User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
HEY FRIENDS! i am so excited for this book to be out in the world soon, and i wanted to share some of my favorite tropes that i put into LOST IN THE NEVER WOODS since, let's be real, it's BASICALLY fanfic and i LIVE for romance tropes!
if you like:
✨modern au
💖second chance romance
🥺oblivious pining
👀forced proximity/there's only one bed
🩹hurt/comfort
then this is definitely the book for you!
i'm also running both a domestic AND an international preorder campaign, where you can get beautiful character cards and a glow in the dark enamel pin!
for more information and how to enter 💖: https://www.aiden-thomas.com/never-wo...
Rating: really liked it
DNF @ 40%
I'm so beyond sad that this didn't work out for me. I was going to try and push through, but I realized I'd literally be forcing myself and didn't have any desire to continue, so I decided not to. I loved this author's debut novel, Cemetery Boys. So much so that it was one of my top books I read in 2020! So I was SO excited for this! A Peter Pan retelling? Sign me up! But unfortunately I was really disappointed. I don't think this is a bad book, but it was soooo slow. I was 40% of the way in and didn't really know what the story was or really anything much about the characters, so it was hard to care and want to continue. It just never went anywhere and didn't seem like it would ever end up anywhere unfortunately. Wendy was pretty one dimensional, as was Peter. And their story never came together like I had hoped. It just kind of seemed like a lot of the same thing and what that thing was, wasn't much. Just a lot of Wendy wondering what's going on and what she isn't remembering. But that was really it. I'm so sad I couldn't push through this one, but I think some readers will enjoy it. It just wasn't for me.
Rating: really liked it
**2.5-stars rounded up**Five years ago, Wendy Darling and her two brothers, Michael and John, went missing in the woods close to their home.
Six months later, Wendy was found, but with no memory from the time she was away, or the fate of her little brothers.
After she returns, the police question her pretty hard, not sure how much of her story they can believe. Perhaps she knows more than she is letting on.
Now in her Senior year of high school, Wendy is working at a hospital and trying to move on with her life, although she is still plagued with thoughts of her brothers.
When children start disappearing again, in ways similar to Wendy and her brothers, all eyes look to her for answers.
She still cannot recollect what happened all those years ago, but agrees something is definitely going on, as the boy she thought lived only in her stories becomes real before her very eyes.
Peter Pan. He is real and he is pleading with Wendy for her help finding his shadow; the villain of this tale.
Lost in the Never Woods was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Sadly, it didn't exactly live up to my expectations.
The first 10% seemed really promising and the last 10% gave me a conclusion that felt satisfying. However, everything in between was a giant slog.
The tone was quite melancholy and morose. The pace was incredibly slow, the relationships forced and the magical elements felt bland. Not what I was hoping for.
The writing style itself was good. It had a pleasing flow and you can tell that Thomas put a lot of thought into the real world issues discussed; grief, guilt, PTSD, those aspects were well done.
Overall, it just wasn't what I was hoping for and I never felt connected. With this being said, there is a Reader for every book and vice versa.
So, don't take my word for it. If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, give it a go. It could end up being your new favorite book!
I will definitely pick up more work from this author in the future. I already own Cemetery Boys and am really excited to get to that one!
Rating: really liked it
What a fanfreakingtastic book I’ve just devoured! I loved Cemetery Boys! But this unique, this precious definitely whispered to my soul when I saw it at the B&N’s shelves which reminded me of my arc request has been rejected! It hurt like hell and gave me a reason to get my own copy ASAP!
After being hypnotized by the cover which was about dragging me into lost woods and made me stood up for three hours at same position till the security guards of the bookstore pulled me back off from the shelves as my salivas dripping down on my cheeks, I finally bought my copy and hired a carrier to take me home ( after three hours standing still could turn your legs into jellies that served at the hospitals)
Anyways, as soon as I went back home, I ignored my husband tell me order any takeouts and I also ignored my agent who was waiting for at least ten pages for my next thriller movie script and had an amazing appointment at the Neverland, diving into scary, more emotional, exhilarating, dark, bleak but interestingly promising retelling of Peter and Wendy’s journey!
Wendy Darling becomes 18, finishing her volunteer shift at the hospital, still hearing whispers behind her back because of traumatic experience she’s endured five years ago: somebody took her and her two brothers away. After six months later she has found in the woods, suffering from loss memory, traumatized, holding an acorn into her hands, having no idea where she has been during her disappearance and the whereabouts of her brothers.
She still deals with her guilt feelings, trying so hard to get back her memories, witnessing her mother and father’s dealing with their grief in different ways, burying herself into daily chores, concentrating on her college education to pursue her career as a nurse just like her mother.
But at her birthday, as soon as her shift ends in the hospital, she drives her car to her home but at the road, something suddenly jumps on her car : like a bleak creature with a dark shadow.
As she stops her car, she finds a boy lying in the middle of the road. The boy is so familiar. Someone she’s chasing in her dreams. Someone who cannot be real. Someone she keeps drawing pictures of. And he knows her name. How?
She wants to make sure she’s not dreaming so she drives back to hospital. The boy wakes up and keeps screaming her name. Later she finds out he’s Peter! Not regular Peter. He’s her Peter! Peter Pan!
And this is not the only crazy thing she has to deal with it! Somebody kidnaps small kids around neighborhood. Peter’s dark shadow might be responsible about those children’s taking away. Dark shadow of Peter is feeding himself with little children’s sorrows, fears, guilts, sadnesses, despairs and as he’s getting stronger, Peter is losing his magic and his powers. He barely flies, starting to grow older, getting weaker at each second.
If Wendy wants to help him reattach with his shadow, she also needs to remember the terrifying trauma she’s endured five years ago which could help her to find about where her brothers are.
Wow! No more words! This was heart pounding, stunning adventure! As a big fan of Peter Pan in Neverland, it was so obvious for me to fall hard for this remarkable story! Before reaching at the middle of the book, I already decided to give it five gazillion stars and after finishing I didn’t change my mind.
I’m so sure I’ll read great ya fantasy novels this year, but this book already reserved his unique place in my heart. This is incredible. One of the best fantasy works and amazing retellings of the year I highly recommend.
Rating: really liked it
it pains me to give such a low rating, but it also pained me to read this book as it wore on. i love a good retelling, especially of a story as magical as peter pan. and after adoring cemetery boys, my expectations of this book were high. that's a factor in my disappointment, but ultimately,
lost in the never woods is a far weaker story.
the writing style is repetitious, the plot is lackluster and terribly slow, and the whole book screams of lost potential 😭
cemetery boys is exposition-heavy as well, but it's redeemed with well-balanced action scenes, wholesome characters, and amazing representation.
lost in the never woods lacks this balance. hardly anything happens. the majority of the book is spent on wendy's repetitious narration. and it reads as really young YA, despite wendy being in her last summer before college.
the woods themselves are darkly beautiful, and i like the small town woodsy vibe. peter's character is written in the same adoring manner as
cemetery boys's julian (aiden thomas has a thing for these charming, semi-unattainable magical boys!).
but nothing else in the story ever comes to life. we have a few brief glimpses of magical neverland, but the book never takes us there, either. not a fairy in sight.
there are a million small frustrating things that never add up: wendy's best friend, jordan, who is absent for most of the book and seems to be included as an afterthought. wendy's compulsive handwashing, which at first i thought was very cool to see represented... but after the beginning, it's never mentioned again??
and the lack of lgbt+ and poc representation. (jordan is a poc, but she's hardly in the book) of course thomas isn't obligated to make all of their books gay, but i was really surprised that there's not even any side representation.
the romance is hetero, but it's a soft slow-burn, which is really nice. there is one magical moment in particular that made my heart glow for peter and wendy. i can appreciate the bittersweetness of it all: a girl on the brink of adulthood and a boy who's not meant to grow up. it's poetic, but it's not enough to carry the whole book.
i was really interested to see what thomas would do with this book's villain (view spoiler)
[...not captain hook, but peter's shadow. it has come undone from his body, and is kidnapping and terrorizing local children, growing stronger off their fears in some twisted monsters inc. situation!!! (hide spoiler)].
but it's cliche and cartoonish rather than scary. the villain spends the entire book looming menacingly, but is taken down easily. there's just no fear or sense of urgency here!!
this was a buddy read with my friend sofia, and they said it best: the more you think about the details of the plot, the more it all unravels.
the book's acknowledgements mention that
lost in the never woods was seven years in the making. i wonder if thomas was pushed to publish it now due to the success of
cemetery boys? it's a shame, because the premise is lovely, and we know thomas is capable of writing an amazing story!! i'm looking forward to seeing growth in their next book.
Rating: really liked it
Crying because I really thought I would love this but I did not😭
Lost in the Never Woods had a great premise. It is a Peter Pan retelling and so much darker than Thomas’ debut - Cemetery Boys. Unfortunately I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The story did not hold my attention and I had a few issues with the pacing.
The characters were very surface level with little depth. It was difficult to connect to any of them. Wendy was one-dimensional and slightly bland. However the way that grief and loss was portrayed was well done. I felt Wendy and her family’s pain and their struggles with overcoming their grief.
The pacing was a bit of an issue for me. It was so slow and nothing happened until the last 20%. Wendy and Peter had no plans or sense of direction when figuring out what to do to save the kids. It was frustrating because it was stressed that they were running out of time and the fate of the kids’ lives rested in their hands, yet they do nothing about it (except go on detours to get ice cream).
In terms of the romance, I found it rather forced. Wendy and Peter did not have chemistry and it felt rushed. In my honest opinion, I would have loved it if they had a platonic relationship instead. Additionally, there was something about the romance that felt a bit off to me. Peter was first introduced as a 13-ish year old boy at the beginning of the novel and over the course of a few days, he aged to 19 (around Wendy’s age). In my mind, he was mentally still a kid. Maybe I'm missing something, but it feel a bit weird.
Personally, this book was not for me. I do think some others will enjoy it if they like Peter Pan retellings. I’m sad that I didn’t enjoy this, but I will still continue reading Thomas’ future works.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars
That cover!!!
It has been five years since Wendy Darling and her two younger brothers, John and Michael, went missing in the woods. Now other children have gone missing. It is a painful reminder to Wendy and her family that while Wendy was found, her brothers were not.
One night Wendy almost runs over a boy lying in the street. A boy who asks, "You forgot about me?" His name is Peter. A boy, she thought only existed in stories. The ones her mother told her and the ones she tells the children at the hospital where she volunteers.
He needs her help! They must go into the woods....
A YA retelling of Peter Pan! This book touches on many things in a brilliant way. Through the book we see guilt, withdraw of emotions, missing children, fairy tales, love, loss, grief, memories, mental health, and friendship. Who could not feel for Wendy and her family? Parents who do not know where their sons are. The grief, stress, and heartache of their sons being missing. Wendy feels guilty for being found, guilty for being with her brothers when they all went missing, and we see a father who emotionally withdraws from his child when she is found but his sons are not and a mother who works long hours perhaps to avoid being home.
Peter represents childhood, innocence, wonder, fun, magic and the ability to make things be/feel okay again. He is like a safety net with possibilities. But what happens when a safety net needs help? Peter and Wendy are both likeable characters who both need each other. Both want to help others, yet both needs help themselves. So much more could be said about the characters (and plot) in this book, the metaphors and the hidden magic. But I will let you discover them.
Thankfully, the heavy subjects brought up in this book were handled/addressed with grace and care. There is also humor, magic and hope in this book. It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. There were times I wanted the book to move a little faster, it felt like it slowed down quite a bit in the middle of the book. If you feel this way, stick with this book as it gears up again!
This is a YA book, but it is enjoyable for all. Fans of retellings, fairy tales, Peter Pan, and those who are a child at heart will enjoy this book.
Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
Rating: really liked it
Not me crying over this when it was the coziest book ever. I want a sequel and there’s not supposed to be one so I’m HURT. 4 stars because not going to lie the middle kinda dragged.
Rating: really liked it
Now a Goodreads Choice nominee in Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction! I don’t think
Lost in the Never Woods got all the way there for me. I wanted to like it so much more than I did, and I’m disappointed that Aiden Thomas’ sophomore novel couldn’t fill that role.
Many of the elements from a traditional
Peter Pan story are present here. There’s the Darling family: Wendy, Michael and John. There’s Peter himself listening at their window. There’s the Lost Children and a misbehaving shadow. But in this modern day version, Wendy has just turned 18 and volunteers at the hospital where her mother works. The sole one of her siblings to reappear after the three Darling children vanished five years ago, Wendy and her parents have barely been able to move on from that traumatic event. They haven’t really processed the implications of her brothers’ disappearances and only seem to be going through the motions of living.
But then the boy from her stories, Peter Pan, crashes into Wendy’s reality and asks for her help locating his missing shadow. And almost simultaneously kids in the area have started to disappear again. So as Wendy sets off to help Peter once more, she hopes that she’ll be able to find answers on what happened to her and her brothers all those years ago.
The biggest sin this book commits is that so much of the plot is just…..absent. It’s 80% waiting around for things to happen and 15% reacting to things. I have no explanation for why it stalled so much other than Thomas had to put off the actual storyline until later in the book or it wouldn’t be full novel-length. Sure, there’s circumstances where it makes sense to delay action-y sequences for later, but it didn’t match the tone of the story. Children are missing, there’s some sort of monster running around and neither Peter nor Wendy appear to have the motivation to investigate more than an hour each day.
There was a particular scene where instead of looking for her brothers, the two of them go and get ice cream, that was so jarring to read. Or one where Wendy flirted with a stranger in a parking lot moments after watching a boy be snatched. I genuinely believed there was something more nefarious going on with Peter, possibly influencing her to just forget that all these kids *she knows* are vanishing, but nope. They both just couldn’t be bothered most of the time. There was no sense of urgency in their actions or in the writing.
I didn’t like the ending either. I won’t spoil it, but I think the author was going for a realist/gut-punch finale that didn’t end up carrying the emotional weight it was trying to. By that point the book had meandered so much that I was mostly relieved it was coming to an end.
Lost in the Never Woods wasn’t bad or the worst thing I’ve read recently, but I just wish I had prioritized something else.
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
Rating: really liked it
Peter Pan is one of my favorite childhood stories, so picking up this retelling was a no-brainer, especially with the beautiful, captivating cover. This is my first
Peter Pan retelling, and I had no idea what to expect. Without a doubt, this book was a pleasant surprise.
My review may contain a mild spoiler.The story follows the main character, Wendy, through a life-changing event. As a child, Wendy spent time in the woods with her brothers, John and Michael, and they all came up missing. After a time, Wendy reappeared, but she couldn’t remember anything, and she had no idea where her brothers had disappeared to. Time moved on, and Wendy became a young adult. Now she volunteers at the local hospital aspiring to be a nurse like her mother. People still question what happened to her brothers--mainly because other children have gone missing since. Wendy's parents are stuck; they're workaholics and neglect her, while Wendy moved on after this tragedy--anxiety and all. Her parents have never gotten over losing the boys, and while they don’t directly blame Wendy, the vibes are there. Other people don’t seem to be accepting of Wendy’s amnesia either. Why can’t she remember what happened that day? Are her brothers still alive? Who’s kidnapping the other children in the area, and are all of these events somehow connected?
This retelling follows the original
Peter Pan narrative and conflicts for the most part. The author omitted the problematic parts, built off the original narrative, and made this book quite inventive though. In this story, Peter asks for help after losing his shadow. Wendy needs help discovering what happened to her brothers and the other missing children because her depression and guilt are a heavy load to carry. They work together to solve their problems.
The premise is intriguing, the story is written well, and it kept me engaged for the most part, but while the first third of the book hooked me, the middle slowed down substantially. Eventually, it picks back up with an unpredictable ending. I liked being in the same position as Wendy: you don’t know what happened with her brothers until the very end. There were some hints in the story as to who could’ve been involved, but it's left a mystery until everything comes together for the conclusion.
This is a fantasy, but some of the more realistic events in the book weren’t believable, especially with the police investigation. Also, Wendy’s parents were an issue for me with how they completely shut down after losing the boys too. My first response to how they acted in this story was incredulity, but everyone deals with trauma differently, and I tried to keep that in mind. I’ve never been in the position of losing a child, but I imagine some people would deal with the grief in the same way Wendy’s parents did, even when it’s incredibly damaging to others. After all, there wasn’t closure for anyone, and without help, they were all coping with this tragedy on their own. Wendy becomes the acting adult after her brothers’ disappearance. This is where some of the deeper themes came in. Wendy was just a child herself when her brothers wound up missing, and believe it or not, she considers herself having some responsibility for it. This is thought-provoking and got me thinking about some of the adult responsibilities we delegate to our children.
Another small issue I had was the romance, which felt out of place. It barely amounted to anything and could’ve been omitted altogether, in my opinion. The ending, although not an issue, was extremely emotional for me too. This likely stems from some of my own personal feelings on childhood, growing up, letting go, and moving on after trauma, and it's these parts of the book that were very heavy, in my opinion.
As far as the book cover: I find it stunning and somewhat deceiving because it led me to believe this was a middle-grade book. It’s geared toward young adults, not that there’s any questionable content for certain age groups, but the book does explore mental illness and some deeper themes that would be better suited for older readers.
Overall, I found this retelling dark, haunting, imaginative, and emotional. It’s a story of love and loss, growing up, facing your fears, and holding onto hope. I plan to read some of the author's other books in the future.
4****
Rating: really liked it
I want to start off by saying that this book was one of my anticipated releases for 2021 and I was left feeling disappointed and sad. I love Aiden Thomas’ first book Cemetery Boys SO much. In fact, it was one of my favorite books of 2020 and I highly recommend that one.
I love the original story of Peter Pan and most of the movie adaptations as well. I was super excited for this retelling and the cover is gorgeous. Also, full disclosure, I do love Aiden Thomas and will be reading their next book even though this one didn’t work out for me. Writing a negative review for this author pains me.
So first off, Wendy was not a good character. She lacked personality and sometimes a brain. I found her useless as well as Peter himself. They were easily distracted from the big issue at hand and I understand it was supposed to build their romance but I found their romance to be unnecessary and a little forced. It took 80% of the book for things to actually pick up the pace. I found the pacing to be extremely slow.
Typically, I enjoy Thomas’s writing but something about this one I found a little hard to get into. Some editing would’ve benefitted this book as well.
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Shout out to to Kelsey from Macmillan for sending me an arc <3 SO EXCITED
Rating: really liked it
THIS COVEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR
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Rating: really liked it
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS. I LOVED IT WITH ALL MY HEART AND WAS BAWLING AT THE END.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 Stars CWs: Explorations of familial loss, grief, and trauma; some descriptions of anxiety/anxiety attacks, compulsion, and alcoholism (in parents); allusions to night terrors and insomnia; instances of kidnapping; some descriptions of injury and violence
☆ Check out my spoiler-free reading vlog for LITNW!
As someone who absolutely loved
Cemetery Boys , the bar was pretty high for
Lost in the Never Woods, but Aiden Thomas did not disappoint.
LITNW is a story that goes hard in the paint when it comes to exploring trauma, reactions to trauma, and mental health. Wendy is an extremely traumatized, extremely anxious person, who is still grappling with the disappearance of her brothers and how that's completely shifted her family's entire dynamic. While she's surrounded by people who intellectually know what she went through all those years ago, very few people actually
understand how she feels and how the situation haunts her. That desperation and uncertainty she feels really underpins the writing style in the story. It's a narrative that moves quickly, almost frantically, and leaves the reader feeling breathless with each new discovery and the terrifying implications of those discoveries.
I think that's what makes the dynamic between Wendy and Peter so fascinating and so emotional. Peter represents magic, wonder, and in many ways safety, and Wendy is slow to trust him because everything he represents is just another unknown. Wendy is terrified and alone when the story begins, and she's used to making herself small to make everyone's life easier. But Peter is gradually breaking through her walls, offering her a potential connection to her brothers and her past, and sort of reintroducing her to wonder and joy. At the same time, he's validating her fears and feelings, which she has always thought to be "irrational." Peter also represents a chance for redemption, because Wendy has spent all this time harboring guilt over the fact that she couldn't keep her brothers safe, especially since she sees it as her job to protect the people she loves.
She and Peter are very similar in that way. They see it as their responsibility to take care of others, even if it means taking on their pain, and they are both convinced that all the bad things happening in town are because of their own failings, because they weren't able to "be better" in some way. I think that really speaks to the lasting impact of trauma and nursing guilt instead of addressing it. I think the story also has a lot to say about how the act of growing up is almost traumatic in itself, because in many ways, growing up means learning how to be hurt, and Wendy and Peter are being forced to confront that pain in a very literal, magical sense.
To me, Peter and Wendy represent a reconciliation between pain and joy, and this evil shadow magic growing in the woods represents how pain is a living, breathing entity that grows stronger and strengthens its hold over us the more we feed into it. When we learn to extract joy from painful moments, hope from hardship, and love from loss, we become more powerful for it. That concept is what really struck me the hardest in this story, and I really appreciate how the story converts survivor's guilt into power.
It is such a different story from Thomas' debut, but in some ways it is very much cut from the same cloth. There's joy, there's humor, there's an impossibly tragic yet hopeful romance, but there's also a really honest look at the hard choices survivors have to make and the destructive power of grief. While there were some supporting characters I wanted to see more from, I was still completely immersed in this creepy, atmospheric story and I was completely blown away. Aiden was already an auto-buy author and this tremendous story just solidified that fact even further!
Rating: really liked it
Astoria, Oregon?!! My brother lived there when he was in the Coast Guard—a beautiful, charming little coastal town with steeeep roads and where the iconic
Goonies and
The Kindergarten Cop were filmed!! I already feel connected! And was already had at “Never Wood”
