many times where I felt “kicked” by Peter, as Daphne would say (this was meant to be a positive way of describing liking someone), and other times I wanted to actually kick him in the face. The characters are HEAVILY FLAWED and if you want to read about perfect characters who are model world citizens, her stories might not be for you. However, in my experience with Hastings’ stories, this isn’t a bad thing. Absolutely not. I do believe this is intentional. I do believe and hope that these characters still have the most growing to do.
Now let’s get into the genre:
Hastings has always said she doesn’t know what genres her books fit into, including Never. But for the sake of people talking about the genre let’s talk about it. I did find the story to be a fantasy romance. And if we classify this as a fantasy, the Cambridge Dictionary says the definition of fantasy fiction is: “a type of story or literature that is set in a magical world, often involving traditional myths and magical creatures and sometimes ideas or events from the real world, especially from the medieval period of history.” Is Never set in a magical world? Absolutely! To my dismay and knowledge, Neverland doesn’t really exist. Does Never include traditional myths? Yes! I don’t want to spoil what comes up in the book because it was fun to stumble upon for myself, but I think if you read it, you’ll find that it does include its own version of that. Were there magical creatures? LOADS. Fae/fairies, mermaids, the Minotaur, and more! Lastly, did Never take events/ideas from the real world and history? Well, we know history has records of Pirates existing, who were said to be quite active during the 1600s, also known as “The Golden Age of Piracy.” And to my great pleasure Never has pirates in its story! I feel like there isn’t really a debate when it comes to what genre this book fits into (edit: actually, that's unfair of me to declare, because discussion is always important whether we agree or not, sorry about that!) But I see where one might disagree if we simply compare it at surface level to other stories in Fantasy/Romantasy. However, when you look on sites like NetGalley, Never is classified as: “General Fiction (adult)” and “Romance”. But I have found that this varies depending on where you look. Regardless, as a lover of this genre, I think Hastings' first book with magical elements was executed very nicely.
Since some sites have classified this as just a romance, as I mentioned a second ago, and because I included the definition of fantasy here, I want to quickly go over Romance. Romance in literature is: “a love affair, or, again, a story about a love affair, generally one of a rather idyllic or idealized type, sometimes marked by strange or unexpected incidents and developments; and "to romance" has come to mean "to make up a story that has no connection with reality." Taken from a Britannica article https://www.britannica.com/art/romanc... . A key part of this definition is, “GENERALLY one of a rather idyllic or idealised type” and Hastings' stories tend to fall outside of that box. I think talking about what romance is and how it is shown in her books like Never is important because they shed light on the parts of relationships that are complicated and full of faults, but are and can be very real. We see these flaws when it comes to the characters and their relationships, and things that would be less than ideal to endure during one’s own. We know as readers the romance genre is vast, with sub-genres such as Dark Romance, Paranormal Romance, Contemporary Romance — you get it, the list goes on. Romance is a spectrum. One’s idea of it will not mirror everyone else’s. One thing that is considered to be romantic in one relationship might be considered completely distasteful in another.
Something quite central to the story is J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan as mentioned before:
There were many nods to J.M Barrie’s in Never. The most obvious were the existing characters and settings used. And there were some smaller things, but still largely important to the original, like the medicine the Lost Boys and Peter are known to take that was a nice reference to that. When it was brought up, I was glad it was included. It’s significant to the story for many reasons. The many ideas of what the medicine represents. In one sense, it can be seen as another one of Peter’s silly rules that seems to stem from nowhere. Like, here goes Peter again, just making them do things because he’s Peter Pan and wills it. Or… is it something more unsettling than that? Is it because Peter has other things up his sleeve? Is it part of his beliefs that this is what they MUST do never to grow up? In the original story of Peter Pan, the medicine has many meanings, and I think it was good of Hastings to include it in hers.
Things uniquely Hastings:
As a huge fan of them, I was extremely excited to see that she included her classic Daisy Haites footnotes in Never. I was sad at the idea of not seeing the footnotes again once Daisy Haites’ story ended. But to my extreme pleasure, it looks like they’ll be sticking around! It’s something I personally haven’t seen in books like these. I applaud Hastings for using them, as it seems to be what she enjoys and what she is good at. I admire how she stays true to herself and her writing. Throughout her journey as an author, I know she’s had her share of experiences with editors and publishers and trying to stay as authentic as possible to herself. But the things that she has managed to keep in her books have made her work stand out amongst the rest. I find the footnotes in Daisy Haites to be so clever and enjoyable. The act of my eyes flickering from the line I’m reading to the very bottom of the page to where the footnotes are located is like a ping-pong-ing effect in my brain. It is strangely satisfying. It feels separate from the inner thoughts/monologue the character already has. Like real thoughts, some come out of the blue, it's almost like the thoughts didn’t quite fit into the flow of the line, so it was added as an afterthought, and to me, that’s genius.
The world and its pacing:
I found the pacing to be in harmony with the storyline. The suddenness and how quickly it picked up at the beginning, to me, reflected Daphne’s life drastically changing all in one night. It translated so well. The repetition of tasks and places visited when they were on the island was clever because it distorted time in real life as I read, just as time is distorted on Neverland for some of the characters. The world itself was vivid in my mind due to her descriptions. I didn’t have the map while reading and I didn’t reference it when I did, but was able to imagine it well and it was a place I would have dreamed of visiting if I were Daphne too.
I may come back and add some more thoughts to this as there's a lot I’d love to explore and just didn't include in here right now. But as it’s release week and people may be unsure whether or not they should start this one, I did want to share some thoughts and maybe you will want to read it too! I just know that so many things in Never made me glad to live in a world where we have Hastings�� stories.
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If you’ve made it this far and are intrigued, or simply are a fan of Hastings’ work, here are the thoughts from my heart: (taken from my book Instagram, so if you saw it there, it’s the same one!) (also I feel like these thought kind of tell you nothing, but really I hope it just translates to you how much I loved the story and how it lived up to my expectations)
On the first of September, Jessa Hastings whispered into the wind, to readers everywhere, “Get Lost,” and I’ve followed that beckoning call, one of the most sought invitations of this year, all the way through to December, ready to do just that. Because when Hastings has a story to tell, you sit down and listen attentively, as it’s one that you’ll want to commit to memory and one that you’ll hope is passed down and continues to live on beyond the years that you’re here on this earth. So, take a seat, I want to tell you how Jessa Hastings has once again poured out her heart and soul into a new tale, a story called Never.
Hastings’ Never is transformative. Transforming you as a person, but also, the world around you. She has a special talent for bringing words on a page to life, and as I opened the book and began to read, my consciousness was no longer my own, I did not inhabit my own body, I was possessed by the main character, Daphne. Or perhaps I became one with her — whatever happened, I know Jessa Hastings performed her magic once more. The window I dutifully left unlocked for Peter, opened on its own, no doubt due to that magic. Suddenly I was not in my bedroom reading this book, no — I was being lifted into the air by happy thoughts and flown off to Neverland. I’m sure many of us readers with hearts forged by fairytales and fantasies have been waiting for a moment like this our entire lives. Also, it’s Jessa Hastings, who am I to argue with where sends me?
Reading Never, was as I expected and more. It was nostalgic, yet new. Indeed this story is rooted in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy, however, it has a life of its own. Hastings well and truly gave us a new kind of Neverland. And for her first published book in this genre, she did a brilliant job at immersing us in this world. I’m telling you, I was there! Two stops across the galaxy, on Little Störj! Because of the story’s roots, I found myself anticipating certain characters' appearances or possible settings coming into the story but was delighted and pleasantly surprised when Hastings put her spin on it or presented something completely original and unexpected. I do believe that if Barrie hadn’t written Peter Pan, Hastings herself would’ve imagined it on her own — Never would have come to her in one way or another. That much is evident through her unique storytelling, magical world-building, and just how alive this story and characters were.
Hastings claimed that her other series, the Magnolia Parks Universe, was one that she “could practically write in [her] sleep” and revealed that the process of writing Never wasn’t quite the same experience as that. However, with the way her writing flowed, in that smooth Jessa Hastings fashion, I wouldn’t have guessed. The characters, both main and side ones, had depth to them, and their backstories were set up in a way where I’m eager to know more. I felt desperate to both devour Never as quickly as possible and slowly soak it in. I marked up and annotated every single page of this book. Every single one. Perhaps in doing so, I thought there’d be a chance of the story leaving its mark on me. But that is a ridiculous thought because OF COURSE one of Hastings’ stories would leave a mark, a prominent one at that.
I mentioned before reading Never that I was excited to meet the person I became once I finished it. That’s because anytime I read a book by Hastings’, I feel as though she plants thoughts that weren’t in my head before, urging me to look at something from a different perspective, or she creates a new variant of emotions that I haven’t seen in writing. As I was reading Never, I met new versions of sadness, different sorts of funny, and wonderfully advanced kinds of joy. There is no way to accurately describe this unless you experience it for yourself. This isn’t enough to express the magical wonder that lies inside of Never, you must read it too.
I will let you know though, that there are so many lessons within Never, as I hoped there would be. Some were obvious but still impactful, but others were so subtle and simple but held the most weight. This place, I realised, was one I’d been looking for and needed, maybe all my life. Not just Neverland — but Jessa’s Neverland. It became a place where I discovered that I could go and momentarily drop off my baggage, leaving it with a man on a path in the clouds to care for, while I was away.
This review is meant to intrigue you, and hopefully put into words the delight I experienced whilst reading it. It’s impossible to explore all of the brilliant characters, settings, and storylines in this book in one sitting. But, as I wrap this up, I hope that you feel inclined to unlock your window too, to allow the magic to creep in, and to prepare to take Hastings’ hand as she guides us into the world of Never. I have not regretted following that whisper that said, “Get Lost”
December 26, 2023
4.5 ♡ i feel like i understand how people feel when they say they hate the toxicity and choices of magnolia… but the *baggage claim* … jessa you’re brain is a magical place ₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊
Shelved as 'dnf'
February 15, 2024 Updating just to say this is on indefinite hold due to the landslide of 1 star ratings and rant reviews that came in days after release. Skurred. 😬
O.M.G. THIS COVER- And a Peter Pan retelling! Someone tell me why I'm not dropping everything I’m reading right tf now for this?! 😩
Want to read
September 19, 2023the way i’ve never read a jessa hastings novel (magnolia parks im coming 4 uu) and i already want to rate this five stars
December 14, 2023
HOT TAKE: I ate this shit UP! I know, this might come out as a shock to most of you since everyone is either DNF’ing this book or giving it HORRIBLE reviews. But I LOVED everything about it! Jessa has such a beautiful and creative imagination, literally am in awe of her writing every single time.
One thing I do want to say, is that Jessa should’ve added trigger warnings because this is NOT your Disney Peter Pan! She based this off the original J.M. Barrie story (written in the early 1900s) so there are elements that might make you uncomfortable so just keep that in mind when going into it.
As far as the characters go (I’ll try to keep this short + sweet), I loved Daphne. She is as smart as a 17 yr old can be when you’re suddenly taken to a place like Neverland. When it comes to Peter Pan, you can’t expect much from a boy who never grew up and didn’t have parents to raise him or teach him right from wrong. While everyone finds his character annoying (which he can be VERY annoying, I don’t disagree — just don’t think it’s fair to say it’s a shit book bc of it), that is *literally* his character and it’s intentional. Then there’s Jamison Hook… I know yall wanna hate on the age gap but
1. it’s not that serious I promise you
2. when it’s a 500 yr old fae fucking on a 18 yr old yall don’t see a problem???
I wouldn’t even call him morally grey 😂😭 ANYWAYS, Jamison and that pirate accent of his can get it LOL idc what anyone says!!! He is a pirate, after all.
I definitely think people are being way too harsh and critical of Jessa Hastings. Yes, we are all entitled to our own opinion and this book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, that’s okay! But please be respectful and don’t be internet bullies!
One thing I do want to say, is that Jessa should’ve added trigger warnings because this is NOT your Disney Peter Pan! She based this off the original J.M. Barrie story (written in the early 1900s) so there are elements that might make you uncomfortable so just keep that in mind when going into it.
As far as the characters go (I’ll try to keep this short + sweet), I loved Daphne. She is as smart as a 17 yr old can be when you’re suddenly taken to a place like Neverland. When it comes to Peter Pan, you can’t expect much from a boy who never grew up and didn’t have parents to raise him or teach him right from wrong. While everyone finds his character annoying (which he can be VERY annoying, I don’t disagree — just don’t think it’s fair to say it’s a shit book bc of it), that is *literally* his character and it’s intentional. Then there’s Jamison Hook… I know yall wanna hate on the age gap but
1. it’s not that serious I promise you
2. when it’s a 500 yr old fae fucking on a 18 yr old yall don’t see a problem???
I wouldn’t even call him morally grey 😂😭 ANYWAYS, Jamison and that pirate accent of his can get it LOL idc what anyone says!!! He is a pirate, after all.
I definitely think people are being way too harsh and critical of Jessa Hastings. Yes, we are all entitled to our own opinion and this book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, that’s okay! But please be respectful and don’t be internet bullies!
December 6, 2023
1.5 STARS - SPOILER REVIEW
oh boy. i’ve been going back and forth between giving this a 2 or a 2.5, and i’m settling on a 2.25, because i don’t think that i can truly justify giving it any higher. these two stars are for the wonderful writing alone, with the extra .25 stars being for the couple of good characters that this book contains. this review contains MANY spoilers so read at your own risk.
i honestly am struggling to even begin to decide how to organize this, but this is where i’ll begin. the actual fantasy aspects of the world feel forced and not well-thought out. i had a few different notes on this while reading. the first is that you are given little to no set-up or preparation for the world you’re about to be thrown into. within the first few pages of the book starting, peter is already at her window. i had assumed that the book would spend at least a couple chapters following daphne and learning more about her history prior to starting the action so that you had a better understanding of her character, but you don’t. and this might have been okay, except that nothing is really explained later that was not explained at the beginning of the book. you know extremely little about daphne through this entire book, and nothing about her character is revealed.
continuing on with the fantasy aspect, i did not feel as it was a proper fantasy. for one, the main character’s attitude felt more similar to a book with magical realism, even though she had never seen magic herself and only had the stories of her ancestors to go off of. she gets excited by flying to a different universe, but other than that acts as though pretty much everything else is completely normal. my main problem with this book, however, was the climax right before the ending. i honestly found it to be so disastrous i wanted to throw my kindle against a wall and just give up on it. people were coming out of nowhere, and hook’s uncle (who i thought was supposed to be dead? unless he had two?) was trying to get something from daphne that isn’t really properly explained to the readers. it’s SUCH a mess and was one of the worst climax scenes i’ve ever read in a fantasy.
DISCLAIMER: this section should be taken with a grain of salt. there are parts of this book that i was so bored by, i barely remember reading. if i find out that any of these things ARE explained in the book, it will be removed!
this next part, i will give a little bit of grace, as this is a series. HOWEVER, if i am a reader am questioning these things, it’s because i didn’t feel that they were addressed enough in any way or hinted at the fact that there would be an explanation for them later. bear with me, because there are a lot of unexplained things in this book. starting in the very first chapter, her grandma seems to have some “premonition”? of sorts, that she is going to die before daphne returns from Neverland. daphne finds this news surprising in the book, so it is clearly not some sort of long-term illness that she had known about. however, daphne doesn’t question anything about this and just accepts that she’s never going to see her grandma again. the next thing that goes unexplained is WHY peter comes for her family. i guess maybe we’re supposed to just believe it to be fate? but i know that was a personal question of mine that i never had answered. there’s no explanation for why peter comes and gets these girls from earth, and ONLY these girls. third unexplained thing is WHY THEY HAVE ACCENTS. if they were founded so many hundreds of years ago, why does hook’s mother have a perfectly normal british accent? we’ll never know. for the last thing: i’m honestly hoping that i just missed something while reading, because if i didn’t then jessa honestly majorly fucked up by leaving such a massive plothole. there is something called a “kiss”, that lives inside your mouth? but sometimes it would jump around to your hand? but all we know is that it’s for some reason very valuable because she didn’t want peter to have it, and then hook gets it and “loses it”. and the entirety of this book, they speak on it as though we are supposed to know what on earth it is.
moving on to the main love triangle. all three of these characters were completely insufferable and i couldn’t root for any of them. i’ll start with the two love interests in order for you to understand how frustrating our main girl is. starting with peter: the moment you meet him, he is completely unlikeable. he’s rude, arrogant, and acts far too much like a child to be found attractive imo. it becomes obvious later on that jessa intended for peter to be unlikeable when he says certain things to daphne (we’ll get into that) but i’m still honestly not sure if we were supposed to like peter at first. after the first few chapters, my hatred of peter became EXTREMELY justified, and you learn a lot of really gross things about him and his character, including that TW SA this kind of behavior of gross behavior doesn’t end there, as seen through his extremely possessive hold on daphne (while he cheats on her with several other girls), the way he weaponizes kissing her anytime she’s seen with hook, and his pressure on her to have sex with him, both before and after they’ve done it. he also “accidentally” almost kills daphne. his character is just completely appalling.
next, we have hook. hook is very clearly the guy that you’re supposed to root for, at least more than peter, and we do for a while. he’s charismatic, charming, and…. 22. and then it becomes an entire subplot of the book for hook to obsess over daphne’s upcoming birthday where she will turn 18. his acknowledgment of the fact that she’s underage and refusal to DO anything with her until she’s of age does not make the frequent sexual comments he makes about her any less appalling. i truly do question jessa’s creative decision making here, because the way the book is written makes me believe that we are meant to think that it’s okay hook is older since he won’t kiss her until she’s 18. it doesn’t make it okay and honestly just makes it weirder as you’re reminded in every interaction of theirs that there’s a five year age gap. not to mention, he turns 23 over the course of their friendship and doesn’t even bother telling her. aside from this, hook is extremely toxic and manipulative, and overall treats her like shit. then gets mad at her for being with the other guy who treats her like shit. even after their relationship takes off and i start to warm up to him (as much as i can warm up to a 23 year old man knowingly having sex with an 18 year old) we arrive upon the *After* trope. that trope needs to be burned to the ground and then thrown in a tub of acid. i honestly don’t care if it was to protect her like he said. it’s such a gross and tired trope and i will pretty much automatically hate any book that uses it.
lastly, there’s daphne, our main character. i’ve talked a LOT in this review so i’m going to keep this pretty short. daphne is incredibly stupid and frustrating. she continuously takes back peter, after he cheats on her, after he almost kills her, after he banishes her from all of neverland… the list goes on. and at the end of the day, she still ends up with him.
i will end this book on a semi-positive note by talking about the two characters i DO like, but unfortunately i have problems with both of them as well. firstly, we have rye. rye is great and wholesome AND.. likes daphne! this could be perfect! a non-toxic boy for daphne to be with! but she doesn’t give him the time of day. we also have my favorite character in the whole book, rune. rune, who is daphne’s “assigned fairy” is EVER so lovely and perfect…. but she doesn’t get real lines. not allowed to speak. we only ever find out what she’s saying through daphne’s dialogue. enough said.
UPDATE:
after discussing with others and letting my own thoughts solidify more, i’m dropping my rating from a 2.25 to a 1.5. the racially insensitive comments and the normalized grooming do not deserve 2 stars
oh boy. i’ve been going back and forth between giving this a 2 or a 2.5, and i’m settling on a 2.25, because i don’t think that i can truly justify giving it any higher. these two stars are for the wonderful writing alone, with the extra .25 stars being for the couple of good characters that this book contains. this review contains MANY spoilers so read at your own risk.
i honestly am struggling to even begin to decide how to organize this, but this is where i’ll begin. the actual fantasy aspects of the world feel forced and not well-thought out. i had a few different notes on this while reading. the first is that you are given little to no set-up or preparation for the world you’re about to be thrown into. within the first few pages of the book starting, peter is already at her window. i had assumed that the book would spend at least a couple chapters following daphne and learning more about her history prior to starting the action so that you had a better understanding of her character, but you don’t. and this might have been okay, except that nothing is really explained later that was not explained at the beginning of the book. you know extremely little about daphne through this entire book, and nothing about her character is revealed.
continuing on with the fantasy aspect, i did not feel as it was a proper fantasy. for one, the main character’s attitude felt more similar to a book with magical realism, even though she had never seen magic herself and only had the stories of her ancestors to go off of. she gets excited by flying to a different universe, but other than that acts as though pretty much everything else is completely normal. my main problem with this book, however, was the climax right before the ending. i honestly found it to be so disastrous i wanted to throw my kindle against a wall and just give up on it. people were coming out of nowhere, and hook’s uncle (who i thought was supposed to be dead? unless he had two?) was trying to get something from daphne that isn’t really properly explained to the readers. it’s SUCH a mess and was one of the worst climax scenes i’ve ever read in a fantasy.
DISCLAIMER: this section should be taken with a grain of salt. there are parts of this book that i was so bored by, i barely remember reading. if i find out that any of these things ARE explained in the book, it will be removed!
this next part, i will give a little bit of grace, as this is a series. HOWEVER, if i am a reader am questioning these things, it’s because i didn’t feel that they were addressed enough in any way or hinted at the fact that there would be an explanation for them later. bear with me, because there are a lot of unexplained things in this book. starting in the very first chapter, her grandma seems to have some “premonition”? of sorts, that she is going to die before daphne returns from Neverland. daphne finds this news surprising in the book, so it is clearly not some sort of long-term illness that she had known about. however, daphne doesn’t question anything about this and just accepts that she’s never going to see her grandma again. the next thing that goes unexplained is WHY peter comes for her family. i guess maybe we’re supposed to just believe it to be fate? but i know that was a personal question of mine that i never had answered. there’s no explanation for why peter comes and gets these girls from earth, and ONLY these girls. third unexplained thing is WHY THEY HAVE ACCENTS. if they were founded so many hundreds of years ago, why does hook’s mother have a perfectly normal british accent? we’ll never know. for the last thing: i’m honestly hoping that i just missed something while reading, because if i didn’t then jessa honestly majorly fucked up by leaving such a massive plothole. there is something called a “kiss”, that lives inside your mouth? but sometimes it would jump around to your hand? but all we know is that it’s for some reason very valuable because she didn’t want peter to have it, and then hook gets it and “loses it”. and the entirety of this book, they speak on it as though we are supposed to know what on earth it is.
moving on to the main love triangle. all three of these characters were completely insufferable and i couldn’t root for any of them. i’ll start with the two love interests in order for you to understand how frustrating our main girl is. starting with peter: the moment you meet him, he is completely unlikeable. he’s rude, arrogant, and acts far too much like a child to be found attractive imo. it becomes obvious later on that jessa intended for peter to be unlikeable when he says certain things to daphne (we’ll get into that) but i’m still honestly not sure if we were supposed to like peter at first. after the first few chapters, my hatred of peter became EXTREMELY justified, and you learn a lot of really gross things about him and his character, including that TW SA this kind of behavior of gross behavior doesn’t end there, as seen through his extremely possessive hold on daphne (while he cheats on her with several other girls), the way he weaponizes kissing her anytime she’s seen with hook, and his pressure on her to have sex with him, both before and after they’ve done it. he also “accidentally” almost kills daphne. his character is just completely appalling.
next, we have hook. hook is very clearly the guy that you’re supposed to root for, at least more than peter, and we do for a while. he’s charismatic, charming, and…. 22. and then it becomes an entire subplot of the book for hook to obsess over daphne’s upcoming birthday where she will turn 18. his acknowledgment of the fact that she’s underage and refusal to DO anything with her until she’s of age does not make the frequent sexual comments he makes about her any less appalling. i truly do question jessa’s creative decision making here, because the way the book is written makes me believe that we are meant to think that it’s okay hook is older since he won’t kiss her until she’s 18. it doesn’t make it okay and honestly just makes it weirder as you’re reminded in every interaction of theirs that there’s a five year age gap. not to mention, he turns 23 over the course of their friendship and doesn’t even bother telling her. aside from this, hook is extremely toxic and manipulative, and overall treats her like shit. then gets mad at her for being with the other guy who treats her like shit. even after their relationship takes off and i start to warm up to him (as much as i can warm up to a 23 year old man knowingly having sex with an 18 year old) we arrive upon the *After* trope. that trope needs to be burned to the ground and then thrown in a tub of acid. i honestly don’t care if it was to protect her like he said. it’s such a gross and tired trope and i will pretty much automatically hate any book that uses it.
lastly, there’s daphne, our main character. i’ve talked a LOT in this review so i’m going to keep this pretty short. daphne is incredibly stupid and frustrating. she continuously takes back peter, after he cheats on her, after he almost kills her, after he banishes her from all of neverland… the list goes on. and at the end of the day, she still ends up with him.
i will end this book on a semi-positive note by talking about the two characters i DO like, but unfortunately i have problems with both of them as well. firstly, we have rye. rye is great and wholesome AND.. likes daphne! this could be perfect! a non-toxic boy for daphne to be with! but she doesn’t give him the time of day. we also have my favorite character in the whole book, rune. rune, who is daphne’s “assigned fairy” is EVER so lovely and perfect…. but she doesn’t get real lines. not allowed to speak. we only ever find out what she’s saying through daphne’s dialogue. enough said.
UPDATE:
after discussing with others and letting my own thoughts solidify more, i’m dropping my rating from a 2.25 to a 1.5. the racially insensitive comments and the normalized grooming do not deserve 2 stars
December 7, 2023
❧DNF@52%❧
≪•◦ ❈“𝓝𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝔀𝓯𝓾𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮…”❈ ◦•≫
I'm giving this book 1 star- only for how JH has described Neverland & also for the beautiful cover💗(0.5 to both)- at least those were something!🙃✨
Yes, it was full of awfully never-ending thoughts of Daphne!🤯 This book is soo disappointing, guys. I should never really get over-excited for a book ever again!but I don't listen to myself I thought to give this book a fair chance once more- and I did!😬 When I added this book to my tbr, I thought I would love it- like come on, who doesn't love PP? I thought this book would rekindle those rusty memories of my childhood😭 But boy, I was soo very wrong! I never thought this book would utterly disappoint the inner child in me😮💨 Glad I've read the original Peter Pan story in my school days🙂
This book gave me mixed feelings-I felt like I'm reading a children's book one time, then it's YA, then Adult book😩 It was like the author was trying to put all of the 3 in one book😵💫 The storyline went haywire📉 Not accusing the author- this was my first book to read written by her (I shouldn't have read this as my first read from her🤦🏻♀️). Because I've heard good things about 'Magnolia Parks' written by her❣️
I have seen all of the updates of those currently trying to finish this book- I appreciate y'all for pushing yourself to read this🤍✨ I skimmed through this book till the end (I hated doing this but I had to anyways)- and I was glad I made the right decision to dnf this😌 Reading about both the MMC made me soosick to my stomach uncomfortable tbh😶🌫️ Also, the footnotes on every chapter in my eBook give me the ick- like wth, who will click on it & read it every time?!🙄
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
➳12/07/23
Edit✎: I forgot to mention the dedication in the beginning- the only thing I really liked in this book✨
This vm hits home❤️🩹
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
➳12/05/23
❧Preview❧
What's with this book that everyone is rea- Sees Peter Pan & adds to the tbr
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
➳12/06/23
❧Update❧
Okay, girlies, since many are reading this, I have planned to read this as well! Though my exam is in 1 day, I'm going to read this to release some stress *cracking knuckles*🙄🤭
Also, the cover looks soo nostalgic!💖 It's like I'm reading some old books from the 90s or 2000s💗
≪•◦ ❈“𝓝𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝔀𝓯𝓾𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮…”❈ ◦•≫
I'm giving this book 1 star- only for how JH has described Neverland & also for the beautiful cover💗(0.5 to both)- at least those were something!🙃✨
Yes, it was full of awfully never-ending thoughts of Daphne!🤯 This book is soo disappointing, guys. I should never really get over-excited for a book ever again!
This book gave me mixed feelings-I felt like I'm reading a children's book one time, then it's YA, then Adult book😩 It was like the author was trying to put all of the 3 in one book😵💫 The storyline went haywire📉 Not accusing the author- this was my first book to read written by her (I shouldn't have read this as my first read from her🤦🏻♀️). Because I've heard good things about 'Magnolia Parks' written by her❣️
I have seen all of the updates of those currently trying to finish this book- I appreciate y'all for pushing yourself to read this🤍✨ I skimmed through this book till the end (I hated doing this but I had to anyways)- and I was glad I made the right decision to dnf this😌 Reading about both the MMC made me soo
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
➳12/07/23
Edit✎: I forgot to mention the dedication in the beginning- the only thing I really liked in this book✨
To that very first lost boy who I loved so much when I was so little.
You are probably the reason I first fell in love with the story about the forever
young, forever free boy.
I hope you found what you were looking for.
This vm hits home❤️🩹
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
➳12/05/23
❧Preview❧
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
➳12/06/23
❧Update❧
Okay, girlies, since many are reading this, I have planned to read this as well! Though my exam is in 1 day, I'm going to read this to release some stress *cracking knuckles*🙄🤭
Also, the cover looks soo nostalgic!💖 It's like I'm reading some old books from the 90s or 2000s💗
December 13, 2023
To the people who are reviewing this books 1-3 stars and are utter bullsh*t about it. HAVE yall read the original Peter Pan? Have yall done any research on Irish Folklore? Have yall even READ the book? No Yall haven't. Brownie/Broonie MEANS HOUSE ELF/ HOUSE MAID. One of the characters in the book called them a slave and ANOTHER on corrected them. This is not the disney version of Peter Pan but the ORIGINAL ONE.
December 4, 2023
i did not think jessa hastings could go lower than the magnolia parks series characters but she DOES and REMARKABLY so.
being YA novel is no excuse for the stupidity in this book. every character is having a face off on who'll win the most illogical decision race. it's not even stupidity of teenagers, i genuinely think elementary school children are more capable of rational thought. I hated every single character, and I hope to never meet them again.
jessa hastings has a neat and beautiful writing but her ideas and execution are disastrous cancelling out her potential. I've found nothing impressive about this world or its characters. let me not start on the AFTER seriesesque plot twist. what in the hardin? i saw it coming personally but was jaded by the deja vu 💀 I don't know the story of peter pan or if it's problematic but I definitely thought some of the bits in this book were problematic.
a terrible outing by jessa hastings. the contemporary works of hers are much better, even though I'm not a great fan of them either. this is genuinely my worst of the year.
being YA novel is no excuse for the stupidity in this book. every character is having a face off on who'll win the most illogical decision race. it's not even stupidity of teenagers, i genuinely think elementary school children are more capable of rational thought. I hated every single character, and I hope to never meet them again.
jessa hastings has a neat and beautiful writing but her ideas and execution are disastrous cancelling out her potential. I've found nothing impressive about this world or its characters. let me not start on the AFTER seriesesque plot twist. what in the hardin? i saw it coming personally but was jaded by the deja vu 💀 I don't know the story of peter pan or if it's problematic but I definitely thought some of the bits in this book were problematic.
a terrible outing by jessa hastings. the contemporary works of hers are much better, even though I'm not a great fan of them either. this is genuinely my worst of the year.
December 7, 2023
She’s done it again! A masterpiece of pain and an exploration of how we can grow up and be confused which parts of ourself to let go and which to hold on to. Jessa writes the tug and pull of conflicting emotions so beautifully until you feel like you are going to tear your hair out because why can’t the characters see what you see! Every character is imperfectly perfect and this is the perfect first book in a series. So much left to explore and unravel.
Also this is the kind of book I recommend for a binge read. The way the story flows and takes you into the world REALLY works for the kind of read where you just dig in and let yourself get swept away.
P.S. I’m sending Jessa my therapy bill for this pain
Edit: I’m seeing a lot of comments about Daphne and Hook’s age gap and I feel like I need to put my two cents in. In the plot Daphne is struggling with holding on to her childhood and letting herself open up to the good and the bad that comes with moving into adulthood. Those themes don’t work if every character is 18!
For the love of god Hook isn’t a 30 year old who has been present in Daphne’s life since she was 13 and has been waiting and grooming her to be 18. She was turning 18 within about 2 months of them meeting for the first time. I cannot deal with these no-nuance Nellie’s labelling every situation as grooming and pedophilia. If you have no capacity for nuance then just don’t read Jessa’s books because she THRIVES in the grey spaces (as can be seen with BJ and Magnolia).
And lastly, the comments about Peter’s immaturity… bruh! He is the boy who doesn’t want to grow up. Fr sorry not sorry but how did you literally miss that point?…
Also this is the kind of book I recommend for a binge read. The way the story flows and takes you into the world REALLY works for the kind of read where you just dig in and let yourself get swept away.
P.S. I’m sending Jessa my therapy bill for this pain
Edit: I’m seeing a lot of comments about Daphne and Hook’s age gap and I feel like I need to put my two cents in. In the plot Daphne is struggling with holding on to her childhood and letting herself open up to the good and the bad that comes with moving into adulthood. Those themes don’t work if every character is 18!
For the love of god Hook isn’t a 30 year old who has been present in Daphne’s life since she was 13 and has been waiting and grooming her to be 18. She was turning 18 within about 2 months of them meeting for the first time. I cannot deal with these no-nuance Nellie’s labelling every situation as grooming and pedophilia. If you have no capacity for nuance then just don’t read Jessa’s books because she THRIVES in the grey spaces (as can be seen with BJ and Magnolia).
And lastly, the comments about Peter’s immaturity… bruh! He is the boy who doesn’t want to grow up. Fr sorry not sorry but how did you literally miss that point?…
December 13, 2023
How many times am I going to let Jessa Hastings break my heart??
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