Disclaimer: all views and opinions are my own.

Date read: June 25th, 2022 - June 28th, 2022

Release Date: July 12th, 2022

Page Count: 336

Category: Dark Fantasy/Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Triggers/Warnings: Drug Addiction | Borderline Personality Disorder

Thank you Titan Books for a copy of this arc for an honest review.

This is the story of James and of Captain Hook.

The villainous pirate in so many stories is split between two: the world he left and world he lives in. After escaping Neverland, he is James - just James - and is living out his life, living in London as the last remaining pirate alive, until he can feel Neverlands pull seeping through the cracks, and he opens the door to Neverland and lets through Pans beast, which is hungry and out for shadows.

It explores the other side to Hook, the one capable of love and caring outside of the role he was molded for.

The story involves James, Jane and Wendy, following Wendy, Darling (a book I haven't read and still found the story really easy to follow, but there are spoilers so only read without if you don't mind knowing elements that happen from the first book).

It took me a while to read this - because it takes me a while to read e-books and because sometimes the story felt as though it dropped in places. They explore different types of relationships, social issues regarding women, the issues of drug addiction and explore the different characters grieving for different things.

I love anything Peter Pan, so I had high hopes for it. And although it didn't meet all of them - probably would have if I'd read the first book - I still found myself getting lost in certain parts of the story. I still also loved the premise of the story and am very happy I was approved a copy to review.

3.5
In this retelling Captain James Hook finds a way to leave Neverland but 22 years later Pan’s monster makes his way to London and Hook must return to Neverland to vanquish the monster.

This book did a really great job of showing grief, survivor’s guilt and healing. I loved getting to read about James and Samuel.

The part where this book fell short is that it is written in multiple perspectives and during multiple timelines. Sometimes switching midchapter. I found it difficult to digest the story this way. I really didn’t find Jane or Wendy’s perspectives all that helpful. If the novel had been told from just Hook’s perspective flashing back and forth or if this had been solely about Hook and Samuel and then written another book where Hook meets up with Jane and Wendy and had changing perspectives I feel like it would have flowed smoother. After loving Wendy, darling I was actually really disappointed that this one fell short for me. Overall I really enjoyed this take on Captain Hook I just wish the writing style had been a bit different.
Thank you to Titan books and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

So with this book I didn’t realise it was linked to Wendy Darling (not necessarily a sequel but within the same world).

I think I would have enjoyed this book more had I read the other first. Having said that really wonderful writing, I enjoyed the plot and the characters also.

ARC exchanged for an honest review

This book was promising, the inicial the initial thought was great, I particularly LOVE Peter pan, and when I found out this was a retelling, I got excited. But but in the course of the book, I got a little lost. Don't get me wrong , the book really is cool but than I found out this is a sequel. So.. yeah maybe I need to read that book to understand a little bit about this one. But in general this was a good book, I will read the first one and reread the second to give a concrete review.

Neverland revisited with a twist. Captain Hook managed to escape Neverland thru a magical door and has become ‘James’. His hook is replaced by a wooden hand and he is an old man with aches and pain and nightmares. His one true shipmate, Samuel, the ship medic, has passed away and he is alone. The dark monster and feel of Neverland haunts him.
Wendy has been back to Neverland to rescue her daughter and almost destroyed Peter by sewing his shadow back on him. Now people are being killed and it’s time to return and fix the nightmare for good before more people die.

As a huge fan of Peter Pan retellings, I was super excited to read this book! I was especially drawn in by the focus being in Hook’s character, and right from the beginning, I was pulled into the dialogue and the complexity of Hook’s character.

This book didn’t exactly go the way I thought it was going to go based on the description, and I’m still not sure if it met up to the expectations I had for it. There were some aspects I liked but I was a little disappointed with the world building and the description of Neverland.

However, the characters were written very well. I especially loved the way Jane and Hook were written. Jane is such a badass and her strength is so inspiring. And the guilt and grief Hook was experiencing were exceptionally written and was a huge drive for his character.

Overall this book was an easy read, I enjoyed following the character’s on their journey to defeat Peter Pan’s monster, as well as the relationships between the characters. Again, I felt like the time spent in Neverland wasn’t what I was expecting and was a little bit of a let down, but other than that, I really enjoyed the read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Hooked by A.C. Wise is the sequel to the well-received Wendy, Darling. I really enjoyed the concept, but I didn't find this book to be all that interesting. Unfortunately, it just didn't stand out much in my mind. I found the writing to be well-done, and there were certain twists that I definitely enjoyed. However, this just ultimately wasn't one I loved.

I love a good retelling, especially anything to do with Peter Pan. I was thrilled to discover this book focusing on Captain Hook, as I loved him in the original story (despite him being the bad guy!) However, sadly, this book wasn’t for me. I couldn’t get into the story and the characters, to me, weren’t developed enough. It wasn’t written badly though and I’m sure others will enjoy this story. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author, for a chance to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

I found this book to be beautifully written and enjoyed the author's writing style. I didn't know until after I requested it that it that there was a previous book that focused on Wendy Darling returning to Neverland. The author does a good job informing the reader about what happened in that book, as it relates to this story though, so if you haven't read it, you will still be able to enjoy this book. I did find the pacing of the last 25% to be a bit slow and was hoping for something more as the conclusion of this adventure. But overall, it was an interesting twist on a familiar story that makes you question what makes a villain.

Hooked is the new sequel novel to last year's Wendy, Darling, which told the tale of an adult Wendy Darling and her life after Neverland, and what happened when Peter Pan kidnaps her daughter. Now we catch up with infamous pirate Captain James Hook, who managed to escape the clutches of Neverland decades before.

Hooked tells the story of James Hook, the man who fought against Peter Pan for decades in the mystical world of Neverland. Whilst other stories would have you believe that Hook was nothing but a villain, this story takes a different approach. We discovered in the first book in this series that Pan was more than simply a boy who couldn't grow up, and was in fact a monster himself; and here we discover more of his monstrous acts as we meet an older James Hook living in 1930's London.

Hook is an old, broken man. He walks with a limp, using a cane to get around, his missing hand has been replaced by a wooden prosthesis (his famous hook long since gone), and he scrapes by where he can, living in poor conditions and fighting the nightmares of his past with opium. He has escaped from Neverland, but Neverland hasn't let him live in peace since. He's a man with too many ghosts in his closet, too much pain to carry on his own. He's not the monster that Pan made him out to be, but another victim of the real monster behind Neverland.

When something terrible escapes from Neverland and starts stalking Hook the bodies begin to mount up across London, including the roommate of Jane, Wendy's daughter. It appears that anyone who has been to Neverland may be being stalked by this monster, and only by working together can they hope to find a solution. Now, Wendy and her daughter have to put their misgivings aside and work with the infamous Hook in order to survive.

I really enjoyed Wendy, Darling, and thought that its dive into what happened to the character after leaving Neverland was interesting, and at times heartbreaking; and as such, I was intrigued to see that same treatment be given the Captain Hook. And it very much did feel like a similar treatment, as this book does follow some similar patterns and themes as the previous novel in the series.

The book begins by introducing us to our protagonist after they have left Neverland, showing us the life that they've managed to build for themselves. We get flashbacks to previous times in their life, showing both their time in Neverland, and their past after leaving before this point in time. The two characters who get this focus across the two books, Wendy and Hook, go through some ordeals after leaving Neverland. Wendy was locked in a mental asylum, Hook goes through drug withdrawal and addiction. Both of them have a queer romance in their lives. Both of them struggle to get over their time in Neverland. And both of them end up facing the prospect of returning in order to face their past.

I'm not entirely sure if I like this repeat of the formula or not. There are aspects to Hook's story that I really like, particularly his romance with the man who helped him escape Neverland; but it does feel as if A.C. Wise is following a similar story pattern even if the details have been altered. And whilst that's fine for the first half of the book because we're getting to spend time with Hook and get to know him better, by the latter half of the novel it felt like a too similar retread. Some slight spoilers, but when the characters end up going to Neverland the quality really seemed to drop for me. I was really enjoying seeing this small group having to work on this strange, magical problem in the real world, but going back to Neverland to beat the villain felt like a retread of the first book in a less entertaining way.

That being said, there are things that I enjoyed about the book. It was nice to catch up with Wendy and Jane again almost a decade after the last book, getting to see how things had changed for them over the years. Jane had clearly been affected by her experience, and grown into a headstrong and independent woman, and seeing how the events of the previous book had shaped her was a nice touch. Though there is one character that was an important part of Wendy's life who seems to have disappeared with no mention here, that I was sightly disappointed in.

There's some good queer representation here, like with the first book. James Hook has a same sex romantic relationship before the events of this book, and is clearly still deeply in love with the man years later. Considering that Hook was more than a hundred years old, thanks to his time in Neverland, and that he was living in the 1930's once he escaped, it's a pleasant surprise to see gay romance in a book set in that period. With queer romance often being removed from historic tales, it's wonderful to see this series embracing these stories and putting them at the forefront.

A.C. Wise has delivered a decent sequel to the last novel, but one that falls a bit short of being quite as enjoyable. Thanks to an ending that I felt dropped in quality and became quite repetitive of the first book Hooked ended up feeling like two very different stories combined together; and not always with the best results.

Wow, I wasn’t expecting to love this book as much as I did and am so glad a requested the arc. This take on what happened to Wendy and Captain Hook after Neverland had me wanting more by each page. It’s a comfortable, wonderfully written, page-turner that’s packed with action. I’ve always loved the story of Peter Pan since I was a little child, and this strengthened that love.

It followed the narrative of Hook, Wendy and Jane, Wendy’s daughter. I must admit Hook was my favourite and I found myself wanting to know more about his story than the others, but I did love each. It’s feminist take with LGBTQ+ rep which I loved. Overall a brilliant read that I would definitely recommend!

Thank you net galley for giving me a free copy of Hooked on exchange for a honest review


I loved the premise of this just like I loved the premise of Wendy Darling..... However saldy this book just like the previous one in this series failed to amaze me the way I throught it would.

Although themed such as feminism and survivors guilt as well as grief were well developed,the description of Neverland itself like in the previous book felt underwelming and lacking of descriptions. The characters were also incredibly uninteresting to me with the exception of Hook himself. Overall this book was a bit of a disappointment for me.

Following last year’s incredible — and heartbreaking — Wendy, Darling, author A.C. Wise is back with another gorgeous, thoughtful Neverland tale with Hooked, which follows the one-handed, once-nefarious pirate captain who acted as a nemesis to eternal child Peter Pan. But because this is A.C. Wise, the novel once again calls into question everything you thought you knew about Captain Hook. If Wendy, Darling showed how miserably Peter Pan treated those meant to be his friends, it was only a matter of time before we found out his enemy was treated far worse.

Framed as a sort of thriller-murder mystery, the story follows Hook — James, as he’s known in London — Wendy and Jane as they track down a mysterious beast from Neverland who has crossed over into their world and is stealing the very essence of innocent bystanders, Jane’s flatmate included.

Horrible as the deaths are, they spur James into action for the first time in years, allowing him to clear some of the fog of grief and opium use from his mind. After escaping Neverland 15 years prior, the former captain has struggled to process the life that Peter stole from him to make him a functional puppet in his childish games. He is also grieving the loss of Samuel, the lone member of his crew who crossed over with him, but who passed under circumstances for which James is desperate to place some blame.

For their part, though Wendy and Jane came to a degree of understanding by the end of Wendy, Darling, in Hooked we see that their truce and bond was only temporary. A lifetime of secrets and trauma and pain is not so easily unwound that one fantastical adventure can sweet it all under the rug. Far from it, their earlier Neverland adventure really serves to make it all that much worse. Wendy is still unable to let her daughter in, and Jane still harbord anger at her mother for the her habit of keeping things to herself, and for Wendy’s failure to save Jane’s lone Neverland friend, Timothy.

This, really, is the strength of Wise’s Neverland books. Though set in a fantasy world every reader has some familiarity with, the issues surrounding the world and the characters feel firmly rooted in reality.

The last book questioned the treatment of the oppressed — women, people of colour, LGBTQIA+ people — while diving into themes of innocence lost and the addictive nature of losing yourself in illusion. Hooked builds on these ideas very skillfully by examining what happens when the root of your problem is no longer there to point the blame at.

Peter Pan himself only really appears in this book in flashback. After Wendy brought his reign of terror to an end in the last book, she does not choose to somehow resurrect the boogeyman for round two. Because that isn’t how life works. The person responsible for James, Wendy and Jane’s suffering might be gone, but his effect over them remains, like a shadow gradually growing darker over time.

He might not be literally visible in the book, but his presence is painfully present all the same.

As before, Wise strikes a wonderful balance between the familiar and the unsettling. And it is unsettling, but not so much that it’s off-putting. Rather it will remain a part of you, much like Neverland does, so your own future trips there might never feel the same again.

Hooked is available July 12, 2022. Special thanks to Netgalley and Titan Books for the advance copy for review purposes.

#Hooked #NetGalley
In exchange for a review copy of Hooked by A.C. Wise from #NetGalley, here is my honest review – all thoughts are my own.

Ok, really enjoyed this but it was only after I finished reading (and to be honest I did struggle to get through it), did I find out it is the sequel to Wendy, Darling.

I did like the twist with Pan as the villain and not Hook (hook was my favourite as a child for some reason – now I think it’s because he was seriously misunderstood 😊).

Overall I gave this 4 stars – maybe if I had read the first book it would be more, still an enjoyable read and maybe I will read it again (after first reading Wendy, Darling)

Overall, I enjoyed this story of Hook and Wendy post-Neverland.

Something I want to address right off the bat is that this story is actually the second told in this world and it DOES connect to the previous one. I didn't read the first, nor was this marketed by the publisher or netgalley as being a sequel. I really think that it should have been. While I was able to follow the story and enough information is provided that you can understand what happened, it REALLY would have helped to understand the context and details of the world and what happened previously. I would have read the first book before if I knew this was a sequel (or more likely not have picked it up).

That being said, I found the plot enjoyable and enjoyed that it brought in so much mental health and trauma of what they all experienced in Nederland. I found the plot to be engaging and the world building was not too hard to follow (although again, would have been better to read the first).

The first chapter had me kind of iffy at first. I wasn't sure I was going to like this version of Hook, but reading the second story with Jane had me intrigued and kept me reading.

Overall, an enjoyable book! I'd recommend reading Wendy, Darling first if you want to pick this one up!

I liked this, but didn't realize I should have read Wendy, Darling before reading this one. It made sense to a point, but definitely would recommend reading that one first for better context! Giving it 4 stars because that is my fault for not checking further before requesting.

I feel like this is a sequel. It is not tagged as one, nor does the cover say it is, but I felt lost and confused through most of it. I was going to be more generous -- the readers of Wendy, Darling seemed to really like this one -- but since it's being marketed as a novel that can be read alone, I will treat it as such. And it's not one I enjoyed at all.

I just reviewed Hooked by A.C. Wise. #Hooked #NetGalley

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me by the publisher through Nergalley in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts professed below are my own.

I absolutely adored this retelling! The writing, the plot, the characters and the storyline, all of it was perfect!!!
The author truly had a fresh and feminist take on the classic story of Peter Pan which I personally enjoyed a lot and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters was the icing on the cake.
The fact which really resonated with me was how Neverland was described. It was different for everyone based on their experiences yet nobody who had once been could resist going back. The characters were fully fleshed out and the reading experience was akin to a theatrical one based on the way all the fight scenes were described.
In summary, I loved this book and would totally recommend it, especially if you are a fan of fairy tale retelling from the villains' perspective, but who isn't a fan of this trope? Right? So, this book truly is for everyone.
Pick this book up right now!!! You will not regret it!!!

Trigger Warnings: Substance abuse, Death

This one just wasn’t for me. I loved the concept but struggled with the writing style. I just didn’t want to keep going :(

I stopped reading when I realized it was a sequel. I read the first two chapters but I was lost, and then was informed that this is not a standalone as it seemed to be marketed as.

The writing I did encounter was solid, neither exciting nor boring, but there was a lack of detail. It read like a first draft.