ARC Review: Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Second Star 
by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Release Date: May 13th 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Pages: 248
View/Purchase: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Author's Website

A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete's nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up--and the troubled beauty trapped between them.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
My Review:

What drew me to read Second Star was the synopsis, the eye catching cover, and the fact that it was going to be a retelling of Peter Pan, that basically sold me to the book. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed with the overall plot of the story. Peter Pan is one of my favorite childhood stories and I was really excited to read a retelling of the book, but what I got was a completely different story with a few references to the original book here and there (that were a bit confusing).

In Second Star, seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling has just graduated high school when her best friend, Fiona, finds her at the beach still grieving for the lost of her brothers. But even though everyone around her has accepted that her brothers are gone, she refuses to accept that and hopes to find them. As Wendy embarks in a journey to find her lost brothers, she runs into a surfer, Pete. It is an immediate attraction between the two that draws them together and when Pete invites Wendy to stay with him and other “lost boys” she immediately accepts. They're all surfers and survive by stealing from other people, but Wendy sees how carefree they all are soon she is accepted into their family. But that doesn't last long before she meets Pete's rival, Jas, and that's when her adventure truly begins. From taking “dust” from a drug dealer to discovering what really happened to her brothers, Wendy's journey is just the beginning of what the future has in store for her. Although she finds herself attracted to Pete, she'll have to make a decision that minute she finds out what he among others around her have been hiding from her all along. 

There were a couple of things that I liked about the book and those were the scenes between Wendy and Pete and when she is with Jas. It's difficult to say who I would rather Wendy to be with, but those scenes were my favorites out of the entire book. Without comparing it to the original Peter Pan, I'd say that was book was alright. It didn't wow me at all, there was a lot of confusion and not so much action in the book that made me want to keep reading it. The idea alone sounded great, but the overall execution in the book felt flat. The ending is open ended, it's pretty much open to interpretation (which I'm not a big fan of). Nevertheless, I would still recommend it to those that might want to give it a try. 

*ARC provided by NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review*

My Rating: