Title: Tiger Lily
Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Genres: Young Adult // Retellings // Romance
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased (Audible)
Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .
Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.
Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.
With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up (goodreads).
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Tiger Lily has a quiet beauty that snuck (or sneaked for my non-American friends) up on me and ended with me crying at work.
Plot: As the synopsis reads, Tiger Lily follows Tiger Lily's story. What I didn't expect was so much back story from the Peter Pan tale we've come to know and love (side note: I actually really don't like Peter Pan. I don't like the portrayal of the Natives and Peter is a downright douche). Tiger Lily is a really slow story and there were times where I wondered if there would be any action. The answer: No, there are no intense scenes, but by the time you get to the last chapter, you realize how much really happened. Tiger Lily's beauty is that it focuses on Tiger Lily's growth from child to woman, and it touched a special place in my heart.
Characters: Jodi Lynn took the characters we know, be it from the book, stage production, or Disney movie, and made them something of her own creation. Tiger Lily's community introduces even more character, and Jodi's research of Native American communities is evident. I especially loved how the Englishmen came to their community and basically forced the people to follow the teachings of the Bible. Tiger Lily's struggle with accepting what she's always been told and what this strange man has to say really depicts the emotional turmoil these people must have gone through when they were told to forsake their old gods and accept a new one.
World Building: While listening to Tiger Lily, I imagined the world as it was presented in Disney's Peter Pan, and I think because it's so ingrained in my memory, I was not able to see it any other way. That being said, Jodi Lynn Anderson did not skimp on the details, I was especially impressed with the caves that housed the Lost Boys.
Audiobook Performance: If Tinkerbell could talk, I'm sure she would sound like Cassandra Morris. Cassandra's voice is sugar with bits of spice. I enjoyed listening to her voice and I look forward to hearing her narrate more stories.
Short N Sweet: Tiger Lily may move slowly, but the payoff is worth it. Jodi Lynn Anderson paints a different Peter Pan story with more in-depth characters, and definitely more heart.
Labels: 4.5 stars, book review, HarperCollins Children's Books, Jodi Lynn Anderson, review, tiger lily
